Matilda Bay shows how ale perfection is done–by releasing its 27 ‘rejects’

Melbourne, Australia – In a bid to show to Aussies how they have perfected their Original Ale product, Australian brewery Matilda Bay has launched its limited edition of ales called the ‘Rejected Ales’, a 27-piece ale set that represents all of the ale’s rejected batches before it reached its final production.

The campaign, conceptualised alongside agency Howatson+Company, is represented by a short film that demonstrates Matilda Bay’s obsession with quality and relentlessly pursuing perfection in everything they do. For the brewery, rather than keeping these almost perfect beers a secret, the brewery has canned them and made them available to the public to prove just how good their Original Ale is.

Speaking about this campaign, Phil Sexton, founder and master brewer at Matilda Bay, said, “We’ve crafted beer to perfection our own way since 1983. If a batch doesn’t meet our impeccably high standards, we reject it. It might be a bit commercially reckless, but it’s just the way we do things around here. So, to demonstrate our dedication to crafting the perfect beer, we’re letting Aussies try our not quite perfect enough Rejected Ales. Which, after our Original Ale, are hopefully the second best beers you’ll taste.”

Meanwhile, Gavin Chimes, executive creative director at Howatson+Company, commented, “They say nothing tastes as sweet as success, but at Matilda Bay, failure is delicious too. Now we’ve put that failure in cans for people to try. We worked closely with the Matilda Bay brewers to capture the details of their arduous journey. We opened old wounds and old logbooks. And crafted every aspect of our campaign. It was only fitting, considering how much craft they put into their beer.”

With names like ‘Yeah…nah’, ‘Keep dreaming’ and ‘Ballpark’, each of the 27 Rejected Ale cans tells a story of its rejection. These have been brought to life in OOH, radio, press, social, retailer integration, and in store activations.