Mythologies and mythos

Scouring the interwebs for beer marketing so that you don't have to, I came across a campaign for Sea Hag Ale from New England Brewing. They were profiled two years ago in a Fortune magazine article for developing a mythology about their beer. This led to a campaign with interaction among customers and the like. In itself, this is not especially new. The Republic of Tea accomplished this on a grand scale many years ago, developing an entire product line based upon a fictional place.

What I found interesting about the campaign was the confluence of my searching and the dozens of "tweets" popping up each day and the Fan pages on Facebook. In just two years, the opportunity to build a story around a beer, or even an entire mythology, is greatly abetted by technology that enables us to reach thousands in just seconds.

So, how does a brewers festival fit in? We only need to look at the use of King Gambrinus by the OBF as an example, but we are limited only by our imaginations. And, as Aristotle pointed out, mythos, or plot, is the essential element of the play, in his case tragedy. No tragedy in beer stories are necessary.

How does a good yarn or story put your beer in the spotlight?