THE ORIGIN OF HELLY

The Birth of an Outstanding Idea
In July 2002, moments after the curtain closed on another great Blue Meridian performance at Hard Rock Live in Orlando, FL, Matt Glass approached singer, Donovan Lyman and asked "How would you like to have a beer named after you"? A meeting was scheduled. A number of different beers were considered. It was Donovan who decided on the name of the beer "Helly Bock" and the type "Light Bock". It was Matt Glass who developed the recipe and brewed the first 2 batches. Before the ingredients were even decided on, a tasting party and concert was already in the planning stages.

The Unofficial Beer Debut...
On September 17, 2002 at Hops Restaurant on Orlando/Mills ave in Winter Park Florida, Blue Meridian offered the first taste at the all new "Helly Bock". The party was originally planned as a private affair, but the band decided to make it open to the public. The beer started pouring at 9pm. Blue Meridian performed an acoustic set beginning just before 11pm. Preceded by Emily Stine and Joseph Martens. Over 200 attended and sampled the beer. So far reviews have been glowing. Visit the "Views Forum" for some feedback. The Next opportunity to sample the beer will be on Nov 10, 2002 at the Beerfest 

Beginning the very next day for an undisclosed period of time the beer will be available for sale at Hops in Winter Park. Our goal is to get Helly Bock effectively distributed across Orlando and eventually into other markets. Big thanks to Matt Glass and everyone else who has contributed thus far towards making this a non-sobering reality.

The 4th Annual Orlando Beer Fest was a huge success.
November 9 & 10, 2002, the 4th annual Beerfest. 
The Hops booth was one of the most crowded over the 2 day festival and Helly Bock was
requested by name over all the other Hops beers combined 3 to 1.Intoxicated ladies were 
seen flashing body parts at the beer dispensers in exchange for a "larger than shot glass 
size portion of the brew". As of Monday November 11, Helly Bock is on tap and
available for mass consumption at the Hops on 17-92 in Winter Park.
We plan to see the beer distributed nationally after the first of the year.


Brewmaster Matt Glass at the beer fest. Photo by Kandy

November 11, 2002
Brewmaster Matt Glass nearly loses his job at Hops in the wake of the success at
Beerfest. Hops corporate apparently annoyed at the success of Helly Bock (a local
experiment, not approved by the suits) threatens to send Mr. Glass off to Rhode (Rogue)
Island where they are more liberal with individual thought and expression. After a
discouraging trip to New England, Matt informed his employers he would not be
making the trip north. As the story goes, the dust eventually settled, Matt promised
to purge his mind of expression in his craft, and was allowed to remain in Winter Park.
All remnants of the Helly Bock were to be removed from the premises within 48 hours
and life went on as it once did.

Fortunately, during the course of the beerfest, a number of distributors and brewers
became very interested in the brew. It took awhile, but by April 2003, Unique Beers
and Orlando Brewing reached an agreement with the fine people here at HELLY...
and by June 3, 2003 the first 15 barrels of the beer were fermenting.

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