The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- John Furner
European customers waiting on their pre-ordered Tesla Cybertruck can now drink a beer that somewhat resembles one.
Tesla’s ‘GigaBier’ went on sale online on Thursday, available in packs of three costing £79, the equivalent of around £26.3 per beer ($32.85).
Each 330ml (11oz) ‘bottle’ comes in a slick black metallic case with a glow-in-the-dark Giga logo, boasting hints of Italian bergamot citrus and ‘sweet fruit’.
The beer was first announced 17 months ago to promote Tesla’s unfinished car manufacturing plant in Brandenburg, Germany, called the ‘Gigafactory’.
Tesla’s ‘GigaBier’ went on sale online on Thursday, available in packs of three costing £79, the equivalent of around £26.3 per beer ($32.85)
Each 330ml (11oz) ‘bottle’ comes in a slick black metallic case with a glow-in-the-dark Giga logo, boasting hints of Italian bergamot citrus and ‘sweet fruit’
The beer was first announced 17 months ago to promote Tesla’s unfinished car manufacturing plant in Brandenburg, Germany, called the ‘Gigafactory’ site 24 miles east of Berlin (pictured in 2021)
The design, Tesla says, seeks ‘to emulate the form of Cybertruck while honoring the 500-year tradition of German Reinheitsgebot beermaking.’
At over $30 apiece, each of the three GigaBiers in a pack costs more than the price of 33 cans of Budweiser.
But at roughly 11oz of beer per bottle, each one also offers 1oz less than the standard 12oz can of US lager.
Tesla’s Gigafactory has been plagued by delays ever since 2016, when Musk had promised its completion by 2017.
Last March, Brandenburg officials finally granted Giga Berlin-Brandenburg the final environmental approvals needed to begin production of their Model Y Tesla vehicles.
But the factory, as one anonymous worker told reporters, has been in ‘total chaos’ all year, falling behind production quotas and struggling to both hire and maintain staff.
‘Some people are off sick longer than they’ve actually worked,’ the source told WIRED magazine.
The pilsner isn’t Tesla’s first foray into the boutique, novelty spirits market, following the launch of Tesla Tequila in 2020
‘There are people who I haven’t seen working for three weeks in six months. Many people are signed off sick because the motivation isn’t there.’
No such problems have been reported for the GigaBier, however, brewed by Cyberhops in Germany and distributed by BrouwUnie.
‘Brewed for cyborgs, made by humans,’ as Tesla boasted on Twitter last week.
The pilsner isn’t Tesla’s first foray into the boutique, novelty spirits market, following the launch of Tesla Tequila in 2020.
The company’s lightning-shaped tequila bottles retailed for $250 and sold well enough to merit a second batch in 2021.
Another batch dropped in April 2022 priced at Tesla owner Elon Musk’s favorite marijuana-joke price point, $420.
Outside the lightning glass, a slightly less aged version of the same tequila sells for $45 from the California-based company that distils it.
