...marketing ploy, yes; but what commercially available brew doesn't have a marketing ploy behind it? You're not going to stay in business too long without a marketing strategy. In regards to these particular beers, I highly doubt Boston Brewing made a bundle off of them; but it serves to demonstrate that they are definitely the most innovative of all the MASS brewers (I think it's safe to say they've gone beyond micro brew status). I don't think Boston Brewing's beers trump every other beer; but I always give Jim Koch credit for leaving a successful career to pursue something he loved and consequently awaken many folks up to what good beer is, as opposed to the swill they had been used to since post prohibition. The reality is, even what I personally refer to as "swill", is something others seriously love. Case in point, this past weekend I went to a tailgate. When I pulled out a case of Guiness, one of the guys looked at me like I brought a box of rat poison. "I'm a Miller Lite guy myself", is what he told me. I drank my Guiness. He drank his Miller Lite. In the end, we all had a great time. So in some ways, maybe its almost pointless to proclaim this beer a "great" beer and this beer is "trash". Like I said earlier, "To each his own."