Why Don't More Large Craft Breweries Have Small Distro?

NG is also benefited by the fact the Wisconsin consumes some of the most beer per capita in the U.S. (U.S.A. Today article put Wisconsin at #6 per capita consumption and #12 overall consumption, even though it is #18 overall by population in the U.S.).

Increased distribution also allows the breweries to reach some economies of scale by selling more product which increases their profits.

I have read several interviews of local brewers here in Chicago say that you don't get rich opening a brewery. While there's probably some truth to that, if you can fund your livelihood while doing what you love, why not maximize it? There are people getting into craft brewing, who have no brewing experience, purely to make money. But, they won't survive if they can't produce a quality product.

This is somewhat related to the other thread about your favorite brewpub. There are some brewpubs that make great beers that have no desire to start a commercial brewery.

At the end of the day, I want to drink good beer and I could give two shits about the brewer's motive.

 

One can also consider the breweries home state's craft beer market. Do people think that Bells or Founders would be the size they are by staying in MI? MI is actually below the national average for craft beer consumption. With all the breweries in the state, one would at first think the opposite. MI is still a BMC+Labatts state.

 

Can you please punctuate? At least a little...

 

Dude, I'm sorry but I don't think we have ANYTHING to complain about. Our locals plus some of the distro equal a great place to drink beer. I'll take missing BCBS for most of the stuff we have access to.

We're lucky that people like to drink here...A LOT!

 

If the beer you're drinking is the same age you will not taste a difference no matter where you buy it. And sure, with coast to coast distribution you won't be able to buy 1 day old beer, but I'd rather buy 1-3 week old beer than no beer at all. If you really don't want to be able to buy Founders, Green Flash, Sierra Nevada, Stone, New Belgium, Sam Adams, Great Divide, Bells, etc., you should write them and request that they pull out of NC.

And regarding Fat Tire, are you sure there aren't other factors involved? I had Fat Tire years ago in CO and loved it. Then I had it a few years later in TN and thought it was pretty average. Was it from shipping or was it because my palate matured?

 

No. If you go into business brewing beer, the goal is to make money. Period. Getting financing to open a brewery puts your entire financial well-being on the line. If you aren't in it with money as your #1 goal, then you are a fool. I have no doubt that fools open breweries all the time, but those people should be pitied, not emulated.

You don't make the leap from homebrewing to commercial brewing in order to share your beer with more people; you can share an awful lot of beer even if you only make 5-10 gallons of it per week. You make the leap because you make beer that a lot of people seem to like, and think you could make a decent amount of money by selling it. It's the same story whether you are making beer, pastries, cupcakes, burritos, sandwiches, etc.

 

"You're either growing or you're dying. There ain't no third direction"

- Big Tom Callahan

 

Just giving examples. Honestly, if I had to drink nothing but Colorado beers I would be happy. Uncle Jacobs is my go to ba stout. Blows all the others away. Odell Avery and crooked stave have me set for wilds. Belgians? Funkwerks. Saisons? Trinity. American pale ale? Dales or breakwater. But I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

You know why Colorado has no whales? Wwe drink them up before they get distro to the hype machine.

 

Yeah, I get that, but at some point it goes beyond just keeping up with your peers or trying to stay alive. SN, Lagunitas, NB, could all keep growing without needing to build another brewery on the other side of the country. Pretty sure these are already successful businesses that don't "need" the economies of scale in order to turn a profit or to stay alive, yet they are attempting to almost double their output (in short time) with new breweries.

Its the same with pro ball players or successful business men. At some point you can cash out and live a great life (and provide one for your children and their children etc). Its something other than money, lifestyle, security that motivates these people to keep going when they don't have to. Legacy maybe?

 

As I quoted in my original post, a business is either growing or it's dying. We can debate the speed at which a particular business is growing or dying, but there really is no third direction. SN, Lagunitas, NB, et al., have all decided that they would like to stay in business. Therefore, they need to be growing. They believe that their best path for growth going forward includes a new brewery in a different part of the county.

Most people who are highly successful in Corporate America are driven by the challenge of being in charge of something that they are ultimately responsible for. Some of them get distracted by the money, but most of them are just interested in running a business (and doing it successfully). It's what makes an entrepreneur who he is.

EDIT: I think the motivations of pro athletes are a little different, but in the same vain.

 

Looking at it from an average consumer standpoint, people are always gonna be like "Why don't we get (insert brewery) in our state?" These same people are the ones who don't care or know about the difference between a fresh or unfresh 60 minute or whatever the beer is but I use Dogfish as a classic example of expanding only to have to pull back due to quality slippage. In the end, breweries don't really care who buys their beer as long as they continue to buy it. Yes, a strong regional market is important but, if a brewery feels they've already accomplished that and can sustain it even with expanding production and distro, there's no reason for them not to want to grow