The Bruery: explain how they've done it.

It's definitely hot, but not an unmanageable hot. As a fan of CW BBBW, I'm sure you'd love it as-is.

 

Now you're just being pedantic

 

too expensive!!!!

 

If you're talking about Coton, I opened one last October and it was amazing. If you're talking about Cuir, there is a good chance it's still hot.

 

They rode a hype train all the way to the bank.

They've had many more misses than hits, IMO. The last beer I tried, Mother Funker, was like swallowing your own vomit. They must've gained an in-human acid tolerance to their sour beers when thinking they could sell that garbage.

 

Coton! That's the one. Thanks.

Was yours the 100% or 25% barrel aged?

 

25%. I was pretty blown away by it, to be honest.

 

You and I must just have completely opposite palates, because I absolutely love Mother Funker (and many other Bruery offerings).

 

Well hell, I would hope so. I think that thing cost like $20-$30.

I may have to open mine one night this week. Preferably one night where I don't have to wake up the next morning.

 

No, not in a 90s song lyric written by a man about a woman's point of view way. In this exact way:

 

Oh lord I needed a good laugh!

 

My only complaint was the under carbonation, I liked the flavor. I like my sour vomit carbonated I guess.

 

Take a listen to that Patrick Rue explains how it all started. You might have to skip through a bit to get to the interview.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Sunday-Session/The-Sunday-Session-11-02-08-The-Bruery

 

fair enough, what's popular is an easy way to make money. We've all seen breweries throw out a beer to ride the money train of IPAs, Wheats, barrel aged beers and if you believe RR a lot of breweries are starting to show an interest in making sour beers after their talk at the craft brewers conference. Although unfortunately for those breweries it takes months to years make a sour beer.

 

If you get in on the ground floor . . . as opposed to when the market is saturated.

That's why so many breweries making shitty wheat & fruit beers in the 90s folded. Just saying you're craft/micro/local don't mean shit. You have to know what you're doing. Sure, luck has something to do with it (trends/popularity), but luck is just when preparation meets opportunity.

I'd say its more popular/easier to practice law with a law degree instead of creating a brewery from the ground after you just spent 7 years of your life (and $$$) in higher education not related to owning a brewery.

I don't know for certain, but I'm guessing Mr. Rue had many a sleepless nights early on wondering if he was crazy taking such a gamble. I just don't see looking back in the year 2007/8 or whenever the plan came to fruition, that such a development (Barrels! 750ml only bottles!) was "easy money" or the popular thing to do. Far from it, especially in his situation. But God Bless him for taking the proverbial path less taken.

 

I've had Mother Funker twice and really enjoyed it. The random people I shared it with in line with at two separate events liked it too, and they weren't the type to say they liked something just to be nice.

 

Yeah, my point was the "Good-to-excellent representatives" one. They specialized in making really good versions of what people want at a high pricepoint, and they nailed it.

 

I think you have gotten some good responses here. For me, Black Tuesday was the launching point and was hyped beyond belief by a group of people who were motivated for whatever reason to make it the highest rated beer on BA. I can still remember the threads talking about what number it was on the top 100 and whe. It was going to become the highest rated beer.this was all before it was fully released. After BT, everyone wanted everything they made, whether it was good or not. Sheer geniuses actually. Hats off to them for making a name and ton of money quickly. Whether they stay in for the long haul is TBD.
R

 

I've argued vociferously in the past (to The Bruery) that they should adopt that practice. It's already most of the way there... the $300 price is maybe $125-$150 (going off memory) more than the cost of the beers they include in the membership already? Plus merchandise and (previously) party access.

At their rate of growth I'm not sure they need to pad, although they're certainly entitled to. Enforce a certain amount of purchasing and provide discounts and right of first refusal and call it a day. The growler bags and sweat shirts... sell them in your store to the hoi polloi and you'll make up any difference in "loss." It seems like the only misstep in the whole process... no one is joining for the swag, people get to complain that they're paying $300 just to buy beer and there's no shortage of interested Reserve Society members. I don't think they've improved on the winery model. Which isn't the same as saying there isn't a way to, but they haven't cracked it.

But yes... smart business model, great design, amazing customer service, consistently solid beers peppered with great ones, scratching beer geeks itches, creating new and INTERESTING sounding beers to attract non-craft beer fans who are interested in good food/wine, initial funding... my personal peccadilloes regarding their Reserve Society aside the fact that they created a club for their members (gives people ownership/investment)... they've just done so, so much right... and every time they've messed up they've owned it, fixed it, and moved on.

Frankly I'm shocked that no one has copied their model. There are plenty of other breweries going about being successful in many different ways, but it seems to me there's room for opportunity in the craft beer world for more breweries like the Bruery.

 

This. Their marketing and ability to create hype was critical to their success. Furthermore, their boutique strategy works because they got in the game at the right time, right when hardcore beer geekdom was exploding. Here's a few observations/theories about them:

- Their initial portfolio of beers, as well as most of the year round beer they make now, range from bad to mediocre. Add in that they were all really expensive and that's plenty of reasons to avoid them. For whatever reason, I heard about the hype back in late 08/early 09 and decided that I was going to try their lineup. I went to the store and bought one of everything they had. I drank dud after dud while wondering what the big deal was. To make matters worse, everything was ridiculously overcarbonated back then. No idea where this initial hype came from as this was prior to the coming of Black Tuesday.
- Black Tuesday made them successful. Given the quality and price of their common stuff, I could see no way in which they'd gather enough repeat purchasers to survive. What BT did was cause tons of beer geeks to want to try Bruery beers through sites like BA and word of mouth. Thus, the money they made off of BT in '09 was insignificant compared to the hoards of people wanting to try anything Bruery.
- They are the best hype machine in the business. Barrel aging like crazy, big stouts, sours, location in the very fertile hyping grounds of California --> crazy homerism --> profit, Reserve Society, Christmas vertical, anniverasy, hugely flavored beers (most of which I find overly boozy & cloying, but everyone seems to love this), etc.
- The RS itself is genious for so many reasons. Interest-free loan up front and incentives to throw more money at them throughout the year. I'm not much of a Bruery fan to be honest, but I signed up for the RS this year and have purchased tons of beers. The main reason I signed up for the RS was so I wouldn't have to go through the hassel of getting ***** trade after trade to try the most sought after stuff that they make. When beer gets the hype that many of their beers have, it's hard to subdue your curiosity even if you believe you won't enjoy it as much as the hype suggests you should. My second biggest reason for joining was that if I didn't enjoy a given beer myself, I could use them as solid trade bait. Some of you may be wondering why I purchased a ton of beers including the ones without hype or high trade value. The reason for that was because they do a great job at pandering to hardcore beer geeks. After reading descriptions of all the new beers they keep coming out with, it's impossible to not want to try them. Of course, if it's as good as it reads, you also need a few for the cellar to see how it develops. Then there is the fact that I'm going to buy new beers to try anyway, so why not get 15% off in the process.
- Patrick and the Bruery crew are a class act. Great customer service, attention to the wants of their customers, honesty, creativity, and great business sense.