Which brewery is the next Sam Adams?

I think stone, sierra, deschutes, bells, founders, rogue, and a few other big dogs should get together to form a super brewery and establish world dominance. Head brewer would be either Dr. evil or a belgian monk

 

Sierra Nevada just made a billion so they are already there. DOGFISH HEAD - NEW BELGIUM - LAGUNITAS - BLUE MOON are all chasing it nationally.

 

Stone's hop niche is similar to Ommegangs Belgian niche. While grande and all, it's unsustainable in and of itself. They have a limited choice and eventually embrace other styles to remain competitive. While Stone may have an emphasis on hop bombs, they have still proven capacity to evolve.

Stone is my favorite brewery. I am equally as much a critic of Stone. I want to see Stone continue the success they have earned as much as I want another pint of Xocoveza! Why should I not want this for all around the globe?? I don't see a logical argument against mass distribution.

If Stone was to became as large as AbInBev, all I can say is Hell Yeahz!!

 

If any brewery could solve the riddle of winning over hearts and minds of BMC Lagerheads, IT WOULD BE STONE!

 

yeah ... what this guy says, which is to say: Isn't Sierra Nevada already the next "Sam Adams"? Only cooler and less whiney about their own success?

Founders and Firestone Walker are becoming more and more entrenched in Texas, which makes me think they're closing in on the Boston Beer Company's basically-BMC numbers. And that's not such a bad thing.

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Brooklyn yet.

 

"Fort Collins, CO-based New Belgium Brewing Company, known for its Flat Tire ale, sold about 765,000 barrels of beer last year."

 

A brewery that is brewing to capacity in it's original CO brewery and not yet completed construction on its east coast faculty and so doesn't have the extra beer to ship to another, populous state?

Possibly you are referring to the Wall Street Journal's estimate of Ken Grossman total worth after 35 years in the brewing industry? Sierra Nevada did not make a "billion" last year - even the WSJ noted that the revenue (not profit) of SN was only $250 million for 2014.

That's what I would have thought, too. The Schaefer-built brewery they run in eastern PA once had a capacity listed at 5 - 6 million (it varied between Schaefer and Stroh ownership) and when they first moved into they noted that they didn't even brew a full batch sized to brew kettles, instead opting for 600-700 bbl. vs a full 1,000 barrel batch. Yet, early news reports about the purchase mentioned (one assume based on BBC's own info) the brewery would increasing BBC's total capacity by only 1.6 to 2 million. Possibly because they aged their lagers much longer than the previous "macro" owners? Or changes made under later ownership by Pabst and Diageo?

Since then they've added more fermentation and agin tanks according to several news reports and their own announcements, yet the most recent Annual Report noted that "This reliance on its own breweries exposes the Company to capacity constraints, as these breweries are operating at or close to current capacity in peak months ..." and they mention that they continue to maintain the ability to contract at City's breweries in Latrobe and LaCrosse and that's born out on some current BBC labels:


The amazing growth of their cider and FMB business (much of which seems to be coming out of Cincinnati and, I think, some from contractors?) is probably contributing to it. Their latest quarterly report (Oct. '14) predicted "Full-year 2014 estimated depletion growth remain unchanged at between 20% and 24%" which would put their entire production (beer, cider, FMB) pretty close to, if not over, 4 million barrels.

 

According to the NB timeline, http://www.newbelgium.com/community/ashevillebrewery/faq.aspx , their NC brewery will come online at the end of the year.

 

Stone, Sierra Nevada and Victory to name a few.

 

I wonder what happened to those 3 steel bins that each held 350,000 lb of corn grits?

 

Stone because they make entry-level craft brews

 

Definitely Sierra Nevada if they want it. They are already distributed in all states, which is not the case for New Belgium. They also have name recognition and diverse packaging covering all the formats, with very competitive pricing. They put out a solid lineup, with very innovative production methods. I appreciate that they focus on things like modernizing the IPA with a year round fresh hop, vs some fried banana and peanut butter sandwich ice cream smoked maple stout.

 

Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Stone, and just maybe Anchor.

 

True and I'd love to try there attempts

 

I'm guessing in five years time the Top 5 will be:

1) Boston Beer Co
2) Sierra Nevada
3) New Belgium
4) Lagunitas
5) Stone

 

i think Stone's Euro brewery is going to be a game changer for them, and give them a leg up in race. like Lag and Sierra they're going to have an East Coast brewery. but they're the first to go into Europe which i think is going to be huge for them. thus, i'm gonna say Stone

 

Barrel aged Narwhal, Big Foot,Ovila, and that maple stout?

 

Year round releases. Sam Adams doesn't have the world class anything that's everyday either, but they hit them market at the right time. Timing and good publicity and advertising. Just my opinion on this.