Are Shipyard and Magic Hat struggling?

Either that or you guys are both losers with nothing else to do in life

 

Or that.

 

Haha, touché.

But what does that say about those that respond to it?

Pointless conversation aside, here's some actual information on Shipyard.

https://shipyard.com/shipyard-brewing-celebrates-20-years-of-pumpkinhead/

According to this article on their site from August 2017 pumpkin ale sales had been declining. I can't imagine they got any better in the last year.

Despite a recent pumpkin beer backlash and shrinking sales of about 10% over the past three years for packaged fall seasonals (according to 2014-2016 IRI data), Forsley doesn’t buy the pumpkin-beers-are-dead predictions. “We’re going to squash that thinking,” he says, “and grow our Pumpkinhead sales this year.”

Shipyard is conducting efforts to boost its 2017 Pumpkinhead sales. The brewery is expanding a Pumpkinhead Glass Rimmer program that had a successful debut last year at New England grocery chain Kappy’s. This year two more northeast grocery chains — Hannaford and Market Basket — are carrying the rimmer kits, which hold a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar and a circular tray for dusting the mix onto the rim of a glass.

 

Thereby confirming that pumpkin beers are actually a spice beer...

 

Don't go using facts to build an argument. Just sit back and enjoy how a thread like this brings in the beer snobs from the whole country to our New England forum to tell us how these breweries suck even though they've never consumed one of their beers.

 

I've always thought Pumpkinhead was one of the better pumpkin beers out there, mainly because it doesn't really taste like pumpkin.

 

Yeah I actually thinks it tastes alright. Not bad that it’s also 4.5% too. Unlike how most are imperial strength.

 

New England grocery chain Kappy’s.......hilarious

 

I won't miss Shityard but I can see Magic Hat getting better only if Alan Newman is able to wrest it back from the current owners. Otherwise, they're doomed to mediocre-ville.

 

Magic Hat isn't even on my radar. The last beer of theirs I bought was their Dropkick Murphys-themed pub ale, which I actually enjoyed. It helps that I'm a huge Murphys fan. Other than that, I haven't bought another Magic Hat product since.

 

I like Monkey Fist and Smashed Pumpkin from Shipyard. Magic Hat I dont really like any of their standards and their labeling still sucks.

 

When I went to Burlington not once did I think, “Man, I gotta go to Magic Hat.”

And it’s not as if I’m a haze bro either, I made it a point to go to Von Trapp on that trip.

Compare that to something like Harpoon here in Boston. If I wasn’t local and was visiting, I’d consider visiting their beer hall if I was in the Seaport area.

In terms of Portland, everyone has mentioned Shipyard, but I wonder how Gritty’s is doing, or Sebago. I still love Gritty’s Blackfly Stout, if I can ever find it.

 

I plan to visit Seabago next time I go. I always think I should try more of their stuff, soley because their 2015 or 2016 (can't recall) canned BBA barleywine was one of the best of the style I've had.

 

I’ve actually never been. I’ve always meant to. Always too busy looking for Shipyard.

Two trips ago I did go to Gritty’s though.

 

Gritty stoped distributing I think in the spring. It was announced on Facebook. Can get 22’a at the breweries I think still

 

Yeah, they got out of the retail distribution business which was subcontracted to Shipyard late last winter and, yes, you can buy the 22s they bottle in Freeport at their Portland and Freeport locations.


They been concentrating on their Pubs and doing some interesting things. Recently there’s been a “County Wet Hop” ale which is made with Aroostook County (for the geographically impaired it’s the large county at the top of Maine) barley and freshly cut hops. It’s pretty good.

 

It doesn't really matter how many places you see a beer on tap or if it sells well at certain places. Smuttynose Finest kind was found on many taps but they went bankrupt. It doesn't even completely matter how good the beer is, its more about doing things to keep people interested. I'm not sure either Magic Hat or Shipyard are doing anything to keep people interested. It definitely does matter that the typical beer vacationer to Portland doesn't see Shipyard in craft beer bars. You may trip over it in every other restaurant or bar in Portland but if you aren't getting new eyes on your beers your business is shrinking. By new eyes I do mean craft beer drinkers. BA drinkers might be in a bubble but we talk about beer a lot. We talk about it to our non BA friends, we talk about it on social media, even if its not about a specific brand its still about specific styles. It is a form of marketing.

Has anyone been to Wachussett brewery lately? A nice solid mid 90's brewery that for a long time brewed the same beers they've been making for over 20 years. A little over a year ago they came out with Wally their NE IPA. Kind of like the Sam Adams NE IPA, not horrible but nothing too exciting. I went there in March 2017 and they had a small bar with their old lineup and a few of their Wally variants. I happened to be passing by this weekend and popped my head in. What a difference. They've got a big indoor/outdoor beer hall and the place was packed at 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon. Tons of different beer options and food (not just NE IPA's, I had an ok barrel aged stout). The beer was still pretty mediocre but they certainly have figured out how to get people to visit them. By 5:30 they had a second parking lot across the street starting to fill up. They had a brew garden in Boston over the summer and they market their beer names to entice local consumers (especially the non BA crowd). I'm probably not going to go out and buy their beer but I'll probably talk about their brewery. Its not a bad place to visit. I can guarantee I'll be back at some point maybe with my more non BA type friends. The only mentions of Magic Hat's Brewery have been how weird it is. In 1999 when I went up to Burlington, VT I was actually planning to visit Magic Hat (ended up having to skip going due to a snow storm). Last summer when I was up in Burlington Magic Hat wasn't even on the radar. Same thing when I was up in Portland this summer, Shipyard wasn't on the radar. The difference is I probably would avoid Magic Hat whereas I probably would have went into Shipyard if we walked by it. IMHO Shipyard could maybe succeed with a little more effort. The point of all of this is if you want to know whether a brewery is failing, try to think of the last time you heard about them or saw their marketing. If its a long time then they probably are not doing very well or they are at least in danger.