Iconic Breweries Face Closures, Financial Hardship

Applaud the decision to drain pour beer you deemed not to meet your standards. IMHO any great brewery must have two things - (1) a talented brewer/brew staff AND (2) world class QC staff and standards.

The two go hand in hand and should never be compromised IMHO !!!

 

Very few breweries have "world class QC staff and standards" in their early days or if they stay small. If you want to say they shouldn't be regarded as great breweries because of that insufficiency, fine (not that I agree; in fact, I find that many of my favorite breweries are tiny, fly-by-seat-of-pants, experimental operations). But breweries absolutely should compromise on QC (in the sense of not having "world class QC staff and standards") if they can't afford it because of other high start-up costs or because of insufficient revenue to justify such expenses. Otherwise, unrealistic QC expectations would be a massive barrier to entry that would prevent consumers from getting a great deal of excellent product.

 

Permit me to posit there are differing ways to view the aspect of QC.

The ‘conventional’ way to view QC is via a set of established standards and a lab that can quantify metrics to objectively measure compliance to those established standards. A small brewery is not likely to have this sort of setup.

Having stated the above, QC can be implemented at a small brewery via a conscientious brewer and perhaps a small team of taste testers.

Perhaps a good ‘model’ here would be Hill Farmstead. When Shaun Hill first established Hill Farmstead in 2010 his physical brewery was very small and he had a very small staff (probably just himself initially). He was able to produce high quality beer from the get go since he was a very conscientious and knowledgeable brewer and had the mindset to only release beers that met his exacting standards. In 2015 due to customer demands he built out a new/expanded state of the art brewery and presently has a staff of 19 (and he does not have to be the brewer anymore).

In my personal opinion a small brewery can indeed implement QC via the conscientious demands of an exacting brewer and a small set of folks conducting taste testing.

Cheers!

 

One of the breweries mentioned in the original article has gone through some greater upheaval over the past few days.

https://www.syracuse.com/drinks/2019/10/armory-squares-empire-brewing-co-is-closed.html

And of course the landlord has added their own information, because why not?

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/brew...rd-responds-brewpub-owners-claims-untrue.html

 

I like their nitro draft cream ale, the rest of their beers are okay. I've visited the brewpub twice, last time about a year ago, and found it meh. Beer was okay, food was okay, staff was okay; fine if you're already in the area, but not worth a special trip.
Dinosaur BBQ is only 1/2 mile away with better food & beer.