A question regarding "boutique" beers/breweries

I can't see myself drinking a Marshal Zhukov or Sucaba to cut the grass

 

What makes you think Jai Alai or Pivo Pils isn't making these breweries any money?

Although I can't answer this question definitively, I still believe doing something like this would not benefit brewers like Firestone Walker.

 

If I wasn't feeling uber-lazy at the moment, I'd go to the Google and find that brewery in CO that's specializing in various and sundry German recipes.

Somebody up top mentioned that from a home-brewer's perspective, one style specialization would be boring. I can see that…however, I also like the idea of breweries doing one thing really well (aka Logsden saisons).

 

You would drink half before cutting the grass and half after.

 

Everyone go look up The Ale Apothecary and De Garde, but especially Apothecary.

That is the definition of a boutique beer.

Mashing, open fermentation, conditioning, and dry-hopping all take place in oak barrels. Hand branded barrels. Hand picks wild dates to put in his beers. The guy hand built a Finnish Kuurna out of a 200 year old Spruce tree on his property. The man is insane, but so are his beers.

 

Almanac's recent announcement to focus on the boutique stuff is especially apropos to the original question.

"So, we’re making it official: Oak-aged beer will be the heart of the brewery and sour fruit beers will remain the foundation of this program. We will release a new barrel-aged beer every month in 2014 and beyond."

With apparently less emphasis on their "Honey Saison, Extra Pale Ale and Biere de Chocolat".

 

If Cigar City stopped producing Jai Alai, I'd probably stop buying from Cigar City.

 

You have to make what most people want most of the time. I've had a four-pack of Backwoods Bastard last me since November. Hands down one of my favorite beers of all time. But I have no idea how many Smuttynose IPAs and SNPAs I've had between November and now.

Part of what makes 'boutique beers' special is that they're, well, special. I, for one, have no desire to see proportionally more barrel programs. Like @Providence, I'd rather see more session (>4%) beers that have a multitude of flavors and complexity from skillful brewing practices and recipe development and not just mountains of late-addition hops or souring.

 

"Beer Geek Economics 101" - why don't breweries make more rare beer?

This quickly moves into BGE 102 - why won't a brewery expand to allow distribution to [INSERT MY STATE].

As others have pointed out - CCB stops making Jai Alai = bad thing.

 

Using Cigar City as an example and to answer the question: money. That was easy.

I'm all for CCB to stop production of their beers that I don't care for and up the production of the best ones. However, they continue to make beers only because people are buying them. Even if a certain style isn't a money-maker or home run, it can still be profitable long-term if it is the style that introduces new people to CCB.

If your main point is that you want more of the best beers all available then your focus point should be how can these smaller breweries expand successfully (take the big production leap) without going under.

We are about to see what could be a gateway model (BrewHub) for CCB to expand without having to cough up all the risk and $. Should be fun to see if they ramp up production of the best stuff or just get Jai Alai to a lot more places nationally.

 

Its because of this brewery ive been on a relentless search for (decent priced) barrels because I want to rip the top off and ferment in them ... and searching on how to make a Kuurna!

Ive posted this a thousand times on BA - but Ale Apothecary is simply amazing. Something id use as an "idol" if I were to ever open a brewery. Or Gabe up at Anchorage Brewing. Keep it small enough where you make a profit, produce amazing beer, and still enjoy doing it.

Places like Lagunitas on constant growth its likely making its employees more money, but at what mental cost?
Not picking on them, because they make some tasty beer...but I prefer the hard work that the "nano" brewers put into each bottle. Places like Ale Apothecary, Anchorage, Fantome, deGarde, (you get where I am going), each have a literal hand on each bottle. While its likely exhausting for them, their dedication seems to show in their product and its something that helps me enjoy the beer even more. I completely appreciate their tireless dedication to the craft.

 

Core beers are there to keep the lights on.

 

On another note to follow up on the OP - it seems like many breweries are going that small batch route - I mean look at Perennial - not even a large brewery by any means, and they have an off shoot/gypsy brewing (aptly names "Side Project") focusing on small batch hand crafted unique beer. It must be a tough thing to balance the art of brewing, and making money for your family -

I assuming Cigar City will never stop making Jai Alai (and man I hope they don't). It must cost them cents to make each can of delicious IPA and several dollars to make each bottle of Hunapu. I think they can make the big stouts (in such large quantities) because of the success of Jai Alai.

 

I don't think that breweries make their brewing decisions based on what we say in discussion forums, but rather on what we say with our purchasing dollars at the beer stores and bars.

 

The time thing is more about keeping space tied up than money. I know of a couple of small breweries that struggle to keep up with demand for their product because they just don't have room to produce more. Wine is a totally different beast with a much higher start up cost. Wine makers generally grow their own grapes, so the have vinyards and lots room for barrels. A lot of breweries are in warehouses in fairly urban areas.

 

I have heard a few head brewers say they like to drink a certain beer at the end of the shift, like Pivo Pils.

I have heard a head brewer say that his top seller named Fat Tire pays the bill, and lets them do other things like La Follie.

Founders is one of the favorites on this site. The top selling beer is - All Day IPA. It replaced Centennial. Not the beers you were looking for.

Bells Hopslam is a fast seller for them, I read they made 5500 barrels this year, which is more than many breweries produce. Oberon is a beer that many on this site do not like. My local Bells rep the pre-orders for Oberon day on March 24 were more than what Shorts, the 4 largest brewery in MI, makes in a year.

There are small producers mentioned above that are doing what the OP proposed. I think they are happy to be making beer, enough money to live on, and may have no desire to expand beyond a certain point. I know a guy who is making boutique, 1 bbl batches of barrel aged beers that have been creative and very flavorful, while also drinkable. He still has a day job, and has put 2 batches on the market.
http://drinkoldfecker.com/fecker.html

Heady Topper gets a lot of love. It is about all Achemist makes, 9000 bbl a year. In the video link of a Q and A with homebrewers, John Kimmich was asked if that was boring. His reply was, "Do you ever get tired of having sex?"

For the OP - you need to get to know some brewers and ask about the business. I am rambling.

 

I need to get it together and visit my cousin in Bend.

 

Economies of Scale.

See: http://www.economicshelp.org/microessays/costs/economies-scale/

 

The answer most often given, including in this thread, is "profit margins." However, that answer is totally outdated, by at least a couple of years.

It used to be, nobody knew whether or not the market would bear $30+ for a bottle of beer; at least, not on a wide scale. But I think now the way these limited release beers are going, the market will easily bear much more than that. For example - if KBS retails for $10/bottle, a lot of people will bitch and moan, and it will still sell out in less than a day. If the same amount of KBS retailed for $20/bottle, I wager it would still sell out in a day. There is always a price ceiling, and of course economics tells us that enough extra production of the beer would no longer support as high of a price ceiling, but the fact remains that they could very easily both make more KBS, and sell it for significantly higher prices than they do currently. I think the reason they don't is the same reason a lot of breweries don't - a huge part of their success has been due to a loyal local fan base that buys up a lot of seasonal and year-round offerings at reasonable prices. I think they COULD alienate that customer base and still be financially successful, but they choose not to because they are financially successful now, AND serve the local community.

Now, I think all of this is headed to a point where staples like Oberon and All-Day IPA, to name two brought up in this thread, no longer enjoy nationwide sales, and come out of widespread distribution as more and more local breweries, some of which will make better beer, crop up and crowd them out of the marketplace. Beer seems to be one of those things that people prefer to buy locally. This may force breweries like Founders to adapt and pump out more of their specialty brands. Part of me suspects that a lot of mid-size breweries will end up in 10 or 20 years cursing all of the expanding they are currently doing, but that's another discussion for another time.

 

Just to point out that Bells only distributes to about 19 states and DC, not nationally. Founders will be in 31 states and DC in Aptil. Not national in either case.

I don't see these 2 getting crowded out.