Do you mind when breweries refuse to grow or expand?

Have you tried cutting a multi-million dollar check to give or loan (at or better than current rates) these breweries for new equipment, increased capacity space, additional employees and land so they can expand? I'm sure many (but, granted, not all) would jump at the chance.

 

Can you give us examples of breweries that "refuse to expand?" Thanks.

Edit: Leaving off your list those who don't have access to the resources mentioned by jesskidden...

 

I only get mad when it's a brewery whose beer I want but is not currently available in my market.

 

Yes. Russian River immediately comes to mind.

 

If they are comfortable doing it the way they are doing it, why would they want/need to change? It seems like there would be a lot of stress and effort involved in expanding, and I'm sure not everyone is up to the challenge.

 

"El Bulli should have had a drive-thru!"

I don't mind at all. I don't understand why a brewery is somehow obliged to expand just because the demand is there. If a brewery has hit its stride under a certain operation, what's wrong with them just being content with that? Furthermore, I don't really see some selfish benefit conferred by the brewery by doing so.

 

Seriously - how selfish of them to not put millions of dollars into expansion of their brewery at a pace you deem appropriate to expand to a size that you deem appropriate.

 

Part of Russian River's recipe for success is their limited footprint. By that, I mean that they are able to more reliably ensure freshness of beers like Pliny. If they started shipping Pliny nationwide, they would lose that edge and be very similar to breweries like Lagunitas (IMO). After all, Hop Stoopid and Pliny aren't that far off in terms of quality & price, but finding fresh Hop Stoopid can be quite a chore.

 

Have you ever owned a brewery (or any business for that matter)? There could be anyone of a million different reasons as to why a successful brewery owner would choose not to expand his/her operation so to call them selfish without really knowing why just isn't right.

 

Do you know what you're asking for in terms of expansion in the case of New Glarus? This year they are on pace to sell 108,000 barrels in Wisconsin alone - about a barrel for every 53 people in the state. Extrapolate those numbers to the whole country, and they'd have to be about three times the size of freaking Sam Adams. Even if they only expanded to Illinois, delivering the same market saturation there would force them to become the fourth-largest craft brewery in the country.

Face it: New Glarus has been expanding as rapidly as any brewery in the country. They recently moved into a brand new, much larger brewery, and they've already announced plans to add on in order to expand capacity by almost 50%. They're as growth-oriented as anyone else; they just happen to be located in a very, very thirsty state.

 

Russian River should expand. They don't have to become The Bruery or Stone, but their current distribution is just silly. They could pick a few choice markets that would have broad regional appeal. For example, Atlanta. By distributing to a handful of the better stores in Atlanta (Greens, Hop City, Ale Yeah and Tower), they could theoretically reach the entire south-eastern market while only needing to supply 4-6 stores. Atlanta's airport is the busiest in the world and Atlanta itself is a major hub in the South.

 

You could just write them a letter or email and ask them all this, your not going to get an answer from BA members you want any way. Put yourself in their shoes. They are happy with things as it is. Maybe they know about their market better than you do?

Long ago I knew if I wanted something but I could not get it,
A: do without
B: go to where it is.
C: trade for it
D: bitch and whine
E: try to find it for sell online
F: do nothing

Which one gets you the beer?

 

Care to elaborate on the way in which not expanding is selfish?

 

Because he can't get their beer without trading possible... How dare them inconvenience him like that!

 

Isn't it obvious? Every beer geek is entitled to have easy access to every sought-after beer, and breweries that are too lazy to make it easy for us are being selfish jerk-faced jerks.

 

Yes. But it is clearly outrageously expensive to expand. New Belgium's new brewery in Asheville is projected to cost well over 100 million dollars. Although most breweries aren't as big, it still costs a great deal of money. They key to this is- they probably don't have hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars laying around in cash. So this means they have to take out loans and pay interest as well as possibly lose a percentage of their company to investors. For many breweries, who are already doing what they love while financially staying afloat, it is just too much of a hassle.