Summit Brewing Co. Layoffs

Not all that unexpected from an employment perspective given them pulling out of so many states recently.

My concern is their production trends. How much of their production estimate miss was from pull out of those states in May? At the time they spun pulling out of the other states as meeting demand in the home market. Looks like demand wasn't as strong as they thought.

 

Looks like they've been both contracting as far as their distribution footprint and yearly barrelage, so this makes sense. Their volume was down about 22K bbl in 2016 (129K) as compared to 2015 (151K).

Anyone seeing anything else like this at other bigger breweries across the country?

 

An abundance of beer is great thing in terms of turning a weekend with no plans into one of exploration and ABV influenced discovery. The flip side of that coin is that it thins out the craft beer market and unavoidably invites some less-than-stellar beers into the scene.

 

Was definitely sad to see them pull out of PA. Very solid beers that were a good value.

 

Perhaps, raising the price on their 12 packs at around the same time Surly introduced 12 packs wasn't a great idea. Surly has a lot of fanboys some of whom may have been buying Summit as a value purchace, but aren't anymore as the value isn't the same as it used to be.

 

That's for sure. For most of the beer that I've tasted from newer startups, I'd say that calling the beers "less than stellar" is being very charitable.

 

"CEO Mark Stutrud told the journal that the company is “adjusting to the market,” which he described as dynamic and confused.

"He added that the rate of sales has slowed down locally because there are just so many choices for beer drinkers at the bar and the liquor store."

Dynamic and confused -- that sounds like a great tagline for the 2018 beer scene.

Summit is one of my favorite, old-time micros that I've enjoyed from the early days and I'm always looking for good stuff from them. Hope this isn't a sign of trouble to come.

 

These announcements don't surprise me.

Impressed with SN as one of the biggest that continues to make new products and bring back old favorites. Sure SNPA ales aren't what they were but that hasn't stopped a line of new things--some hits and some not. I for one thought the Fresh Hop pack was good. Would buy one again next year.

Seems like Stone in a position for this kind of thing. Seems they have lost their luster.

 

Stone had their layoffs a little over a year ago. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/stone-brewing-announces-restructuring-layoffs.456685/

 

I wonder if Summit did not receive the 'memo' that they should 're-balance' their portfolio to add more hoppy beers (with fruit additions) like Stone, Sierra Nevada, Victory,... are doing?

Or maybe they should adopt the drink local strategy like Melvin Brewing: https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...s-to-open-additional-brewpubs-in-2018.551093/

Cheers!

 

That's CEO-speak for "We expanded too quickly into other markets before we fully understood them. We also didn't establish the relationships that we should have on the distributor side of things, so a move that initially looked to expand our sales volume actually served to decrease it."

Agreed.

 

I remember that. The difference was that Stone was still growing when they made those layoffs, IIRC. They just had positions that became redundant when their Richmond brewery came online.

I wonder if there are breweries that are declining in sales/volume that have made these same types of reductions in workforce?

 

Um, no, that really wasn't it.

 

When we lived in MN, Summit was only a short drive away. We always thought of them as a solid mid-tier craft brewer with a consistent, if not world-class, year-round line up. We saw flashes of brilliance in their more limited edition brews, tempered by the ones that fell a little short. Summit had none of the panache of Surly and lacked the 100 years of German lager experience of Schells. Going too afar afield from their midwest base was, in retrospect, their undoing. Great Minnesota-nice guys, maybe a little out of their depth.

 

Ironic that I read about this just after I opened and started drinking a Saga. Obviously a shame for the employees involved. I hope Summit can regain its footing and resume growing.

 

1. Take Saga
2. Make it hazy
3. ??????
4. Profit!!!!

 

I have to remember to pick up a six pack of their beer next time I'm at the liquor store - they are good people and Mark has good taste in music.

 

OK. What was it, then?

 

Really??? I think that your palate is not what it once was.
Sierra Nevada's ales are every bit as good as they were (even better...given the current trends in "small brewing" and the infected or downright poorly made, unbalanced, and experimental slop that so many of the "local" brewers are selling.
I'm confident that SN will outlast most of those.