Summit Brewing Co. Layoffs

Whoops BAD TYPO---that was supposed to be SNPA sales, not SNPA ales.

Big SNPA fan and SN fan overall.

 

Just got back from the Mills River SN brewery yesterday. As many have said, it's a palace...like a temple to American "craft" brewing. The beers were great (as usual): the draft SNPA was super fresh and tasty and the Koelsch and Dunkel were both pretty great. That said, it's amazing that all the points SN has going for it -- quality, freshness, price point, consistency -- ALL get overruled these days by the one point of a beer being hyper-local and having a story. SN is losing market share and has decreasing sales. As I walked the facility and the grounds with a beer in hand...marveling at it all...I couldn't shake the sense that for all of the money and history and quality and consistency, a lot of small, hyper-local folks now hold a type of trump card over places like SN, Stone, Summit, etc. etc. "Dynamic and confused" indeed....

 

Hopefully they continue their Unchained Series, and bring some of them into their regular lineup. I particularly liked Unchained Series Batch No. 23 - Dark Infusion (A Coffee Milk Stout). I think we're going to see an uptick in shakeups, layoffs, and buyout/sellouts in 2018.

Someone mentioned Stone - did they ever build the Hotel, or is that cancelled?

 

More general cost cutting not related to redundancies. Sorry for the bit of 'tude there.

 

Um. Dunkel?

 

Quite a nice one, in fact!

 

Dark Infusion was OUTSTANDING, IMHO. I shipped that to a few other beer nerds (“Lower Midwest”) and they loved it, too.

 

Can't wait for the IPA craze to slow down, then maybe we can start seeing beers like this. SN does Lagers well and I wish I had access to more of them.

 

The also had something they described as a mix between Glissade and Tumbler. Didn't try it, though.

 

I've still got some, maybe I'll crack one tonight to make sure it is still good.

 

No problem. I'm used to it. My feathers don't get ruffled easily.

 

well what are beer advocates members idea's for Summit? How about A "Help Summit Committee" this a a think tank group of beer advocate member beer genesis. .

 

I still probably buy more ounces of SN beer per month than anything else, but in a world with exponentially more breweries than there were in 1980 is there any possible way that SN (and others who came of age in the same rough time period) could realistically still be increasing sales or market share?

I like to think that their combination of competitive price, quality, and an evolving mix of old and new styles is going to keep them going strong for a long time to come. But I can't say I find the fact that I can also buy great beer that was made a few miles from my house these days anything to be disappointed about either.

 

Wasn't it about the same time they had leadership/CEO change?

 

Dark Infusion is returning in Nov 2018. I missed it the first time around but hope to be able to try it this time. Might be a bit tougher with the cutback in distribution, though.

 

Unfortunately tap and variety pack only.

 

You should stop in sometime if you are on a road trip south. They have a 20 bbl pilot system that you see on the right as you enter the taproom, fermenter on the left, including some open fermenters in a clean room. They pilot brew beers, and have some old favorites for the taproom. I see the Dunkel, a Doppelbock, and the Kölsch on the list.
https://sierranevada.com/brewery/north-carolina/taproom

 

The stout is not even on tap at the brewery.

Enjoy

 

Brew a good NE IPA, that's all it would take

 

Make spirit foul your copy cat goal and play ball