Are Shipyard and Magic Hat struggling?

Can't say that's surprising. Haven't had many beers that were enjoyable from either brewery, and there are so many other amazing brewery options in the New England area now.

 

They made 80K+ and 155K+ bbl last year, respectively. I think they're probably doing OK.

 

Production alone is hardly a barometer of financial success. How much did Smuttynose produce in 2017 and look what happened to them. (I just looked it up, 32k barrels it looks like, so maybe not the best example, but point still stands).

 

Magic Hat is owned be a Costa Rican company and has been for the past 6 years ago. Shipyard is selling its equipment to redevelop the site into something new. https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05...-plan-means-loss-of-jobs-at-downtown-brewery/

 

Not surprising. Both breweries are awful.

 

Oh . . . no doubt. I simply wouldn't think that they are on hard times or struggling, is all, and contract brewing and selling equipment definitely aren't signs that a brewery is doing poorly.

 

Contract brewing, especially. That is frequently a sign of growth beyond current capacity.

 

Exact-a-mundo.

 

I cannot fathom how either of these places still exist. Brand equity from the 90s and early 00s can only take you so far on the best of days, but that equity expires even more quickly in cities like Portland and Burlington where the options are myriad.

They haven't even tried to adapt with the times like other long-tenured breweries (think Long Trail, Saranac or Founders) and don't have the marketing presence of a Sam Adams that keeps putting their names in front of new eyeballs.

tl;dr Can't imagine either lasts much longer, and good riddance.

 

If they (Magic Hat) are contract brewing beer for other breweries, that means they have excess capacity that is not being used, not the other way around.

 

Definitely. I depends on whether they are having their beers contract brewed or if they are contract brewing for others. I don't know which it is.

 

I don't drink beer from either, but I'm not in the demographic that keeps them afloat, obviously. I think a lot of times beer geeks don't realize that there's a whole world of beer consumers out there that don't care about beer on the same level that we do.

 

I think the big thing is that there are so many different options now. They aren't one the few things around anymore. Due to the changes happening at Shipyard, barrel aging more stuff and shifting to some of the more popular style (even if they are undrinkable by some), will keep them going. I also challenge anyone to walk into Shipyard on a Fri/Sat night and find a spot to stand. At least the last time I was there earlier this year it was packed. For all of the new and crazy stuff in the Portland area, there are times when a good classic beer is better than any of the current craze stuff. I can't speak much for Magic Hat but feel the same way. My sister would probably buy them before they closed as that was her beer.

Plus with all the colleges back in session up here it is funny watching them in the beer stores in the Bangor area. You have the party goes buying but-light and then the wannabe beer snobs buying Shipyard/Magic Hat/Sam's seasonal packs. Very few "younger" people buy what I would call the more acceptable beers here. That being said I still buy Shipyard/Sam's stuff from time to time when I am not brewing.

 

There's probably something to be said for having your beer almost everywhere. That's the business model for a lot of the larger regional breweries. You don't have to compete with the latest and greatest if your beer is for sale in places where theirs isn't.

From what I keep reading, lots of breweries of that scope are struggling a little. It's not that they're suddenly getting their asses handed to them, but that many budgeted for the growth that they had in previous years. Those days appear to be over for the moment. Hence many are having to change their strategic approaches.

 

Ive always been interested in the fate of some of the more mediocre early craft breweries. To me someone like Long Trail or (surprisingly) Thomas Hooker, have done a good job of staying relevant in a market that is much much more completive than when they started. To me the beer at Magic Hat and Shipyard is really not very good though.... Even 10 years ago, I found myself not very excited to drink anything by these brewers. Both represent a different (and simpler) time and place in the history of craft brewing imo.

 

Yes... I read it the other way around... and I have no information whatsoever on what they are actually doing.

 

It’s the lingering curse of Allen Puglsey and his Ringwoood recipes. Most people associate the Ringwood emparted flavor w/awful beer - they just don’t know that’s the primary cause. While the yeast has probably been used for 100s of years it’s unlikely to survive much longer in the US craft market.

 

Kind of a bummer, I do have a certain nostalgia for Magic Hat and their sort of whimsical/anti-bro brand identity, but... at some point you need to have a competitive product, and they just don't.