IPA Factory Breweries

It's certainly a unique time to be discussing what's at distro, but I think you make a good point. I guess the big question to ask is are these breweries that you would expect to be offered at a premium on site also coming in at a premium in distro?

Here's what I got available at my LBS from places we don't see regularly:
Vitamin Sea SIPA - $20
Civil Society SIPA - $17
Civil Society DIPA - $19
J Wake Collab w/ EQ IPA - $20
J Wake DIPA - $23

The reason I pose this question is does the pricing contribute to the lingering on shelves? Your customers don't have the benefit of trying before buying that you may have on site at the brewery. You also have more competition AND you're going against local breweries. Aslin's beers are cheaper than all of these comparatively. I can get OTWOA for $9/4-12 oz cans. Is there some what of a self fulfilling prophesy when you send to distro. I mean I know the distributors are taking a cut and the retailer is taking a cut, but usually that's marked up standard on wholesale prices, right?

 

I like the topic, too.

But for discussion I would argue, as I order another round, that perhaps the difference that might affect both our perceptions is that 5+ years ago, I had (let’s say) 10 local brewers trying for my $$. Now I have 30-40 plus the distributed breweries you mention.

It’s funny, I sorta learned through BA (members’ posts and magazine) the importance of flagships or at the very least, something customers could count on. A lot of new places around here during the “great expansion” had the “never brew the same beer twice” mentality. What I thought was a nice policy I soon learned to chuckle at.

Returning to the argument...
If I have 40 breweries trying to produce a new beer every week; and I’m not sure I’m gonna like it; at it costs $20 per 64oz...

I might choose one or two. That’s 5% tops (assuming one beer from each brewery) with 40 breweries vs 20% with 10.

Okay, even I realize I’m wandering and rambling a tad and might cringe reading this later, but I think I had a point in there. Maybe I don’t need that round I ordered us

 

Craig, permit me to explore this concept a bit more.

I personally was always a tad leery about breweries thinking they need to continually brew new brands. My thinking was: if you just continually produce new brands how do you refine and nail down the quality of the beer? And you want me to pay 20+ bucks for a four-pack of beer you never brewed before? Just seemed like a risky proposition from my personal perspective.

Cheers!

 

Certainly, your mileage may vary. In my experience the prices at distro are not vastly different than they were at the brewery. Granted, I wasn't one of the folks lining up, or driving across the (massive) city for these beers. But I still see them on store shelves in the $15-$20 range.

 

I won't argue with you, other than to explain my bolded statement. I was speaking towards my mentality at the time being a bit more towards trying to experience everything I could - not really a ticker mentality, but not necessarily unlike it.

That said, I early thought breweries should balance the two - have a core set of beers and a set of changing beers, be it seasonal, experimental, or whatever.

I think there was a thread a few years ago that was something along the lines of, "could a brewery survive on only seasonal beers?" I actually think that would be an interesting model, presuming the seasonal beers were consistent. I think even the once stalwarts of "never repeat" fell into some version of that model - though I might replace "seasonal" with "random/rotating" in many cases.

 

From what I am seeing the IPA bubble has burst. And before the pandemic I had trouble taking some family and friends to breweries, particularly the newer ones, because the lineup was IPA heavy and they don't like them (and in some cases the few non IPAs a place had they had already tried and thought were just okay and/or wanted to go where they could try some new beers/styles).

Once the pandemic hit the beers on the shelves started to sit after the people who drank a lot at first started to level out their consumption. And let's face it, how different do IPAs taste from one to another? I think people figured out that they could be fine with a SN Hazy Little Thing vs spending $15+ on the latest four pack that may not taste that different.

So...yes, breweries that are IPA factories will need to adapt sooner than later.

Edit: and for me one IPA factory brewery that comes to mind is Sixpoint. How many hazy beers does one need to make?! It seems like every time I pass a shelf I see another. I have tried a few and have enjoyed them but it seems a little excessive at this point.

 

I find this statement hits home, as I have found myself on occasion debating locale, participants, and brewery portfolio when deciding where to go.

 

I saw $29.99 for a four pack of EQ near me and they do seem like an IPA factory. A friend called them the "best brewery in the tri-state area" of NY/NJ/CT. When almost 200 of a brewery's 250 or so beers are IPAs, that doesn't tell me much and I have a hard time agreeing that an IPA factory like that is superior to a brewery that brews quality beer across all styles, especially lagers or even Belgian styles. Diversity in a brewery's portfolio is one thing that makes a brewery great.

Few things are as annoying when visiting a brewery for the first time is seeing 9 out of 12 beers being IPAs (with maybe a Pale Ale).

I agree with @JackHorzempa on Stone...how many different labels/names or "Enjoy by" dates can they slap on a slightly different IPA?

I don't hate IPAs, I like them. But when I roll up to a brewery for the first time and they've got a Dubbel or a Dark Lager or Kölsch or even a Bock, that brewery is much more interesting.

 

First brewery that comes to mind after reading the initial post is New Trail. They do brew great beers, but I’m starting to see their stuff sit on the shelf at my local spot.

I don’t think they ever had lines, but their stuff got popular quickly and they expanded their footprint.

Will still get their stuff from time to time because it’s good, but I also start to wonder about their consistency.

Have been sticking to Sierra Nevada, Stone, Tröegs, etc. lately since I can always count on them to be consistently good.

 

New Belgium immediately came to mind. All they seem to make are voodoo variants

 

I can throw in my opinion: Proc makes very good beer and is worthy of purchase. However for those that drank them religiously at their initial taproom in West Kingston, the water seemed to change for the worse in Warwick. For example, my initial tasting of Stalk DIPA years ago was an OMG moment, but despite a lot of tinkering it just hasn't been the same up north.

Most of their weird one-offs I actually dig, and they are at their best when doing some crazy creative shit. Trope isn't everyone's cup of tea but I'm a big fan.

However, they are the closest brewery to me and I would continue to patronize them even if they only released their foeder beers (love these).

 

It's one thing to make occasional drops into different regions. The scarcity factor makes product move quicker. With Covid, so many other breweries doing the same thing, AND drops becoming more frequent...it's becoming more of a problem for these breweries.

 

I didn't realize Vitamin Sea had started distributing. I really like their beers but like other breweries mentioned in this thread all they do are IPAs, fruited sours, and the occasional stout. Hoping they can stick around and aren't heading towards the "Uh now what" step.

 

So for these IPA factories - does this mean figuring out a few flagships and honing on costs/consistency to get to a certain price point and become people's regular?

 

I don't know how much they distribute. They had previously been sending kegs down to the area for mostly the NRG bars, which is the main beer centric restaurant group in the DC area. We hadn't seen cans show up in retail until now, I believe.