A Brewers Roundtable: Insights on Changes in the Beer Industry

I’m seeing this being advertised with increasing regularity as well. Every time I browse a brewery website I see “book an event” or something similar. I believe that breweries are focusing too much on becoming child-friendly party places rather than putting out good beer.

 

We rented out the local brewery for our fantasy football draft on a Tuesday night. It was great fun.

With all the economic challenges that come with operating a brewery, in an inflationary market, I think it’s smart business to generate some extra income from events. Especially during “off peak” nights.

 

That was an excellent interview Q&A. I too have seen alot of recent additions to more rural breweries that have really expanded the ambiance of their outdoor seating, and also additional event space areas (like a new side facility to hold parties and bridal showers and such. I think the urban industrial park/warehouse style breweries are the ones that are going to get the most competition going forward as they went to those locations for a cheaper space with the sole focus to brew beer and keep a small taproom for people to have a pint or 2 on site like a corner pub from the past. Without ability to modify much, not sure if the lure of beer alone will be enough.

 

From a business standpoint it’s probably a good idea. It just doesn’t really interest me as a beer c̶o̶n̶s̶u̶m̶e̶r̶ fanatic as I tend to enjoy my beer at home, or at the home of friend.

 

Totally crushing to re-visit the emotion of how COVID changed everything and everyone so damn much.

 

I noticed that Broadleaf removed much of their onsite brewing equipment and put in pickle ball courts. Interesting that Harmony was the brewery that hosted this.

 

I have definitely noticed how breweries are becoming more event spaces. Its not just trivia, or a DJ, there are run and bike nights, etc. Most weekends now there is a crafts or small "farmers" markets. As someone that just enjoys having a few drinks without a lot of distraction, this is about the opposite of what I want. Since almost no breweries update their website anymore, I was finding myself just searching other social media sites (that I'm not signed up for, so I don't usually see everything) just to make sure I can...you know, just have a beer without something like that going on. Which, now, I don't even check, and don't make the effort to visit...I guess its fine, they obviously don't want my money (I just rotate between the 5 or so good breweries around me anyway now, and I typically know what they have going on).

Edit: My opinion of "events" at breweries aside, yep a good article/interview.

 

Two topics with some common responses:

So, if you had to forecast 5 years down the road, what does the craft beer industry look like?

Ward: Shrunk.

Ermatinger: I was literally just going to say the same exact word. Shrunk. And not in a bad way necessarily. It’s just gonna shrink.

What styles are popular for you right now?

Ermatinger: Crispy, clean lagers.

Wasson: Lagers for sure.

VanDyke-Titus: We’re finding that everyone’s just like, their bellies need a break. A pils, something that’s clean and light and crisp.

I hope the crispy, lager, Pils trend continues.

Cheers!

P.S. I am not a beer industry person but I suspect the predictions of "shrunk" will likely pan out. It seems like some areas/markets are saturated at the moment.

 

Good discussion for sure.

I'm really curious whether the "shrinking" that is a near consensus at this point will pan out as a significant loss of market share for craft beer or just a loss of some number of breweries whose market share will be gobbled up by other breweries.

The only other thing I'd quibble with is the idea that breweries "have to be event spaces". I think that breweries have to offer an experience that people want. We can get great beer just about anywhere these days. If the whole sales pitch of your brewery tap room is that you can get good beer in some industrial space then yeah, you might struggle to keep people coming in.

Locally, I've seen breweries add some events on slow days of the week and there are a couple places that have always had live music on the weekends, but this idea that you have to be an event space to survive is a little dubious to me. It seems like what you have to do beyond make good beer is to have and express a brand character that people connect with. If that character involves things like big events then that'll work, but trying to shoe horn in some incongruous events to drive traffic doesn't seem like a winning strategy

 

I recall going to a brewery taproom one weekend. The place was a typical no-name local brewing company in an industrial-ish area. They had a visiting food vendor and the place was packed. It was clear that almost everybody was there for the food. When the food vendor left, the crowd left as well. I stayed at the bar and they started loading in a sound system. It wasn't too long before a new crowd of people came into the taproom to see a hardcore band. Nobody was buying drinks... and I left since the space wasn't really being used as a taproom at that point. The show completely took over the space. I never saw anything quite like it - if you were a customer looking for a beer, you'd be totally out of luck.

At the end of the day - two totally different crowds, and neither were there for the beer (but one crowd completely not there for the beer). Their low-strength brand was drowned out by the events in both cases. If neither event was happening, I wondered if they'd be doing any business though. I get how a brewing company today can sometimes be a meeting space more than a production space... but maybe it would be cheaper to just open a meeting space instead. The brewery I was talking about went out of business. The thread for their closure on Reddit had a few comments, two coming from people in bands booked to play shows there.

 

Not sure what this means; but I go to breweries most often to 1) live music, 2) great food, 3) events, 4) hang out… which is situational.

 

Love your comment, although something else is always a draw to go out, whether it be trivia, music, food and drink fest, excellent events.
Excellent brand and word of mouth is a great draw always, it’s precious based on excellent product quality and buzz.

 

Hey Bud , sometimes around Rochester an event may just be going to Other Half Sunday before Bills game with your dog “Penny” in A puppy Josh Allen Jersey . Stupid fun, it’s the best

 

I'm not at all saying events are bad, if they're aligned with your brand and enhance it then it's definitely a positive. If they overshadow your brand (like the case that @zid described) then they probably just diminish it and won't keep you alive.

And just like there's room in most markets for breweries that do and don't allow dogs or kids, there's room for breweries who host all kinds of events from craft nights to metal shows to star wars trivia. My point is simply that just trying to become "an event space" as a brewery is likely to make you a crappy event space with a subpar drinks selection and/or a mediocre brewery with a bunch of random shit constantly clogging up your taproom.

 

. What they really are targeting is for wealthy people in the area to book the space for various private parties , businesses and organizations in the area to hold team building outings and such. Much more significant revenue with that business model addition if it gets highly utilized by the local community.