Breweries that are good to the ‘core’

A good mix of core flagship beers and seasonal or limited releases seem to be good for a brewery to experiment a little and find what works. Ultimately breweries want to serve their customer base after initially attracting people. After expanding, breweries may take a look at what works and what isn't as worth it and maybe that's why they close a location to consolidate. A few of the newer (post 2010) breweries around here have done collaborations with coffee roasters and cafes, and even expanded into selling their own coffee, hard seltzer, and even liquor and cocktails. Some local breweries around Boston are cafes in the morning and become a beer bar during the day and at night, so it's a collaborative business venture with cross promotion. Producing liquor and serving cocktails may require extra licenses, but a few popular local places here have done that, like Night Shift, Tree House and Trillium. Expanding into more non-beer beverages has seemed to help their businesses as far as I can tell, allowing reach to more potential customers that might not be there just for the beer, like friends or a family gathering. I imagine every business is under different circumstances and they all have to find out what could work best for them down the line to help maintain their business.

 

I'm no beer expert, nor am I a businessman. But it seems to me getting really good at brewing a few core beers that sell well and pay the bills would help subsidize the experimentation most brewmasters seem to love engaging in.

And I also find that offering food options will help draw in more people. Unless I know a brewery is excellent, I generally won't go if they (or someone close) don't offer food.

 

Yes to Jack's last 3 questions. Excellent core beers and they do experiment and they've weathered every "storm" that has taken down so many other breweries.
https://www.summitbrewing.com/

 

A mix of core beers and experimental stuff is, I think, definitely the way to go. Keep a few of your best sellers on tap at all times then use your other taps to have fun.

 

For a traditional European style and mainly lager producing company I would say their lineup is good. Obviously it wouldn't be appeased by people who want hazy IPAs and pastry stouts, so you hope people drinking their beer are aware of their traditional Euro style. From a business point of view, they make money with other side ventures as well like the farm or creamery and lodge, so it is more than beer from a business standpoint that they operate off of. I like Von Trapp beers and their style. Similar in Mass is Jack's Abby who also focuses on traditional lagers and they have a fairly big brewery and restaurant, no creamery or hotel lodge to work with and they have survived as a fairly popular and successful local/regional brewery as well.

 

Quite Germanic. Looks like their apples don't fall far from the tree.

 

No. Not enuf diversity in the non-core. Perhaps the spacing is good/seasonal. But to my point, they appear to "stay Germanic".

 

I think it's good with their 5 main core beers year round packaged and on draft, and also in variety 12pks which is good if you like all the styles. It's also good that they have multiple seasonal beers that are available for a couple of months, and also some collaborations too. They have the dark and smoked lagers in the colder months and a summer radler. Just noticed the interesting Pilsner pack as well with 4 different pilsner styles in it. For their style range I think their sales model seems pretty good.

 

great question Jack. I'm sure there will be lots of ideas. And if somebody hits the magic formula, bottle that!

 

Yes to Q 1.
The weekly shiny new thing approach not so much. Though I do believe in experimentation and obviously some are successful with this model. These must be tough decisions to make for brewers & brewery owners. Do we follow the bouncing ball or stay on track? kinda thing.

 

I don't think there's a single answer. Not everyone is going to be able to make those same 5 core styles that all the new/cool places have been making for years. It's too late, and the cost to pivot is going to outweigh any uptick they might see. There's a real chance it actually does harm to brand for grasping at straws. They're choosing to compete with everyone on uneven terms.

At the same time, what if your core specialties are Belgian abbey ales, hoppy stouts, ambers, and wheats? There are plenty of places like that and they can't sit around waiting for those styles to be cool again. If they don't pivot, they're at least going to have to sell people on why they aren't. Advertising if not full-on education.

 

What a shame Tired Hands has closed the Brew Café. It was an intimate space, much nicer than the Fermenteria, and it had wonderful and slightly bizarre specialties, like fermented beet sandwiches, etc. Apparently the pop up bar in Mt. Airy is scheduled to reopen this year, which is great.