Brand before beer?

I'll try the beer first, then the t-shirt.

 

Frankly it's probably better that way. Why do you want the brewer worrying about the day to day business stuff like paying the electric bill, or getting people to try the beer. The company will be better all around if a business guy runs the business, a marketing guy markets, and a beer guy brews. You can run into trouble though if the marketing/branding has nothing to do with the beer since it came first. Or since the business guy is running things, he starts making decisions the effect the quality of the beer to say maximize profits.

 

I'm actually seeing the opposite. There seems to be an emergence of home brewers and mid-level brewers at popular craft breweries quitting their day jobs and starting their own nano brewery. This is all done with the passion for brewing but without a plan to sustain the business venture. I expect we'll see a glut of new entrants that eventually collapse and consolidate. Small brewers today like Pipeworks and Westbrook will end up picking up the popular SKUs (and leaving the rest behind) from the nanos as they go under as a way of expanding their product lines and securing shelf space.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying tasting beers brewed by small brewers, but the market will eventually saturate and they won't have the resources to go it alone. Things will right-size in craft beer they way they have with countless other products throughout history, especially in the alcoholic beverage category.

 

I just got several invitations for brewery startups via Kickstarter. Some are posting that brewing their own beer is their "life-long dream". There's one almost literally next door (within 2 miles) that already has a lineup of four beers--all fairly dark and heavy and all 10.5%+ ABV.

I'm not sure I buy into the OP claim. Neither Boston nor CBC were started by true home-brewers. Sure, they did some brewing at home, but it was more for experimenting with the yet-unbranded product than for personal consumption. The plans were already in the works. Generally, I would have no problem with people coming in with a business plan then pulling a team together. They are more likely to survive that way. Just spotted a couple of news stories of new breweries started by alums of other craft breweries--turns out, well, not quite, as they are just the brewers with a cash cow behind the operation.

Another thing is that you can't have a trademark until you have a product. The product does not need to be beer right away, but it should clearly be in the works. So, from that perspective, I would not hold it against them either. As long as they turn out good product and don't step on others, I don't really care how they put together the business.

 

It could be that a proposed new brewery has done the planning that is necessary, and may even have work in progress for the installation of the equipment, beer in the tanks, etc. Then they put out a press release with the information about how many beers that they'll have and the names of these beers, etc. etc. etc, but they still don't have a license to proceed and they are chomping at the bit. Releasing the info is at least doing some marketing for themselves in the meantime, but it seems like the last thing always to fall in place is the license. Too many public employees, God love 'em, never seem to be in a hurry.

 

You can buy a Krueger Beer T-Shirt from what appears at first to be a resurrected Krueger Brewing Co., (a once famous NJ brand, that played second fiddle to Ballantine in the post-Repeal era until it was bought by Narragansett in 1960) but you can't buy beer: **Not available** -

 

If I opened a brewery, I'd want to do it like the bros from prairie artisanal ales - one brother brews and one markets. In my case, I'd brew, and my wife who is an advertising genius would handle the marketing end

 

Especially now with so many competitors and so little precious shelf/tap space--you better have a sound business plan or a lot of cash to burn. Oh, yeah, a good product would help. "Branding" just isn't enough. A wine industry quip: What's the easiest way to end up with a million bucks ? Start with two million.

 

American craft brewing is both a passion and a business. That said, as a homebrewer who's attending school to eventually attain a brewmaster certificate; I root for the little start ups. But in the long run that doesn't make their beer taste superior in my glass, although I'm sure it does in theirs. Long story short "If the beers good......."

 

It would be helpful to the discussion if you'd name a few of these "brands before beers" instead of some vague statement that it's a trend you've observed. If it's a trend, there must be a lot of startups doing it, since there are now roughly over 2000 breweries in the US, IIRC. It has to be more than a few breweries out of that number to create a trend.

 

And to your question--does it have to be some groovy laid back dude making beer on an organic farm in the boonies for me to support it? Am I to ignore a place run by the stepson of a some gozillionaire who puts out awesome stuff but without a long provenance? I pull for the local/little guy as much as I can but the product has to stand on its merits. I don't consume coolness or glitz.

 

I guess I can't act surprised...

September 10, 2013 from Mikerphone Brewing Facebook page:

Fans of Mikerphone Brewing... I am honored to announce that I have accepted the head brewer position at Breakroom Brewery and will no longer be brewing beer as Mikerphone. To honor the brand, BreakRoom will be brewing a beer called The Mikerphone and will be having a special party for you fans.

I want to thank you for all of your support. Without it, I would not be where I am today. Your honest feedback, interest and support has pushed me to create better, quality beers. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!