This may have been covered elsewhere in discussions of the general decline of the craft beer scene, but yesterday I went to another local brewery which appears to be just holding on. They don’t appear to be actively brewing, they appear to be running out their kegs and haven’t had any new beers in awhile. in general, most of the local breweries haven’t come out with any new beers in a year plus. A few years ago, there were several each year - new Imperial Pastry Stouts in the winter, new IPAs in the summer. One of my favorite restaurants used to pride themselves on having an exciting tap list when they opened 15 years ago. When I went 2 weeks ago, I walked out since the beer list was so boring. A large part of this is the state of the industry.
It's hard to tell since every brewery has their own unique business model. Some places get by with things like on-premise food sales even if their beer sales don't always turn a profit. I feel like it's more common with breweries that just serve beer and nothing else. Locally here, Mills River Brewing does not make good beer, but they get by on a big outdoor space, decent food and a clientele that's indiscriminate about quality. Like they probably just have the one beer they know they like and stick with it. It's more of a rural community gathering space
Unfortunately good brewers usually don’t make good businessmen, and good businessmen usually don’t make good brewers. I’ve learned not to get too attached to my locals. They come and go. When one closes, they are inevitably replaced by another new one.
Beer is a difficult market. Being both a good businessperson and a good brewer doesn't guarantee success. And a company can succeed with questionable beer (maybe Pabst?) and for a time, at least, with bad business practices (maybe Brewdog?).
This is what I see in my area. And it seems like food options / social space (playgrounds for kids) cover up a lot of mediocre or lackluster beers. Interestingly, a small, hidden gem that seats no more than about 15 people is still hanging on up the street. I was fearing its demise over a year ago, but it's still kicking with an always-interesting tap list. Today's pours: Scottish Wee Heavy, Sour Pale Ale, Nitro Red Ale, Nitro Cream Stout, Norwegian Farmhouse ale, American Wheat, Mexican Lager.
People are not buying the more expensive craft beer the way they used to is what is going on. With a tail wagging the dog war to now also have to factor in as a reality on the wallet. In addition to the multitude of alternatives to choose from with the bang for the buck mindset. Buckle in.
This got me think a little. Perhaps people aren’t buying expensive beers anymore because it has become a lot more difficult to distinguish what new beer being made is truly world class vs just decent. No one wants to spend $30-$40 on a 750ml BA stout they’ve never had before from a brewery that isn’t world renowned and doesn’t have many respectable reviews to feel confident in the purchase. Things were a lot different 10 years ago, not sure how reliable Untapped is to tell the great from just decent on newer breweries and beers.
I don't work at a brewery, but at a specialty health food store (in a well-off area) and my sales are going up. People are still buying 25-dollar packs without even looking at the price tag (looking at you Other Half). I brought in a 30-dollar Stille Nacht and I already sold half the case - and this was after christmas lol. But yeah, I've also had multiple conversations this year already with people being very critical of my pricing and going for the cheapest/most familiar option. I think, on my end, it's tough to look at the customer base as just one homogeneous entity, there's a lot of splinters that all have their own specific wants/needs and they're all moving in different directions. When it comes to local breweries that I buy from, the ones that have historically done well here, sales-wise, are still doing really well. My best-selling beer is a local one. The ones that have historically struggled, are still struggling. I always prefer to support local breweries in the area, but sometimes they beers aren't selling a single pack for months and then it becomes hard to justify/defend to management.
Actually, since I've started putting up BA shelf talkers, sales have gone up. People have told me they are really helpful. Just the simple thing of having some basic info and a score number really empowers some customers to grab a beer.
Kind of a weird thing here in Pittsburgh, in my opinion, is the downhill slide of the original Fathead's location. We go to Cleveland all the time and they are killing it there. Not sure what's going on behind the scenes, but the Pittsburgh location just feels like they've given up. Wouldn't be surprised to hear that they are closing before the year is out. Awful if that happened, as Fathead's used to be a destination for both beer and food. Now it's just an afterthought.
That would be a shocker. I've never been there to understand what factors might be at work, but for a well established brewery to give up on a location, especially the birthplace, would be unthinkable. (Although they did give up in Oregon, thus they have a history of giving up on locations for whatever reasons.)
If you just mean "new brands" then I don't think this is a sign of ill health at all. Obviously if theyre all just selling through their stock and not making more thats a bad sign. But getting away from the hamster wheel of chasing tickers is a sign of maturity for most breweries, in my experience. Making a stable stock of reliable sellers that your customer base likes creates a much more predictable business than constantly sourcing different hops and malts and coming up with recipes and branding and getting new labels in small batches and hoping they sell. Some breweries establish a fan base that likes, and is willing to pay, for that. But not many do.
I visited a brewery in 2018 that had not-so-great beers, and I wrote a review accordingly. I looked them up recently to see if they were still alive and discovered that someone had written a review that was scored a 5.0. It obviously contained some defensive bias to offset my review, and these were the only reviews posted.There was no other activity on the brewery's page here so I looked them up on Facebook for more info. I discovered a post there that indicated the place had recently closed. It took them 8 years to finally give up.
But that doesn't give any solid information on what a brewery's books look like, what their plans are, or a bunch of other factors. Some maybe able to withstand a lower cash flow than others.
The golden age of craft beer hysteria is over are we surprised breweries’ decline in enthusiasm has followed suit? Drinking alcohol is the new cigarette smoking taboo, it isn't healthy so why spend money on it? If consumption goes down so should the amount of viable breweries. The irrational hoarding practices of the consumers in the 20teens probably artificially inflated the demand for breweries leading to an oversupply.
There’s one near me that I’m not sure how it’s still hanging on. (Shady business practices, no longer brew onsite, etc.). In the beginning, it was a place where people would line up around the building for releases; now it’s a shell of that.
Economists sometimes describe today's economy as being K shaped where the wealthy are 'living high on the hog' while the non-wealthy are living paycheck to paycheck. In your context a wealthy person will purchase any beer brand they want and likely sometimes not even pay heed to the price tag. Do you have any exposure or insight as to how beer retailers are doing who mostly sell to the non-wealthy segment of the economy are doing? Are those retailers struggling right now? What business strategies do they adopt to stay in business? Cheers! P.S. This past weekend I attended a cask beer festival with some buddies and my buddy Chuck commented that the vast majority of people attending had gray hair. Young people can't afford to purchase these 'fancy' beers?
It seems like cask beer has had an older audience than typical for craft beer for at least the last 20 years. So I wouldn't derive many economic conclusions from that
