Can we talk about Carton brewing?

The Alchemist? (or was that a rhetorical question?)

Back to the topic at hand though. I do love 077XX and all the different variants of it I have had. Not a fan of Boat but that's probably not fair since every session beer tastes like 2/3 IPA, 1/3 H20 to me. Of their seasonals, I loved Regular Coffee and their Pumpkin Cream Ale. I did not care for Orange Blunt, tasted like a dirty ash tray to me.
It is frustrating that canning seems to have hit a snag though and I don't think it's a case of supply and demand. I used to see it pretty regularly once a month but not the case anymore. And every store i have bought 077XX in the past has told me they either have not gotten any in a while or have gotten very little so I imagine Augie has had trouble getting Iron Heart in as often as he'd like (although maybe he can comment on that).
My other minor complaint is the size of the tasting room and the fact that the brewery is across the street from an elementary school. Just doesn't seem like it's in their best interests to stay in that space for any length of time. How great would just a little outdoor deck or patio space be to hang out and have a flight after a summer day at the shore be!!!
I am happy to have them in NJ though, and try to stop by for cans or growler fills whenever I am down that way. Also love that Augie is responsive to questions in these forums and genuinely seems to give a damn about his customers.

 

Hey, your taking shots, I'm taking shots it's all good.

Kane - 161 unique beers listed on this site
Carton - 52 unique beers listed on this site

You brought up the comparison, own it.

 

I think every one will agree there are growing pains and you can't discount demand here. I will say without a doubt demand has increased.

 

That's exactly my point...that they would never do so. It would eventually bore the consumer.

They'd do well with a separate brewery dedicated to canning those two all the time, but a slow steady increase in production is for the best in the long run.

 

Right, but you can't just stop on a dime and immediately find a way to have production for just those 2 beers. Someone brought up Alchemist and Heady Topper. It was an act of God, not demand for product, that forced them into the position they were in. Honestly, it was a gutsy gamble they took in shifting all production just to that one beer.

 

Did you ignore the fact that Carton is expanding or do you think they are just expanding for the sake of 'experiments'? Feel like I am coming off as a Carton homer but I like Kane just as well.

 

No way Kane meets 100% of demand when the first cans roll of the production line, they will sell out if it is a brewery release and/or any retail delivery will sell out before they hit the shelves.

 

As a Southerner, I had never had anything from Carton. I finally got to try some Carton brews up at EBF this year. Even being the massive Funky Buddha fanboy I am, I can safely say that Regular Coffee and especially Irish Coffee, blew me away. No other booth got me to get back in line 4-5 times like Carton did. And, it was awesome to hear the stories of the beers from Augie, as well. That's what I love about the beer industry....hearing why a brewer did what they did for a unique beer.

EBF 2016, I'll be walking straight to the Carton taps again, first and foremost.

Until then, Carton needs to work out a distribution system down to South Carolina, if only for just my house!

 

quite simply our 3 45bBl fermenters make only boat and o'dub year round, the 3 30bbl fermenters make everything else. we can the 2 brites (1 each size in case that isn't obvious) 1ce a month with iron heart.
when we have canned a small batch we have added a second canning run for that beer in a month which let's us add an additional run of 1 of either boat or dub as well. in winter we do dub, summer boat.
there are a lot more cans of those 2 beers this summer than there were last summer and the stores have gotten extra deliveries each time we have done them.
the only difference is demand. this summer we reduced our limits from 1 case per beer per person last summer to 2 4 packs of dub, and 4 of boat (its a session beer less than 4 4 packs is not a session no matter how fast it means we run out). in spite of this we are running out in about 10% of the time we could stretch less beer last year.
as i have said we are working on growing, but we are a tiny company that is already well through their 5 year business plan for growth before our second year started. these things take time and patience.
now that i have broken all this down can you please tell me what about my business practices you find "out of the norm."

 

Back to the topic at hand though. I do love 077XX and all the different variants of it I have had. Not a fan of Boat but that's probably not fair since every session beer tastes like 2/3 IPA, 1/3 H20 to me. Of their seasonals, I loved Regular Coffee and their Pumpkin Cream Ale. I did not care for Orange Blunt, tasted like a dirty ash tray to me.

strokes and folks

It is frustrating that canning seems to have hit a snag though and I don't think it's a case of supply and demand. I used to see it pretty regularly once a month but not the case anymore. And every store i have bought 077XX in the past has told me they either have not gotten any in a while or have gotten very little so I imagine Augie has had trouble getting Iron Heart in as often as he'd like (although maybe he can comment on that).

no snag we are canning far more often than last year see above ^^^

My other minor complaint is the size of the tasting room and the fact that the brewery is across the street from an elementary school. Just doesn't seem like it's in their best interests to stay in that space for any length of time. How great would just a little outdoor deck or patio space be to hang out and have a flight after a summer day at the shore be!!!

no chance the nj abc allows that, ever, write your senator. in fact cape may got hassled for opening a garage door and letting people see fresh air at one point

I am happy to have them in NJ though, and try to stop by for cans or growler fills whenever I am down that way. Also love that Augie is responsive to questions in these forums and genuinely seems to give a damn about his customers.

well thank you

**** edit tried to answer in the body but boy did it not work so the underlined is my thoughts in your text

 

@augiecarton any idea if cans will be available at the brewery this weekend? Heading to Colorado next week and wanted to share some good beer with my hop head filled family

 

Are you holding more cans for brewery sales and giving less to your accounts though because of demand to get people to come to the brewery? Nothing wrong with that, just curious. Every store I go to tells me they have not got as much (or any) lately. That includes Joe Canal's Woodbridge, Shop Rite Liquors Caldwell, Gary's Madison & Wayne & Super Buy Rite in North Plainfield just to name a few. Seems to be something that has changed with distribution over the last few months.

 

if we don't never fear there is always next time, CO has mad tasty beers to hold everyone over. TR availability is posted on FB thursdays and saturdays before the sessions begin

 

@augiecarton thanks! Our house is five minutes from Odell, New Belgium, Fcb, etc, so it should be an exciting, hopefully somewhat memorable trip cheers

 

problem with that is they are actually getting it more often because of the small batch runs, this summer a delivery every three weeks rather than 4-5 previously. but the small batch runs are smaller obviously.
on at least 2 occasions i have BAs telling me the numbers stores are telling them they received and stores under under reporting their case deliveries by 3 or so on what was a 5 case delivery. i just figure the guys at the shop have trading partners or enjoy the beer. there has to be some perks to lifting and stacking and looking after the liquid.
we went out of our way to over deliver when we could in months like january and february, and clearly that was a mistake because we ran out of what we could sell and now that everything is back to normal it sounds like a lot of stores are happy to just pass the buck.
every one gets all that we can spare, every time we can spare it. its the beach in jersey nothing is up other than beer tastes better and goes faster this time of year.

 

you will be fine