They don't can or bottle, aside from a few special releases like Whiskey Barrel Pecan Porter - which they've had infection issues with for years. I don't believe they have any plans to, and in my opinion they really missed the boat with that. They were around early enough in Austin to have become a much more prominent brewery if they started canning/bottling years ago, before the city became saturated with breweries.
YUP. I suppose there are some savings to not bottling/canning. And you have far better control over freshness, i suppose. But it definitely seems like they missed here.
I think he’s saying if they had started botteling early on they would have received more positive exposure over they years. Also more difficult now to go through the permit process to bottle.
More exposure. A larger following. As I recall, they were fairly early to the craft brewery scene in Austin. Now it is packed with breweries. I'm sure they had a good (or what they perceived to be a good) business reason for this decision. With hindsight being 20/20, I wonder if they'd make the same decision.
Austin has plenty of room for more breweries, and (512) seems to be in most bars and restaurants. Anywhere draft beer is served, (512) is there. I think other beers/breweries are more popular, for sure, but (512) is a strong seller and a solid choice. Places usually close down for the same reasons. Overextending themselves financially through bad loans, poor management, or poor quality control. (512) had some issues, but I bet that's no longer a problem. I hear what you're saying about the draft only route. I often wonder if (512) would have done it differently if time could be reversed. Hey, maybe time will tell.
Yeah I have a feeling that if 512 was around in cans and bottles back when they started, they probably would have paid off the equipment, made some extra $$ and decided to increase capacity. If that would have happened, they would probably be hurting now. Let's just say maybe the saw the future and were prepared for it. I don't know their financial shape, but the scarcity of finding them here in Houston makes me always grab a pint when I see them. It is very hard to make money in today's market selling cans/bottles thru distributors. Once the laws are corrected I wouldn't be surprised to see them start packaging on a small level and selling it on premise.
Not sure about any foresight, don't think anyone could've predicted the current craft beer scene accurately. Seems like they designed the tap-only model from a freshness standpoint, but then it just became stubbornness. While still around, the amount of 512 tap handles in Austin has dwindled. In my opinion, they needed to sell as much old school crystal malt-heavy IPA as possible while that style was still popular - that would include bottles and cans. Also, a brewery is just not on consumer's minds as much without any kind of regular packaged product. Even if it's only for sale at the brewery itself. It's branding.
The owner, Kevin, has stated a few times that littering is one of the primary reasons they never packaged. Seeing other breweries cans/bottles along the roadside or in streams/lakes made him not want to see his company's name there too.
@Chadzero that's an interesting and respectable stance. I definitely applaud that. Although I'm not sure if I've ever seen craft beer litter. The closest I've come is seeing Shock Top and Blue Moon empties. Not saying it doesn't happen.
Sorry to thread necro a year old thread, but it's for a worthy cause: It looks like 512 is selling bottles of beer now! I found a 4-pack of 512 Pecan Porter at the HEB in Round Rock on University Blvd last week. It came in a black box, and true to what Chadzero said above, 512's packaging had an environmentally-conscious blurb at the top: "(512) Brewing is fiercely independent and committed to quality and sustainability since 2008. We're careful with our water, we by more organic base malt than most anyone, and we're draft focused to help minimize packaging waste. Please be certain to recycle all of this packaging." I'll be sure to put it in the recycle bin when I'm done.
