"Everybody’s opening a brewery..."

Does it really make sense to concentrate exclusively on some of the most expensive and time-consuming styles? Hope you've got deep pockets. Maybe work a saison (popular style, drinkable year-round,) into the rotation?

 

You might do that, but to make money you need to sell beer that people like to drink. Make very good beer, establish a base working your marketing plan, and then experiment as you can or will. Business is business. Damn, how about "Sour Beer Company", with a logo that says, "we've got your pucker!"

 

That's my point. Do you want to concentrate on beer-geek beers? Or do you want to start with something less extreme that brings in the cash which lets you experiment? Plenty of breweries do it that way.

The Bruery, for example, didn't start with ambers/pales/hefes, but neither did they start with barrel-aged stouts or sours.

 

Similar here. Also I think there's still A LOT of people who buy them to try them at least once, put the notch on the post or mentally be happy to have tried them all, etc. This can go on for awhile, especially if it's in a destination city or state where the out of state people come in and want to try everything local there. Sadly these breweries can go on and on for years. One notable example: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/19516

 

Completely agree. If the price is reasonable I'm likely to try them as well because I like trying new stuff, however when the price is out of whack with the competition I'll do a little research on here to see if it's worth it. Reviews aren't absolute, but if a beer has an 82 on here and is selling for $14 for a 4 pack I'll pass; there are far too many good/great beers that can be purchased for $8-$12 a sixer. I've started looking up almost every beer I'm unfamiliar with on here because I've been burned too many times by bad breweries. The good small brewers will rise to the top, the shitty ones can go away

 

Its out there, e.g.,:

http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/business-tools/craft-brewing-statistics/facts

http://howtomarkettome.com/2012/03/31/why-more-and-more-millennials-drink-craft-beer

 

Sometimes you just have to follow a lot of links and paths. This page below is linked to the second one above and gets into data about wine vs. beer, etc. The original sources are linked...

http://howtomarkettome.com/2012/03/22/what-we-really-think-beer-spirits-and-wine

 

Totally agree with this, but I think the opportunity for us to spend the time we will have available between batches, at first, distributing the products ourselves will allow us to make enough additional profit to fund the many things we will need to get along the way to settiling in and growing. Of course I hope to be distributed as we hopefully grow too busy to self distribute, and will be able to afford the lower profit per gallon we will get from the distributor. Not sure I would want to have to bite the bullet of needing to sign with a distro right off the bat. These are all hypothetical ideas right now, though, as we haven't gotten any licensing or zoning issues finalized yet.

 

Good luck with your plans, keep us posted!

 

It's two things I think.

1. They are going to price themselves out of the market soon enough. I shouldn't have to pay $20-$25 for a 750 bottle (granted these are usually pretty rare beers now but who knows in the future). $2.70+ for one bottle at ABC is stupid. Sooner or later it will be too costly to try any of these craft beers and I'll just stick to a few I know and love.

2. There are way too many mediocre or even bad craft beers out there now. People are tired of getting burned and eventually (like posted above); sooner or later it will be too costly to try any of these craft beers and I'll just stick to a few I know and love.

 

really? if so why would anyone care to agressively seek this beer out and pay the premium for what you can find in 75 other IPA's........?????

Pliny.. the beer that invented IPA and all other beers try to emulate...

right...

 

Yeah. The difference between a Jai Alai and a Racer 5 is night and day. Nothing alike as far as IPA goes.

 

Good luck to Cavedave and the new venture! Keep us posted please.

 

Went to the opening of a new brewery today here . Young Veterans Brewing Co. in Virginia Beach . Started by a couple of Army veterans . They have a 3.5 bbl system with a few 7bbl fermenters . Was real impressed with the Semper FI.P.A . Nice start and a good crowd . Will have to get back there soon .

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1742917900/young-veterans-brewing-co?ref=live

Knew this sounded familiar!

 

Thats the one . I think they're gonna do good .

 

Donkeypunch is such a place that comes to mind...

 

I still think there is plenty of room for growth,even in a state like Oregon.
Take my hometown Salem/Keizer combined 170,000 people until 2 years ago only McMenamins and a Ram.
Now two growler fill places ( both 30+ taps) and 3 new brewpubs and more on the way.
Been to them all..all doing great business.
And there are more areas with good population that can be described as good beer deserts in this State can imagine there are many more in others.