Four Friends Brewing Shuts Down (Charlotte, NC)

Ok, so craft beer in general theoretically has room to grow among the overall beer drinking population, but that is irrelevant to the question of market saturation because these new breweries are not doing anything to increase that market share. The presence of yet another brand on the shelf will do nothing to create more craft beer drinkers. The current market is 13 million barrels a year, and every brewery is fighting to get a big enough piece of that to stay profitable. If your brewery makes average to above-average pales ales, IPAs, and stouts, and there are already dozens of other breweries that make the same thing, the market for what you make is saturated. I don't know what its like in North Carolina, but in Virginia there is absolutely no shortage of choices when it comes to "standard" beer. I think to be long-term successful, a new brewery has to stand out by producing exceptional quality beer or beer that nobody else produces.

 

What are you talking about? Craft beers grew by 18% in 2013. Why would you think they are all only fighting for the same 13 million barrels?

 

Craft beer expansion is awesome for us but as others have mentioned you have to have a stand out product to get the attention of the masses and be able to stay relevant. Most established breweries have their "standard" products to keep bringing in the revenue and some specialty items to keep people interested. I've visited a couple of breweries that folks here though were great, but honestly some I have found downright underwhelming. Why ditch my good ol' Lagunitas IPA for yours when theirs is easier to get and honestly better? Just one example.

 

In my opinion the key is the quality of the beer! While Charlotte and NC have some great breweries we are no where close to over saturated! Plenty of room to grow!

 

We are a jaded lot for sure. Not long ago Charlotte was a bad place for good local beer. I remember well Johnson Brewing over on South Boulevard that made a similar version to Red Oak Amber. It was also an OK beer, but fresh and better than most other choices. Sometimes the innovators get left in the dust. Red Oak is cranking along very well, from a similar time as Johnson Brewing, but timing and persistence pay off. With Foothills and NoDa now brewing so well we are in a new era. It is fun to witness and drink.

 

Nailed it. I gave them more chances than most people but there were definitely some butter bombs in the mix that are still hard to forget. Btw Sam, I prefered your last avitar. Hahaha

 

Four Friends had some consistency issues, but I'm not sure that is what did them in. The owners are the nicest people you will ever meet, and I was really rooting for them to succeed, but they didn't seem to pay much attention to the business side of things. They had a difficult time navigating the local and federal rules/regulations that were necessary to operate which is one of the reasons that they were founded in 2007 but their beers didn't come to market until 2010, and was also the reason their tap room was only open sporadically. They were also under capitalized, so they were always trying to play catch up...

 

Found these going through some stuff today. Got them on the day the brewery opened their doors.

 

looks like this is my last opportunity to use my "Hmm...this tastes like these guys need 8 friends" joke.

I agree they were always very nice and I really wanted to like their beer but it just couldn't compete with all the goodness we have available now in NC.

 

Hopefully they filled out their organ donor card so others can acquire the equipment and talent and have a go.

Matter is neither created nor destroyed.

 

Unfortunately, I'm thinking the equipment will be going back to their creditors.

 

Where did you hear this? Their operation is for sale as a turnkey brewery right now. I assume there haven't been any takers yet, but neither have I heard that the equipment is being repossessed.

 

I would assume if they don't have a buyer real soon, the equipment would get taken back pretty quick. With zero income coming in right now, I doubt they are going to use their personal money for more payments.

 

Perhaps. Or they would move from trying to sell it all as a turnkey operation to breaking up the estate into individual pieces of equipment and trying to recoup their investment that way.

 

TE="rgordon, post: 2431659, member: 674187"]We are a jaded lot for sure. Not long ago Charlotte was a bad place for good local beer. I remember well Johnson Brewing over on South Boulevard that made a similar version to Red Oak Amber. It was also an OK beer, but fresh and better than most other choices. Sometimes the innovators get left in the dust. Red Oak is cranking along very well, from a similar time as Johnson Brewing, but timing and persistence pay off. With Foothills and NoDa now brewing so well we are in a new era. It is fun to witness and drink.[/QUOTE]

Don't forget Olde Hickory (still doing it the best IMO) and Wicked Weed pushing out bottles. Our fortunes have dramatically changed!