More Brewing Co (2019)

But I'm saying why would you start your own thing and possibly fail just to....what...make 10k more a year? What is happening at MoRE to make Shaun think "I gotta do this all myself"?

 

He might want more creative freedom. Also, people go where the good beer is made. If he opens his own place, barring any catastrophic events, he will not fail. You very rarely see a talented head brewer leave somewhere to open his own place and make bad beer.

 

Nothing about this argument makes sense. Has it ever seemed like anyone has told Shaun what to make at MoRE? He's about to have 3 playgrounds to play in. How much more freedom do you need?

 

He should tenant brew and do Hop Butchers model. The demand is there he should have no problem selling everything out with much lower overhead than running a full operation.

 

Well nobody knows. Maybe he doesn't like making hazy ipas for 90% of his brews. I don't know the guy.

 

He literally left RAM because they wouldn't let him make hazy IPAs on the reg.

 

I don't think that 10k figure is anywhere near the potential earnings difference

 

shaun for the love of god just say what youre going to say so this can end

 

it was fucking stupid he posted something hyping it up in the first place.

 

He could be moving. I think he's from Chicagoland originally, but maybe he doesn't want to live here any more.

After this winter, I'm questioning it myself.

 

My guess is he wants out because he can't put on a Mehndi or Henna Fest without the cultural appropriation backlash.

 

I don’t know shit but I’m imagining he doesn’t own much of the pub side. There’s probably more (pun intended) money on that end and if he didn’t own much of that, makes sense to walk to get 100% of draft sales on something you made.

 

This is my thinking too, it just doesn’t add up. And even if this is the case, then you’d think More would get on their knees and throw equity at him.

Maybe the More owners are thinking they can make almost as much money with decent beers even if there’s no hype? That would be sad if true, and a big mistake to let an All Star like Shaun walk in free agency.

 

Perhaps Shaun, in all His wisdom as Master Brewer, sees some writing on the wall with the suspiciously fast pace of MoRE’s expansion.

 

What's the reaction going to be when he announces he is leaving to become the new Goose Island Brewmaster?

 

Exactly, that would assume that those two owners are netting $5k a year for all the troubles of owning and operating More. There's helluva lot of better way to make 5K a year without near as much hassle. That number is at least 20x that. He has no equity today, he starts his own thing, he has all the equity (to start).

Beyond that, if he is starting his own thing, how in the world did the owners allow him to leave in the middle of a massive expansion? Tremendously bad business. People can get arrogant, they may think they can succeed without him, and they're probably wrong. I mean the branding sucks, the location is fair, the reason people are there is Shaun. He is your business. You're an overnight success because of his brand equity. They'll keep the recipes if they're smart, but then no new recipes, the hype will and demand will fade. I mean is there another "rockstar" brewer who's not doing his own thing in Chicago? The Axeman?

Connecting dots, I wonder if the More guys are doing a Side Project type deal where they're staking him for a share of the equity. Perennial had the brewer depth to make it work for both brands. Not sure More has that.

 

This could potentially be the greatest marketing ploy in the history of Chicago Beer. Post the most ambiguous picture you can and don't really say anything... and the beer nerds will all play guessing games until the next post... waiting with baited breath. Shaun's post went Viral and maybe that is the point.

 

Expansion = More MoRe BA and the other thing with brewing ramped up, they might need another brewer, maybe hand picked by Shaun.

 

Just like in any career, people have their own personal goals and ambitions, it doesn’t all come down to money. Brewers are no different and look at Todd Haug leaving Surly. I’m sure a lot of people never expected that. No one knows what is going on behind the scenes and what their personal and family goals are. Whatever ends up happening, Shaun has a loyal following and will continue doing great things wherever he winds up.