Summit Brewing Co. Layoffs

His avatar seems to suggest something more. Coincidence?

 

Yes, I was thinking the same thing.

 

And I was starting to wonder if I was really a dying breed of craft beer drinker... whew!

I moved to the Twin Cities a couple years ago, and Summit is easily one of my favorite breweries in the area. Might even put it on the top of my Minnesota list. The reason is right on with what you said... I want extremely well made, simple but nuanced and deep, beers... which pretty much translates to extremely well executed traditional styles. A few of the smaller/newer ones in area fall into that category and also get a good bit of my business. However, to me, the majority of the new breweries around hold little to no interest for me. Hazy this, tea infused that, chocolate peanut butter etc. No thanks. I give them a fair shake, but haven't had one I liked. Could be poor execution, but I'm guessing I also just don't like the style (never had ones in that category from any region that I liked).

The execution part is another one. I'd rather see a brewery make a single beer to the highest possible standards than pump out a new experiment every two weeks. Preferably several beers to high standards, but you get the idea.

Count me on the Summit fan boy train, but I recognize catering to those like me may be a shrinking market. Part of me wonders if the classic craft brewers like Summit, Sierra Nevada, etc. will come full circle in a way... instead of being a niche alternative to AALs, they'll become a niche alternative to... whatever the current craft beer trends are.

I love seeing the explosion and innovation that is craft beer today, but if the classic/traditional brewers start to drop their classics, I may be ramping up my homebrewing.

 

Here's my issue with a LOT of newer breweries. To brew great novelty beers, first you've got to brew great base beers. Many new brewers just skip the brewing great normal beers bit and simply try to brew great novelty beers. Most of the time, that just never happens because they're trying to build the fourth floor of a building before they dig the foundation.

 

I like summit, but yes they are way behind. I'm just hoping this isn't a sign to come and that some breweries that choose to focus on hoppy beers or stouts can survive. Their beers are solid, but I'm wondering how much longer breweries can survive selling pilsners octoberfests and maibock. As much as they need to change up their brewing style to onto use to grow,I really want to see them survive pumping out the same styles they're already doing, except maybe just improve on them a bit. A lot of their beer is average and honestly I only buy because it's cheap and I drank quite a bit of it when I first got into craft.

 

Way behind what, exactly?

Hopefully a long, long time. Nobody wants a landscape of hoppy beer only.

I'd be happy if breweries like Summit would just maintain and weather the storm of trends that plague craft beer.

 

They haven't added anything to their line up to compete with the new trends. Nothing wrong with it, they just don't keep up with trends in the beer scene. I'm glad they're the way they are, but it makes it harder to compete when you're not releasing the hot styles.

hoppy beers are the most popular right now. I hope the craft beer landscape support tons of different styles, but the demand for a lot of styles just isn't that strong. I hope this changes and we see more demand for lagers and realistically any style that isn't a stout, hoppy beer or sour, but only time will tell.

I want them to maintain what they do style wise, but it doesn't look like their being overly successful and if they need to change up some recipes to succeed than they should do it.

 

Well, apparently their expansion into new markets did not work out like they wanted.

Do you think they can "succeed" if they just concentrate on their core market (e.g., the mid-West)? Do you think this region is more accepting of 'traditional' beer styles or do you think it is absolutely necessary for them to expand their product line to compete in the latest 'shiny new beer' market (e.g., Cloudy IPAs)?

Cheers!

 

I'd agree that a "modernization" and possibly a rebranding of their lineup would serve them well. Nothing to the level of Stone, but more than they've done up to this point. Keep the classics, but add some rotating and seasonal beers that pique people's interests a bit more. Like you said, there's nothing wrong with that.

 

Couldn't have said it better.

I thoroughly believe a lack of focus on 'base' beers makes you a worse brewer, or at least isn't doing you any favors. It's too easy (relatively) to hide flaws in your basic process in novelty/unbalanced beers (not saying novelty/unbalanced beers are bad, just that it can be used as a crutch to mask flaws by mediocre brewer). There are exceptions to the rule, but they're rare in my experience.

I'm going answer without any basis of industry experience, data, or particular insights... I think sticking with the core and not adapting to shifts in the craft beer trends means they will either A) need to accept some shrink in market, as they're already seeing, or B) double-down on increasing the market share of Summit EPA to the non-BA type consumer.

Again, I'm a big fan of their core and have no interest in the current trend du jour of craft beer, but the market makes the trend. If you want to maintain that consumer market, you better follow the trends. Otherwise, you better find a different market segment to grow in. EPA is approachable and pretty popular already. I'm betting they could make up for any loss in the BA type consumer with a solid EPA marketing strategy towards growth among the more common consumer.

 

Three new hoppy beers, guys. Hope you like 'em. http://www.summitbrewing.com/summit-brewing-co-goes-freakin-berserk-hops/

 

Will those three new hoppy beers be in distribution year-round?

Cheers!

 

There's always a good chance one or more of these beers might make a return, but the first run of this variety box will be available January, February, March and part of April. Don't sleep on it!

 

Well, making some hoppy beers available for a few weeks may make some hop heads happy for a period of time but they will move on to other breweries if this is only a seasonal release.

I am personally a fan of the 'traditional' beers you produce. For example I thought the summertime beer of Keller Pils was excellent; I discussed that beer in a New Beer Sunday thread:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-594.433764/#post-4891049

Needless to say but since you guys pulled out of Pennsylvania I will not longer be buying Summit beers so I suppose you could just ignore me?

Cheers!

 

Not going to ignore you. Nope. Wouldn't be a good idea.

Keller Pils is year-round starting next week.

We're gonna keep making our traditional German lagers and British Ales, meanwhile experimenting with limited one-offs from season to season. When those do well, we'll listen to our customers and bring them back.

Hope you'll get to try these new beers. Come visit!

 

And that is fortunate for those beer consumers that live within the 'updated' Summit distribution region.

Thank you for that gracious invitation. I have no immediate plans to be in Twin Cities area but if that ever changes I will certainly make it a priority to visit. I was hoping to make to last year's HomebrewCon (NHC) which was in Minneapolis but things did not work out for me. A side-trip to Summit then would have been a good idea.

Best of luck to your new business strategies.

Cheers!