Tallgrass Production Brewery Suspends Operation

Taproom sales numbers would be great -- but even just data on craft beer sales through retailers by year would be pretty informative.

 

That data is partially available via IRI; they track beer sales through retailers like supermarkets, convenience stores,...

The IRI data is not complete since it does not track all retailers. One example is beer sales in PA (e.g., Retail Beer Distributors).

Cheers!

P.S. I do not have access to IRI data but perhaps some of this information is listed in reports on the Brewers Association website.

 

Below is from the analysis by Bart Watson (March 28, 2018) that I linked above:

“A More Mature Market

As with every year, 2017 brought changes to the craft brewing market. Nearly 1,000 breweries opened, increasing competition while growth decelerated another small notch. Given that there still appear to be thousands of breweries in planning, this pattern is likely here to stay for several years. It will be difficult for all breweries to succeed in this environment, but professional brewing is fundamentally a business, and in any business there is the risk of failure.”

I do not know what was published in 2015 but the above citied paragraph presents a sobering picture IMO.

Cheers!

 

Does this make me shameless? The store rep saw I was eyeing Tallgrass and he said "you better get it while it's still available." News has spread pretty quickly around the KC Metro area.



8-Bit is new-to-me, but Buffalo Sweat is an old favorite.

 

Every time this happens, I'm left wondering if the brewery would have been better off hiring reps to work in the market BEFORE increasing production. Brewers shouldn't depend upon their distributors to push the product. You need your own boots on the ground getting handles and shelf space. An effective brewery rep can make a difference in sales both on premise and in bottle shops. I never met a Tallgrass rep and sales, at least in my store, have been lackluster after the "two week honeymoon" most breweries enjoy after first getting distro here.

 

"The first Belgian-style Tripel ever released in a can." according to their website.

 

That is indeed sage advice.

Of the brewery brands you carry in your store, what percentage would you say have Reps that visit you and 'sell' their beers to you?

Cheers!

 

I wouldn't call Tallgrass small, at least by craft brewery standards, but I think all breweries that depend on distribution, especially distribution outside of their home market and extra-especially those that depend on revenue growth to be profitable, are in serious danger.

There are a lot of breweries making terrible beers that impress the masses (including terrible beers that receive very high ratings). The idea that the likely impending shakeout disproportionately will negatively impact breweries making bad beer is wishful thinking. There are some very good breweries that have fallen into the trap of excessive optimism about future growth prospects in the industry.

 

About 10 maybe 15% and those brands do relatively better than most others because of it.

 

Man sad to see this. I brought a lot of their beer down from Oklahoma before they distributed here in Texas. That tripel was solid, and they had a BA version of it called Wooden Rooster which was outstanding. Loved the Buffalo Sweat and it's variants, all the canned sours were good, and at a good price point. What kills me is they have never made a really good hoppy beer. They had Ethos IPA out there which was a solid old school IPA but they discontinued it. And the other beer that I always had a hard time getting was Big RICC, which was a great Coffee Stout that was begging to be put in a barrel. I will miss them, fortunately there is a shit ton of fruited kettle sours on the market now to replace what I used to get from them (outstanding beach beers).

 

So looking at this link , they were second in their area only to boulevard. I know it’s been mentioned before but cigar city made mention that they were going down a vicious cycle where they would have had to spend millions in order to make any sort of money long term.

At peak 16k capacity, can a brewery not run profitably? Was a jump to 20k not feasible? 16 to 100 is a AB InBev buyout sort of plan.

I get having one restaurant and then wanting to expand and expand and expand and strike while the iron is hot. But did no one see this coming from a beer perspective?

It’s always amazing to me to see seemingly successful companies go about being mismanaged. Many successful places are one mistake away from going under. Scary.

 

Tallgrass did do well with their barrel aging. I purchased their "explorer" pack that featured a few big beers and was impressed with all of them, but especially Wooden Rooster.

I'm disappointed they never put Big Ricc in barrels. It's hands down my favorite from them, with Wooden Rooster in second place.

 

I think this topic has been discussed on this forum in regards to the "craft beer bubble bursting", but as we get more and more breweries, it'll become apparent which are good on the business side of the house vs. focusing on making beer. It's a business, a business about making and selling beer, but a business none-the-less.

 

Truly unfortunate news.... While I didn't purchase regularly (and thus contributed to their demise), I did enjoy Buffalo Sweat on occasion

 

Wow! That is a disappointingly small value.

One more reason why distributing breweries are not doing so well in today's craft beer scene!?!

Cheers!

 

Sad, I fear more will follow. Trying to grow too much I'm guessing is what did them in. So many more choices large & small brewer-wise compared to when I first had a Tallgrass. Tough to get shelf space these days. Honestly, they are better than about all but 2 or 3 brewers in Arkansas. They will be missed

 

I wouldn’t blame quality, they had some very solid beers. Pub ale was a great brown ale, Buffalo sweat was a very good oatmeal milk stout. They just didn’t do very well in the styles that are the bulk of the market now. 8 bit was not a very good pale ale, and honestly I never bothered to try their other hoppy stuff.

I’ll miss them, but we’re lucky enough to have so many great breweries right now that losing this one won’t be too big of a deal, I’ll find a replacement for buffalo sweat.

 

That specific Explorer pack was the shit. It had Big Ricc, Wooden Rooster, BA Buffalo Sweat and BA Vanilla Buffalo Sweat. I grabbed one and when I got home and had Wooden Rooster I sent my daughter back to buy 4 more. Even their Saison Songbird was a good beer. So sad thinking about this as I write this out

 

Found another article that went into a little more detail on brewbound

I guess that explains the shuttering of some of the lines. But man I tell you what, in this market I think you would be successful in releasing a rotating line of IPA's. I know this doesn't get you any stability on tap handles, but one offs seem to be doing pretty well now by those pushing them out.

 

I get how it happens, the perceived need to expand in order to compete only to find you can't service debt in the face of declining sales. I guess the only answer is to grow with sales and not ahead of them.