Toppling Goliath Brewery appreciation thread...

Light Speed > Pseudo Sue..........?

Am I in the minority here? I have some of each so maybe it depends on the day.

 

There have been points in time where I would agree with this, and while I might in the future I don't today.

 

IA Sue>Light Speed>FL Sue

Unless you're talking about the bombers of Light Speed sitting at the Nova from last summer. You have other issues if you're drinking that...

 

+1

Light Speed > FL Sue. This batch.. This batch is delicious. Last Octobers batch or whatever was pretty forgettable for me.

 

I think its more of wanting to stay a brewer and not a production manager. Heady, Hill Farm, ect. Also if you could eaisly make 6 figures a year doing what you love there is no need to add the headache of expaning to your life.

 

Uh, easily make 6 figures in the brewing industry as a little guy? Sure, maybe some of the elite breweries in the country, but certainly not most of them. I dare say a vast majority start with the goal of surviving and then do their best to piece together a living out of doing what they love. This normally consists of working lots of hours and doing most of the grunt work yourself - nothing of which I consider easy.

As an industry, I'd classify brewing as a labor of love, not fortune (with very few being an exception). Not wanting to expand probably has more to do with them being able to have more control and less people meddling into their business. I should state this is also just an opinion, as I'm not a brewer.

 

I love Lightspeed. Great aromatics, appearance and flavor. Issue is i do get kind of a thin watery character from the finish that I don't get from Sue. This puts Sue in front for me and is also the primary reason I score Sue ahead of Zombie Dust.

 

You will notice my two examples of staying small on pourpose are the alchemist and Hill Farm both of who I would argue eaisly clear 100k.

For example if you take a case of Heady at $80 and assume a $20 mark up and $40 expense per case he would only need to sell 5000 cases per year to make 100k. Cosidering I have seen 200 cases dropped and gone in 10 minutes I would say he eaisly is doing that.

I would argue there are alot more smaller regional brewers that are clearing alot more than we give them credit for. I agree that a majority are in it to survive and it is a labor of love but when you have guys like Perennial, Side Project, Casey, RR, De Garde, Hill Farm, Alchemist, Lawsons, Treehouse, Trillium, Funky Buddah, Toppaling Goliath, New Glarus, ect. who can drop a beer and in two hours make 10s of thousands they are doing alot better than we give them credit for. Obviously there are alot more trying to surive breweries than any other but there are people who make alot in this industry.

 

I just had Lightspeed for the first time, and while it was good, I thought it was a little one dimensional compared to the canned Sue I have now. This 2/11 Sue is amazing IMO. Boatloads of what I assume is hop particulate though, but it doesn't bother me. Maybe my favorite APA ever.

 

I haven't heard of anyone running into particulate in the Brewhub cans/bottles. That's interesting.

 

So, FL Sue is now as good as IA Sue?

 

That's not all profit for the brewer, though. There's taxes, soft costs as well as operational costs of distribution.

 

And if you didn't notice, the guy you quoted wasn't talking about the elite of the elite, much to the contrary of your list. Have you heard of Bauhaus, Fair State, Dangerous Man, Sisyphus, or Steel Toe? If any of them are bringing home 6 figures, I'm happy for them. However, when one spouse/SO is running around working the register, pouring pints and filling growlers while the other is brewing nonstop, I have a very hard time calling it "easy" (not to mention all the office work and other stuff I know nothing about that has to be squeezed in). You're allowed to think that's easy work, but I don't. I'll end on that, since it has very little/nothing to do with the purpose of this thread.

Back on topic, I was able to try some of the recent Pompeii last night, and it's becoming one of my favorite from their lineup. It's so damn juicy.

 

I never said it was easy. My original comment had to do with The Alchemist's owener can make an easy 100k per year without expansion thats it. Starting a brewery is extremly difficult and Im not trying to take away from that. Just alluding to there are brewers who make a lot in a small foot print and for that reason have no need to expand.

Pompeii is excellent. So excited to be able to get their beer finally.

 

Pompeii has some particulate in it this batch! It's quickly become one of my favorite TG beers. I can't believe it's still around town.

 

I remember the first batch of Pompeii. I was in love then. Such a great beer.

 

Even with large margins, brewery profits are razor thin; and that's only after they become profitable. Generally, unless you get a steamroller of hype behind you, your first few years operate at a loss.

 

Fresh bomber of Light Speed vs. what I assume to be cans FL Sue...?.. either way. Both are delicious as all hell.

 

Going WAY out of my way to hit the TG taproom right now. I have a meeting in Chicago on Tuesday. Naturally, I flew into Minneapolis yesterday so I could make the pilgrimage to Toppling Goliath today. Can't wait!

 

Hope you took in what Minneapolis has to offer before heading to TG.