What beer should I buy?

Surprised no one has mentioned Creature Comforts. Are they brewery-only?

 

I think Shanex' advice is sound. My primary advice is to echo that from matthewp and others to be careful of what a bunch of real beer aficionados from around the country have to say on this topic. It is probably not representative of your local market. I have no expertise in this area, BUT some of the best, small beer sellers in my area (NY metro) have these things in common:

- They dedicate a large amount of space to the big manufacturers of Adjunct Lagers, e.g AB-Inbev, MillerCoors, etc, with a broad range of their products. It could easily be 30 to 50% of the floor space and 50 to 60% the cooler space. I would put "Canadian" beers in that category (I don't know how many are actually made there any more).
- They dedicate at least 20 - 25% of the space to real International beers with a focus on big names, e.g Heineken, Guinness, Bass, etc.
- They have a range of craft beers, maybe 20 - 25%, but I suspect this is driven by what they can get from their distributor(s). While I may get disagreement from the forum, SweetWater, Westbrook, and Cigar City relatively local to you, but also Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Founders, Bell's, BBC (Sam Adam's), and Brooklyn all come to mind, but there are lots of others.
- They have an area for local craft brewers, which is most of the balance, but may be and to begin with probably should be very small.

This may be an unpopular statement, but from a business perspective, I would not commit to the craft beers too heavily to begin with. They still make up a small fraction of the overall market and your customers' preferences are more likely to resemble that. If you are really uncertain, you just need to see what your successful (read long-lived) competition is doing first, but then speak with your customers, see what moves, and see what they say they want to see going forward.

Starting a new business is hard work. I wish you success.

 

The worse thing to do is ask the opinions of multiple people. I bet after reading these comments, your head is spinning. What you need to do is what YOU think is best.

 

Definitely agree with all of the above. Heineken has been a part of the mix for a long time (it was the number one import for years), but is often skunky. Frankly, I neglected to say before, but many Mexican beers, Dos Equis and Modela Negro, for example, are also very well made and seem to move in the summer among those not dedicated to craft. Corona, I believe, remains the top import; I suspect it will move, but I have an issue with a beer I MUST put a lime in to drink it.

You just don't want to get caught with lots of product that has been sitting around forever. That's the main reason to take it slow on local (and trendier craft). I certainly appreciate the fact that without folks like you, most folks like us would have a lot less choices. Thanks in advance.

 

I say the following speaking as a former beer buyer.

Buying beer basically comes down to little more than guessing.

Buy in small quantities initially; it is better to run out of a particular beer for a few days than have extra cases of it sitting around for months.

Talk to your costumers, and learn what they want to buy. Then bring those beers in.

Always remember that it is your job to bring beers into your store that your costumers want to buy. It is not your job to promote any brewery's brand or even craft beer in general; you are running a business not an advocacy group.

-Tim

 

Just from a customers point of view, one local store here in Knoxville TN has really decent craft beer section and cooler. The thing that draws me here is they let us pick just one beer out of 4pks/6pks/12pks . This is great for since I trade and just want to try one before committing to the whole lot. So they get my business versus the other 1000 wine/liquor store who do not do this. And as mentioned above they usually have Bearded Iris on tap.
As for my 2 cents on breweries
Bearded Iris
Southern Grist
Basically Nashville/Asheville/and local Georgia would sell quick.

 

There's a lot of questions I want to ask, but, I'm on my phone. Will get back when I'm on a machine.

 

Great advice.

 

You are in business to serve your customers and to make money. Listen to them and figure out what they want. Then, stock that beer. I am sure there is some trial and error involved.

 

If you came here to ask you should abandon your plan.

This is not 2010 anymore.

What’s your completion.
How many shops in the same area?
How are you different than the other shops?
Why would I come to your shop over another?

Enjoy

 

If you are in an area that has no local competition, I would go to an area similar to the one your store will be in that has a successful beer store, and see what that store does to be successful. Then do that.

If you are in an area that does have local competition, rethink your decision to open a beer store. It is a tough time, in general, to try to be a beer retailer.

 

Gallop and Neilsen seem to do alright doing it.

 

Which store in Knoxville?

 

Well actually there is two
Mcscrooges and Bearden beer market
Bearden beer market has better selection of beer I think but they are a little more pricey per individual beer. Some times at Mcscrooges they don’t have all the beers in the system as individuals so it takes them a minute to enter one in if you break up a 4pk. Bearden beer market also has more beers on tap. Sometimes Mcscrooges doesn’t have any I’ve noticed sometimes they do.

 

Buy and sell the beer YOU like. Do you prefer fresh beer? Then try and only carry fresh beer, obviously you can't only have week old beers but if possible, reject anything old (2+ months) from the distributor unless it's a beer that can be aged. If you are able to do something like this, advertise it.

I'd avoid having too big of a selection, quality over quantity. I'll take a fresh beer rated around 85 on BA vs a 4-6 month old beer rated at 95 almost every single time (depending on style obviously).

Carry a decent amount of macro beers.

Keep beer cold, buying warm beer sucks.

 

From my perspective as a consumer, some pretty decent advice given above. I will add that the place i usually buy most of my package at is a hybrid, with draft and package. They really try to match up beers that are in package with what's on draft. It is a cool concept, and has 15 well-curated taps. being able to have a pint of something before buying a 4-pack is a nice touch. also, any package can be split to singles for on-site consumption (with corkage fee), or to-go. very important is knowledgeable staff!

 

Google reveals that there is much competition in your area:
https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=beer_and_wine&find_loc=Johns+Creek,+GA