A friend of mine bought a small party store in the sticks of southeast michigan, near the thumb. She asked me what craft beers they should order, as she wants to expand her minimal selection a little bit. Currently they have founders all day and dirty bastard, two hearted from bells and mad hatter ipa. She said nothing too crazy (so I'm assuming she doesn't want a bunch of 15 dollar 4 packs and overpriced bombers) My personal taste would dictate they remove the mad hatter (as they have two better ipas), put victory at sea in its place. (To fill the porter/stout gap) Other than that, what reasonable priced popular beers of the area would work in a rural setting? I can come up with what I would like, but I'm not every beer drinker. I want her to be able to sell her stock.
She needs to evaluate whether the market there will support an expanded line-up. Are the ones that are already on the shelves selling well? Do the customers want an expansion for some variety? The last thing she wants is inventory gathering dust. I suspect that residents in that area might support Michigan-made beers before those from other states, so maybe look along those lines first. The M-43 would be a good one that will get people into the store. An expanded line-up of Bell's and Founders' offerings might be the way to go first, then expand to other breweries later.
I suspect that where this shop is located will have mostly a population that is just now branching out beyond drinking the macro beers, so I'll add that any good beer store should have a singles section to encourage exploring and experimenting with the different tastes. But don't put old beers in that section just to get rid of the stuff.
I like your line of thinking. I don't know about m43 due to the price point out the door, but it is very popular. Michigan beers will often be fresher and sell better, so bells and founders are solid brands to carry.
I'd leverage her distributor's sales statistics for the area. They should be able to point out what the demand is for certain beer and she can proceed conservatively from there.
Put the M-43 right next to the Leinenkugel Summer Shandy when it arrives. All the meatheads on my bowling league who drink shandy at the lanes love M-43.
Get Founder's Solid Gold then recommend it to people who normally stick to Bud/Miller/PBR. May even be able to win over a few converts.
That reminds me, I gotta see if she even has a wheat beer in the shop. Idk about leinenkugel, but dirty blonde seems to do well with the borderline craft drinkers.
I second or 3rd the suggestion for M-43. I suggest Founders Porter along with Bell's/Founders stouts instead of Victory at Sea. And Short's has lots of seasonal releases that are normally interesting. I agree on the Mad Hatter.
Sounds like M-43 is gonna be in consideration. I only worry because it's a little expensive and I don't know how it'll hold up against the ever increasing competition in the style. But it is a very popular beer for sure. (At worst, if it's not selling well my fiancee will buy some and drink it) Junior, your recommendation of bells/founders dark beers is a solid idea. Seems like local brands do well locally. My big thing with victory at sea is the abv/price value, but I can see how others may sell better in Michigan for sure. Bells and founders are giants in our state and can't be looked past.
