What will happen when current brewmasters/owners pass away?

What like from an asteriod? Or is there some "brewers plague"??

Business is business, they're nothing unique to brewers.... this has happened before.

Trust me.

 

I would imagine the large craft brewers have business plans to keep the company going after the founder/head brewer retires. The next CEO/Head Brewer will have a vision on how they want to do things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Only time will tell. The smaller brewers are the ones that may have problems once the head brewer is gone. For instance, now that Tod Mott has left the Portsmouth Brewery there's no more Kate the Great and all the hoopla surrounding its release.

 

I heard when Sam Calagione passes, it's in his will to cremate him, and brew a beer using his ashes.

So business as usual at Dogfish Head.

 

What happened to Budweiser when Adolphus Busch and Eberhard Anheuser passed away ? Well, that's really not a very good analogy - the brewery just kept making the same beer they always did. As far as innovations in beer - new brew masters will replace the old brew masters in years to come. Sam Calagione, Greg Koch and Vinnie Cilurzo are young men. The future in beer looks bright.

 

Business plans change generationally, and if they are not good plans (people and products both, the business dies.
And another will take their place. Assuming a free(ish) market continues, we will all simply vote with our wallets who survives.

 

This is an issue in every business, and particularly in small to midsize ones. The ones that face the issue sensibly and have a good succession plan in place do just fine...the ones that don't have problems.

 

We've seen craft pioneers at Goose Island and Old Dominion (two off the top of my head) retire and sell off the business.

 

If they are smart they would have an apprentice. If they are selfish they will die with their recipes.

 

Beers have recipes - they arent just locked into the owners head. So i would say business as usual.

 

Something to think about. The guys you mentioned are no longer the innovative brains behind new beers. Stone, Sam, and DFH have robust marketing firms, many brewmasters and brewers, and most of the innovation comes from these places.

Owners of big craft breweries like the ones you have described are more or less stakeholders and figureheads. I am not saying they can't brew beer, but they don't got time for that whilst they run a company.

 

The example given above re: Mott's leaving Portsmouth and the brewmaster "taking his recipe with him" is a major exception to normal brewing industry practices.

Breweries hire new brewers all the time just as brewers leave breweries all the time - recipes don't change. These "figurehead" brewers (brewery owners) don't do the day to day brewing, the recipes aren't secret - when someone like Calagione is out of state doing promotional appearances, DFH doesn't grind to a halt - brewers standing around with hands in pockets, no idea what goes into 60 Minute Ale, "Sam's not here and he's got the keys.".

Head brewers go on vacation, call in sick, some breweries run their brewhouses on second and third shifts - the beer still gets brewed.

 

This is not different than a family restaurant that has 'Mama's recipes', when Mama dies, the meatballs live on!!! I am beyond sure that brew recipes are written down or saved, especially in some of the larger brew kings of the craft world. Can you imagine the outcry if Sam passes and his recipe for 90 Minutes is radically changed? There would be a hostile takeover in Lower Slower Delaware!!!

 

The best jokes have an air of plausibility about them. Well played, sir.

 

Those are middle aged men, all in in their mid to late 40s. They would be thinking about retirement by now. Sam has children, so he may want them to take over the business if so inclined.

The founders of SN and Bells are in their mid to late 50's. They have it set up so that the brewery will go to the kids. The founder of Boulevard was 60 if I recall correctly, and he had kids, but sold to a larger Brewery.

The brewers in the first round of craft breweries had a rougher time of it, as many went out of business like Jack McAauliffe, while Bert Grant sold his brewery and it went bust later, and Fritz Maytag sold Anchor recently and it is to expand.

 

If Shaun Hill goes we're all fucked.

 

FTFY

 

Read a history book or two. A good to start at is
http://www.amazon.com/Ambitious-Brew-Story-American-Beer/dp/0156033593
http://www.amazon.com/Beer-History-Civilization-Mesopotamia-Microbreweries/dp/0380780518

I think its been answered by the drinkers, one has to ask this question to the owners of each place, and frankly in all the interviews of brewers I am quite surprised no one has asked this one yet.

We can guess that is depends on who gets the helm. many possibilities.

Still any GOOD biz knows you have to know your market. If your not selling more beer you might be in trouble., and course what goes up does go down, but still the trend needs to go up over time. its all Biz school 101 stuff really.

take the widget for example, lol.

 

Ken Grossman has been pretty clear about his kids taking over Sierra Nevada and they are already high up in the company hierarchy, with his son Brian running the new NC brewery. Seems I've read of numerous similar "second generation" employees at breweries (maybe Bell's?).

A generation ago, Jim Koch often mentioned that he was building Boston Beer Co. "for his children" but I've never read anything about his kids (at least two of whom are now above legal age) in the company in recent years.