Why does The Alchemist only brew one beer?

Just messing with you. I have yet to try this. Closest I got was when a couple cases showed up in Denmark. I have no doubt their standards are high.

 

At which point I hope we start seeing it in NE. However, I doubt that will happen. So, I'd be perfectly happy if it made its way to Council Bluffs.

 

So if they can't keep up with demand, wouldn't that be a business that an investor would like to put money into? I'm sure that they could get funding to open another brewery if they wanted to, but something else is keeping them from doing it. As others have mentioned, Heady is outstanding, but they brewed many outstanding beers. It is a unique decision, in this day, to not expand when your business is this good.

 

We'll see. Heady is now a monolith in the craft brewing culture. Like some sort of neo-pliny era.

 

Absolute perfection, I can't think of one thing you could possibly do to make this beer any better, a perfect storm of hops/malt/yeast.

 

Maybe they don't want an investor? Investors want their cut and usually want to have a say depending on how much money they put in. Remember, the cannery is the "another brewery". It was to open along side the brewpub, but Irene destroyed the brewpub.

 

One day hopefully a long way away some regional brewer might make them an offer they can't refuse. Might maintain artistic license but could sell the financial interest, but they're young too. It's family run so i hope not, keep doing what your doing I and we appreciate the effort.

 

Don't know if it was brought up, but did they not have insurance on the brewpub?

 

"There can be only one" - Highlander. Cheers

 

At capacity with a product that sell out every week, sounds like a great problem to have.

 

They probably did but most policies don't cover flood damage.

 

Pun intended?

 

Really? I imagine they had doubts about the financial viability of the cannery by itself and couldn't spare the money/effort to go forward with rebuilding the brewpub, but the cannery opened like the weekend after the flood or something crazy like that. The timing was actually quite serendipitous in that respect. If they hadn't already been so far along in the building of the cannery they may not exist at all today, so it seems like it would have been a strange point to have given up

Quality of life mainly. They feel like they've found a good balance between their work and home lives. Imagine the stress of having to take on more debt, expand, brew more varieties, market and sell the beer, etc. If they're happy with the amount of money they make now then there's not much incentive to grow larger. This is the same reason Lawson's Finest Liquids hasn't expanded much either

 

They had other beers but they lost all the recipes

 

No doubt that HT has established itself as a must try beer. You know how beer geeks are, though ... always searching for the next beer to become a "must have." All I'm saying is that TG's beers are going to be in that discussion sooner, rather than later.

 

because Heady Topper is good

 

Sam Calagione once made a comment along the lines that they could be the 60-minute IPA brewery, but he didnt want to be just that.

I can see it both ways.

 

See Orval.

One beer done right is all you need.

 

Okay, I just read this entire thread, and I will reply randomly with what I know, and feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
This will explain a lot. I can't believe I found it, and it answers a lot of the questions above.

As for the flood, the brewing tanks and all of the equipment were in the basement of the brew pub, and the flood insurance only covered what was above ground. So obviously, the most valued assets were not covered. They wanted to re-open the brew pub, but the loss was enormous...
They have expanded production at the cannery 3 times, I think, and have no plans to expand further. John has mentioned the quality of life of his family and his employees as a factor, which I am sure it is. But I remember some standards John held when there was only the Alchemist Brew Pub. (BTW, I never visited there, but followed their website a bit prior to the flood...) John would never let a beer leave his brewpub, on premesis consumption only! No cans, no bottles...no GROWLERS! He didn't want the integrity of his beer compromised, and had no control over its care once it left the brewery. Would a growler sit in a car in the hot sun for days? Would it take a month for someone to crack a growler? Would the beer taste as he intended when it was consumed?
So when the question of why he wouldn't seek investors or continue to expand is asked, what would the answer be? I know cases of Heady sit around peoples houses after purchase, but if you are selling out rapidly, consistently, and constantly, would freshness be as much of a concern as if you ramped up capacity 10-fold and had Heady sitting on market shelves all over the northeast? Warm distro trucks, improper rotation in back rooms and on shelves. A detail and quality focused brewer like John would have sleepless nights if that were the case. So I feel freshness is more-so controlled with limited quantity.
Just my 2 cents.