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Article: Hard Times Afoot for the Craft Beer Industry

Hornius Emeritus

By Hornius Emeritus
in Food and Travel

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Txlc

Txlc 10

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There are a ton of new Breweries across Texas and most of what they put out is just ok. They need to focus on the local towns and build their brand. Barrow Brewing out of Salado and Thirsty Planet are doing this and gaining a following.

 

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12549

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Breweries that are trying to be the next big thing and push distribution right out the gate are in a super precarious spot.  They need to make excellent beer.

If you're just looking to serve a community, and keep your scale in check, it's a much more sustainable model.

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Bottlecap

Bottlecap 1523

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1 hour ago, Txlc said:

There are a ton of new Breweries across Texas and most of what they put out is just ok. They need to focus on the local towns and build their brand. Barrow Brewing out of Salado and Thirsty Planet are doing this and gaining a following.

 

I know when I want a model for a successful beer industry brand, its Barrow and Thirsty Planet

They ever get that taproom open after 2 years?

 

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Bottlecap

Bottlecap 1523

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I've said this before several times on here and I'll say it again, regional breweries are a thing of the past (nationally, but especially in TX). Breweries are as hyperlocal as they've ever been, and that's a GREAT thing. Brewers are treating small breweries like local bars now and laying off the pipe dream of becoming national (or regional) brands.

You want a successful brewery? Get a partner or two to help run operations. Make a cool taproom. It doesn't have to be the nicest, just warm and inviting. Self distribute, but only distribute like 5% of your beer to high volume accounts for advertising purposes. Sell the other 95% out of your taproom. Get a brewpub license and sell crowlers (or growlers, but just do crowlers i mean, come on) to-go. Keep your footprint small and get into an underserved neighborhood or community. Play good music, make it kid or dog friendly or both. Have an outdoor space.

Basically, no need to re-invent anything. Just copy/paste brands like ABGB, Southern Heights, or ABW.

That'll be $99.95

BTW, Big Bend didn't go under because of underperformance (although i thought they sucked after Steve Anderson died). Big Bend mostly went under because of this.

 

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Wiler77

Wiler77 1591

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14 minutes ago, Bottlecap said:

I've said this before several times on here and I'll say it again, regional breweries are a thing of the past (nationally, but especially in TX). Breweries are as hyperlocal as they've ever been, and that's a GREAT thing. Brewers are treating small breweries like local bars now and laying off the pipe dream of becoming national (or regional) brands.

You want a successful brewery? Get a partner or two to help run operations. Make a cool taproom. It doesn't have to be the nicest, just warm and inviting. Self distribute, but only distribute like 5% of your beer to high volume accounts for advertising purposes. Sell the other 95% out of your taproom. Get a brewpub license and sell crowlers (or growlers, but just do crowlers i mean, come on) to-go. Keep your footprint small and get into an underserved neighborhood or community. Play good music, make it kid or dog friendly or both. Have an outdoor space.

Basically, no need to re-invent anything. Just copy/paste brands like ABGB, Southern Heights, or ABW.

That'll be $99.95

BTW, Big Bend didn't go under because of underperformance (although i thought they sucked after Steve Anderson died). Big Bend mostly went under because of this.

 

I have no idea about their volume percentages, but Twisted X is pulling off all the other stuff you described.  I love hanging out there on a Sunday afternoon.  The place is packed, live music, and kid friendly.  I see their beer at HEB, but I don't know how widespread in the city it is.  I know I can find it at the Circle C and Dripping HEBs, as well as the Shell station at 1826/Nutty Brown Rd.

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Damor

Damor 1237

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2 minutes ago, Bottlecap said:

I should have definitely mentioned that you should make excellent beer and not diarrhea beer.

Barrow is aight i guess. Its like 45th on my list of brands to buy at HEB above circle and thirsty planet so they've got that going for em. 

LOL.  I like Barrow pretty well, but realize it's definitely not the world class stuff you get on the reg in Austin.  That said, it is a pleasant place to visit away from the big city, and I think they've done a pretty good job following that hyperlocal model as you described (and I agree with you completely on that).  I will say that they do some strong seasonals and things that don't make it to cans, but I'm cool with that, and again it gets back to fitting into your locale rather than trying to be something you're not.  We hobbits have to have a place to drink, after all.

But Kyler can't come.

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patrickdrinksbeer

patrickdrinksbeer 796

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I've said this before several times on here and I'll say it again, regional breweries are a thing of the past (nationally, but especially in TX).


this is 99.5% true

You want a successful brewery? Get a partner or two to help run operations. Make a cool taproom. It doesn't have to be the nicest, just warm and inviting. Self distribute, but only distribute like 5% of your beer to high volume accounts for advertising purposes. Sell the other 95% out of your taproom. Get a brewpub license and sell crowlers (or growlers, but just do crowlers i mean, come on) to-go. Keep your footprint small and get into an underserved neighborhood or community. Play good music, make it kid or dog friendly or both. Have an outdoor space.


opening and running a brewery is extraordinarily expensive. unless you catch absolute fire, you’re not paying 2-3 full time salaries on taproom sales alone. maaaybe if you’re an industry name and sell some upfront equity at a high valuation before you open with zero debt.
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luke duke

luke duke 6420

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opening and running a brewery is extraordinarily expensive. unless you catch absolute fire, you’re not paying 2-3 full time salaries on taproom sales alone. maaaybe if you’re an industry name and sell some upfront equity at a high valuation before you open with zero debt.


You should trust Patrick. He drinks beer.
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Sundodger

Sundodger 66

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4 hours ago, Bottlecap said:

Get a brewpub license and sell crowlers (or growlers, but just do crowlers i mean, come on) to-go. 

 

Do both!  Smart micro local breweries do both.  The growler glass is a great souvenir, advirtising mechanism.   

A few local brewpubs around me are now crowler only.   I no longer go.  They charge me more AND it takes more employee time to fill.   The growler is hyper local as you get!    I now actively boycott anti-growler “local” microbreweries.  

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GabrielsHorn

GabrielsHorn 2210

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6 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Breweries that are trying to be the next big thing and push distribution right out the gate are in a super precarious spot.  They need to make excellent beer.

If you're just looking to serve a community, and keep your scale in check, it's a much more sustainable model.

That's essentially what happened to Big Bend, unfortunately. They aimed to get into Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio instead of focusing on being the beer from Far West Texas by building the second location in San Antonio, and when their equipment company went under, so did they.

Craft breweries are in a really interesting spot. Being in Denver (and Austin), it felt like there were way, way so many that all serve the same old IPA and stouts. However, when you're in a city where they aren't that big (El Paso - Dead Beach is great, but the market is nowhere as near saturated as the rest of Texas), it does make the whole city feel lacking. 

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Bottlecap

Bottlecap 1523

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There are liquor/wine laws for the small wineries/distillers that are much more lax than they are for small brewers

One key aspect is the cap on production where exceeding that cap means breweries must give (yes, free of charge) rights to the wholesaler of their choosing FOR THE LIFE OF THE BREWERY who can then sell off rights of the brewery between other distributors. It was once a way for breweries to make some decent coin as they shopped their brewery for the best deal. In return, the wholesalers "let" production breweries sell direct from their taproom ... but ONLY for consumption on premises. There is an HB and SB this lege to allow for direct taproom sales TO GO for production breweries that the wholesalers are battling, naturally ... because they are massive dipshits.

Meanwhile, Texas wineries and distilleries can sell on premise to-go.

Edited by Bottlecap
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PittsburghTiger

PittsburghTiger 6252

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One issue I have with microbreweries is that they tend to get too fancy.

For me, I just want a Bier to taste like a Bier. I don't need Coffee Bier, Chocolate Bier, Grapefruit Bier, etc etc etc.

A bunch of us do a party bus each year between Christmas and New Year's and we stop at different micro-brews along the way to town where we eventually stop at Pittsburgh's Hofbrauhaus. The micros have some awful stuff. Some is very good, but the fancy stuff is too much for me. I just like Bier.

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Bottlecap

Bottlecap 1523

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33 minutes ago, PittsburghTiger said:

One issue I have with microbreweries is that they tend to get too fancy.

For me, I just want a Bier to taste like a Bier. I don't need Coffee Bier, Chocolate Bier, Grapefruit Bier, etc etc etc.

A bunch of us do a party bus each year between Christmas and New Year's and we stop at different micro-brews along the way to town where we eventually stop at Pittsburgh's Hofbrauhaus. The micros have some awful stuff. Some is very good, but the fancy stuff is too much for me. I just like Bier.

craft lagers are the biggest thing in small beer right now so you're in luck. unless you like beer to taste like pink champagne, in which case you are also in luck.

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Hornius Emeritus

Hornius Emeritus 12517

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On 1/15/2019 at 1:16 PM, PittsburghTiger said:

One issue I have with microbreweries is that they tend to get too fancy.

For me, I just want a Bier to taste like a Bier. I don't need Coffee Bier, Chocolate Bier, Grapefruit Bier, etc etc etc.

A bunch of us do a party bus each year between Christmas and New Year's and we stop at different micro-brews along the way to town where we eventually stop at Pittsburgh's Hofbrauhaus. The micros have some awful stuff. Some is very good, but the fancy stuff is too much for me. I just like Bier.

 

They do that because 1) they are trying to get to market products that differentiate themselves from other brewers 2) beer is endlessly malleable 3) they get bored brewing the same old IPAs every day

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8733

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Colorado just ok'd "Full Strength Beer" being sold in Grocery Stores & Convenience Stores.

My guess is that while this will hurt the profits of the local liquor stores (which are never chains), the law was changed to support the vast microbrewing industry in Colorado.

At least I think that that is the idea behind the law, but I haven't read anything about it one way or the other.

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