BeerBorg

This is a pretty interesting (and encouraging) bit of news. Long live the craft beer movement!

http://cheezburger.com/8262665984

I saw this a week or so ago and it makes me wonder when it's going to implode. Is this just a fad or is this to stay? I hope it stays.

My prognostication is that it'll fluctuate. Some of these will thrive; some will fail; some will just maintain; new ones will rise and fall (or thrive).

But the fact that there has been growth is encouraging. There is no longer a triumvirate monopoly (to coin a phrase) of The Big Three BMC megas controlling everything. The free market is allowing opportunities to be taken, and that's great. But the inherent risk is always there. Opportunity can be guaranteed; success cannot. That's the chance you take when you start a new business.

It's going gangbusters in LA and Miss. We'd all love to do this for a living but the truth is, most can't really make a good income on small, craft breweries. But, there's more to life than money.

Facts in the numbers of growth in the craft breweries is encouraging of course and it will continue to grow. More and more people are being drawn in to the scene and beers through these breweries and gaining ground every day. On the business side, of course as Dave said there will be attrition with many going under though others will thrive. It's a rather large investment to get operations going, though not as much as some would lead you to believe. Yes, it can cost up to six figures to get going. However, you can also get going for far less than that with a well thought up brew house and budgeting in the beginning.

Beer-Lord - I find many believe this, though from research and talks with other small brewers and breweries they are actually thriving more than they actually believed they would. Many that I have spoken with who have been in business for less than two years have already either had to expend their brew house or move all together to keep up with the demand of their product and customers. Making more money than they initially predicted as well.

Yes, in some cases it is the "new thing" in town and they saw an initial influx of revenue that tapered off. However, there are I would say one out of every four that see continued revenue increases. If done correctly, you can carve out a better than what you would expect living with a small craft brewery. All of the posts on threads on other boards and websites that say you have to start with [insert size here] brewery are the ones not doing any sort of research on smaller than normal breweries. Say breweries at or below 1 BBL systems.

Some easy examples to show that a 1 BBL brewery can and will survive are; Bad Wolfe Brewing, Pipe Dream Brewery, Hawcreek Brewing Company, Hammond River Brewing, Border Brewery, Wingman Brewers, Ship Bottom Brewery and Kretschmann Brewing Company just to name a few that are either still running on a 1 BBl (or smaller) systems or had so much success they had to upgrade to bigger capacities in under two years.

These are just a handful of the ones I have done research and spoke to regarding setting up a small scale brewery with the benefits, issues and insights they would offer up.

The truth is (based on numbers) that the craft beer industry will continue to grow heading into the future. As more and more people are brought into this scene, those numbers will continue to grow by even bigger leaps and bounds. Look how Cigar City Brewing is now going to have their beer n Carnival Cruise Ships. Big contracts like this for craft beer just go to show the big boys that craft beer and breweries are not going anywhere and are in fact beginning to creep over into their once unthought of territory for the "little guys".

The NY/NJ Metro area is seeing some success with craft breweries, but the nature of this area would almost insure that.

One thing that's very encouraging to me is my local (as it walking distance from my front door) brewpub, Defiant, has started marketing bottled beer locally. I can get their Medusa IPA and Muddy Creek Lager at the local supermarket and at the lanes where I bowl in my league. The same is true of Captain Lawrence, which is located across the Hudson River. Good signs, I think.

FedoraDave wrote:The NY/NJ Metro area is seeing some success with craft breweries, but the nature of this area would almost insure that.

One thing that's very encouraging to me is my local (as it walking distance from my front door) brewpub, Defiant, has started marketing bottled beer locally. I can get their Medusa IPA and Muddy Creek Lager at the local supermarket and at the lanes where I bowl in my league. The same is true of Captain Lawrence, which is located across the Hudson River. Good signs, I think.

That's great, Dave. Not that many years ago, something like that would be near to non-existent. Now, it's becoming common place which is very encouraging for small craft breweries and up starts alike.

At the beginning of the movement, the Big 3 had so much economic leverage that they could pressure the independents into selling. And there weren't enough indies to hold them off. But now it reminds me of Whack-A-Mole. They can't buy everybody, even with all their bucks. Somebody, somewhere is going to make good beer and sell it, as long as the legislatures let them.

I think you're right, Amy. At least, the megas won't be trying to buy start-ups, because it just isn't worth it. And they'll have a chance to grow and establish their own markets.

And there will always be those like Yeungling, who told AB-InBev to pound sand -- they were family-owned, and they were gonna stay that way.

It's an interesting time to be a beer aficionado.

I think there is plenty of room for more new breweries. As long as the local culture is buying; here's a list of breweries in one neighborhood in Seattle; where Redhook started.

Plenty of room in S. Florida.
All we have is Funky Buddha and Due South.

I'm not going to make any predictions but I would just love to see the brew-pub market really take hold. Unfortunately for me I seem to be the only craft drinker in my home town. We just had a bar reopen and they're having trouble selling beers from the brewery just twenty miles away that's been around since before prohibition. But they can't keep BMC beers and Key Stone pounders in the coolers.

I'm also seeing a bunch of bottle-shops/tap houses open up near me. These are places that don't brew but rotate taps of local (and not local) beers along with a great supply of fresh bottles that I can't get at grocery stores. Granted, I don't go out to drink much, but tonight I'm taking a buddy out to celebrate his new (hopefully) job.

Chuck N wrote:I'm not going to make any predictions but I would just love to see the brew-pub market really take hold. Unfortunately for me I seem to be the only craft drinker in my home town. We just had a bar reopen and they're having trouble selling beers from the brewery just twenty miles away that's been around since before prohibition. But they can't keep BMC beers and Key Stone pounders in the coolers.

I weep for you, my friend.