Category: Beer Industry

my occasional rants and raves about what is going on in the industry.

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42%


Just let that little statistic sink in. There is hand-wringing when spirits or wines seem to grab the zeitgeist but the fact is, the trends move freely among those two and beer. Zima is popular, then passe, then back as retro but still not cool. Wine has a moment be it organic or rose. Then whiskey roars back. Then hazy IPA.

See what I mean? Ebb and flow will always occur. Price will be a major component of the percentages above with the low leader grabbing a higher share. But as long as each of the three elements are staying creative and true to the beverage, they will find the latest new, new thing and ride the wave.

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New or Old

There are a few real estate spots in Glendale that are restaurant graveyards. Spaces where the turnover in signage is hotter than an actual turnover.

But this post over on the Tavour blog got me to thinking about the same concept but with a brewery. And here in Los Angeles

The Stalking Horse took over the old Steingarten spot on Pico and with a brewing system and a new British theme have made the spot their own but that is within a restaurant. What happens if an L.A. brewery changed hands? What would need to change to attract a growing clientele to a “new” taproom?

I would say that the beer would have to be easily seen (and tasted) as better. Most beer consumers (heck, most consumers overall) don’t know who is running where they are buying from and might assume that it is a simple name change or brand change. A change in beer style won’t move the needle in my opinion without that quality going up. I am not discounting the powerful effect of branding or a re-design of a taproom space but those get people in the door for one visit.

I think that L.A. will see more “new breweries – old spaces” in the coming years as a way to get over the barrier of entry that creating a whole new brewery in Los Angeles makes you leap. But the outreach needed to get better beer into the hands of buyers will be great.

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State Stats

The statistical arm of the Brewer’s Association put up a handy set of graphics for each state that gives a snapshot of brewing activity in the state.

This time around, I want to point out the rankings that are in smaller print underneath the headline numbers. And what I want to specifically call to attention are the per Capita numbers. California has the most breweries in the Union but factoring in our large population we fall to middle of the pack at 22nd. Same with economic impact, we fall from 1st to 27th.

Those aren’t to be read as negative because, we may have a higher proportion of tiny breweries. And ranking higher in per Capita breweries might strain the infrastructure and lead to unhealthy amounts of competition.

The last important number is that economic impact. If that continues to grow, even if the other numbers do not, then the clout that our brewer’s guilds can wield will grow.

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CANarchy in Inglewood


The news broke yesterday that Three Weavers the fast growing brewery in Inglewood has joined forces with the CANarchy Collective.

Per Lynne Weaver, Three Weavers Founder and CEO. “Now more than ever, it is vitally important for craft breweries to band together to preserve our collective livelihoods and legacies and grow the overall industry. By joining the CANarchy collective, Three Weavers will continue to support our community – the craft beer industry, fellow craft breweries, independent beer, and of course, local craft beer drinkers. We are truly excited to partner with the entire CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective and look forward to what we will accomplish together in the coming years.”

The CANarchy portfolio includes Oskar Blues Brewery, Perrin Brewing Company, Cigar City Brewing, Squatters Craft Beer, Wasatch Brewery and most recently, Deep Ellum Brewing.

Now, YOUR view of this will be primarily colored by your trust level of Weaver and head brewer Alex Nowell. It will also be colored by the street cred of the brewers in the list above. I am no finance guy who can tell you about the Fireman Capital Partners that are in the background. But these “collectives” are fast becoming the norm. And they will include growing, in demand breweries in geographic sweet spots. Duvel Moortgat has their nationwide trio. Constellation realized after paying big for Ballast Point that they needed a group and not just one brewery. I would not be surprised in the least if there is an IPA collective, a sour collective and other niche groupings.

Remember, the best way to measure the impact of a sale is to taste the beer before and then after and then after again. Money is not evil. Big is not bad. But you do have to be watchful because it can change how things are done.

Personally, I will be granting Three Weavers a long leash on this.

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Everyone Means Everyone

Unfortunately, Los Angeles has had some red-hatted haters slinking into places that beer lovers frequent. A taproom or bar shouldn’t be forced to throw out or throw down with those (primarily) white males who are feeling so threatened nowadays that they have to spew their fucked up shit at those who aren’t lily white and male.

Which is why I was REALLY glad to see this initiative in the UK from noted beer writer Melissa Cole. It is the Everyone Welcome Initiative.

In a nutshell, anyone who wants a pint, should be able to order one and enjoy it without being Fox News’d by some un-evolved ignoramus.

Tossing this action plan out there, maybe the L.A. Brewers Guild should do a version to have posted at member breweries?

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Lyft and Guild

Lyft, the Ride-sharing service has added another partnership notch to its belt as it will now work with the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild. The San Francisco-headquartered company has already tied the knot with:
Massachusetts Brewers Guild,
Texas Craft Brewers Guild,
Brewers of Pennsylvania,
Arizona Craft Brewers Guild,
San Diego Brewers Guild,
Colorado Brewers Guild

It’s a smart play. For both guild and Lyft to help each other out. I don’t know what amenities come in such partnerships or what rules a Guild has to abide by but I am kinda surprised that L.A. is not on the list. If there was even a tiny discount for trips to member breweries, I would certainly take advantage.

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Barrels Down


In an unfortunate turn of events, a Barton 1792 bourbon barrel aging facility collapsed recently. You can read more about it HERE.

The barrel market is tight so I can’t assume that this is good news since many barrels were probably damaged beyond repair.

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A New Version of Distribution

Yesterday, I handed out a reading assignment. Today, I offer up some ideas to fix independent beer distribution (or at least improve it a little).

1. No More 1 Way Street
In too many brewery and distributor agreements, the brewery is at a vast disadvantage. In many states, they can only opt out of a distributor if it can prove that the distributor is a hot trash mess. That needs to change. Any agreement, anywhere, needs to have specific deliverables negotiated by both sides. No laundry list but, for example, four key points (two for both sides) that would allow an amicable split with no payment from either side. Say, distributor must not have more than a certain number of craft breweries or will patrol shelves for old IPA’s. This would make distributors who let brands languish stay on their toes but also slow down distributor hopping.

2. More Interlocked Companies
It would be great to see Distributor A in Santa Barbara have an agreement with Distributor B in Los Angeles to bucket brigade beer from one locale to another via a trusted partner. This may be pie in the capitalist sky but if there were a chain of distributors up and down the state that were coordinated, the flow of California beer might rival the big players.

3. Get Into the Big Box Stores
Maybe there could be a coordinated, #independent section in your local Target or Ralphs. This might be even more of a reach than goal # 2 but instead of fighting for shelf space mano e mano, a push that has one or two beers for a month and then switches to two new ones focusing on local might be a play that could work.

What will come to pass might not be as rosy but hopefully the bottles and cans can keep on moving from brewery to store.

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Long Read on Distro

The biggest infrastructure issue facing brewery growth is getting the beer to both the OG customer that regulary shows up at your taproom to fickle beer geeks to restaurant patrons AND to those new to beer.

Doing that requires knowing how your beer is treated once it leaves not only the brewery, but how it is treated at your distrobutor, then how it is taken care of at the retailer. Oh and then you have to go about getting back any old beer that will reflect poorly on your brand.

A maze of laws has certainly hampered distribution. SABInBev through their large network has hampered anything but their distribution. The haircut taken by a distributor also plays into the slow down.

All that is prelude to the piece by Collin McDonnell of HenHouse Brewing that appeared between 900 kajillion “Fervent Few” opinions on Good Beer Hunting. It is a long read, but one you should take the time on.

Tomorrow, I post on what I think new forms of distribution could look like.

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Lost Belgian Hops

Beer History is sometimes shrouded beneath myth and changing recipes and trend chasing but in the ground are the past ingredients and some are being lost which is why the following post about Belgian hops is at once a bit sad but also heartening.

So take a read and learn about some old hops, maybe they can be new again.

BELGIAN HOPS