Tag: heritage brewery

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Novel

Since I am in the Rose City, here is a connected to Portland post from the Beervana blog.

I will wait here for you to read….

Back? Cool.

The Novelty Curve or the similar Live Long Enough to Become the Villain corollary is a tough one to escape. Looking at coffee as an example, Starbucks had 46 shops back in 1989 and were a small part of the Specialty Coffee Association. Now, Starbucks is closer to Folgers than specialty coffee.

To negate this move, some breweries just start sub-brands with distinctive branding like Offshoot Beer with The Bruery or Hello Friend with The Rare Barrel to zig around this trap. Others just change marketing or design at frequent intervals so that consumers may re-notice a beer. Others double and triple down on a beer with long legs and extend out from that point, I am thinking about the myriad Yeti versions in the beer multiverse.

All viable paths but none really treat the root cause, craft beer fans with zero attention spans. I have to admit a preference for buying single cans and justify it with the I am writing about it, trying to keep up with trends excuse.

Once a fickle fan feels something is stale, they move on unless a brewery can dangle another, shinier object in front of them.

What to do? Well, a brewery should not jump at the first signs of being uncool. Instead lean into explaining even more why you brew what you brew. Make your experimental beers taproom specials and keep them to a minimum. It may seem better to crank out new IPAs each week but there leads the path of stale by overdoing it.

The other suggestion is to find the less fickle, work to get more women, more non-whiteys, older folks too. Canvas the blocks around your neighborhood. If the fan is a moving target, look for those who ain’t moving.

I don’t claim to have the best answers but maybe being awkward is OK.

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“Old” Brewery Tour # 3 – Alaskan Brewing

Our final “old” brewery is Alaskan Brewing. This brewery is past the 35 year mark which is quite an achievement.

Stratasphere IPA – “Brewed with a ton of Strata hops and Alaska-grown wheat for a slight haziness, this bold IPA is big in citrusy mango flavors that showcase this new exciting hop variety.”

Juneau Juice – “This unfiltered IPA is a glowing medium gold, with a hazy appearance reminiscent of a lazy summer day in Juneau, AK. Ripe pineapple, fresh tangerine and pine resin abound in the aroma, with a host of other tropical and stone fruit flavors. Juneau Juice is all about bright and succulent hop character.”

Pilsner – “It’s been said that Pilsners represent the high art of brewing. Named for the region of the Czech Republic known as Pilsen, this style of beer is considered both challenging to brew by brewmasters across the world and an easy to drink beer that delights beer drinkers everywhere.”

and of course, Smoked Porter – “Known as “rauchbier” in Germany, smoke-flavored beers were virtually unknown in the U.S. until Alaskan Smoked Porter was developed in 1988.”

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“Old” Brewery Tour # 2 – Great Lakes Brewing

Another, more descriptive term for old is heritage and that applies well to Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland.

Dortmunder Gold Lager – “A classic award-winning balance of sweet malt and dry hop flavors, proudly waving the flag for Cleveland and refreshing beer drinkers everywhere since 1988.”

Conway’s Irish Ale – “A pint for Pa Conway! Our co-owners’ grandfather and policeman who’d likely uphold that an Irish Ale with full-bodied caramel malt flavors is just the ticket.”

Lake Eerie Monster Imperial IPA – “Issue a small craft advisory: this South Bay Bessie-inspired brew launches an intense hop attack amid torrid tropical fruit flavors.”

and of course…

Edmund Fitzgerald Porter – “Robust and complex, our Porter is a bittersweet tribute to the legendary freighter’s fallen crew—taken too soon when the gales of November came early.”