The next brewery to bite the dust
- Thread starter baller21
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That honestly seems like a decent move in terms of Stone being shepherded by craft brewers rather than a mass producer like Sapporo.
I used to really like their enjoy by brews but haven’t had one the past few years because I’ve cut back on hazies. Did you notice a drop in quality/flavor after Sapporo acquired them?
Local media stating Stone’s “east of the Mississippi distribution” will be brewed in KC at Boulevard.
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The old Fox Brewing, now Hi-Fi Brew Lounge, is also closing in Des Moines/Valley Junction.
Bad location but thought they did a great job with their refresh a few years ago. Their beers have always been meh to me but hate to see local breweries closing.
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Bad location but thought they did a great job with their refresh a few years ago. Their beers have always been meh to me but hate to see local breweries closing.
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I never liked the beer at any of those places. I'm still amazed how many really average breweries are still hanging in there in the current environment.
Firetrucker or Backpocket. I don't know how back pocket is doing it, their overhead has to be huge and their beers are terrible. I've been there a lot and it's never very busy and the service has been really bad. Their food isn't great either. It's too bad because Johnston needs a nice place like that but Backpocket is not good, that space would be better served s a sports bar.
I was just at Backpocket on Saturday night. They had a huge group of baseball kids and parents. I'm sure they get plenty of people for their duckpin bowling, too. Their beer is okay, but their don't have new stuff very often. I appreciate the Iowa State beers, even though I don't drink them outside of tailgates.
Talking to people in the industry, consolidation is going to continue. many of these places have hit a ceiling (or decline) with demand and the cost of brewing and distribution is killing them. Some have already begun setting up shared brewing space among competitors to save money on equipment overhead and enabling larger combined volumes for distribution.
I'm honestly shocked that someone bought 515 and is reopening it.
The few times I went there I was never impressed.
As long as Barn Town keeps it rolling I'm good.
Yeah, there is a reason this happened in the 1960s/70s when Miller, Anheuser-Bush and Coors became the dominant breweries and all the local or smaller breweris started disappearing. The Craft boom was great, I still really like craft beer, but my tastes have changed dramatically as I've gotten older. I just don't drink beer like I used to. If you told me five years ago that I'd go a week without drinking a beer, I'd have slapped you.
We went on our yearly guys fishing trip the first weekend of June. We were all laughing about how little beer we drank on the trip. even just five years ago we were constantly running to the store for another case of beer. We all came up with a few, bought a 12 pack each of Moon Man and Spotted Cow and after four days, we brought beer home.
Anyways, it seems the older crowd who were beer drinkers just don't drink them like they used to and the younger generations just aren't into beer like we used to be at their age.
Tastes have definitely changed. The Local Craft Brewery had people, but really wasn't even close to full. The Distillery in town though was absolutely packed on a Thursday night. And this was also while we were commenting on how dead the town was that weekend compared to years past.
I make it a point to eat at SingleSpeed when I'm in Waterloo as well as visiting BigGrove in CR occasionally. Even at places who made their name via craft beers, the people who frequent them aren't often drinking it. I'm much like you, I'm content with a beer or two vs multiple beers a decade ago and though I don't like the seltzers, it's obvious many people do.
Barntown and Big Grove both make good beers and offer good food. That's the only successful combination for the long run.
