Is the Brewery era over?
- Thread starter cc1091
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Totally serious and not only that. You are the ones who have to keep searching for new beer. I have my beer wherever I want to go, I like it, it tastes good. It's not like I am the only one to like it. Then again I am pretty much against all things Hipster.
Well, you just said that the fact that something's popular means it's good, and certainly objectively better than something less popular.
McDonald's is pretty popular.
If you prefer Bud to real beer, that's fine. It's your preference. It's popularity certainly doesn't mean it's objectively better.
I know you're sort of under attack here for saying you like Bud Light, but dismissing craft beers as just some hipster thing is lazy. Some people like to try new stuff. It's great that you have a go-to that's widely available, but check out the craft section of the liquor section or pop into Confluence some time. Pretty wide range of people, not all flannel wearing-neck beard-handlebar mustache-ski caps in 70 degree weather types.
I like the occasional good craft beer and if I'm going to have one or two after work, there's a good chance I'll go that route. However, if I'm hanging with the fellas or looking for my "binge beer" it'll be Busch Light every time. Both have their place.
I'll also drink Busch Light, or whatever's cheap in these same scenarios. I have nothing against it at all. Just like I'll eat McDonald's over a great burger in certain scenarios.
Cheap and easy always has a spot in the rotation.
I'm just waiting for them to take Grain Belt.
Grain Belt, Busch Light, and Hamm's are my usual cheap beers these days.
I like Bud Light and drink it quite often, particularly golfing.
But it's flavored water.
My cheap beer is O'Dells or Surly. "Let's just say I've done pretty well and am way past Econ 101."
Light beer is like sparkling water:
Little flavor, lots of carbonation, and it makes me feel better when I have a hangover.
Little flavor, lots of carbonation, and it makes me feel better when I have a hangover.
With a little practice you can binge higher ABV beers. I have faith in you.
A few years back that faith was probably warranted. These days, the hangovers show up more often and seem to take a lot less to earn.
Super late to this, but imo, if you aren't canning or bottling within your first year of existence you will not last.
I disagree completely. The best breweries in Iowa have been slow to can or bottle. TG, Confluence, Pulpit, Alluvial, 515 were all very slow to that process, and really, outside of TG & Confluence those breweries are only bottling special releases and canning crowlers. In my experience, it seems that places that are bottling and canning right away tend to be the mediocre to bad breweries.
I know both the head brewers at Pulpit pretty well, and they've said that their best margins are on the stuff that they sell at the tap room.
There's a size point where you can be very profitable without bottling or canning so long as you have high sales volumes at your tap room. Breweries that consistently create great beers and draw people to their tap rooms before trying to get product out the door seem to fair much better in my experiences.
That may work for Pulpit and the Iowa guys that opened their breweries 5+ years ago, but that is no longer working. New breweries have to do can/bottle releases to get their following up. It's being done all over the the US right now and its allowing more people across the nation to try their product. I've seen multiple breweries expand because of their nationwide following in just the last 6-8 months. Beer trading will be an integral piece in the future of this industry whether people want to believe it or not. Barn Town gets it. Staying only local is fine if that is what you want to do, but if you want people outside of a 30 mile radius to try your beer you better start canning/bottling.
Dangerous Man up here in the cities does growlers, crowlers and special release bottles but that's it. They aren't on tap anywhere and don't do cans or bottles. I have no doubt they are doing very well since the place is always packed (as it should be since the beer is great).
