31 Comments

  1. I’ve been on over a week long bender until the 5th, day off and back to some cocktails so I made up for some of the slackers!  Will be a few gin and tonics tonight as I am actually beered out!  Then tomorrow down to the neighbors for some fine wine and good neighbor talk.

  2. Economics! From that article:

    Infante believes that the best place to be in beer currently is a smaller brewery where you can make 70 to 80 percent of your revenue from taproom sales or “on-site carry-away sales.” If you can make a living doing that for you and your three employees, “do that all fucking day long,” he says. “Don’t get any bigger. Ever.”

    A regional brewer, in comparison, may be paying off loans because it bought a new brewhouse, a canning line, or more equipment to make more beer. That growth may have made sense last decade, when craft beer was growing by double digits year over year, but now, as growth slows, you’re competing with a bunch of other breweries—local, regional, national—for shelf space.

    That matches what I’ve seen locally. Small brewpubs appear to be doing just fine. But the larger local breweries are getting squeezed, and the capital costs and debt service are probably a big part of the problem.

    Which is too bad, because the small ones have a spotty presence in stores, and the medium sized ones are probably getting more conservative in their offerings to maximize what they can get out of the IPA market. Which I like, but I like to try other stuff too.

    • This has been going on here for a long time, even pre-Covid.  A few well run craft brewers have become pretty large and done well but many more have to sell or close when they try to expand too quickly or too much.  Also, a bunch of homebrewers that don’t know shit about running a business have failed miserably or had to sell.  InBev tried to take over craft beer and the beer snobs like myself rebelled.  I won’t buy anything they own even though they bought some great breweries (10 Barrel, Elysian, Red Hook, Kona Brewing, etc.)  We have a bigger craft beer scene here than ever but the ones that are just about profit and not beer don’t last long.  You need to be part of the community or GTFO!

    • …one of the poster child success stories for independent brewing out of the UK is a bunch called brewdog

      …they have (afaik) managed to scale up beyond any others I can think of from that part of the world & possibly most if not all of the US equivalents

      …but…even with a massive fan/customer base that is a whole social media style community & everything…they’ve had a lot of stuff blow up one way or another that likely wouldn’t have been an issue in that sense had they stayed smaller…but even lower profile some of that stuff was still things about internal “culture” which was rightly seen as not ok…so…from one perspective being big enough to be a target for that criticism meant they did stuff to address it they maybe wouldn’t if they were still just a handful of guys doing their little thing?

      …I suspect there are a lot of swings & roundabouts for anyone who sets out to do a thing “for the love of it” & gets good enough at it to consider the jump to “making a living”…& multiple sets of them between that point & various tipping points for “growing the business”…& how far down the line you can go while still getting what you want out of it for all the effort is probably different for different people…but…I’m not in any danger of brewing much beyond mild discontent in people who are sick of scrolling…so others would know better on that side of the equation

      …& these days when I find myself somewhere with the opportunity…which is pretty sporadic…the only time I can remember buying the brewdog option was somewhere they had the venue exclusive so theirs were the only available beers…which is probably indicative of something…but I’d need another couple of beers before taking a guess as to what?

      • I met one of the head brewers of BrewDog at Hop School.  He was a hard core scientist nerd and much of what he talked about is way outside of what I can do with my brew setup and knowledge.  I am also not a fan of much of the styles they do best.  He was an interesting fellow though his accent and scientific terms made it hard to follow, especially since they serve unlimited beer at Hop School.

         

          • All the breweries that have brewers attend or are experimental brewers with YCH donate beer to Hop School.  They bring in coolers about 10am (it starts at 8am) and they have 2 to 4 kegs flowing from local breweries.  You are free to help yourself at anytime.

        • …I don’t know that I could tell them apart but if he was one of the two or three I’ve heard interviewed here & there in the last few years I imagine you’d have a leg up on me knowing what he was talking about but I could have helped you out when it came to what he was saying

          …scotland is the place with the highest concentration of relatives outside the US for me & I’ve been to…or at least through…what feels like most of it…even a few of the outer isles…so I’m pretty handy when it comes to following the verbal stylings of the odd scot

          …or…to put it their way…”dinnae fash yersel’ ai’m nae bairn ‘n mah heid’s nae buttoned up the back, ye ken? ah kin steer ye aright as tae a wee spot o’blether, nae bother – mine’s a pint o’ the heavy, if y’re askin’?”

            • …so…I went to find a clip I remember of a spoof and with the strap line “apple scotland…havin’ a wee spot o’ bother”

              …but what I actually found was this

              …so…to get back to the funny side…if you want practice you could always work your way up from still game to the full rab c nesbitt…maybe by way of limmy’s show

              …anyway…what was I looking for again?

              • I remember that Siri spoof, good stuff!  I enjoy listening to Scottish people speak when it is in a drinking situation I don’t have to pay attention to not when it is one I need to pay attention to.

                 

                • …have you tried billy connolly’s stuff?…comedy again, not beer I’m afraid…though he was the face of one of the first “you can drink beer & drive” alcohol free (possibly just nearly-free, I forget) efforts…it was called kaliber I think…which is as horrible a deliberate misspelling in the name of a trademark as I could think of & wasn’t great shakes as I recall

                  …but…somehow billy connolly got a free pass…he was consistently all over the big chatshows of the day & damn near everyone could agree that the man was funny…including demographics you wouldn’t think a foul-mouthed giant wild haired scotsman would get a look in with

                  …if I’d used that kind of language in front of my grandmother…I’d have stories about corporal punishment to rival richard pryor’s bit about picking his own switch…”can’t abide swearing” kind of a lady…but she’d change the channel if she knew he was on to make sure she didn’t miss him & laugh as loud as anyone

                  …I’m not really doing it justice but…it’s kind of like if frankie boyle managed to get all of bill bailey & eddie izzard’s audiences along with stephen fry’s & all the helen mirren fans to agree that actually the sweary guy is the better fit for a prime time interview on breakfast tv?

  3. according to my new HR woman….me… ive been slacking off

    apparently clocking in at work 1 minute before time is unacceptable

    we have a disagreement going about that…..see as i read my contract….it says i have to be at work on time

    on time being once i get paid to be

    not 10 minutes early

    incidentally…today i learnt my new HR woman is in fact called karen……thats just perfect

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