Current Events > Owning a brewery in a college town fucking sucks lol

(+) Yeah! (+)

Not sure why you were met with so much vitriol in the comments lol how did you get into brewing?

Not sure why you were met with so much vitriol in the comments

Not sure why you were met with so much vitriol in the comments

The majority of my taplist is sour, seltzer and IPA because that's all this market drinks. When I've tried making traditional, classic styles (outside of lager) nobody drinks them other than your rare actual beer nerd.

Things like Saison, English milds, ESB, Baltic Porter, biere de garde, etc are not profitable for me to make despite being actual beer and not fruit puree/lactose bombs.

Idk seems like dude just wants to make a variety of good beers but the market and current beer trends is forcing him to make the same 2 or 3 things. This happens in a ton of other industries and it sucks in those too.

True, but he has a choice here. Follow the trends and have a successful business, or sacrifice success to make what he wants. He already said earlier that the profitability of the business doesn't matter... So there's no reason to follow the trend and aim to keep the current set if customers. He should make what he wants and cater to a smaller group instead.

You mean "or sacrifice success to make what he wants and go out of business", because that's how capitalism works.

It's a little part of why capitalism belongs in the trash.

You mean "or sacrifice success to make what he wants and go out of business", because that's how capitalism works.

It's a little part of why capitalism belongs in the trash.

Saint Arnold is pretty decent as far as Texas beer goes.

I'd love to know where TC is, I know a couple of brewers in central VA/Charlottesville/Nelson County area.

I used to think juicy hazys were as bad as things were going to get. Now it seems like they're trying to find the very edge of the border between "beer" and "flavored alcoholic beverage". Even seltzer is getting into the game. I had a smoothie seltzer not too long ago ($18 for a 4 pack of 12 oz. cans btw), and that was closer to like, a blended margarita than it was to seltzer/beer.

Hes literally already just dealing with it like you geniuses keep suggesting, so youre just taking umbrage against someone because even tho theyre more successful than you they have a different vision for where they would have wanted to be when they started following their dream.

You mean "or sacrifice success to make what he wants and go out of business", because that's how capitalism works.

It's a little part of why capitalism belongs in the trash.

Whose alt is #74?

I mean, TCs premise is that people dont want the types of beers he wants to make, which is patently untrue.

its more of a niche market, but there are breweries that are successful, at least successful enough to stay afloat, making those types of beers

fact is beer is a crowded market and if your product doesnt stand out for whatever reason, the brewery isnt going to stay open

if tc wants to make obscure beers for a niche market, his product needs to be good enough to bring in people who want that niche product

I think of Side Project brewing, which is a national destination brewery that basically exclusively makes the beers TC says they want to make. People travel from across the US for Side Projects saisons. The market is there

Then why did you open one there? It really seems like you're trying to do some sort of bizarre flex but really just comes across as you being bad at your job and having little to no business skills.

Side Project is an outlier and is not in a college market. Same for Hill Farmstead, SARA or whatever other brewery you want to use as an example.

The market I am in does not want that type of product. I would know this, because I have been in this area for a decade and watch how it grows.

hill farmstead is in the middle of fucking nowhere

people interested in this type of beer seek out their product because it is good. There is no consistency between the markets those successful breweries are in, the common thread is they make great beer that people want to drink

people wont buy my beers unless I dump pure into them doesnt speak highly of the quality of your product, tbh

i dont see why you couldnt use the stuff people want to buy to fund your passion projects, and then if that stuff is actually good you can make a name for your brewery as a place that makes good traditional styles

if its not good, if people dont want to drink it, then its back to the drawing board imo.

As I've said a gajillion times now, my customer base that comes in day in day out does not want those beers. It doesn't matter how well I make them, people aren't ordering them because it's not what the market here wants. Word of mouth can't go out if people don't buy them. There's not a single brewery in my region that specializes in those beers because the market here does not want it.

So you basically thought it was a good idea to sell Michigan TShirts and Hats outside of Ohio Stadium because "no on was making what I wanted to make".

It's Collegetown USA. College kids want cheep beer that tastes like cheap beer, and costs the same as cheap beer.

You know what I don't get, unless you're like barely scraping by, you should have some excess revenue to make one or two "fun" beers you try to sell alongside your normal money-makers.

I know local breweries here do that all the time.

What kind of traditional beers do you enjoy making TC?

I have the funds to do so, the issue is I end up pouring them down the drain because, as I've said a thousand times by now, it's not the type of beer this area wants. No point in making it when it doesn't sell.