You're opening your own brew pub.......

and you get to have 6 flagship beers. What 6 styles would you choose to brew all the time for your brewery?

Just curious what folks would go with.

Pale, IPA, Wheat, Porter, Belgian, and a Seasonal.

i think 6 flagship beers is a few too many, but:

porter, stout, wheat, ipa, esb, golden ale

i'd stick with ales if i were just starting out, then invest in lagering tanks as it grows.

A pale ale, a red, an IPA, a porter, a dark IPA (Cascadian for you die-hards) and a saison... No wheat beers in my bar!

Oatmeal or Milk Stout, Porter, IPA, wheat, Munich Lager or some other malty lager, and a light lager.

Assuming these are beers that must be sold to the public

honey blonde, wheat, pale, amber, stout, IPA

IPA, Belgian dark strong, chocolate stout,IIPA, APA, and Saison.

A pale American wheat,
an ordinary bitter,
a west coast IPA,
an Oktoberfest,
a robust porter, and a
Belgian farmhouse.

I would love to have a rotating tap though. I would sacrifice one of the flagships to have a wildcard.

blond, red ale, pale ale, wheat, IPA and stout if I have to pick 6 styles. I think you'd have something for just about everyone in those six. Obviously I'm basing these choices on the fact that I want a successful business and not which styles I like most.

I forgot to post my own:

American Pale Ale
IPA
Robust Porter
Belgian Tripel
Oatmeal Stout
Czech Pils

ColonelForbin said:

IPA, Belgian dark strong, chocolate stout,IIPA, APA, and Saison.

Click to expand...

I would be hanging out at your pub A LOT.

Pilsener
English Ale
WC IPA
Hefeweizen
Stout
Special/Seasonal

Blonde, Brown, Red, IPA, Wheat, Seasonal

But why stop at 6?

ColonelForbin said:

IPA, Belgian dark strong, chocolate stout,IIPA, APA, and Saison.

Click to expand...

Apparently this brewpub is No Girls Allowed!

pale ale, india pale ale, porter, stout, brown, and a rotating seasonal.

If I were to start a brewpub here is what I'd do.

Schwartzbier
Helles
Mild
Ordinary Bitter
Belgian Pale Ale
Rotating Seasonal

Every brewpub has a pale ale, a red ale, an IPA a wheat etc. My idea for a brewpub would be heavily session beer oriented, and maybe even more German oriented than my list shows. I'd like to do some styles that aren't so overdone, but at the same time very tasty and approachable.

English-Style Pale Ale
Oatmeal Stout
Blonde Ale
German Pils
American Amber Ale
Imperial IPA

Alternate Brewpub- Olde Englishe style- everything in cask and hand pulled

dark mild
pale mild
original bitter
extra special bitter
India pale ale
brown porter

Wow, that sounds incredible!

lol, there need to be more handpumps in general

speaking of, i need to stop into sugar maple more

I would perfect these in order.

1-"yellow fizzy" call it a blonde or a pilsner but you need a yellow fizzy...
2-"yellow fizzy" lite
The above 2 would be a MUST have IMO. To many people will walk in and order BMC/BMC lite and if you do not have something that will compare I think you would loose people fast. Convert not shun!

3 - Red/Amber
4 - Wheat
These are a staple IMO for those that the yellow fizzy just wont do it for anymore...and the wheat (no offense meant to any female REAL beer drinkers) for the ladies...

5 - IPA
IMO this category is just to well liked to NOT have one.

6 - Stout/Porter/Bock
Your favy style of this...

Then a seasonal, since you asked for what 6 will always be on tap...you better have a 7th tap for the seasonal...

and that brings us to the 8th tap, IMO this tap is SUPER IMPORTANT... I would embrace the HB community in my area, like a hug that lasts too long. This would be for the homebrewers "best of show" beer. I would let them have meetings in my Pub. I would give Club members a discount or a "punch card" and most importantly I would hold a contest, as needed, for the "best of show" to the local clubs.

The winner would get to have her/his recipe made in our brew house under their supervision. They would get a special Brew pub hat and tee shirt (the only way to get it is to win!). They would also get FULL credit for the recipe and as much of their beer as they wanted to consume in the pub for 1/2 price or free (still thinking about that part...but leaning closer to free...) until it was gone. Then we would have another contest, trying to estimate when the last persons beer would be gone.

But that is me....

To sell beer to the masses, Z is spot on....you can have all the IIIPA choco belgian whatevers, but when only 3 people are drinking them you'll be closed by the end of the week

Pale
IPA
Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
American Wheat (even thought I don't care for them myself)
Scotch Ale
Barley Wine

I would have a BMC tap for those who want that anyway. You can't brew it cheaper than you can buy it (not much anyway) and you aren't going to convert many who walk into a brewpub and ask for a BMC cold anyway. Give them what they want and sell them on some of the beers YOU brew. IMO, competing with BMC makes no sense. They brew incredibly good beer. I know we like to call it piss or whatever, but they brew a great product that is perfectly to style and meets a demand. Don't fight battles you are guaranteed to lose.

Would depend on where it was located. Here in Portland I'd go with 3 standards like IPA, PA & a Wheat - then some bizarre off the wall crap to draw the suckers, I mean customers in.

Somewhere else I would do something different. Depends on where.

I'd be going to all the other pubs and sampling, hanging out to see what sells. Retail food & drink is about what the masses want, not what you as the owner like . . . I know from personal experience, the hard way.

I don't necessarily agree with "yellow fizzy beer" being a staple to get and retain customers. I know of PLENTY of breweries and brewpubs that don't have yellow fizzy on their beer menu. All of them have been in business for many years and all are very successful. I think a lot of it has to do with your location and the demographics in the surrounding area. It is possible to brew other approachable beers rather than compromising your craft beer values. I know business is about making money but who says conformity has to be on the menu?

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

I would have a BMC tap for those who want that anyway. You can't brew it cheaper than you can buy it (not much anyway) and you aren't going to convert many who walk into a brewpub and ask for a BMC cold anyway. Give them what they want and sell them on some of the beers YOU brew. IMO, competing with BMC makes no sense. They brew incredibly good beer. I know we like to call it piss or whatever, but they brew a great product that is perfectly to style and meets a demand. Don't fight battles you are guaranteed to lose.

Click to expand...

well said

for my beers..

kolsch
northern english brown
ipa
chocolate oatmeal stout
witbier
esb

Have respect for your customers and they will reward you. No yellow fizz in my pub.

1. Czech Pils/Kolsch
2. Hefeweizen
3. Nut Brown
4. IPA
5. Oatmeal Stout
6. Hand-pulled Bitter/ESB

Great topic!

I worked in a brewpub, and our best seller was the light stuff. Since it is all about the money, I would have to go with:
1) Cream Ale/Light Golden Ale for all the BMC crowd
2) Kolsch/Helles/Pils for your more adventurous than BMC crowd but still not "ale" drinkers
3) APA/IPA for your entry level craft lovers
4) Stout for a dark one
5) ESB/Mild/Bitter/Brown for your Brit fans or darker than pale drinkers
6) seasonal/dealers choice/voters choice to showcase what you as a brewer are capable of or what your regulars are wanting

I will say, we sold a ton of wheat beer. We also had to buy a bunch of lemons and pay people to cut them and add them to the glasses which was a PITA. This is just my opinion if I were opening a brewpub myself.

for personal preference
amber
hefe
brown
golden
pale
IPA

for the masses
amber
stout
crisp lager
red
weizen
ipa

APA, IPA, Red/Dark IPA, Porter/Brown/Stout, Belgian Wit/Wheat, Pils

APAs and IPAs are the bulk of the sales in the NW!

I would open a blues theme brewpub and offer up American styles with soul:

1: American Lager
2: American Brown
3: Pale Ale
4: IPA
5: American Wheat/Wit
6: Classic Porter or Stout

Pale Ale, Light Ale, Stout, IPA, Other American Ale rotated, and monthly special.

ESB
IPA
Brown
Coffee stout
Maybe a cider or a mead
seasonal tap rotating from barly wine, saison, oktoberfest, maybe some sort of holiday ale

Pale Ale
IPA
Stout
Seasonal
Cream Ale
Blonde Ale (need something for the ladies)

Wow, nice thread!

Standard Beer Lineup:
1) Cream Ale -5% range - For the less adventurous
2) IPA -7% range - Popular, often the first beer I try if going to a new brewery, if their IPA sucks it hurts my initial impression of the brewery. I'm not proud of it, but thats the way it is!
3) Brown Ale -6% range - tough to go wrong
4) Porter - 6% range - for the dark beer lovers
5) Belgian Pale -6% range - I like Belgians
6) Belgian Dubbel -high 7% range - I like Belgians

Seasonal/Rotational taps:
Belgian Specialty Beers (Wit, Tripel, Saison, Quad, Sour, Etc...)
Non-Belgian Special Tap (Mexican Porter, Stout, IIPA, Dark IPA, etc...)

Maybe 4 rotating taps! IMO, variety can keep people coming back just as much as the standards. I get bored with one of my local breweries because they dont (not yet anyway) release seasonals... they make the best beer in town but I would still like some variety when I go there.

That was fun to think about

Lodovico said:

and you get to have 6 flagship beers. What 6 styles would you choose to brew all the time for your brewery?

Just curious what folks would go with.

Click to expand...

Imperial Stout
Some type of Porter (probably a vanilla porter)
IPA
Hefeweisen
Lager
Pale Ale

Thread resurrection!

1. High Gravity Pale Ale
2. IPA
3. IIPA
4. Belgian Tripel/Belgian Strong rotation
5. Oatmeal Stout/Red Rye rotation
6. Cider

If it were me I'd go with the following:
RIS (I'd switch it up and do an oaked and oatmeal once in a while to keep the ish hot)
Porter (I'd also oak it and bourbon it once or twice a year)
Wheat APA (b/c I love a lil sumpin sumpin)
BIPA
Hef (switch it up with blood oranges, diff fruit once in a while)
Pils

Brown, amber, blonde, porter, hefewizen... And a slightly dry licorice focused root beer for the kiddies. I would also pick out 4 to 6 seasonal brews. My main focus on just about every beer would be minimizing aging time, though skillful temperature manipulation and wise ingredient selection.

Restarting an Old One.

Brown Ale, IPA, Wheat (Hefe for spring and summer, and a Dunkel for Fall and Winter), Stout, Pilsner and a Seasonal

I would also keep two or three domestics (Coors, Bud and Yuengling Lager probably)

If I had it my way, I'd have 1 or 2 flagship session beers always on tap with the rest being seasonal/whatever I feel like brewing. That list today would look like:

-Kentucky Common
-Session-strength IPA
-Pumpkin Ale
-Milk Stout
-Dunkelweizen
-Berlinerweisse

If we're being realistic (and boring), my list would be:

-Cream Ale
-American Wheat
-Amber Ale
-American IPA
-Oatmeal Stout
-Monthly Seasonal