Micro brewery expansions discussion

[bobeer]

Hey all. I was having a discussion with someone yesterday about all the big micro breweries opening a sister brewery, specifically where I live, in Va. It was an interesting conversation that we just had to agree to disagree on. I thought it might make for a good thread here... pardon the mind-dump!

Stone has opened in Richmond, Victory is coming to NoVa, and Deschutes is coming to Roanoke. There's probably others that I'm not thinking of atm too.

I'm all for more beer, and fresh beer at that, but we already get all these brewery's beers without them being in the state. The beer industry is interesting in that breweries do better when they're in groups because people like to hit several breweries in a day when you go on a tour. However, with that said, I can't help but to feel the waters are getting a bit muddied with Non Va beer and it's taking away from really growing our own beer culture and scene. The person I was talking to disagreed and said it will only help our local scene because it makes our area a destination and will bring more traffic with the big names- like NoVa needs more traffic. and when people go to Stone they might also go to the little 1bbl guy down the road, etc...

My argument is we can still be a beer destination without having several other big brewery's names in our state. Having big names help but I'd rather support locally grown businesses and create our own bragging rights when it comes to beer. I guess I'm thinking of it as more of a industry thing rather than a consumer thing which I think is what his point of view was. "More fresh beer to choose from is better no matter where it's from or who brews it." Which I agree with to a point. Every industry has a saturation point. The beer industry seems to just be a lot higher than most other industries. I think you can have both the big guys and the little local guys to a point. I'd rather hit the saturation point with Va beer though instead of "Va" beer from Ca, Pa, and Or.
Plus, for me, trading beers in the mail, or when you travel, is part of the fun. Yea, a fresh fresh squeezed IPA would be great to get whenever I felt like it but trading for one through the mail is more fun imo. Maybe I'm just crazy or I'm getting to be a grumpy old man!

IDK, personally, I brew so I get fresh beer every day of the week, so a pint of a fresh stone IPA, or whatever, doesn't really hold ground with me the same way it does to the majority of people who just drink beer. I'd like to see my state boom the beer industry with our own breweries. Does anyone else feel this way or am I just an anomaly? I'm from this area, which it's hard to come by a local here, because everyone moves here for jobs and all money to be made. So it is part of the culture here to import people and businesses but I wish we could step away from that in the beer industry and build and support local breweries.

With all this said I do understand the point of business growth and without growth the business is stagnant. But where the tipping point? Is every big brewery going to have 2 breweries or more? Will some open a 3rd or 4th location? What affect will this have on the little breweries? At some point will the beer industry be like Walmart putting the local hardware store out of business?

Lots of food for thought here. Sorry for the rambling but it's been on my mind for a while now!

 

[jwalk4]

I'm not sure we have a Canadian equivalent to your situation. Or if we do, it has already happened due to the buying power of our LCBO in Ontario.

The closest being that one of our craft breweries, Creemore Springs, (bought up by Molson-Coors) began a new label called Mad and Noisy for their "more adventurous" brews (a hoppy lager and a hoppy weiss ) that won't taint Creemore's clean and pure image. It's all marketing anyways.

However, it does mean one thing: more beer competing for the same shelf space.

I think we will begin to see a slow decline soon in the industry. At some point the bubble will collapse and there will just be too much craft beer for too few consumers. So, in essence, as the Stones, Deschutes, and a few others become a national brand, you will see less and less small local breweries on your shelves.

Mind you, I don't think craft brewing will disappear; However, I think the only way "local flavor" will be preserved is if overhead says low, and breweries stay "nano-sized."

My own rant.

 

[BNolt17]

I think we are going to see in increase in large breweries building 2nd facilities. My understanding is that big craft breweries with large distribution, such as Stone and Deschutes already distribute to much of the East Coast, so it is more cost effective for them to build a second facility on the East Coast no ship product from the West Coast throughout the country. As for Victory, I think they are land locked in the facility they are in and wanted to expand. Why they chose Virginia I'm not sure. I'm guessing there is something tax related that is drawing them specifically to Virginia but I'm not educated enough to say what it is.
Just my $.02

 

[DemonsRun]

Local breweries in Roanoke are happy for the increased attention

http://m.wdbj7.com/news/local/local-breweries-respond-to-the-impact-deschutes-may-have-on-craft-beer-scene/38659330

 

[brewcat]

I think we are going to see in increase in large breweries building 2nd facilities. My understanding is that big craft breweries with large distribution, such as Stone and Deschutes already distribute to much of the East Coast, so it is more cost effective for them to build a second facility on the East Coast no ship product from the West Coast throughout the country. As for Victory, I think they are land locked in the facility they are in and wanted to expand. Why they chose Virginia I'm not sure. I'm guessing there is something tax related that is drawing them specifically to Virginia but I'm not educated enough to say what it is.
Just my $.02

Looks like it is headed that way. New Belgium is about to open their North Carolina facility.

These moves not only expand distribution to certain parts they couldn't reach; but also gives easier & better control over their product.

For west coast breweries it certainly isn't a new idea. Coors eventually did the same thing to expand distribution.