That I don't know about honestly, I'm sure someone like
vav can better answer that question.
He's right, but it wasn't really Josh's dealie this time, so that part's a misnomer.
I mean, he at least paid lip service to being good partners. Tbh he sounded like he was shaking with rage through most of the show. And, y'know, "Chicken Little" etc.
Again, I like Mike. I think he's a good guy with good takes but he seems about as worked up about this as anybody on this topic.
Five plus years ago, sure, you could say that a taproom's primary purpose was marketing: see the brewery, pick up some packaged goods, taste their beer. Now, own premise draft sales play a much larger picture in the revenue stream of smaller breweries. Being a "third place" can be very lucrative, but to become that you have to cast a wide net.
As
trickytunadicky pointed out, guest drafts can potentially fill in holes in a taproom's line-up. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Jerry at Une Année never started the Hubbard's Cave brand and he stuck to the strictly Belgian-inspired beers he started with. Putting on some guest draft IPAs and/or stouts/porters to broaden the options would make his space much more appealing to crowds in the same way that cider/wine would.
From my perspective -- and Chris mentioned this in the show -- the real benefit would be to leverage friendships within the brewing community to bring in exciting (and exclusive) guest beers as a way to get people in the door. If Half Acre puts on a keg of Tired Hands' new Milkshake IPA suddenly you'll have a bunch of people dropping into the taproom that otherwise wouldn't have.
So i haven't listened to the episode yet, but the bolded bit is the salient point. Bars weren't unhappy when Brewpubs opened, and actively encouraged it, even though Brewpubs had the full benefit of being able to sell guest beer/wine/spirits/etc. Everyone saw it as a necessary step in elevating beer itself, and to change the perception/culture in regards to beer.
Bars weren't unhappy when Taprooms started coming up either, because it made absolute sense for people to be able to sample beers & buy package to go right at the source.
Bars are upset now because it's yet another push towards straight up competition, and it's being doubled down on by this incredibly dismissive attitudes these breweries are taking. They're very real concern, and it smacks of insult to be chided, as if these guys have no idea what they're talking about.
This is how I see this new law being most leveraged by taprooms. Leveraging those industry friendships to bring in cool/exclusive/out of distro/limited stuff of friend's breweries around the country for special tappings. Legally that out of distro brewery still has to go through the regular, 2nd tier distribution channel, but there's so many ways that they can constrain those agreements to be specific to a certain city block that said Chicago friend's brewer happens to be on to exclude everyone else.
I think Chris brought up some really good points in the second half of the episode about how the future of these changes is likely to play out in the next year or two.
Well this is where it gets interesting. Distribution laws state that once you sell a case through a wholesaler, your brand is now theirs. That'll be the next thing to change.
To play devil’s advocate, couldn’t a bar also make friends with an out-of-distribution brewery and likewise funnel products to their location?
Yes and no. As above, the franchise laws are strong deterrent for outside breweries, and most wholesalers wont work off-contract...and even if they do, you have to take them at their word that they won't enforce the franchise laws. I have had 3 breweries turn down Publican collaborations for that specific reason.
Our most common question at the taproom is for cider or a gluten free option. Neither of which we do. So to that point I do understand some of the logic, though we are also in the wine area of Michigan... This bill obviously doesn’t affect me, however I do think it’s a lot of concern for what will likely not have much impact. Brewpubs in both state have been able to do this already, and for the most part they don’t. The breweries that have been doing it for years never came under fire for “acting like a bar”. Two Brothers, Revolution, Haymarket, Lunar, just to name a few. Then Marz effectively has 2 bars plus a taproom now. Local Option has been contract Brewing a line of beers for themselves while operating as a bar. Those are all pretty full bars with wine/spirits/guest drafts and it never really came up as a problem. I worked at two brother for a year and served maybe 20 guest beers. Their would have to be some terrible options for me to go to a brewery then not order one of that brewery’s beers.
I think what you will actually end up seeing is more similar to how Off Color runs their’s (minus the booze). Off color usually has a hoppy beer on tap since that isn’t their thing (plus high life). I doubt dovetail will take off their pils for some haze juice. And I’m guessing the reverse is also true. Obviously that is all just what I think, but why would a brewery making good beer take off their lines to make a smaller margin, deal with even more paperwork than we already have to, and actively push people who are already inside their brewery to not drink their beer?
Anywho, I guess we will see how it plays out. If you’ve read the josh Noel post on Facebook there is some more discussion there (beyond all the times it got derailed about growler fills). Most notably, Gerrit mentioning that this bill has been on the table for nearly a year without any negative response from bars, and it was supported by the restaurant and bar association. I understand their frustration, as in their eyes they just got another potential 50-100 competitors overnight, but I just don’t think that is their real competition. Their are bigger threats than a guest draft.
To point one, you're most probably correct, and i personally find that comforting. Off Color is an example of a good partner because they don't go out of their way to operate in direct competition in any sense other than "It's our brewery, we want people to visit. Here's an IPA if your friend doesn't like our stuff." That's completely reasonable.
To point two, the first i heard about this bill was March 6th. Plenty of others didn't know it existed until it passed and people started writing about it.
I don't really see this as a zero-sum game, and i'm not an industry fatalist either. But it's pretty undeniable that worker shortage, cook shortage, increased restaurant/bar density, stagnant beer growth etc etc are all having a detrimental effect on the service industry, and Taprooms turning the needle on their offerings doesn't help that.
