Random Beer Thoughts

[jivex5k1]

Also, be ready for the criticism. People are now educated on beer and good beer. You can't "get by" just being a little guy anymore. You gotta brew good beer and have a strong financial strategy as well as somewhat of an idea to market yourself.

Criticism is easy to handle, you just point out spelling errors and make dank memes on twitter about the bad reviews.

 

[trickytunadicky]

I'm fine with people opening breweries even with no commercial brewing experience (some friends of mine have done this themselves, with reasonable success) but if you have no established experience/reputation:

1. Keep the delusions of grandeur to yourself until you have -something- to back them up that isn't your own hype-talk (or that of your inner circle/family/buddies) about your own products.

2. Stay off of Kickstarter/Indigogo/GoFundMe/etc.

Do you want to tell wiltznucs you want a refund or should I?

 

[JBP]

Formerly local bottle shop has begun quoting secondary market prices in their email blasts and using it as a reason you should buy the beer at "only" retail from them.

#2017beer is gonna be great.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Formerly local bottle shop has begun quoting secondary market prices in their email blasts and using it as a reason you should buy the beer at "only" retail from them.

#2017beer is gonna be great.

Remember when we thought class of 2012 was awful? I member. Class of 2012 is old money now.

 

[JulianB1]

Do you want to tell wiltznucs you want a refund or should I?

I think he falls under the "established reputation" part.

 

[jivex5k1]

Formerly local bottle shop has begun quoting secondary market prices in their email blasts and using it as a reason you should buy the beer at "only" retail from them.

#2017beer is gonna be great.

I feel like beer hype is near maximum levels right now, I know I'm ******* sick of it. I get my beer at the grocery store and am pretty damn happy about it.

 

[NAD1983]

some friends of mine have done this themselves, with reasonable success

I was going to guess J Wakefield since he started out as a homebrewer, but he had an "established reputation" so that can't be right

 

[GoodDon]

I feel like beer hype is near maximum levels right now, I know I'm ******* sick of it. I get my beer at the grocery store and am pretty damn happy about it.

Friend and I were discussing the future of beer Monday night and we both agreed that in the near future there will be a brewery that will sell one of its "HUGE" stouts for at least $100 a bottle and probably closer to $200. I really see that coming.

We both also agreed that it'll happen in Iowa.

 

[JulianB1]

Friend and I were discussing the future of beer Monday night and we both agreed that in the near future there will be a brewery that will sell one of its "HUGE" stouts for at least $100 a bottle and probably closer to $200. I really see that coming.

We both also agreed that it'll happen in Iowa.

I mean, this year's KBBS release is pretty close to $100 for that bottle depending on how one chooses to interpret/partition the $200.

On a totally different note, I was at my local store just now grabbing a bottle for a friend, and what struck me for whatever is reason is how I wish I could still just buy a 6-pack of Racer 5 off the shelf here (Bear Republic distro ended a few years ago for whatever reason).

 

[Sage1]

 

[JulianB1]

I'm honestly surprised breweries haven't already started marketing collabs as "featuring ---insert name of brewer---".

 

[Brez071]

Formerly local bottle shop has begun quoting secondary market prices in their email blasts and using it as a reason you should buy the beer at "only" retail from them.

#2017beer is gonna be great.

Yeeeeeeah, that made cringe a little. Might ask him what that was about next time I'm in.

 

[lambandtunaphish]

Yeeeeeeah, that made cringe a little. Might ask him what that was about next time I'm in.

Which store is this? I'd assume Bier Cellar, but the email I got today doesn't seem to have anything shitlordy in it (unless I just can't read).

 

[drgarage1]

I'm honestly surprised breweries haven't already started marketing collabs as "featuring ---insert name of brewer---".

Has anyone made a great beer prominently featuring the hop formerly known as Equinox? It's the new Summit, in my experience.

 

[JBP]

Which store is this? I'd assume Bier Cellar, but the email I got today doesn't seem to have anything shitlordy in it (unless I just can't read).

Yeah I wasn't gonna call it out directly because I'm a fan of the store, it's not every email but it's been twice in a couple weeks now. It's more that it's a depressing indicator of a new breed of customers who value that sort of info than it is blaming the shop itself for using that tactic, but still kinda icky overall...

 

[lambandtunaphish]

Yeah I wasn't gonna call it out directly because I'm a fan of the store, it's not every email but it's been twice in a couple weeks now. I see it more as a depressing indicator of the new breed of customers who value that sort of info more than I hold it against the shop itself using that tactic, but still kinda icky overall...

Oh, there it is in the Alexander blurb. At least he mentions that it was the past vintages going for big bucks on secondary, rather than suggesting that this (not particularly limited batch) was selling for a lot.

 

[Sam Fu]

I feel like beer hype is near maximum levels right now, I know I'm ******* sick of it.

 

[RedCoffee]

Also, be ready to dismiss the criticism. People are really educated on limited beer and beer lines. You can't "get by" just being a little guy anymore. You gotta brew weird beer with fruit additives and have a strong Indiegogo reputation as well as an army of "educated" beer drinking "customer" friends.

 

[Lutter]

I feel like beer hype is near maximum levels right now, I know I'm ******* sick of it.

Half the breweries around here need to close already and I can't figure out how they continue to survive.

.... .... I think that's true most places.....

The fact that South Austin Brewing here in Austin is still in business and has been churning out ****** product since they opened in 2012 still befuddles and confuses me to this day. Who buys this ****?

 

[wiltznucs]

I'm fine with people opening breweries even with no commercial brewing experience (some friends of mine have done this themselves, with reasonable success) but if you have no established experience/reputation:

1. Keep the delusions of grandeur to yourself until you have -something- to back them up that isn't your own hype-talk (or that of your inner circle/family/buddies) about your own products.

2. Stay off of Kickstarter/Indigogo/GoFundMe/etc.

I'm hurt!

In all seriousness, as it relates to our Indiegogo campaign the success we had was totally unexpected. We had some breaks go our way and I think the fact many people had actually tried our product really helped. It's natural to want to look before you leap.

That said, I still get emails almost weekly from people wanting "the keys to our success" and as best I can tell nearly 90% of them never actually start a campaign.

If the past year has taught me anything it's this. The product has to have substance. It doesn't have to be perfect as people can readily identify talent and passion. Being a gratuitous self promoter will only get you so far. With crowdfunding the donors are investing in you as much as they are the product.

We woefully underestimated the amount of money we'd need to get going. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that we'd spend more on lawyers, architects, engineers and the permitting process than on the brewhouse and all the equipment. To any aspiring Brewers or Mead Makers reading this please take note. Take the amount of money and time you think you'll need and double it.

As a craft beer guy I was guilty of laughing when this brewery or that took nearly two years to get going. Now that I'm living it, I can assure you that it wasn't given to them. They poured some time and a lot of money into it. Getting it done in a year is nearly impossible.

All said, it's been a heck of a learning experience and we look forward to seeing our dream materialize in 17'.

 

[boogercrack]

I was at my local store just now grabbing a bottle for a friend, and what struck me for whatever is reason is how I wish I could still just buy a 6-pack of Racer 5 off the shelf here (Bear Republic distro ended a few years ago for whatever reason).

The fact that product is still on the shelf years after they stopped distributing it there, should indicate the reason they stopped distributing there.

 

[tikk]

I mean, this year's KBBS release is pretty close to $100 for that bottle depending on how one chooses to interpret/partition the $200.

On a totally different note, I was at my local store just now grabbing a bottle for a friend, and what struck me for whatever is reason is how I wish I could still just buy a 6-pack of Racer 5 off the shelf here (Bear Republic distro ended a few years ago for whatever reason).

They pulled distro to a ton of states during the California drought, and haven't fully caught up with distro again.

The fact that product is still on the shelf years after they stopped distributing it there, should indicate the reason they stopped distributing there.

Pretty sure he was implying that he can't get that amazing beer on his shelves anymore.

Edit: hop rod rye used to be one of my favorite beers. Would love to find that one fresh again

 

[JulianB1]

The fact that product is still on the shelf years after they stopped distributing it there, should indicate the reason they stopped distributing there.

I meant that it's not on the shelf anymore, and I wish it was.

 

[JulianB1]

I'm hurt!

In all seriousness, as it relates to our Indiegogo campaign the success we had was totally unexpected. We had some breaks go our way and I think the fact many people had actually tried our product really helped. It's natural to want to look before you leap.

That said, I still get emails almost weekly from people wanting "the keys to our success" and as best I can tell nearly 90% of them never actually start a campaign.

If the past year has taught me anything it's this. The product has to have substance. It doesn't have to be perfect as people can readily identify talent and passion. Being a gratuitous self promoter will only get you so far. With crowdfunding the donors are investing in you as much as they are the product.

We woefully underestimated the amount of money we'd need to get going. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that we'd spend more on lawyers, architects, engineers and the permitting process than on the brewhouse and all the equipment. To any aspiring Brewers or Mead Makers reading this please take note. Take the amount of money and time you think you'll need and double it.

As a craft beer guy I was guilty of laughing when this brewery or that took nearly two years to get going. Now that I'm living it, I can assure you that it wasn't given to them. They poured some time and a lot of money into it. Getting it done in a year is nearly impossible.

All said, it's been a heck of a learning experience and we look forward to seeing our dream materialize in 17'.

I tried to allude to the difference in my original and follow-up post but probably didn't do a great job at it, so I'll be a bit more explicit. To me here is a big difference between the approach you took - which involved sending product samples to various groups who could try them and give feedback, and pouring product at big events such as during TBBW - and 99% of beer-related crowdfunding campaigns these days, whose pitches basically amount to "our friends like our beers, we brewed one for a buddy's wedding and everyone there loved it, please give us money!" By the same token, I wouldn't bat an eye at say, Corey from 3 Sons doing a crowdfunding campaign (although he doesn't really apply to what beerindex was talking about given that he's a professional brewer now).

TL;DR if someone's product can win over discerning consumers and not just local buddies, go wild.

Everything else you've posted pretty much matches the experiences I've heard personally, locally and regionally. Time and cost are among the first things to start growing, and growing fast. More than once I've heard "take all quotes from your contractors and double them".

 

[seedavid]

Has this site ever done some kind of year end awards thing? Maybe call it the TeeBees?

We can have a nominations thread, and then some designated user puts together polls for just a few categories. Off the top of my head, maybe--best new user, best user of the year, wurst user of the year, favorite brewery, best new brewery, best gif or use of gif, best thread. Probably best to keep it somewhere between 5 and 10 categories.

I don't know, maybe its a dumb idea. But I was honestly just thinking that raginasian238 needs to be recognized for her outstanding achievements in the field of responding with Simpsons quotes and gifs, and I figured I'd put this out there.

 

[FTowne1]

Has this site ever done some kind of year end awards thing? Maybe call it the TeeBees?

We can have a nominations thread, and then some designated user puts together polls for just a few categories. Off the top of my head, maybe--best new user, best user of the year, wurst user of the year, favorite brewery, best new brewery, best gif or use of gif, best thread. Probably best to keep it somewhere between 5 and 10 categories.

I don't know, maybe its a dumb idea. But I was honestly just thinking that raginasian238 needs to be recognized for her outstanding achievements in the field of responding with Simpsons quotes and gifs, and I figured I'd put this out there.

MordorMongo

 

[leftoverburrito]

MordorMongo

Just for posterity sake.
https://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/2014-mongo-awards.18608/

 

[Kasher]

Could seriously just edit 2014 out and add 2016 and the lists would be close to the same. Especially top 5 worst posters.

Isn't it about time to give up on your kid's sports future and return to the degeneracy of TalkBeer, MordorMongo?

Or have you moved on to talkhandtops.com ?

 

[seedavid]

Just for posterity sake.
https://www.talkbeer.com/community/threads/2014-mongo-awards.18608/

This is way better than what I had in mind. Let's just do this again. And if MordorMongo won't do it, is there somebody else cranky enough that is also completely out of ***** to give that can do it?

 

[furley]

Has this site ever done some kind of year end awards thing? Maybe call it the TeeBees?

Beer of the Year (2016):