Lessons from a craft beer startup

Monday Night Brewing is still officially less than a year old. But in dog years, we’re like 5 years old. And the past 9 months have definitely felt like dog years. We’ve been overwhelmed by the reception to our beers and have been able to meaningfully outperform our initial projections. Like any startup, we’ve had some bumps in the road, and every new day brings another brand new, scary thing to learn.

We haven’t had the time or energy to blog as thoughtfully about our business as we did in the 5 years prior to our launch, but since I accidentally showed up an hour early to a breakfast meeting this morning, I figured I had some time. So what kind of lessons have we learned?

• Roll with it. I really hate cliches, so I won’t tell you that the only thing to expect is the unexpected (or did I just do exactly that?). But with Type A personalities running the show, you’ll find that one of the harder things to do is be flexible. Have a Plan A, B, and C. Have a Scenario A, B, and C. And know that none of those plans or scenarios will pan out.
• Put it all in perspective. Pouring your heart, soul, and capital into any one entity can give you a skewed perspective on life. It can make that one thing seem more important than anything else. But it’s not. Always remember what’s most important in your life – your family, your friends, your faith. Those things will keep you sane, but only if you devote time to them and appreciate them. I got married last year, and Jeff and Joel both had children (well, their wives did, if we want to get technical about it). Some days it can be difficult to remember to give those parts of our lives the attention they deserve. We find ourselves asking for forgiveness often.
• Get mediocre at everything, quickly. Whatever it is you have never done before in your life and have no interest in doing, that’s probably what you’ll need to learn in order to keep your business running. Accounting, sales, inventory management. These are all things I’ve had to take on. These are also things that I would rather not do for the rest of my life. And while I’ll never be a crack accountant or a star salesman, it’s better to be mediocre than incompetent. Or at least that’s the little theory I have…
• Don’t grow for growth’s sake. Don’t get me wrong, growth is great. Our economy could do some more growing. But it can be easy to run after that “Growth” carrot being dangled in front of you. Be intentional about why you are growing, what the end goal is, and if you can support that growth without alienating your current customers and distributors. One great book that has been influential to us as we think about the kind of business we want to run is Small Giants. Check it out. One of the examples is even a brewery.
• Obsess over the beer. We don’t regret spending 5 years on recipe formulation, or only have 2 beers in the market after almost a year. There are thousands of beer options these days, and hundreds of GOOD beer options. At the end of the day, our product is all we have. With something like beer, there’s no rush in being first to market, so take your time and get it right. Consumers these days know what they’re drinking.
• Be a nice person. Be friendly with the “competition,” whether that’s other craft beer folks, beer reps, or distributors. At the end of the day, we’re all in this together. Beer has so much potential as a beverage, and we’ll only get there if it’s all hands on deck.

Win tickets to the East Atlanta Beer Fest

I know what you’re thinking. “WHAT?! But the East Atlanta Beer Fest is the coolest fest around! How could I ever be cool enough to attend?” Fortunately, they only check your ID at the entrance for age, not coolness.

Next Monday, May 14, we’ll be hiding our MondayNightMobile at one of our favorite spots around town. The first person to find it and send us a picture of themselves in front of the car (either on our Facebook or Twitter) will win 2 free tickets to the East Atlanta Beer Fest on May 19.

We’ll be tweeting clues periodically, starting at 4pm. Who’s ready?

High praise from a true Scotsman

We like it when people go out of their way to tell us how awesome we are. Dave O. sent us this email on Friday:

Guys, I bought a growler of Drafty Kilt at The Best of Brews on Thursday evening and I am going to have to get back tomorrow and get another. That is a great beer, and as a Scotsman who has only been over here for a few years, I feel particularly qualified to judge a scotch ale! And as a Scotsman who has worn a kilt many times, a drafty kilt is not normally a great experience. Keep up the good work guys, that’s an awesome ale.

Thanks Dave. You have quite the way with words.

Johnny’s Pizza Grayson Pint Night

This Thursday, April 12, we’ll be hanging out at Johnny’s Pizza Grayson. Buy a pint of Monday Night (only $4, by the way) and we’ll throw in a pint glass. And a high five*.

Johnny’s Pizza Grayson
2023 Grayson Highway
Grayson, GA  30017

We’ll be there at 7pm, but show up whenever suits you. Who’s coming?!

*Must have recently washed your hands to receive a high five.

A special night of popsicles, coffee and beer

Popsicles are so hot right now. And there’s no one hotter than King of Pops. Or colder, I guess…

We’re partnering with Scoutmob, Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, King of Pops, and Cacao Atlanta Chocolate Co. to bring you a night like no other. Seriously. We have no idea what this event is going to be like. All we know is that it will be awesome.

For $20 you get:

• Launch party admission
• 2 King of Pops coffee: POPS
• An exclusive, limited edition collaboration shirt with one-of-kind artwork
• Chocolate bark from Cacao
• Complimentary beer from Monday Night Brewing
• Food available for purchase from the Yumbii food truck
• Live show from Trances Arc
• A party with some of the best local-lovin artisans in town

Our next beer will be called…

Fu Manbrew! Congratulations to Philip M for submitting the winning name! Fu Manbrew won with 42% of the total vote. Handlebar was a close second with 37% of the vote. And apparently only a minority of you guys wanted to order a Walrus at the bar. Thanks to everyone who voted, contributed, and shared. This was a lot of fun. But it’s not quite over! One of the challenges of the Fu Man Brew name is making the graphic look good on our labels. We’ve got three potential options, and we’d love it if you voted on your favorite. Vote in the poll below.

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Now begins the process of ordering tap handles, getting label approval, and trademarking names. It’s a fun process (not really). We’re hoping to get everything buttoned up, including one final test batch, in the next 2 months, so we’ll see how quickly we can launch this new mustachio’d beer!

Thanks to Philip M. for all of his creativity, and thanks to Scoutmob for indulging us in this new experiment in crowdsourcing our beer name. I’m pretty sure we shattered Scoutmob’s record for Facebook comments.

Monday Night crowdsourced beer naming contest in the final round!

We’re partnering with mustache-lovers Scoutmob to crowdsource the name our next beer, a Belgian wit brewed with a hint of ginger. With over 100 name entries from you guys, it was tough narrowing it down to our favorites. But after a few beers, we were able to struggle through it. The finalists?

• Fu Manbrew (submitted by Philip M.)
• Handlebar Wit (submitted by Greg L.)
• Walrus Wit (submitted by Larry S.)