Interview with a brewer: Fullsteam in Durham, NC
We just finished up a great interview with Maui Brewing as part of our Interview with a Brewer series, and now we move a little closer to home. We got the chance to talk to Sean of Fullsteam, a microbrewery-in-planning in Durham, North Carolina. We have a lot in common with Fullsteam:
- We’re both in-planning
- We love the South and are committed to making it a craft beer destination
- We’re all about the local focus
- We have similar taste in music
Fullsteam is a little further along than us at the moment, as they have already purchased their brewhouse and have raised some money. I’ve been reading about their dirty doings and beers for awhile now, and they have some incredibly unique beer ideas. I’m particularly fond of their experimental hickory-smoked porter, Hogwash!, to be paired with barbeque. Mmmm. Barbeque. I just drooled on my keyboard. Before I cause a short underneath my spacebar, I present you the interview in full. Thanks to Sean and Chris for indulging us:
1) In haiku form, who are you guys and what are you about (doesn’t have to be in haiku form)?
Experimental.
Crap, that’s five syllables long.
Can I start over?
Okay, for real… Fullsteam is a brewery-in-planning that will be both a distributing brewery and an on-premises tavern. We don’t plan on having a full-service restaurant, so we’re not really a brewpub. But the tavern is a big part of the plan. We want it to be both a community gathering place and, ultimately, a landmark brewery.
Our beer niche is Southern agricultural brewing — experimenting with local, seasonal farmed ingredients and heirloom grains in the brewing process to craft a distinctly Southern beer style. In addition to our experimental Southern Ag beers, we also plan to launch a “control” series of easy-drinking, lower-alcohol beers.
At the tavern, the food will likely be limited to hand-held savory pies called bullies. Bullies and beer. We want to keep the food simple and fun, with the focus on brewery operations… not restaurant operations.
It’s complex to write out. I’m not real good at trimming down the concept into easy-to-digest sound bites. Hopefully people will get it.
2) What beers do you plan on launching with?
Our flagship beer — well, what we hope will be our flagship beer — is a “Carolina Common” called, simply, Fullsteam. It’s based on the traditional turn-of-the-century California Common; we’re calling ours a Carolina Common just for fun. Plus, a lager yeast fermented at warmer ale temperatures kind of works for the south, being warm here and all.
Other than Fullsteam, we don’t really have a set line-up of beers. We’re testing control and experiment batches, and we’ll decide on our beer list when we’re closer to knowing our opening date. Since our focus is on local and seasonal farmed ingredients, so much will depend on the time of year and the availability of harvested goods. This makes it both exciting and a little daunting.
I remember a conversation with a brewery owner who was “all about the recipes.” That basically there’s no brewery without intellectual property. I don’t want to speak for Chris Davis (our brewer), but I don’t follow that mindset. I’ve worked in too many restaurants where the best dishes where the literal catch-of-the-day or what the local farm brought by. I do realize that we’ll have to settle on some core, consistent beers to satisfy customer demand…but I believe it’s too early to try and nail down what that selection might be.
3) What’s your favorite thing about brewery planning?
Your question sounds deceivingly simple, but I’m finding it difficult to answer.
I think the best part is when Chris and I are sitting around drinking Fullsteam’s test batches and talking through the ideal tavern atmosphere. The steampunk concept is going to be a lot of fun, even if economics temper our enthusiasm and we have to go more sparse than we’d like. We’re both kind of big goofballs, and we spend a lot of time scheming up ideas that we think people would like: Really Bad Movie Night, the Contraption (Chris’ amazing beer dispensing machine), collaborative brewing with local homebrewers. That kind of dreaming up is fun…a lot more fun than meeting with city officials determining whether brewing beer is allowed in a particular zone.
4) What did you learn from Pop the Cap (NC’s specialty beer lobbying organization) and how have you been able to apply it to the process of opening a brewery?
Relationships matter.
It’s so important to speak positively and respectfully and to avoid gossip. Idle conversation can really mess up relationships, whether with retailers, restaurants, distributors, or fellow breweries. I think we did really well with Pop The Cap because our mission was singular: to lift the 6 percent alcohol cap…and we stuck with that mission, avoiding as much as possible the gamesmanship of state politics. We spoke positively about the industry and treated people with respect. We’ll be successful with Fullsteam by working under a similar code, speaking kindly and living generously. Good relationships are the key to our start and to our future.
5) You’re only a year into brewery planning, but is there anything you would do differently if you had to do it all again?
I’d raise all the money first.
I’ve had it in my mind that I needed to first show investors that we found an ideal location, and *then* we would go out and raise the money. What I’ve found is that building owners, banks, and even other investors want our funds to be in-place before we secure a space. Duh, right? I know now, but like most entrepreneurs, I thought getting money would be snap. It’s easy to put off raising money, thinking that you just need this web page looking good or this zoning issue resolved. Not good enough. I’ve been doing it backwards, and it cost us time…and probably a potential location or two. I’d love to have a mulligan on that one.
6) What marketing tactics have been most successful for you thus far?
Similar to you guys, we put a lot of stock in building online community, including our newsletter (6:14 Express), Facebook, Twitter, and the fullsteam.ag website…which is really just a blog on steroids. A lot of the up-and-coming breweries in the South are taking advantage of new so-called web 2.0 platforms. I think you’ll see a lot more interactivity and collaboration amongst customers and craft beer manufacturers in the months and years ahead, particularly among the new breweries unencumbered by existing HTML. The danger is over-communicating…of failing to create a bit of a mystique by showcasing everything. I like a bit of mystery, and we’ll have to think about how to balance communication and transparency with intrigue…particularly as we build out the brewery and tavern.
I do want to say that I’ve enjoyed following Monday Night Brewery online…I think I’ve been following y’all since the first few months of (online) inception. I’ve picked up some stuff from you guys; hopefully you from us, if not now, then perhaps in the future. It’s one of the many reasons Chris and I love craft beer…the people are great and the industry is a blast. I truly appreciate you interviewing us.
Interview with a brewer: Maui Brewing Co. in Hawaii
Next up in our interview with a brewer series (in which we interview professional brewers to find out what we’re doing wrong) is Garrett from Maui Brewing Co. in Hawaii. We got turned on to these guys after hearing a friend rave about their coconut porter. I also heard a great interview with them while trolling my archives of Basic Brewing Radio. Maui Brewing has an incredible local focus, which is part of the reason why us Georgians probably haven’t seen them on the shelves. Secretly I’m hoping they abandon their morals for long enough for them to get some distribution out here. But don’t tell Garrett.
1) In a nutshell, for our non-Hawaiian readers, who are you guys and what are you about?
We sum it up in our motto ?Handcrafted Ales & Lagers Brewed with Aloha.? We are committed to making a truly local, world-class product. Others beers that preach ?Hawaiian? are made in the mainland and shipped over here, we refer to them as ?fake-local.? For us it?s about being true to what you say you are. We see a great deal of local support for our products due to our story. Besides being ?truly local? we are also the best craft beer in Hawaii, with more than 26 medals in the last two years, we also have a strong commitment to our community. We take good care of our staff, and have recently been chosen as the Green Business of the year for Hawaii in recognition of the numerous measures we take to care for the environment.
2) If I understand correctly, you got into brewing via investment consulting. How did a corporate background prepare you for brewing, if at all?
It helps every day. From a sales and marketing standpoint, as well as understanding P&Ls, Balance Sheets, Cash Flow, etc. Knowing how to use financial tools helps you streamline and learn what makes business sense and what doesn?t. Ultimately beer is far more fun, and is about so much more than money. Spiritually it?s been very rewarding.
3) What’s your favorite thing about what you do?
To borrow from someone I respect, dare I say admire, the other Garrett from out East? Garrett Oliver, ?Wine is a handshake, beer is a hug.? I?m a pretty easygoing person and enjoy having a good time. As crazy busy as we are most of the time, it?s nice to see the reception of our beers being so positive. I like the fact that at the end of the day we have a fairly peaceful life, when were done for the day it?s easy to grab a sixpack (okay maybe a twelvepack) and head to the beach with my wife and dog. It?s a pretty sweet place to be brewing beer.
4) You obviously aren’t able to brew with 100% local ingredients, but you still value your community. What does ?brewing local? mean to you?
Our malt and hops of course have to be brought in, yet wherever possible we brew with local fruits and spices to make truly unique beers: mango, pineapple, guava, vanilla, mac nuts, Lilikoi, and various varieties of local honey to name a few. Beer is mostly water 99% or so, if the water isn?t from the local earth, it?s not local beer. It is more than ingredients; it?s who?s brewing the beer and how you respect the community. I?m not saying contract brewing and alternating proprietorships are ?bad? but I do believe the consumer should be given the information to make an informed choice, something their robbed of when the label requirements are as relaxed as they are. Currently only principal business address (city and state) is required, that leaves it open to a lot given that no requirement for where the beer is actually produced.
5) If you were to start a brewery from scratch, what would you do differently this time around (if anything)?
I did start the brewery and distribution from scratch, so if I was to do it again I?d have trusted my gut more on how the facility should be designed. I would?ve definitely gone bigger on the brewhouse. I guess hindsight is always 20/20. I?m happy with the decisions I?ve made; we grew 400% last year so really it isn?t that bad. Ultimately you need to make the decisions the best you can with your means at the time. We knew we?d grow fast, but no one could have predicted this rate. I just have some redesigns that will be implemented in the coming months to increase efficiency.
6) Cans vs. bottles. Cans seem to have the edge in terms of portability, recyclability, and protection of the beer. Are there any other drawbacks to cans other than the stigma of canned beer, and have you been happy with the move to cans?
I think the stigma is awesome; it sets us apart from the rest of the market and gives us an opportunity to twist people?s minds on so many levels. Selling beer, in any package, comes down to educating the consumer. Bottom line is cans are better than bottles for the beer and for the environment. If bottles were better, we?d be bottling. We care about the beer, a lot of effort goes into each batch and we want to be certain that it is always protected once it leaves our caring hands. The can eliminates light and oxygen damage and therefore the beer stays fresher longer. We joke, ?if can can if no can bottle?. Furthermore our cans are made in a local Ball facility on the island of Oahu, with our commitment to supporting local economy it?s a natural fit. ?Buy Local First? is what we ask of our consumers so it?s important we practice what we preach. Plus with cans being locally produced the carbon footprint is reduced dramatically.
7) What marketing tactic has been the most beneficial to you in getting the word out? If “word-of-mouth,” what’s the second most beneficial tactic?
Local or not, if the beer isn?t any good it?s a hard sell. Obviously local is important to us, I?m sure I?ve mentioned that a couple times, but quality and consistency are extremely important to the success of the company. Our beers are considered among the best quality beers in the world. Word of mouth is only as good as the words ? if people can speak positively about the products it helps, if not it?ll hurt. We are also quite vocal about the truth in origin of our products. I?m a believer in that people do business with people they like, so your conduct both on and off the clock is important. What you do for your community, the ethics and morals that drive your mission as well as how your staff feels about the company are of paramount importance. You are nothing without your team and it?s important to take good care of them as well, empower them with knowledge and respect.
Interview with a Brewer: Somewhere in the Tropics
This edition of “Interview with a Brewer,” in which we interview various professional brewers and try to cheat off of their answers, is a little different. Why? Because we can’t divulge the name of the brewery, or even their exact location. They’re still planning their brewery and don’t want the competition to get wind of it yet. I found this brewery-in-planning on Twitter. You can follow them here. You can also follow us.
And so I present to you our interview with someone who I will call “Jeremy,” which is, in fact, his actual name.
1) Give us a synopsis of who you are and what you’re about
My brother and I are opening a 15 BBL production brewery on a tropical island. We are planning to produce a lager targeting the resort market. Most of our production will be bottled (yes, in spite of every brewer I?ve spoken to rolling their eyes when you mention bottling). Would love to can instead but that?s just the way the market is. We have our brewery and our building, so hopefully opening March 2009.
2) What kind of beers do you like to brew?
Well that?s an interesting question as I?m not actually a brewer (we will be employing a head brewer), so I guess I can say what type of beer I like to drink instead? I love Little Creatures Pale Ale and am very partial to Hefeweizens.
3) What’s your favorite thing about what you do?
I love the creative side of designing the brand and look of the product. I never dreamed I?d be involved in designing a beer bottle/brand but it?s been extremely enjoyable. I?ve also enjoyed how happy brewers have been to offer advice on producing a great beer.
4) How have you been able to or how do you plan to “spread the word” once you’ve launched?
We are building relationships with the buyers at the resorts. Customers will be visiting the islands say once or twice a year so our best bet is to get a good presence in the resort?s bars with signage and marketing material. We are also building quite a creative website with an interactive aspect for customers.
5) If you were to start another brewery from scratch tomorrow (purely hypothetical) what would you do differently this time around?
At this stage a tough call ? I would love to have gotten a brewer on board earlier (we?ve been using a consultant) but it?s chicken and egg. We couldn?t hire a brewer till we knew we had our plant and building secured, yet it would have been good to have our brewer involved in those decisions. For someone with my background I think using a consultant is a must ? its critical though to get someone who has plenty of experience with the type of brewery operation you will be running as well as experience in the market you will be operating in.
Thanks again to Jeremy. We’ll be hopefully updating you as things unfold. It’s interesting to watch the top-secret launch of a brewery unfold.
Interview with a brewer: Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, FL
Our Interview with a Brewer series has been one of the most rewarding things we’ve done on this bog (yes, even more rewarding than discovering Travis’ new gig as a spokesmodel. It’s been great because we can get to meet other brewers and ? more importantly ? cheat off of their test papers. Peter turned us on to an upstart brewery out of Tampa, FL, Cigar City Brewing. They’ve been blogging about their trials and tribulations as they look to open their own brewery by the end of this year. For anyone interested in starting a brewery it’s a great read.
Cigar City Brewing is currently a two-man operation, the head brewer Wayne Wambles and the everything-else-guy (seems like every brewery has one of these utility players), Joey Redner. Below are Wayne’s interview responses. Joey has been inexplicably busy (okay, very explicable), but has promised that he has some insights of his own. I’ll post them as they come in. Below are responses from both (yes, BOTH) of them:
1) Give us a synopsis of who you guys are and what you’re about.
Joey: I’m a fourth generation Floridian and native of Tampa. I’ve been into good beer since a trip to Portland in 1994. I’ve worked in the beer industry for a few years now and in addition to opening Cigar City Brewing I write a beer column for the St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay Times.
What I’m about is helping to make beer that Floridians can be proud of. Florida gets branded, sometimes deservedly, as a beer desert. But, there are a lot of passionate beer lovers here and the time is definitely past due for someone to make beers they can proudly say are from their home state.
Wayne: I am a craft brewer that has been involved in the business of beer production for that last 10 years commercially. Prior to this startup with Cigar City Brewing, I was brewing for Foothills Brewing Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They are an award winning brewpub/micro that kegs beer for off premise sale/consumption and self distributes. Some of the high points during my career include my time spent brewing at Buckhead Brewery & Grill in Tallahassee, Florida. During my time at this location I medaled twice at the GABF (Great American Beer Festival(2000)) and once at the WBC (World Beer Cup(2000)). Joey and I are pursuing our dream of opening a microbrewery in Tampa, Florida and are in the startup phase currently. We have been documenting our efforts on our website in an attempt to lessen the complexities of opening a brewery for other people that are interested in opening their own breweries. [Editor's note: Hmmm... Interesting.] We take beer very seriously and hope to be up and running before the end of the year.
2) What’s the craft scene like in Florida? We hear about craft beer in other parts of the south such as the Carolinas and Louisiana, but usually there’s nary a peep from our fine neighbors to the South.
Wayne: As far as microbreweries in the state of Florida are concerned, there aren?t enough. There is only one that stands out in my mind at this point in Florida and that is St. Somewhere in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The interest in quality beer is alive and well in Florida but the availability of locally produced beer barely exists. We are going to try our best to create quality craft beer for the Florida consumer initially and then we will eventually work on being a regional player in the southeast. We hope to increase Florida?s tourism through our efforts and help to put Florida on the map for beer geek beer runs.
Joey: The homegrown scene is not what it could be for sure. The Tampa Bay area is far and away the best in terms of quality, creativity and concentration. Tampa Bay Brewing, Sarasota Brewing, Dunedin Brewery and St. Somewhere all make quality brews. There are of course bright spots throughout the state as well. There are some exiting new things going on too. Bold City Brewing in Jacksonville will be open in October and we hope to have CCB open by then too.
Florida fares better in the good beer bar department and we actually get a pretty impressive selection of beers from other states and countries. So it isn’t all bad here in Florida.
3) It seems like you’re brewing a lot of big(ger) beers. What led to this focus?
Wayne: Bigger beers have more flavor and complexity. We aren?t strictly focused on big beers but many of our seasonal releases will be bigger beers. Our focus is making good beer regardless of the original gravity. I also believe that smaller more social beers can be full flavored as well and I have made successful full flavored pilots that prove this. Bigger beers are more of a challenge to make and require a longer amount of turn over time. They also age better than smaller beers. Vintaged, vertical, big beers are sought after by beer enthusiasts world wide and we will put a product in that niche for our consumer base.
Joey: Flavor. Wayne and I both tend to like beers that pack a lot of flavor per ounce. So what we are going after is not alcohol by volume, but flavor by volume. The alcohol just comes with that. But we also like to have a few beers socially so you see stuff like the Patio Pils ,somewhat big for a lager at 6% ABV but very drinkable. And the parti-gyle brewing will yield beers with big flavor, but more sessionable alcohol content. Like Wayne’s Little Belgian That Could which was made with the second runnings of a barley wine and then fermented with a Belgian yeast strain and given some sweet orange. It’s a sessionable beer that packs in loads of flavor.
4) What’s your favorite thing about what you do?
Wayne: I enjoy formulating recipes and brewing the most. It is a pleasure to produce something that has my own personal touch on it. I recall visiting brewpubs back in the early to mid 90?s and being disappointed with the lack of flavor or sometimes contaminated aspect of the product that was put in front of me. I started home brewing partly as a result of this. I recall late nights sitting at the kitchen table of my old rental house and writing recipe after recipe while drinking my homebrew. I would constantly imagine what each ingredient would add to the beer I was formulating and I began to become familiar with the raw materials to the extent that I could formulate more efficiently. It is still a pleasant memory that I reflect upon from time to time.
Having said that, another thing that I really enjoy about commercial brewing is problem solving. There is much of this in a brewing environment. The constants begin to be more consistent as you learn the efficiency of your brewery and how all of your equipment works.
Of course, I would be lying if I said that I didn?t enjoy drinking the finished product and hearing other peoples? feedback about my beers.
Joey: Spreading the word. Correcting misconceptions. And drinking beer doesn’t suck.
5) What marketing tactic has been the most beneficial to you thus far?
Wayne: At this point the most beneficial thing as far as marketing is concerned has been our website and our pilots. We don?t have a running brewery yet and we have been mentioned quite a bit. Beer enthusiasts seem to be looking forward to our opening and obtaining our product. The press hasn?t hurt us either. We have been posted on Beer Advocate?s website and published in Ale Street News, Celebrator and Southern Brew News.
Joey: A combination of word and mouth and the blog. The blog gives people a window into what we are doing and lets them see the ups, downs, frustrations and triumphs and so people can get a little emotionally invested int he brewery. That is pretty cool.
6) What are distributors looking for from a new craft brewery?
Wayne: Distributors really want to know “What can you (as a brewery) add to our portfolio.” That is the way that you have to view approaching a distributor. What are you making that stands out compared to what is currently in your market? How does it stand out? Are you a consistent brewery that produces quality beer that is free of infection? Are your different packaging techniques consistent from batch to batch? There are many more questions that you have to ask yourself about approaching a distributor. I can?t get into them all but I will say that it is important to cost out your product and determine how you will be paid by your distributor and what that will bring the retail price of your product up to. We are concerned about what our consumer base will be paying at the checkout line.
Joey: Cache and name recognition first and foremost. Secondly a local connection. It’s pretty easy to sell the Tampa beer in Tampa, but not so much in Tempe.
7) If you were to start another brewery from scratch tomorrow (hypothetical, of course), what is the one thing you would do differently this time around?
Wayne: I can?t stress this point enough. Focus on the structure of the building that you intend to occupy. That is key in my opinion. If you have to make changes to the building that require permits then start with this first. Talk to a mechanical engineer on day one and stress to them the importance of getting your project off the ground in a timely fashion. We have been going at it for 3 months or more now and we still don?t have our permits in hand. You will have to wait until the mechanical engineer places all your tanks and equipment into the blueprint before you can move to schematics and an electrical engineer but as soon as you have tank placement immediately advance to the electrical engineer and make all equipment specs for the schematic available to them as soon as possible.
Work on a budget but don?t expect it to be the one that you end up finishing with. Contractors, engineers and all those unforeseen costs will raise their ugly heads in the midst of what seems like smooth sailing and ruin your pretty little budget with the wave of a pen. Get quotes from several contractors for the jobs that need to be done but when the permits are ready to go to the construction board or city for review, choose a contractor quickly so you don?t slow down the forward movement of the permits. That is the main thing that I would change with my 20/20 hindsight.
Joey: Hire a general contractor. We were just laughably ignorant about what the construction requirements and processes would be. On the plus side we were within acceptable ranges of accuracy in planning the brewery side of things. One other thing I’d do. Measure EVERYTHING. Right Wayne?
Thanks again to both Wayne and Joey, and best of luck to them in their endeavors!
Interview with a brewer: Metropolitan Brewing in Chicago, IL
We’ve let a little time pass since our last interview with a professional brewer. Okay, a LOT of time. We started this series with the hope of giving us little nuggets of insight as we plan our own brewery. From that standpoint, this series has been incredible. It has also strengthened my belief that the craft beer industry is like no other. The spirit of collaboration is strong (Exhibit A: Collaboration Not Litigation Ale) and the people are great. And with that, I introduce you to the next professional brewers in our series:
Doug & Tracy Hurst from Metropolitan Brewing in Chicago. Metropolitan is unique in our series in that, like us, they aren’t quite off the ground yet. Unlike us, however, they are dern close. We targeted them for an interview because of the freshness of this whole planning thing in their minds. And we were not disappointed:
1) What were the steps that led you up to start a brewery?
Doug, my husband, earned his Diploma in Brewing Technology from the Siebel Institute/Doemens Academy in 2004. I’ve been a business owner for years, so naturally, we decided that instead of his getting a job as a brewer somewhere (boring), we risk everything in order for him to give it a try himself (exciting!). He wrote a business plan and quickly decided that he needed a partner. He asked me to join him in attempting the feat of bravery and madness that is opening a brewery. Always up for something new, I closed my portrait studio and became his business partner.
We raised our funds through friends and family as well as a bank. Doug quit his day job. And now we work together for Metro Brewing. It’s not exactly always a lovefest, but it is fun as hell.
2) How is the brewery progressing?
We’re negotiating the lease on our official location. Right now, though, the brewery doesn’t wait for such minor details. So we’re furiously churning out beer in small batches on our pilot system. Our bedroom is now a cold fermentation room, our dining room is an office, and we work pretty much around the clock.
We do need a location soon, though, because we’ve purchased our 15 bbl brew house as well as four 30 bbl fermentation tanks. Doug regularly hits the brewery classifieds for used equipment and kegs. Also, with this crazy hop shortage on, we luckily secured our hop needs for about our first year of production. That was our first Big Purchase; 300 lbs of hops. The UPS guy was so pissed.
And finally, we do a lot of promotion. We participate in as many beer events as we can. We bring beer everywhere. And we talk about the brewery to everyone: the press, the local craft beer community, random strangers on the street.
3) What is your favorite thing about what you do?
The beer. I’m not kidding. Doug’s beer is damn good.
And meeting people. When we do a beer festival, we tell people about our Little Brewery that Could. Folks are sincerely happy for us and excited that Chicago is going to have another local brewery.
Of course, working for ourselves kicks ass too. Doug and I both have a ferocious DIY ethic. We work a lot, but we make our own hours; set our own schedule. This freedom is worth the long hours and stress. Who can complain about constantly being surrounded by beer?!?
4) Why the focus on German beers?
Craft beer is dominated by ales. Ales are awesome, to be sure. We enjoy them regularly. But the Midwest is known for producing lagers. Why not brew craft lagers? Well, because producing lagers is more expensive and takes up more time and space. But so what? If you plan for those contingencies, you can make it work.
Finally, Doug likes German style lagers. And he’s in charge of all the decisions around what beers he makes. The Dugg has spoken.
5) What marketing tactic has been the most beneficial to you? If "word-of-mouth," what’s the SECOND most beneficial?
Bringing free beer to events, festivals, and parties. Sometimes we set up a table complete with a sign and email sign-up list, sometimes we just simply bring a keg of beer. Bringing free beer places is fun and wins you many friends.
6) You have a fairly strong online presence for an upstart brewery (Facebook, Myspace, email newsletter, a website that’s actually updated). What benefits have you reaped from this strategy? In what ways hasn’t it met your expectations?
Thanks for noticing! The main benefit is that keeping our web presence fresh is fun and keeps my writing chops up. Sometimes people come up to me and mention something that we put in our blog. I love that. It means that people are as excited about Metro Brewing as we are. Well, maybe not AS excited. Again, we like talking to people. Keeping our online content fresh is a really easy way to reach lots of folks.
As far as not meeting our expectations… well, we didn’t have any expectations to start with.
7) If you started another brewery, what is the one thing that you would do differently this time around? (We’re not trying to copy your answers… okay, we are.)
I think we’re too new at this whole thing to answer this question. Every time we do something, it’s the first time. Everything surprises us. We make mistakes, but we learn more from our own stupidity than we do from anything else.
Thanks again to Tracy & Doug. And we’d like to formally wish ya’ll the best.
Interview with an organic brewer ? via Bearded Brewing
Bearded Brewing has started an interview series with organic brewers. He recently talked with Daniel of Bison Brewing Company, whose fine beers can be purchased at Ted’s Montana Grill, among other places, here in Atlanta. I encourage you to read the entire article, but here’s my favorite question/answer tandom:
What are some things you do at your brewery to be sustainable or minimize your environmental impact?
- Every beer I make is certified organic and sports the nifty USDA logo. Every other ?organic? brewer that I know of ALSO brews non-organically because of convenience. My conviction is to go as far as possible.
- Paperless office (I bought Adobe Professional to jockey documents on my laptop?.well worth the price).
- Home office (short commute).
- Instead of buying and building a resource intensive new brewery, I recently did a brewery co-op with a brewery. My idea is that it is more green to use an existing brewery and bring it closer to full capacity and optimal efficiency than to start a second, private location. It is like a newspaper printing press which can print many different newspapers using the same equipment and people, but the Bison beers has its own exclusive ?editor? and ?sales and marketing? staff and distribution network?.just like a different newspaper editorial board?..
- Bought a VW Jetta TDI from Detroit so I could run biodiesel during my sales calls (and personal life).
- Sold my old Isuzu Box Truck which was terrible on fuel efficiency. Now I rent a diesel truck about once per week (not biodiesel, but better mileage).
- I use recycled paperboard and soy based ink for all my 6-pack carriers?..BTW, recycled cardboard boxes are the norm, so I can?t really take any credit for that.
Also, some general good advice from Daniel: “Brewing is 80% cleaning, 10% fermentation temperature control, and 10% recipe?..sometimes homebrewers mix that up.”
Interview with a brewer: Triangle Brewing in Durham, NC
Up next in our Interview with a Brewer series: Rick from Triangle Brewing in Durham, NC. Rick and Andy are working to bring more good beer to the South. A little bit about them from their website:
We are a locally owned craft brewery situated in downtown Durham, North Carolina. Triangle Brewing Company is dedicated to producing well balanced, full-flavored, yet highly drinkable Belgian and American style ales.
Triangle beers are made with the finest hops and barley malt. Flavors harmonize, not fight for individual attention. Triangle beers are not pasteurized nor do we add preservatives (except for a healthy addition of hops). Seeing beer as equal to, if not superior to, wine, Triangle beers are designed to complement food. Because of this effort, soon one will be able to walk into any fine restaurant and pub in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill region and be pretty sure of finding a Triangle beer available.
If you haven’t caught up on our entire brewer series, I encourage you to dig through the archives. You can also find links to their respective webpages on our sidebar under “Brewer Friends.” We’ve found these interviews very enlightening. And with that, I give you Rick at Triangle Brewing:
1) What were the steps that led you up to build a brewery?
There were several steps involved over several years. I began as a homebrewer before graduating from the American Brewer’s Guild. Then I went on to become an apprentice brewer at Flying Fish Brewi g in NJ. Our initial model never included a pub nor were we interested in having a pub. Our goal was to open a brewery, rather than a restaurant with a brewery. Prior to all of this Andy and I attended the Craft Brewer’s Conference and began crunching numbers on our business plan.
2) Why North Carolina?
We had decided on the South East, with NC being our primary location due to the under represenation of breweries in the area. While in our initial phases, NC was making steady progress with the Pop the Cap movement. This movement changed NC’s laws from 6%abv beers to a cap of 15%abv. Without this change I cannot say for sure that we would have opened in NC. If we did our beer lineup would be completely different.
3) What is your favorite thing about what you do?
My favorite thing is; even on a bad day, I made beer! How bad can that be.
4) Did you every consider contract brewing? If so, why did you ultimately decide to build your own brewery?
We only briefly considered contract brewing. We are not opposed to it, but for us it went against everything that craft brewing meant to us. There have been some great breweries that started off with contract brewing. There is still a slim possibility that we may consider it for bottling. However, that is very different in our minds than starting a company off as a contracted beer. When push comes to shove, breweries have to do what is best for them.
5) What marketing tactic has been the most beneficial to you? If “word-of-mouth,” what’s the SECOND most beneficial?
Word of mouth is always a huge and humbling benefit. In today’s world, our blog has been one of the biggest benefits for us. It’s free, we have total control over it and have begun to notice more breweries in our area establishing a similar contact with customers. It has really given us a chance to get personal with our customers and they have responded positively. We get lots of wonderful feedback about our blog.
6) How did you get into brewing Belgian beers? When brewing commercially, how is the process different when brewing a Belgian as opposed to a traditional American ale?
It wasn’t our goal to become a Belgian brewery. It happened because we looked at our current NC beer market and noticed that everyone brews a Pale and IPA et. al. We felt that we needed something different to help us distinguish ourselves. We chose our Belgian Golden Ale as our first release at 8%abv. This was a little risky, but we knew we had a very good product. We also considered what the majority of NC people drank and knew that this beer didn’t look that different from the mass produced beers that they drank. Andy and I firmly believe that initial appearance of a beer is one of the strongest factors to consider. People will make up their mind to try your product or not based on how it looks. Difference in flavor has actually been a significantly easier mountain to overcome.
7) If you built another brewery, what is the one thing that you would do differently this time around?
I’m really not sure. It would be a dream to be able to afford new equipment, but if we were going back in time that still wouldn’t be the best way to spend our money.