3229 Durfee Ave., El Monte, CA
Showing posts with label industry updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label industry updates. Show all posts
Friday, January 11, 2008
Skyscraper Brewing First Anniversary Party
Just an FYI for those in Southern California-- next Saturday, January 19th from 2-8 pm will be a party at Skyscraper Brewing Co. celebrating their first year in business. They'll be pouring their Lug Nut Lager (a California Common style beer), Bulldozer Honeyweizen, and Winter Warmer. Cheers to Phil on making it through the first year, and here's to many more years of success! I hope to see you (blog readers) there!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
New Breweries for Southern California
Yesterday I was at the brewery meeting with a family friend who was advising me on my plans, and had a surprise visitor-- a brewer who is setting up shop just a few miles from me. I won't say where his brewery is, or give details about it without his permission, but it sounds like he will be making some great beers. He's probably a month or so ahead of me, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for his beer. I'm excited that this area will have a few breweries to call home, and I think gives people an incentive to come out and visit us, along with the few other brewpubs in the area (Taps and BJ's).
Another brewery in the works is Hangar 24 Craft Brewery in Redlands. Ben Cook has been underway for some time, and from what I've heard, is about ready to start brewing.
My friend, Curt Dale, is expanding his Dale Brothers Brewery in Upland from a 4 BBL system to a 10 BBL system. Curt makes some great session beers, so I hope I'll see more of his tap handles in my area. Curt's old system has been purchased by a homebrewer from Costa Mesa / Newport Beach, who plans to open shop at some point, perhaps in Orange County?
I'm sure there's other breweries I haven't heard about in this area getting started. LA, Orange County, and the Inland Empire are reknown for the lack of craft beer, so we're due for some local breweries.
The influx of new breweries coming to this area would make some brewery owners a bit nervous, as there will be more competition. Oddly enough, having more craft beer being produced in a region more often than not leads to the increased sale of craft beers. That sounds a circular argument, but when people in an area have a higher degree of knowledge of craft beer, they are more likely to drink craft beer. Portland, Oregon, or San Diego are great examples of this phenomenon. Competition also compels breweries to produce a higher quality, more distinctive beer in order to stand out in the marketplace, which is a great thing for our customers and our own success.
Another brewery in the works is Hangar 24 Craft Brewery in Redlands. Ben Cook has been underway for some time, and from what I've heard, is about ready to start brewing.
My friend, Curt Dale, is expanding his Dale Brothers Brewery in Upland from a 4 BBL system to a 10 BBL system. Curt makes some great session beers, so I hope I'll see more of his tap handles in my area. Curt's old system has been purchased by a homebrewer from Costa Mesa / Newport Beach, who plans to open shop at some point, perhaps in Orange County?
I'm sure there's other breweries I haven't heard about in this area getting started. LA, Orange County, and the Inland Empire are reknown for the lack of craft beer, so we're due for some local breweries.
The influx of new breweries coming to this area would make some brewery owners a bit nervous, as there will be more competition. Oddly enough, having more craft beer being produced in a region more often than not leads to the increased sale of craft beers. That sounds a circular argument, but when people in an area have a higher degree of knowledge of craft beer, they are more likely to drink craft beer. Portland, Oregon, or San Diego are great examples of this phenomenon. Competition also compels breweries to produce a higher quality, more distinctive beer in order to stand out in the marketplace, which is a great thing for our customers and our own success.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Kegs
Kegs are just about impossible to come by these days. When you can find them, they go for $150 a pop. I'll try to explain why this is, and what it means for me.
I've mentioned it before, and you can bet I'll keep mentioning it, stainless steel is at historically high prices. Check out http://www.meps.co.uk/Stainless%20Prices.htm for a summary of how prices have gone up in the last year. This is affecting the cost of most of my new equipment, especially fermenters and kegs.
At the same time we're hitting records for stainless, craft beer is more popular than ever. Last year craft beer grew 12%, and it looks like this year will be even stronger. There's very little used keg inventory, if any at all, as craft brewers are buying up any kegs they can get their hands on.
To make matters worse for keg supply, a major manufacturer, Spartanburg, sold its keg production business, and the new manufacturer doesn't seem to be cranking out any new product.
As stainless prices keep going up, the value of kegs to scrap yards has obviously gone up as well. Keg theft is at an all time high. A brewer can expect to lose 10-15% of their kegs in a year unless they take measures to prevent this.
One solution is higher keg deposits. Current deposit amounts in California are about $15 per keg, about 10% of the cost of a replacement keg. This is not high enough to thwart theft, but charging $50 or even $100 is impractical when other brewers continue charging a nominal amount. Deposit fees are generally set by the big guys, as retailers don't see why craft brewers can charge $50 keg deposits while Budweiser is charging only $15 for the same keg. As a large multinational corporation, Budweiser and other large brewers are better able to absorb the cost than the local craft brewer. Many retailers are just concerned with cost, and charging a higher keg deposit makes craft beer a less profitable prospect as it ties up their cash.
Another solution would be to sell kegs to only those retailers who you trust. I have many good relationships with beer bar owners and I trust them to take good care of my kegs. I would be reluctant to sell beer in a keg to a retailer who I do not trust. This will impact my growth, but losing $150 on a keg for a $120 sale doesn't make sense to me.
Keg leasing and logistic companies, such as Microstar, are a good alternative to buying kegs. However, they are feeling the crunch too. They can't keep up with craft brewers demand and can't afford to buy new cooperage. Microstar isn't taking any new customers until early 2008, and they are requiring breweries to sell them their current keg inventory.
On the bright side, Sly Fox's John Giannopoulos and Christian Messmacher have plans to produce stainless kegs in China by the end of summer. This will increase the supply of new kegs, but they will likely be sold at the same rate as US and European keg suppliers. There are also new plastic kegs and aluminum kegs that might be feasible alternatives, but most brewers would like to stick with the predictable stainless keg.
What does this mean for me? Well, I probably won't be able to find used kegs to buy. Used kegs are going for about $90-110 for a 1/2 barrel keg. This is a significant savings over new keg prices, which are currently going for $150. When I put my budget together, I anticipated spending $110 on new kegs. For 100 kegs, it'll cost about $4000 more now due to stainless prices. Don't even remind me that 2 years ago new kegs were going for $90 or less.
Ultimately, keg prices will affect the types of beers I'll release. I will bottle as much as possible, and brew beers that are best suited for bottle conditioning. This is probably a good thing as I'll be able to produce more interesting beers, but bottling is much more time and labor intensive. There are glass shortage issues I'll have to deal with, but I'll save my complaining on that matter for another day.
I've mentioned it before, and you can bet I'll keep mentioning it, stainless steel is at historically high prices. Check out http://www.meps.co.uk/Stainless%20Prices.htm for a summary of how prices have gone up in the last year. This is affecting the cost of most of my new equipment, especially fermenters and kegs.
At the same time we're hitting records for stainless, craft beer is more popular than ever. Last year craft beer grew 12%, and it looks like this year will be even stronger. There's very little used keg inventory, if any at all, as craft brewers are buying up any kegs they can get their hands on.
To make matters worse for keg supply, a major manufacturer, Spartanburg, sold its keg production business, and the new manufacturer doesn't seem to be cranking out any new product.
As stainless prices keep going up, the value of kegs to scrap yards has obviously gone up as well. Keg theft is at an all time high. A brewer can expect to lose 10-15% of their kegs in a year unless they take measures to prevent this.
One solution is higher keg deposits. Current deposit amounts in California are about $15 per keg, about 10% of the cost of a replacement keg. This is not high enough to thwart theft, but charging $50 or even $100 is impractical when other brewers continue charging a nominal amount. Deposit fees are generally set by the big guys, as retailers don't see why craft brewers can charge $50 keg deposits while Budweiser is charging only $15 for the same keg. As a large multinational corporation, Budweiser and other large brewers are better able to absorb the cost than the local craft brewer. Many retailers are just concerned with cost, and charging a higher keg deposit makes craft beer a less profitable prospect as it ties up their cash.
Another solution would be to sell kegs to only those retailers who you trust. I have many good relationships with beer bar owners and I trust them to take good care of my kegs. I would be reluctant to sell beer in a keg to a retailer who I do not trust. This will impact my growth, but losing $150 on a keg for a $120 sale doesn't make sense to me.
Keg leasing and logistic companies, such as Microstar, are a good alternative to buying kegs. However, they are feeling the crunch too. They can't keep up with craft brewers demand and can't afford to buy new cooperage. Microstar isn't taking any new customers until early 2008, and they are requiring breweries to sell them their current keg inventory.
On the bright side, Sly Fox's John Giannopoulos and Christian Messmacher have plans to produce stainless kegs in China by the end of summer. This will increase the supply of new kegs, but they will likely be sold at the same rate as US and European keg suppliers. There are also new plastic kegs and aluminum kegs that might be feasible alternatives, but most brewers would like to stick with the predictable stainless keg.
What does this mean for me? Well, I probably won't be able to find used kegs to buy. Used kegs are going for about $90-110 for a 1/2 barrel keg. This is a significant savings over new keg prices, which are currently going for $150. When I put my budget together, I anticipated spending $110 on new kegs. For 100 kegs, it'll cost about $4000 more now due to stainless prices. Don't even remind me that 2 years ago new kegs were going for $90 or less.
Ultimately, keg prices will affect the types of beers I'll release. I will bottle as much as possible, and brew beers that are best suited for bottle conditioning. This is probably a good thing as I'll be able to produce more interesting beers, but bottling is much more time and labor intensive. There are glass shortage issues I'll have to deal with, but I'll save my complaining on that matter for another day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)