Blog Tracker
19-03-2021, 06:02
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (https://boakandbailey.com/2021/03/recognition-demand-and-supply/)
It’s probably too soon to make this point but… Some breweries have done better than others in the past year, haven’t they?It’s been a rotten year for everyone, obviously, but nonetheless it feels as if there have been, relatively speaking, winners and losers.
Now, because it’s bad taste to boast, not many breweries are admitting to having adapted to the difficult circumstances of 2020 with any success. We did, however, notice this interesting piece (https://www.aatcomment.org.uk/audience/members/four-accountants-share-their-successes-from-a-year-of-lockdown/) on an accounting industry institute body’s website:
All that time spent on spreadsheets modelling scenarios paid off in May. This is when we switched our bars/taprooms to bottle shops. As only one staff member is needed to manage a bottle shop, it’s kept costs low. They’ve done an amazing trade because they’re based in suburban areas. With everybody working from home, customers regularly visit on their daily walks.
And Jeff Alworth has covered some similar stories from the US (https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2021/3/15/coronavirus-at-one-resilience-of-beer):
We breweries of course sell beer by the case, and here in Oregon you can buy three cases at a time, per person. So it’s pretty easy to stock up with minimal trips out of your house. I don’t think any of us realized this advantage when this all started. But in my mind it explains everything about why breweries were able to better survive this economic/epidemic crisis. Sure, delivery helps. But restaurants can do that as well and they haven’t fared nearly as well as we have. It’s funny, because it reminds me of the fact that for hundreds of years one of the main reasons people drank beer was because it’s safer than water. During this past year it’s been safer to pick up beer at the brewery than food at a restaurant—again due to the packaged durability of beer.
Breweries that rely entirely on the pub trade have obviously been at a disadvantage but those which rely on a certain type of pub trade even more so. The cut-price cask ale merchants, that is, whose beers nobody is ever delighted to see on the bar, but which they might tolerate at £2.50 a pint when everything else is a quid more expensive. Makers of rough and/or dull beer designed to please landlords with margin to make rather than drinkers. Let’s be honest, we’ve got Wickwar in mind, now deceased (https://beertoday.co.uk/wickwar-brewing-1220/), but you’ve probably got a local equivalent.
Those which have done better, we suspect, are those whose names live near the front of everybody’s minds – the ones with fans, the ones that people will cross town to drink.
We ordered a box of Oakham beers this week, for example, because we haven’t had a pint of Citra in more than a year and missed it. In the past year we’ve also ordered from, among others:
Thornbridge (reliably great)
Good Chemistry (local, interesting beer, reminds us of The Good Measure)
Lost & Grounded (local, proper lager)
Fyne Ales (Jarl, Jarl, Jarl)
Elusive (varied styles, always interesting)
Cheddar (local, solid, reminds us of The Drapers Arms)
Bristol Beer Factory (local, reliable, reminds us of The Grain Barge)
Harvey’s (Sussex Best is the best)
St Austell (in honour of Roger Ryman, reminds us of Penzance)
We have tried to find ways to explore new breweries – selection boxes from online retailers, our standing order with The Drapers Arms delivery service – but when you’ve got to choose your weekend beer no later than Tuesday, you tend to stick to what you can trust.
As well as good beer, and the ability to distribute packaged beer directly to consumers, the breweries on the list above are known and liked. (Or were, at least, until the small brewers duty relief disaster (https://boakandbailey.com/2020/07/small-brewers-relief-why-tinker-with-it-now/).) They’re either old and venerated almost by default or they’ve invested serious time and energy into making themselves known through strong branding and an active online presence.
It will be interesting to see what’s on offer in UK pubs this time in 2022. Could there be (again, feels rude to say it) a survival of the fittest effect? Or will we find ourselves missing beers we couldn’t order to drink at home, or forgot existed?
Recognition, demand and supply (https://boakandbailey.com/2021/03/recognition-demand-and-supply/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2021/03/recognition-demand-and-supply/)
It’s probably too soon to make this point but… Some breweries have done better than others in the past year, haven’t they?It’s been a rotten year for everyone, obviously, but nonetheless it feels as if there have been, relatively speaking, winners and losers.
Now, because it’s bad taste to boast, not many breweries are admitting to having adapted to the difficult circumstances of 2020 with any success. We did, however, notice this interesting piece (https://www.aatcomment.org.uk/audience/members/four-accountants-share-their-successes-from-a-year-of-lockdown/) on an accounting industry institute body’s website:
All that time spent on spreadsheets modelling scenarios paid off in May. This is when we switched our bars/taprooms to bottle shops. As only one staff member is needed to manage a bottle shop, it’s kept costs low. They’ve done an amazing trade because they’re based in suburban areas. With everybody working from home, customers regularly visit on their daily walks.
And Jeff Alworth has covered some similar stories from the US (https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2021/3/15/coronavirus-at-one-resilience-of-beer):
We breweries of course sell beer by the case, and here in Oregon you can buy three cases at a time, per person. So it’s pretty easy to stock up with minimal trips out of your house. I don’t think any of us realized this advantage when this all started. But in my mind it explains everything about why breweries were able to better survive this economic/epidemic crisis. Sure, delivery helps. But restaurants can do that as well and they haven’t fared nearly as well as we have. It’s funny, because it reminds me of the fact that for hundreds of years one of the main reasons people drank beer was because it’s safer than water. During this past year it’s been safer to pick up beer at the brewery than food at a restaurant—again due to the packaged durability of beer.
Breweries that rely entirely on the pub trade have obviously been at a disadvantage but those which rely on a certain type of pub trade even more so. The cut-price cask ale merchants, that is, whose beers nobody is ever delighted to see on the bar, but which they might tolerate at £2.50 a pint when everything else is a quid more expensive. Makers of rough and/or dull beer designed to please landlords with margin to make rather than drinkers. Let’s be honest, we’ve got Wickwar in mind, now deceased (https://beertoday.co.uk/wickwar-brewing-1220/), but you’ve probably got a local equivalent.
Those which have done better, we suspect, are those whose names live near the front of everybody’s minds – the ones with fans, the ones that people will cross town to drink.
We ordered a box of Oakham beers this week, for example, because we haven’t had a pint of Citra in more than a year and missed it. In the past year we’ve also ordered from, among others:
Thornbridge (reliably great)
Good Chemistry (local, interesting beer, reminds us of The Good Measure)
Lost & Grounded (local, proper lager)
Fyne Ales (Jarl, Jarl, Jarl)
Elusive (varied styles, always interesting)
Cheddar (local, solid, reminds us of The Drapers Arms)
Bristol Beer Factory (local, reliable, reminds us of The Grain Barge)
Harvey’s (Sussex Best is the best)
St Austell (in honour of Roger Ryman, reminds us of Penzance)
We have tried to find ways to explore new breweries – selection boxes from online retailers, our standing order with The Drapers Arms delivery service – but when you’ve got to choose your weekend beer no later than Tuesday, you tend to stick to what you can trust.
As well as good beer, and the ability to distribute packaged beer directly to consumers, the breweries on the list above are known and liked. (Or were, at least, until the small brewers duty relief disaster (https://boakandbailey.com/2020/07/small-brewers-relief-why-tinker-with-it-now/).) They’re either old and venerated almost by default or they’ve invested serious time and energy into making themselves known through strong branding and an active online presence.
It will be interesting to see what’s on offer in UK pubs this time in 2022. Could there be (again, feels rude to say it) a survival of the fittest effect? Or will we find ourselves missing beers we couldn’t order to drink at home, or forgot existed?
Recognition, demand and supply (https://boakandbailey.com/2021/03/recognition-demand-and-supply/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2021/03/recognition-demand-and-supply/)