MIKE’S MESSAGE
As a craft brewery owner there is no greater feeling than being at the bar, anonymous to the consumer, and watching someone step up and order your beer. It is the culmination of your dream; the beer you created is…
10 Predictions for 2020s Decade
1. Beer will decline this generation for many well-documented reasons. It will be the next decade before the pendulum swings back toward beer. Beer as reward, beer as social catalyst, beer as a badge…everything that traditionally made beer the preferred…
Survival Tips for 2020
Taking the long view of the past 80 years since Prohibition ended, it went something like this: 1940s and 50s Lots of local breweries making great beer. Kind of like today. 1960s and 70s Big beer takes over and knocks…
HOW TO SURVIVE PRICE COMPETITION AND EMERGE A WINNER
Three Rules to Live By 1. The consumers will pay for your brand if they want it. That means great beer that’s fresh when they drink it; a brand people identify with; a taproom where they want to hang out.…
15 PACKS ARE A HARBINGER OF DEATH FOR CRAFT BEER
There has been a lot of talk and writing about 15 packs lately. I was there for the first 15 pack, a long time ago, as a young marketing manager just starting out in the beer business. It actually started…
10 RULES TO GET THE MOST FROM YOUR DISTRIBUTORS IN 2018
There’s an old saying about distributors… “George Washington makes every decision”. Like most old sayings, it is true. Distributors are expert financial managers. Those who were not were bought out a long time ago. If you ever wonder why the…
CATAWBA BREWING ACQUIRES PALMETTO BREWING
Friends and Associates: Brewers Advisory Group announced that it acted as advisor to Palmetto Brewing Company in its agreement to be acquired by Catawba Brewing Company. The transaction closed in late December. Based in Charleston, South Carolina, Palmetto Brewery sold…
2017 SOUTHERN BREWERS CONFERENCE REFLECTIONS
The 2017 Southern Brewers conference was well attended, with craft brewers wanting to know what is happening and what to do about it. Our seminar was entitled “The Coming Shakeout in the Craft Beer Market”. We explored the growth of…
2016 SOUTHERN BREWERS CONFERENCE AFTERMATH
Leaving the Southern Brewers Conference in Nashville last week, I noted some common themes that haven’t been heard before: Tough Exhausting Trouble Unlike other recent conferences, you could feel it in the air. There is a storm coming and most…
MERGERS BETWEEN CRAFT BREWERS ARE PART OF THE FUTURE
A hundred years ago, there were over 1,800 automobile manufacturing companies in the United States. Click here to see the list of those who succeeded and who didn’t. They were entrepreneurs with a dream, who risked everything. Most either sold…