Friday, October 31, 2008
Breweries Popping Up Everywhere
Over the last year or so, I have noticed tons of small breweries popping up throughout Washington and Oregon. The same is true of lot of parts of the country, the craft brewing market is certainly not slowing down at all. The thing that puzzles me is the lack of breweries opening in Idaho and more specifically Boise. I am not mad by any means because there are benefits to being one of the first commercial brewery in Boise (the brewpubs are excluded because their beers are generally not available in other bars and grocers). I guess maybe I am questioning the market in Boise, I certainly think that there is a great market for craft beers, but are other prospective brewery owners seeing something I am not? As of 2000, there were 20 breweries in the state (including brewpubs) which actually puts Idaho #9 in the breweries per capita (1 for every 62,000 people). If Alaska is any proof (1 per every 32,000), there is definitely room for some more in Idaho, especially if they brew some tasty beverages. All of the start-ups that I am seeing around Seattle are serving as good motivation. Six different breweries (that I know of) have started up in the Puget Sound in 2008 (during a big hop shortage too). I will be sure to visit and blog about as many of the Seattle breweries as I can. Not sure where this post is going, but with all of these breweries popping up, I just don't want to be the last one to the party. Just need to remember to take my time, learn as much as possible and do things right from the start.
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One possible contribution to the variance in breweries per capita is legal regulation. It would be a good idea to start tracking laws in various states on permitting and distribution with regards to booze. While Idaho might be pretty stingy with by-the-drink licenses, they might be more liberal with passing out brewery permits. It seems ass-backwards, I totally expected Idaho to be at the opposite end of the breweries per capita rankings. I wonder if there are any tax advantages in Idaho? Any way to get more up to date data? In looking at the various publicly traded breweries, many of them went public in the mid-nineties and their share prices have absolutely tanked since then, so I'm guessing that a bunch of them closed shop in 2001-2002 when the economy slowed a bit. You've also got to remember that Idaho's population is growing faster than average, so our ranking is likely to drop even if none of the breweries from the 2000 data closed. I think a market study of the beer industry in the US, the Northwest, and Idaho is in order. We'll need to include the trends in the business plan and investor presentations (just cause they're family and friends doesn't mean they don't expect well thought out marketing materials).
ReplyDeleteOne more thing...I tried to get more of the Chicago Estate Harvest from Sierra Nevada and struck out. The good news is that I have another 22 that we'll crack open to celebrate the first day of beer school!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if that per capita data really means much, but I did find it interesting. I just look at the treasure valley alone and say there are half a million people (could be a stretch) and 5 brewpubs, so that data says 1 per every 100,000. I guess when I started writing that I was thinking that wow, there are a ton of little breweries starting up in Washington and Oregon, why isnt Idaho experiencing any of that? I just see Boise as a city that you could compare to Portland in the 80's (maybe not quite as liberal, but economy wise) and is primed for the craft beer market, there is that good old saying "Think Globally, Drink Locally"
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