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Hi folks -

First time posting here but have been keeping my eyes on Beoir for some time to stay on top of the happenings back home in the craft brewing world.

I wanted to give a little overseas perspective on the [b:1kvlik59]craft brewing revolution[/b:1kvlik59] that is happening in the states right now . I know there's been a lot written about it but think I can give a little ground level perspective and hope to see the same thing happen back home in Ireland!

What were seeing over here is pretty remarkable no question about it . Craft beer sales rose 12% in volume last year .The number of breweries in the U.S. topped 2,000 earlier this year for the first time since the late 19th century and another 1,300 are in planning stages, according to the Brewers Association.

I'm living in Minneapolis , Minnesota for the past 6 years ( Married an American and moved over ) and what I am seeing here is unreal . In the past 2 years there's been an explosion of new craft breweries and what's amazing to see is the demand for craft beer is outstripping the supply capacity. People are lining up to be a part of it and hand over their hard earned money to support "local" beers . As these new breweries are opening there is no real ill will or competition between these brewers . In general most of these breweries are very supportive of each other . They recently passed a law here to allow breweries to sell growlers on the brewing premises bringing in nice revenue .

On the sales side here in Minneapolis there is one company called [b:1kvlik59]Surly Brewing Company [/b:1kvlik59]. There beer is so popular that they can't keep up with capacity and in fact have only the capacity to supply beer to the state of Minnesota .They sell their product in "Cans" only and they go for $9-$15 for 4 pint cans ! Their product is superb ...Take a look - <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="www.ratebeer.com/beer/surly-furious/55798/">www.ratebeer.com/beer/surly-furious/55798/ . They hope to open a $20 Million dollar brewery to supply their product to other states .

The biggest craft brewer in this state is [b:1kvlik59]Summit Brewing Company [/b:1kvlik59]and there head brewer Damien Mc'Conn incidentally is from Dublin -http://www.summitbrewing.com/culture/our-brewers . They're beer is consistently solid .

One of the newest guys on the scene here is [b:1kvlik59]Fulton Brewing Company[/b:1kvlik59] set up their brewery in Minneapolis about 1 year ago . They started home brewing in a garage and then scrapped enough cash to set up a small brewing facility and maxed out their capacity in a year and have to contract brew the beer they sell in 6 packs. Their beer is flowing in the sports stadiums and bars and orchestra's for these guys . This is an exciting time for craft beer. I honestly don't know anyone here who would go for Heiniken, Bud Light , and Sam Adams in a bar or an off license!

Right now there are 3 other new breweries I know of been build all within a 10 mile radius of each other and amazingly I expect they are all going to succeed .

Let me know if you want to hear more on why I think they've figured out how to be so successful or if you have questions ....

All the best ,

Graham

Welcome to the site, Graham.

Out of interest, what sort of red tape is there in Minnesota when it comes to setting up a brewery?

Minnesota strikes me as a relative hotbed of craft brewing, behind Oregon, Colorado, Vermont, northern California and maybe Wisconsin but ahead of everywhere else in terms of public awareness.

In New York there's still plenty of Bud Light drinkers, and only 4 breweries (including Keegan Ales, natch) along the 150 mile stretch of the Hudson River between New York City and Albany. Lots of room to grow.

As a side note, it drives me mad that I keep hearing all these amazing things about Surly beers but just can't get them in NY, so please bring some back to Dublin next time you're here, Graham! And welcome to the site.

It costs roughly $250,000 to $500,000 to start a small brewery here in the states. It seems most guys here are using small business loans to pull together the initial costs . The absolute key thing that these breweries are doing and is the new trend over here is to build a brewing operation with a [b:3sd6c09q]Tap Room [/b:3sd6c09q]in it. The Tap Room brings in a consistent revenue stream as the brewery is able to sell Growlers directly from the premises and also can sell merchandise . The taproom is actually starting to be as popular as pubs so think Bull and Castle with brewing on site...

Mosty of these guys who are setting up are mid 30's who home brew....

One thing that has made the inital costs possible is Crowd Funding such as [b:3sd6c09q]Kickstarter[/b:3sd6c09q] ..I know of two breweries here that got started that way ...People get a free tour and merchandise and kick in some dollars ! It actually can really add up fast.

The taproom and Growler sales was unheard of until Minnesota passes a law now known as the Surly Bill which allowed Brewers to sell Growlers on site .

Here is a story from just today about another craft brewery setting up in Minnesota...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="www.bizjournals.com/twincities/morning_r...rface-in-duluth.html">www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... uluth.html

In terms of Red Tape the city officals here don't make it that hard honestly they want to see new businesses setting up and it makes them look good .

[b:3sd6c09q]Here is a good true story for you :[/b:3sd6c09q]

There is a guy from Ireland who's lived here for many years who owned a bunch of Irish pubs , he sold the pubs and opened a whisky brand of his own as he was selling so much Jameson in his pubs....The thing was so popular it sold 20,000 cases 11 month . Jim Beam just bought his brand and This only happened before Xmas , he is now the Irish Whisky Ambassador for Jim Beam ...Its Crazy...

Honestly I can see how MetalMan and Dungarven can change the landscape in Irish drinking habits if they do it right. It's all about Quality, Social Media and Community and Brand Loyalty .

Anything else let me know..

Graham

Keegans Ales - The Twin Cities definitely has turned a corner in last year to year & half. The amount of craft brewers has certainly increased and the amount of news and coverage that is now been given to these brewers has created a whole new brand awareness that is given everyone a serious chance to do well.

Surly is amazing stuff but I was really surprised when I heard they had to turn away accounts as they could only cover the Twin cities metro , just not enough capacity. I can truly recommend Furious, Abrasive Ale and Surly Bender...Great Brews !

I have no gotten out to NY yet but I will keep you in mind if I head your way as I'd love to try our your beers !

Just got back from a fairly extensive visit to California, saw a good few nano (Fran Well size) breweries and brew pubs and a few micro(craft) breweries and was very impressed. Visited a home brew store/Ballast Point tap room and secondary brewery. Go buy your hops and yeast, fill your growler, great stuff.

I agree that the 'taproom' aspect of these breweries really seems to be a focal point of the buzz around them.

One place I really enjoyed was Linden St Brewery in Oakland, who's motto is kind of 'why bring sand to the beach' approach and dont bother with IPAs, IIPAs, DIPAs, BIPAs etc but focus on making 'steam' beer and high temp fermenting lagers (beers that would be traditionally local.