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  • Changing House beers

    What are your experiences/opinions on changing a House beer. Clarification: A beer that you always have on tap, we have four house brands that are always on, and have been for ten years. I am considering changing one from a Vienna Lager to some type of amber/red ale along with a name change. I figure on some backlash but would like to hear from others. The reason is two part, as the only lager it is hard to keep the yeast fresh and healthy, also overall sales have been flat and I am thinking something new might help. I am bored with the beers and want to shake things up. We are a Brewpub with no distribution and a mix of regular locals and lots of tourists.
    Big Willey
    "You are what you is." FZ

  • #2
    Man do I hear you on that one. I've been wanting to take away one of our ***8*** year around beers since I arrived almost 3 years ago. We have two golden ales, the first is one of our best selling beers, the second last year fell behind the production of our porter, never a good sign for a lighter colored beer. Basically it's a dying brand, we introduced a blonde ale in addition which cannibalized this brand especially and so far this year it's on pace to be even a slower seller. The owner is resistant to change...he's agreed though that we would monitor the sales and if it really was that slow of a seller he would reconsider removing it.

    We do have regulars who drink this beer, so they do get their panties in a bunch on the day we run out, but guess what happens..they switch over to the other golden ale and to be honest as each day goes by, I hear less and less concern over when it's coming back.

    My feeling is when replacing brands is to get a feel for what's better for a business, there's always a gret buzz around the brewpub when a new beer is a hit ( so make sure you hit this one out of the yard and into the upper deck when you do brew it) and if there's more people who are fanatic about the new beer then people upset that you removed the old one it's a no brainer. The chances that you'll lose somone's business entirely is very unlikely, and if you do it will be minimal. No one wants to lose a customer, but it's envitable.

    A wise and successful man who had been in the business world for 50 years once said, " I can't tell you what makes a business successful, but I can tell you what makes a business fail, trying to be everything to everybody".

    You can't please everyone, but you can please the majority and in business it would seem to me that's where the money is.
    Cheers,
    Mike Roy
    Brewmaster
    Franklins Restaurant, Brewery & General Store
    5123 Baltimore Ave
    Hyattsville,MD 20781
    301-927-2740

    Franklinsbrewery.com
    @franklinsbrwry
    facebook.com/franklinsbrewery

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    • #3
      We wrestle with this decision frequently, however as long as you come up with something equal or better in terms of quality, don't sweat it.

      Most customers will complain sometimes no matter what you do, but if they are good customers, will try something else, heck they may even like the new replacement better.

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      • #4
        I change our lineup every chance I get

        At our brewpub, we have a four yearround beers...
        Amber, IPA, Brown and a Dry Stout...

        all other beers are what I call, limited batch beers.
        Even our 'light' beers change throughout the year. In the summer it's a Kolsch, in the spring fall and winter I rotate Cape Poge Pils & East Chop Light(house).. they are very different from eachother and some people wish I could always have both. If they only understood the logistics...

        In addition, I brew about 18 different limited batch beers throughout the year.

        We are very seasonal with a small local population throughout the year and then it multiplies by 15 in the summer. Think 15,000 people growing to 150,000..oh yeah!

        A side note: Our regulars get very upset when their favorite beer isn't available. When I first started brewing here, I literally threw out every recipe and started from scratch... this ticked off many regulars.. however, they certianly have come around(well most of them)

        and yes, people still ask for Blueberry Ale yearround even though we have only brewed that beer during the summer for just about 10 years. What can you do?

        Matthew
        Offshore Ale Co
        Martha's Vineyard
        ________________
        Matthew Steinberg
        Co-Founder
        Exhibit 'A' Brewing Co.
        Framingham, MA USA

        Head Brewer
        Filler of Vessels
        Seller of Liquid
        Barreled Beer Aging Specialist
        Yeast Wrangler
        Microbe Handler
        Malt Slinger
        Hop Sniffer
        Food Eater
        Music Listener

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        • #5
          1%ers

          hey,

          change it! Don't get pulled down by the "one percenters"...that small portion of your customer base that whines the loudest...but don't consume most of your beer. People fear change, but in the end you'll have fresh innovative beers for your people to drink. Think about it, what do you sell the most of in any given week (other than yellow beer). For us it's whatever is new.

          have fun!
          Larry Horwitz

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          • #6
            just do it!

            Six months ago I came back to a brewery I had worked for several years ago and they had the same six beers I developed on tap with a rotation of two seasonal.
            In working out a contract with the new ownership I demanded that all the beers must go and we should put in place a rotating beer menu and find which beers stay or go, based on sales.
            Currently I have a Imperial IPA, an Export Stout, a Scotch Ale and a Baltic Porter are the top sellers with an increase in sales of 33%!

            Your customers like change and it will reflect in sales.

            Make it happen! Your a Craft brewer not a production brewer.
            Mark Duchow
            Brew Master
            Short Fuse Brewing Co.
            Chicagoland
            "The best beer is FREE beer"

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            • #7
              you might try...

              We're not a brewpub, we're a small production brewery, so this might not apply...

              We had too many products in our regular lineup, so we did the following:

              We had been making a pale ale for a long time that was getting some slow sales. At times we'd even make a 'real ale', no filtering, no pasteurizing, served on a hand pump, etc...we notified our customers in advance that we were going to be pulling it, and gave them ample time to try alternate products before the actual removal. In the end, we only lost one account using this practice. We'll be making it again later as a 'special batch' to promote it as a seasonal.

              Our second issue, is that we had two products though one an ale, and one a lager, that two were not easily identifyable to the typical consumer. Our ale was branded as 'Kuragome', which means 'black rice' and was a light summer ale. The lager was known as simply 'Premium Lager'... we combined the two of them into one new product and now have Kuragome Premium Lager, and we can't keep it in stock.

              I think that if you can deflect the fact that something will be 'gone' and disguise it with 'new and improved', then you're going to meet with far less resistance. Do it in advance so no one is surprised, and make a new name that combines elements of both products if you're combining, or making a change to the lineup.

              "If you like xxx, then you'll LOVE XXXX!!"
              www.devilcraft.jp
              www.japanbeertimes.com

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              • #8
                Out with the old

                At my brewpub I have several beers that make multiple appearances throughout the year, with only two to three staying on draft at all times. I am constantly brewing new styles they have never had from my brewery. We are a neighborhood restaurant, so we have lots of regulars, and they will definitely bitch about one of their beers being gone. However, they realize how spoiled they are to try new styles all the time instead of the same ol' trusty beers they drink every other time they come in. When they complain I remind them, well remember that Weizenbock or that Dunkelweizen or that Coconut Porter you liked so much??? Wouldn't have ever had it if I kept the same beers around. It's enlightening to many to try different stuff and that's what keeps many of my not so regular customers coming back. They know if they hit up my pub every month or so, there will be different beers to wet their whistle. Change is always met with some dissent, but we're talking about a damn beer, not the president.

                Change it!
                ______________________
                Jamie Fulton
                Community Beer Co.
                Dallas, Texas

                "Beer for the Greater Good"

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                • #9
                  We recently dropped our year 'round Scottish Ale to a seasonal. We keep six beers on tap with three full time handles. The Scottish was a "full timer" but had dropped to our 4th or 5th, sometimes 6th, best seller on any given week. In my mind, it needs to be AT LEAST 3rd to maintain it's full-time status.

                  I will bring it back as, I hope, a much anticipated seasonal. Currently this vacated tap will rotate an India Brown (fall, winter) with an American Wheat (spring, summer), two of our most successful seasonals in past years. While I did hear some "concern" (no one really "bitched"), everyone I talked to and explained why we made this move totally understood.

                  Have I seen a slowdown in over-all beer sales? No. In fact, we're currently posting growth. Not much growth, but a downward trend has reversed for us.

                  My advice is to feel out your customers before you make the change and alert them as to WHY you're making it. Most folks are reasonable, but like my momma always said, "An empty wagon makes the most noise.".
                  BrewerTL

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