How many bbl did you sell in your first 3 months?

[RNJ]

I was just wondering how many bbl of sale some of you achieved monthly in your say first 3 months in business and was it above or below your expectations at the time. Is 20-30 bbl of sale monthly in first few months of operation too optimistic in your opinion or do you think we should put our expectations below 10 bbl of beer sold a month for the first few months?

Thanks
Ray

[Dailybeer]

first two weeks

It amazes us to this day but in our first two weeks we have sold more than 120 BBLS of beer. We are virtually out and hate that; we have lots of beer in the FV, just little in the kegs. We are ramping up to do more. Distributor is not allowing new taps until we can ramp up.
How would we have known? No idea. We were planning to sell 150 BBLs per month in year one.
Would you rather run out or pour it out (or have some big festival for a charity and give it away)? Pick one and go with it because there is no way to know for sure. Good luck.

[RNJ]

Wow, That's amazing. Good for you. I just can't imagine that is the norm though. You must have a hell of a sales person

[chefmike]

It seems to be a trend though: everyone drinks the new guy. The problem is sustaining those sales and growing it over the long term. How do you position your brand as an expectation in a given region?

Seems to me this is a good distributor: he didn't just keep opening taps and hope you would keep up. He is managing that demand.

I like your idea of brew bigger and figure out how to give it away if need be. That in itself will create a buzz, both literally and figuratively!

[Jephro]

The "Cinderella Phase".

It amazes us to this day but in our first two weeks we have sold more than 120 BBLS of beer.

The "Cinderella Phase". Many restaurants experience this and you just have to be careful to both plan for it and not expect it to last for ever at that high of a volume. There is usually some correction that occurs once the newness wears off and you settle into you nitche.

120 BBL's in 2 weeks is pretty freakin impressive. The Show Me State lives up to its name once again. Are you you guys brewing on Mueller stuff?

Hell, if you end up with extra beer run it over to Joplin and put some smiles on some faces!!

[LuskusDelph]

...It seems to be a trend though: everyone drinks the new guy. The problem is sustaining those sales and growing it over the long term. How do you position your brand as an expectation in a given region?...

That is absolutely true. Once I find a beer I really like I'll continue to keep it on my short list of brands to buy.

I've lost count of the number of new beers I bought only one time. But I can tell you that there have been plenty of those.
And at the rate new beers come and go these days (with so many jumping on the bandwagon), I'm sure there will be plenty more one shots, too. It's worth it though when a rare gem turns up.

[Dailybeer]

Our first month

We have both a great Director of Marketing and Sales (for exmple, we have been in business two weeks and two days and think we will 3,000 Facebook likes by June 1) and a great distributor.

Good news is, we have the annual capacity of about 7,500 BBLs of FV, plus 120 BBLs of horizontal aging tanks for the special stuff.

Hopefully, hopefully we can turn the lack of beer into a big plus (the beer is so good them SOBs can’t brew it fast enough). Hopefully.

As to Joplin, even though we were entirely out of two brands, and mostly out of two others, we took a new batch of our IPA, kegged it on Tuesday, and had a Joplin relief fund party on Thursday night, May 26. The local brew pub: Springfield Brewing Company and the famous Ashton Lewis (we are production with a small tasting room) came over and donated three types of beer so that we would have enough for the event. Thanks to many, many people we raised $14,800 from 5 pm to 9 pm. 100% went to Joplin, no one was paid for anything. Two Craft breweries working together made that happen.

Moving along to the “Cinderella Phase,” It is one of our greatest fears. I too have witnessed it, especially in bars and restaurants. We talk about it all the time and are planning a PR push for this fall.

Finally, our brewhouse was made by Custom Metal Craft, they hired one of Mueller’s brewery engineers during a layoff period. This was CMCs first brewhouse, but not Ralf’s. We have a combo of new and pre-owned FV. New brites from Specific Mechanical.

Thanks for reading this and for letting me carry on about myself. I began the push to open a brewery in Springfield, Missouri on the day after Thanksgiving, 2008. It almost took me two years and six months to finally open Mother’s.

The first day we sold beer to the public was Thursday, May 12, 2011. We only let accounts who would agree to at least three taps have it on that day. The rest would get beer on the following Monday.

Sixteen places signed up. Starting at 4:30 pm we took the brewery crew and drove to everyone of them (thank god for the student who drove us around, timed us at each spot and refrained from drinking). When we reached the final location at Midnight, the Patton Alley Pub (which has the largest draft beer selection in our town and where I am a regular) the bar stood and cheered me. It brought tears to my eyes then and did just now as I write this. I know that I am not curing cancer nor perfecting the fission reaction (or is that fusion?) but I know that I am making a product that can make people happy, make food taste better, make an occasion more special. The reception at the Patton Alley Pub, on that night, was simply the finest moment of my professional career.

Cheers to the Craft beer community. If I am successful, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.

[Dailybeer]

One more thing

In the rush of answering the earlier questions I neglected to note that our Brewer is superb. Great beer with nice clean finishes. I would not be writing any of this if every beer was not top notch. Plus he is a clean freak and a hell of a nice guy. We call him "The Magic Man" because he makes all the magic happen.
In addition, we have a great crew of folks. I was able to get my first choice of co-workers, with every job opening.

Lucky, blessed and humbled.

Jeff

[Jephro]

Cheers to you brother!

Happy to hear you set aside the time and money to help out the folks in Joplin. I grew up in Cape, my girlfriend went to college there in springfield and has a few friends in Joplin (they, even the newborn, are all ok).

Crazy, scary, insane weather going on of late.

Hope to make it down to check out your place one of these days when i'm back in Mo for a visit. A friend of mine just started an organic farm just across the border in Akarnsas- 2 good reasons now to head South West from the Lou.

Jeff Byrne