Depending on what part of the country you live in, summertime can be a boon or a bust for bar and restaurant businesses. But regardless of the time of year, there are many things food and beverage establishments can do to boost sales and attract customers, new and returning. So, let the summertime vibes guide you to a successful season.
Across the country, the restaurant industry is an economic powerhouse in any season. According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2025 State of the Restaurant Industry report, thanks to resilient consumer demand, the industry is expected to reach $1.5T in sales and employ 15.9M by the end of this year. One of the keys to success for restaurateurs is “expanding customers’ perceived sense of ‘value’ beyond pricing through hospitality and enhanced dining experiences, especially those that draw more on-premises business.”
With that in mind, consider these tips to offer guests a unique experience with added value that will encourage them to stop in, stay awhile and return all summer long.
Create an experience: Placing a heavy emphasis on service and hospitality and presenting a welcoming environment that promotes socialization and an inviting on-premises experience is essential in boosting business. Consider your location and play to your strengths. For example, if your establishment is in the path of a farmers’ market or art walk, develop specials and promotions surrounding those events. Offer a special breakfast burrito on the morning of the farmers’ market or hire a local artist to do a live painting demo during the art walk to create memorable dining experiences for locals and visitors alike. If your establishment has a large patio and great views, offer “sunset specials” and encourage diners to arrive early to secure a great outdoor spot where they can enjoy their meal as they take in spectacular views as the sun goes down.
Present summertime specials: Take advantage of the season and use it as an opportunity to present special menu items and beverages that are limited time only. Think light, fresh, easy bites and beverages featuring seasonal produce and fruits. Get creative with naming menu items and signature sips to help entice diners to give them a try. These menu items and beverages can be developed using ingredients your establishment already carries, so rather than reinventing the wheel, you are simply presenting a new version of a classic that takes on a seasonal twist. If your restaurant is privy to highly local or limited seasonal ingredients, this is a great way to use them to bring in business.
Get in the spirit of seasonal fun: Everyone loves a reason to celebrate, and luckily, there are plenty of opportunities to raise a glass throughout the summer. From Memorial Day to Independence Day to Labor Day, customers tend to be in “summer mode”—whether or not they are on vacation. So go with the flow and offer specials and festivities for these occasions and others. National observances such as National Fried Chicken Day (July 6), National Ice Cream Day (July 16), National Watermelon Day (Aug. 3), or National S’mores Day (Aug. 10) can also serve as inspiration for not only summertime menu items, but also for promotions to get more customers in the door.
Host special events: Summertime experiences can help bring customers in and encourage them to stay and play. For example, offering live music during happy hour and hosting trivia nights or karaoke contests are great ways to inspire your customers to spend more time in your establishment. These experiences also engage them and keep them coming back for more. All of these are positives regarding boosting your sales and creating new customer relationships.
When in doubt, theme it out: Presenting a theme night is another smart and engaging way to reach a new or different demographic or encourage groups and parties to host an evening at your establishment. By presenting a varied calendar of theme nights, you can appeal to various demographics and interests. For example, 80s and 90s eras nights give guests a reason to gather their longtime friends and get a little nostalgic as they relive these popular decades. Host a fashion contest, offer themed food and beverage, or offer era-themed trivia. If the theme is popular and wide-ranging enough, you could reach out to other businesses in your area to create a progressive theme night in the community. This type of outreach is a vital way to network with other local companies and develop ideas and events for the good of the neighborhood—and the benefit of all.
Love your locals: High tourism seasons can be an excellent time for bars and restaurants to see peak sales. However, vacation visitors come and go, so investing in the community and local customers is essential. During low-tourism times, offer a special discount code for “locals only”—after all, everyone loves getting in on an exclusive deal that’s just for them, right? Loyalty programs are a key way to influence customers’ decisions about where to dine out. So why not create one just for the locals during slow tourism seasons to further build upon existing customer relationships and create new ones that you can continue to foster in any season?
Educate staff and customers: Even when trying to drum up business during slow seasons, it’s always important to abide by the laws—and to ensure your staff and customers do, too. This is especially true during high tourism seasons. When vacationing in another city or country, people may be more relaxed about their own moral values and the rules of the town or country in which they are visiting—particularly when alcohol is being consumed. That’s why it’s crucial to ensure staff is well-trained in detecting if a customer is already under the influence before they enter your establishment and also what to do if a customer begins to show signs of intoxication while dining. It’s crucial to ensure customers know the rules regarding things like to-go liquor, open container laws and the consequences of driving under the influence in your particular county or state.
Whether summertime is a high-tourism season or low-tourism season for your establishment, creating memories and experiences for your diners is one of the greatest perks of being a restaurateur. Engaging with your clientele in any season is not only good for business, it’s great to building real friendships and community connections.
Out of his passion for serving the restaurant and hospitality industry, David DeLorenzo created the Bar and Restaurant Insurance niche division of his father’s company, The Ambassador Group, which he purchased in 2009. For more than 20 years, he has been dedicated to helping protect and connect the hospitality industry in Arizona.
Purpose in Brand Owner and Manufacturer Relationship and a Look at Some Key Provisions
By: Brad Berkman and Louis J. Terminello, Greenspoon Marder
Brewers and brand owners both, do not underestimate the importance of a well drafted “contract bottling agreement.” First, for the uninitiated let’s briefly explore what in fact, a contract package arrangement is and brand development within the context of that arrangement.
Breaking into the realm of manufacturing alcoholic beverages can be a very expensive endeavor. Startup costs for opening a brewery, distillery or a winery can be immense. Even startup costs at the “craft” level are significant. Land and facilities must be bought or leased, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems need designing and buildout, and of course, manufacturing equipment such as tanks, stills, bottling lines, and pumps must be purchased and installed, among many other things. The costs can be very high. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, likely even more, will come out of pocket before the first bag of grain is poured into a mash tank, distilled, and bottled, labeled, and a corked brand comes rolling down the bottling line. Of course, merely producing an alcoholic beverage brand is just the beginning. The idea is to sell bottles, boxes, pallets, and container loads of happiness in the bottle. This of course requires tremendous expenditures on brand marketing, sales, and promotional initiatives. Happiness in the bottle can quickly turn into weeping in one’s glass if poor planning is exercised.
Enter the contract package arrangement. A business deal that benefits the independent brand owner and marketer and the skilled brewer, distiller, or wine maker. It is the foundation of a symbiotic relationship that cuts costs for both parties and goes a long way in increasing the likelihood for the economic success of each. In the simplest terms, in a contract package relationship, a brand owner will “contract” with an existing manufacturer to produce and bottle and alcoholic beverage for the owner. All production and labor are contributed by the producer, paid for by the brand owners, ultimately leading to a finished product owned and ready for sale in the market by the brand owner.
For manufacturers, contract packaging, in addition to bottling their own labels, can be a significant and badly needed additional stream of revenue. For the brand owner, the significant cost savings from avoiding building out a plant are immense and allows for valuable financial resources to be directed to advertising and marketing activities. After all, a bottle is not going to come off the retailer’s shelf by itself.
With the above in mind, this article will examine some of the key provisions that must be addressed in any well drafted contract packaging agreement that are likely concerns of both parties to any agreement of this sort. When crafted properly, the agreement will ensure that the rights, duties and obligations of both parties are clearly defined, ideally leading to an unambiguous business relationship. It is important to note that every deal is different, and the terms of a well drafted agreement will be deal specific. The below provides general but important guidance on some essential terms.
A few Key Provisions:
Intellectual Property Rights and Licensing
The brand owner almost always has spent significant treasure in developing a brand name and identity. The first step in protecting brand ownership commences in fact prior to entering into a contract packaging agreement. The brand owner should make every effort to trademark the brand name and logo in the appropriate trademark categories prior to bottling and sale in the marketplace.
Building brand equity or value is a labor intensive and costly exercise. Trademarking the brand name is an absolute requirement to ensure brand value remains with the owner. As for the contract packing agreement, the brand owner will grand a limited, non-exclusive license to the manufacture to produce and bottle the product for the duration of the agreement. At termination of the relationship, the limited license shall cease to exist, and the manufacturer will generally have no future rights to the brand name.
Formulation, Ownership
Product formulation must be addressed in these agreements as well. Both the manufacturer and brand owner must agree prior to production, the formulation specifications and method of manufacture of the liquid in the bottle. A well-crafted agreement should address deviations from the agreed upon formula. If a dispute arises between the parties in regard to formulation and product quality or integrity, a means for determining fault should be incorporated into the agreement. It is highly recommended that third party laboratories are identified in the agreement where the finished product can be sent for testing and ultimately assignment of responsibility.
Compensation to the injured party for out-of-spec liquid should be codified as well. The contract should also address formula ownership and use of the liquid. Common place vodkas, as example, are drastically different from unique formulations with unique ingredients. Assignment of ownership of the formula should be addressed in any contract packaging agreement in a similar fashion as usage of the brand name as described above.
Raw Materials, Packaging
Every beverage product produced requires raw materials and packaging materials. Grains, malt, yeast, and other ingredients are required as well as bottles, labels, stoppers, and cases. These items can be secured by the manufacturer as part of the contract arrangement, or they can be secured by the brand owner and delivered to the producer’s plant (producer is used interchangeably with manufacturer). The acquisition of these items is very important for many reasons including the quality of the materials used and the costs involved.
Ultimately, the costs of these materials will determine the price of the finished product on the shelf. The parties to any agreement should establish roles and responsibilities for obtaining these items to ensure adequate supplies of the same at the right cost point. Storage of inventory of both raw materials and packing and how to deal with defective materials should be sorted through by the parties with the costs assigned accordingly.
Production Quantities
Production amounts are an essential element of negotiations and memorializing them in an agreement is vital. Both the manufacturer and brand owner need to align their expectations on this issue. Either party will quickly cry breach of an agreement if the manufacturer cannot produce the quantities the brand owner requires and conversely, the manufacturer will do the same if the brand owner does not contract and purchase the quantities bargained for.
Realistic volume expectations need to be established for both parties to the agreement. As an offering of sage advice, if there is not a meeting of the minds on this issue by the parties, it is best to walk away from any arrangement. Further, it is advisable to incorporate reasonable and realistic annual volume growth expectations, year over year, in a multi-year agreement.
Payment Terms
It goes without saying that payment terms may be the most important part of a contract packaging agreement. Clearly both parties need to know when they will make and receive payment and the timing of the same. In some instances, manufacturers may be willing to provide favorable credit terms, (most likely offered to a long-standing brand owner partner who has well established credit).
In many instances manufacturers may require all monies to be paid prior to production. In other instances, they may require one-half of the production amount prior to commencing manufacturer, the remainder due at pick up of the finished product. Once again, this essential term must be negotiated and memorialized in a well drafted contract package agreement.
Quality Control and Product Recall
This provision was briefly mentioned above but is worth restating here. Ideally, production moves along without a hitch and product quality and integrity remains excellent. Of course, that is not always the case. There are times when product formulation is off or foreign objects make their way into the bottle. The parties to a production agreement must memorialize issues such as the right to inspect finished product prior to leaving manufacturers warehouse, the procedures and allocation of costs if in fact product must be recalled.
As a final thought, contract packing agreements must be beverage law compliant. Additional terms in the agreement must comport with and be legal under alcohol beverage law and the parties to the agreement must be licensed accordingly.
The above is very much a sketch of some important issues that must be addressed in a well-crafted contract package agreement. There are many other areas that must be negotiated between the parties and included. A word to the wise, it is always beneficial to both parties to consult with attorneys who are experts in this area. Ideally, the agreement should provide a business framework that makes for a productive relationship between manufacturer and brand owner and anticipate problems that may arise and incorporates mechanisms and procedures for addressing reasonably foreseeable issues.
If you’re pouring your passion into distilling a quality crafted
product, you need equipment that’s manufactured using that same level of
passion. You want quality equipment that will not breakdown, is easily
maintained, and most importantly, matches the needs of your distillery. It’s
especially true for pumps because they are used throughout every stage of the
distilling process, from bringing in water, through the mashing stages, wort
recirculation, fermentation transfer, distilling, filtration and filling of
barrels, totes and bottles. Quality pumps are critical for a distillery to
retain the ability to replicate and deliver a consistent product for their
consumers and should be chosen based on needs regarding pressure, proof of
liquid to be transferred, head capacity, viscosity and acidity of the product
being pumped.
Yamada America Inc. Stresses Versatility, Experience and Partnership
“Diaphragm pumps have many advantages when compared to other pumping technologies used in distilleries, starting with affordability,” said Jeff Selig, National Sales and Marketing Manager for Yamada America Inc, an innovator in developing complete lines of air-operated double diaphragm pumps (AODD). “Additional out of the box advantages include infinitely variable flow rates needing no special controls and the ability to run dry and deadhead, all with the sensitivity to pump very clear, fragile liquids up through thicker liquids and even solids. Depending on a distilleries size, they are found in every application from simple waste transfer to product transfer to being used to pump cleaning and sanitizing solutions on through the final bottling.”
“It’s a whole pumping
system in a box,” said Selig. “With flow rates ranging from less than a gallon
per minute (GPM) to over 200 GPM and made from materials like stainless steel,
polypropylene and Kynar with food-grade diaphragms, an AODD is by far the most
capable and flexible pump for distillery application use. And due to their
unique flexible nature, the ability to be made explosion-proof and the ability
to operate on compressed air, an AODD pump is usually mounted on a portable
cart to use them for more than one application. The carts can be outfitted
complete with filter regulators and the needed hoses for any application.”
Diaphragm pumps are easy
to maintain, with less moving and normal wear parts than other pump types.
Diaphragms will eventually fail and need to be replaced, but preventative
maintenance based on the number of pump strokes can prevent an emergency repair
situation. Experienced manufacturers can estimate the life of their pumps for
select applications, and repair can be done by a distributor or trained user.
Kits are available that coincide with training videos to show the exact repair
procedure for the corresponding pump.
Selig tells Beverage Master Magazine that choosing a pump manufacturer with experience is important.
But so are their partners.
“You want to work with a
company who has been there and done that,” said Selig. “Someone who has the
right construction materials and the know-how to apply available technology.
Then you want them to have a strong distribution network to help you at the
facility level. Most distributors have trained staff with intimate knowledge of
the pumps, inventory, and available repair services. If a facility has an
experienced mechanic, he can quickly be trained to repair the pumps on-site as
needed. A distillery builds a partnership with the manufacturer and their
distributor to maximize uptime and be assured of timely repairs.”
“New technology is always
welcome,” said Selig. “For starters, companies are putting more effort into
making their pumps smarter, with things like monitoring pump cycles or allowing
externally controlled operation. Batching systems along with stroke monitoring
and leak detection can quickly turn a simple pump into a true process pump.
There are also evaluations on some material changes and modifications that will
lead to longer pump lives. Quality manufacturers are in the pump business and
strive to get their pumps to last as long as possible. They’re not in the parts
business. The longer the pumps last, the more likely customers will keep buying
them. We are currently introducing the next generation of pumps with upgrades
to the operating air valves, pump communication and material technologies.”
To add to the versatility
of their AODD pumps, Selig said that his customers have been able to use their
standard sanitary pumps without making any changes to switch to sanitizer
production. Additionally, Yamada pumps have been provided to some of the largest
sanitizer companies in the world.
Versamatic diaphragm Pumps Prove to be Gentle Workhorses
“Several different pump options are available depending on what phase of the distilling process we’re looking at,” said Tim Caldwell, National Sales Manager of Versamatic, a global provider of the air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pumping solutions. “But the AODD pumps are always great choices because of their ability in matching distillery applications. Diaphragm pumps require less attention, can run dry, are self-priming and are designed to be portable so they can be used where needed. Our diaphragm pumps don’t need constant monitoring like some types of equipment. They will deadhead pressure and then stop pumping, so once a certain pressure is built up in the lines, the pump shuts off but will hold the pressure for immediate restart. Deadheading capabilities are efficient and very functional for filtration and cleaning, which can produce clogged filters.”
Caldwell tells Beverage Master Magazine that Versamatic diaphragm pumps are popular in distilling because
they can all be grounded for use with high proof vapors or liquids. The air
inlet pressure and discharge valves are easy to adjust and control, and all you
need is a clean air source sized for your process. Diaphragm pumps are
excellent choices for everything from pumping tank overs through the bottle
filling and cleaning and sanitization processes.
“Diaphragm pumps work
great to clean sludge and solids buildup when tank cleaning too,” said
Caldwell. “They’re able to move what we call cake (semi-dry waste) out of the
tanks through the pumps and lines. When you think of everything that gets
included in the waste cleaning process, whether it’s naturally occurring sludge
or other waste, why pay to have all the unfiltered wastewater removed if you
can manage the waste by pumping it through a filter press that will allow your
wastewater to be deposited down city sewer systems? Then you’ll just have a
small amount of cake to dispose of, saving money.”
When matching pumps to
applications, Versamatic has pumps and lines for distilleries that are approved
by the FDA and also adhere to the EU Framework Regulation 1935/2004, meaning
that their products contain nothing that will leech into any food or beverage
applications that come in contact with or run through them. What comes out is
the exact same product that went in.
“Diaphragm pumps like ours
at Versamatic are just really good values for distillery use,” said Caldwell.
“They can be used throughout the distillery, are shear sensitive and won’t
damage or change the makeup of the product that flows through as can happen
with some centrifugal pumps. There is no damage by impellers, and maintenance
and repair are minimal. They can safely handle the distillery processes,
they’re reliable, easy to maintain with long life capability. Replacing normal
wear parts is fairly easy with parts or repair kits found at distributors that
include all consumable parts for your pump. It’s one less thing for the
distiller to worry about. And under changing conditions like those that we
currently work in, we’ve had good success using diaphragm pumps in hand
sanitizer conversions.”
KOVAL Distillery Chooses Diversity in Pump Selection
The type of pumps you use
may be a personal choice, but as Mark DeSimone, Vice President of KOVAL
Distillery believes, it’s a good idea to match equipment to specific needs.
KOVAL matches pump type to process and uses different manufacturers to get that
match. By performing normal daily visual checks, their pumps require minimal
maintenance with repairs done only when needed. Needed maintenance other than
routine cleanings are occasional services to the impellers and screw pump
stators.
“We typically produce
about 70,000 gallons a year using a variety of pumps in our distillery,” said
DeSimone. “All are grounded and explosion-proof for safety, and chosen based on
the material, alcohol content, viscosity and temperature of the product that
we’re moving. For water circulation, we use several centrifugal pumps that move
water through our heat exchanger and pump warm water captured during the
distillation process to our mash tank for heat up. Both of these processes save
us a good deal of energy as well. We move cold mash from the fermenters to our
still with impeller pumps. Screw pumps are utilized for moving hot, thick, or
sticky mash through our heat exchanger and for transfer to our fermenters. And
then we use air diaphragm pumps to move alcohol between storage tanks and when
filtering or bottling the final product.”
As to any new technology,
there hasn’t been a lot of groundbreaking developments to the traditional pumps
that continue to do the job, but DeSimone tells Beverage Master Magazine that new improvements are always welcomed.
“We’re always excited to
see new advancements,” said DeSimone. “Our centrifugal and screw pumps have dry
run sensors built into our automation systems that add to the lifespan of our
equipment. It’s very important to keep everything running or at least have a
backup for redundancy. It’s really tricky when something goes down and you’re
unable to produce, so we naturally try to prevent that as much as we can.”
As an experienced distiller, DeSimone said
that there are two critical components to look for when choosing a pump
supplier. “I feel it’s important to look towards and choose someone with
specific experience in the distilling field. But just as importantly, that
experienced supplier has to come with quality support that will be available
whenever it’s needed.”
There are dozens of
competitions that award any number of beers on their flavor. There are no
competitions, however, which recognize the incredible design and marketing work
that breweries do for the branding of beer.
As Jim McCune, a longtime
promoter of craft beer states: “I’ve been in the beer-marketing industry for 24
years, and attended nearly a hundred beer-tasting competitions, yet I’ve never
seen anything celebrating the amazing work that designers, illustrators,
branders, and marketers do for beer. In many cases, this work is being handled
by the brewers themselves.”
The concept for a
nationwide marketing competition was “brewed up” in November 2018 on Long Island
as the brainchild of McCune and Jackie DiBella who are, respectively, the
Executive Director and Account Manager of EGC Group’s Craft Beverage Division
in Melville, New York. They brought this concept to EGC CEO and Founder, Ernie
Canadeo, who immediately loved the idea and agreed to help both develop and
finance it.
McCune and DiBella got
right to work at building out the Craft Beer Marketing Awards (CBMAs) from
scratch. They cracked open a beer and started sketching a logo. From there,
they carved out the categories and rules. They started inviting judges from
within the brewing and creative industries. All of this work needed to be
formulated into a strategic plan, with a schedule for receiving entries,
judging, awarding, and celebrating.
Creating this new business
got extremely difficult during the development of the interactive awards
website. The site needed to accept calls-to-entry registrants, paid entries,
but also have a sophisticated, encrypted, yet easy-to-use judges’ platform. The
judging process for the CBMAs had to be robust, credible, and have transparent
digital scoring.
Everyone involved
simultaneously acquired sponsors and partnerships as they developed and
produced a very unique awards trophy – something they know would look cool on a
winner’s desk.
Canadeo, McCune, and
DiBella gave it their all, and in less than a year had the CBMAs live and
accepting entries on October 6, 2019.
The Craft Beer Marketing
Awards became the first-ever in the USA, having been developed to recognize and
award the very best marketing in the brewing industry across the nation.
Breweries, their agencies, designers, and marketing partners were invited to
enter their top work.
The CBMAs were excited to get immediate coverage about the marketing competition from publications that included Forbes, New School Beer, Beverage-Master Magazine, Brewpublic, Media Post, Craft Beer Austin, Beer Connoisseur, Brewbound, Pro Brewer – and Forbes again. See all media here. https://craftbeermarketingawards.com/news/
Design and marketing of
each beer has become critical to a brewery’s popularity and success. With
nearly 8,000 breweries across the country, and all of them vying for the same
eyeballs – it has become increasingly more difficult to stand out from the
competition in this incredibly saturated marketplace.
In the past, small
breweries could rely solely on word of mouth about their beers, but the past
decade has seen something of a renaissance in craft beer marketing and
branding. Beer packaging and design quickly became much more sophisticated,
similar to that of the wine industry, and for good reason.
“More than ever, breweries
recognize the need to prioritize their marketing strategies,” said Prabh Hans,
VP Business Development & Strategy for Hillebrand, and CBMAs Presenting
Sponsor. “We’ve worked closely with brewers since 1984, and know that shelves
and cities are flooded with an overwhelming amount of craft beer options. The
CBMAs’ team recognized how much time and money these breweries are now
investing into branding efforts and created a one-of-a-kind opportunity to
celebrate them.”
While most craft beer
consumers might seek out local brews or prefer a certain style, many of today’s
beer shoppers between the ages of 22 and 37 (the millennial generation) are
making their final purchase decision based on “cool looking labels” – and this
is why beer branding, design, and packaging has become the most effective means
of influencing a purchase at the decision-making moment.
Approximately 80 percent
of consumers make their final purchase decision at the retail shelf, while 64
percent of this group admitted they would change their mind if “something
better” caught their eye at that moment.
But who do brewers owe
credit to when it comes to these eye-catching, decision-driving can designs?
Beer brand identities give
breweries the opportunity to share their stories and personalities outside the
brewery walls via their packaging. One of the coolest parts about beer branding
is who brewers choose to collaborate with. And the choices are endless.
These artists, designers,
marketers, and branders are the ones who bring the beer to life on the shelf.
Each can label, logo, and beer name ignites the brand to the consumer. It’s
their job to provide packaging design with stopping power to capture the eye
and compel the shopper to grab a particular beer.
Today, brewers use strong
visual identity, storytelling, word of mouth, and digital media to achieve
never-before seen growth that has leveled the playing field between big and
small beer companies.
The packaging and overall
branding of a beer is the most effective means of influencing purchase at that
decision-making moment, and the CBMAs felt the time had come to recognize the
talent behind the creatives that makes the craft beer culture so rich and
unique.
“This is a great
opportunity for designers like myself to show off some awesome work I’ve done
for breweries,” said Ben Owens, founder of Phine Art Designs. “I’ve never
witnessed an industry with such fast growth and transformation. Craft beer is
constantly evolving. So is the design, marketing, and packaging of it.”
Each category is judged by
an influential and respected panel of beer, marketing, and design experts from
all across the country.
Celebrity Judges Include:
• Zane
Lamprey,
comedian, actor and writer known for TV show “Three Sheets” and new Adv3nture
active gear.
• Harry
Schumacher,
publisher and owner of Craft Business Daily.
• Jeff
Bricker,
publisher, graphic designer and owner of Beverage Master Magazine and The
Grapevine Magazine.
• Jon
Contino,
creative director of branding agency, Contino Studio.
• Ralph
Steadman,
the infamous artist and illustrator who is most well-known for his
collaborations with Hunter S. Thompson and Flying Dog Brewery.
Check out the full panel
of CBMAs’ judges here. https://craftbeermarketingawards.com/judges-panel/
The awards accept entrants
in 30 categories, ranging from “Best Logo Design,” “Best Packaging Design” and
“Best Can Design” to “Best Website Design,” “Best Merchandise Design,” and
“Best Use of Social Media.” Both “Best Packaging Design” and “Best Can Design”
feature “People’s Choice” sub-categories that will be voted on by fans.
“We have numerous entries
in all 30 categories,” DiBella added. “This marks the beginning of what will
become a long tradition of prestigious recognition and merit for brewery
marketing.”
The CBMA “Crushie”
trophies were designed and manufactured by the same NYC designer awards firm
that created the prestigious Emmy Award and MTV’s “Man on the Moon” statue. The
Crushie Award is sculptured to depict a heavily tattooed arm crushing a beer
can to symbolically represent how breweries are “crushing it” with their unique
and creative beer marketing and branding.
The Platinum Crushie is
the CBMAs’ most prestigious nomination for entries demonstrating marketing and
branding excellence that exceeds the defined category objectives by using
strategy, creativity, and overall innovation. Only one entry – with the highest
achieved ranking from each category – will receive Platinum.
The Gold Crushie is for
entries that meet or exceed the defined category objectives by using strategy,
creativity, and innovative production techniques to achieve a higher level of
perceived uniqueness. The CBMAs’ will award up to five Gold Crushie Awards per
category.
The “People’s Choice”
Black Crushie is the most elusive of all the awards, because the CBMAs only
award up to a total of five of these. Unlike Platinum and Gold, the “People’s
Choice” Crushie isn’t totally reliant on the judges’ panel. Once the judging
process is complete, top-ranking entries who entered the “People’s Choice”
Category have an additional showdown with a public-judging panel that uses
social polling to choose the final winners.
The Crushies’ major
sponsor is Hillebrand, the Germany-based freight logistics company that has a
large presence in the beer, wine and spirits business. “More than ever,
breweries recognize the need to prioritize their marketing strategies,” Hans
added, calling the CBMAs: “…a truly unique and important event for the
craft-beer industry.”
Critical to the continued
success and growth of the CBMAs’ program is the generosity and support of their
sponsors and partners. The CBMAs invites you to consider supporting these great
businesses:
McCune and DiBella enjoyed
representing the CBMAs as podcast guests on “Beer Busters,” “Tap That AZ,”
“Beer-Fit–Life,” “AG Craft Beer Cast,” “Beer N Goodz,” and “Craft Beer Storm.”
CBMAs Update:
The last couple months
have brought about changes, fear, and uncertainty – especially within our
beloved craft beer industry. We understand this is no time to celebrate. The
Craft Beer Marketing Awards want to make sure those in our industry most
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have the opportunity to focus on their
business and the comeback from this.
Making our peers the
priority, the CBMAs have decided to extend the judging window by one month to
Monday, May 11. Crushie Award winners will now officially be announced on
Tuesday, June 16 through industry media and our social channels.
We hope that the decision
to delay the announcement allows us all to look forward to brighter days. We
are rooting for you all and can’t wait to cheer when this is behind us.
Individuals involved in
the production and/or creation of winning works can purchase their personalized
trophies in our CBMAs’ Award Shop, which will launch right after the winners
are announced in June. Winners will be notified by email of their win, along
with further instructions.
Recently, the Craft Maltsters Guild – the non-profit association dedicated to promoting the manufacturers it defines as “craft maltsters” – announced The Craft Malt Certified Seal, a new initiative to promote the use of craft malt by breweries. In order to qualify, a beer or spirit must contain at least 10% of its grist, by weight, of malt sourced from one of the Craft Maltsters Guild’s members.
A craft maltster is
defined as a maltster that is independently owned, that produces between five
and 10,000 metric tons of malt per year, and that uses grain grown within a
500-mile radius of the malt house for at least half of their grain supply.
The Difficulties of Using Craft
Malt
Craft malt is an industry
that is still very much in its infancy. There are very few craft maltsters that
have been around for more than a few years, and even those that have been in
business for a decade or more are only recently seeing healthy and sustained
growth on the wave of a beer industry that favors local goods as a strong
marketing standpoint.
Craft maltster startups
have many of the same issues as small brewery startups: Capital intensive
equipment, a production process that requires a varied technical background,
and a competitive marketplace that’s dominated by a few, large, international
players. Craft maltsters have an added layer of complexity of – in many cases –
having to educate their suppliers in how to make the products that they need to
operate.
The end result can be, at
the worst of times, an inconsistent product: variations in color, moisture
content, diastatic power, protein or sugar content, uneven kernel sizes, or
inconsistent flavor characteristics, all of which can cause difficulties for a
brewery that is engaged in making a consistent product from batch to batch.
Like any brewery moving
through its startup phase into an experienced, scaled production facility, most
craft maltsters have grown past these initial challenges to create an even,
predictable, product, but the occasional problem may still arise – particularly
with an untested supplier or process.
Other difficulties working
with craft maltsters can come from simple supply chain issues. Smaller
suppliers with longer lead times and limited on-hand inventory can be
challenging to predict when managing a small brewery that is, itself, running a
just-in-time inventory process. One hiccup in that supply chain can affect
weeks worth of brewing.
Finally, it’s difficult to
ignore that all of the above also comes at a higher price point. While malt
from international maltsters can run as low as $0.40/lb before bulk discounts,
it’s rare to see a small maltster with the scale available to get a price point
anywhere near that, and most are at least double. Those craft maltsters,
themselves, are paying an elevated rate for grain from small suppliers who are
dedicating a small portion of their farms to malting barley. They do not have
the advantage of a scaled, international supply chain for cost benefit to pass
along to a brewery customer.
Using a local craft
maltster can often mean paying a premium for a product with uneven consistency
and unpredictable supply.
The Advantages of Using Craft
Malt
For all that, there are
definite advantages to having a relationship with your local small malt
house.
Working with a local
maltster gives a brewer a whole new palette of flavors and ingredients to work
with. In an industry where 7000+ players all use the same basic inputs, a local
maltster is an avenue toward differentiation: Each grain does have its own
“terroir” that follows through into the end beer, providing a very distinct
taste of place. Maltsters that have roasters might offer a lighter or darker
Lovibond roast of chocolate, caramel, or Munich-style malts than might be
available at a commodity maltster. It allows a brewer that many more variations
on ingredients that they can use to create a more distinct array of beers to
help differentiate themselves in a crowded market.
While there may be times
that a local maltster can’t deliver as fast as a larger supplier could, they
can also be the source of last minute saves and emergency help. Short a couple
of bags of base malt on the last brew of the day? Being able to drive over to
your local malt house to pick up 150 lbs of grain is a distinct advantage that
can definitely save you in a pinch.
Local maltsters also have
– like small breweries – the ability to make weird stuff without taking an
enormous financial risk. The capability to malt ancient, heirloom, or alternate
grains like triticale, spelt, buckwheat, or corn, sometimes in incredibly small
batches, can lead to truly innovative brews that would be otherwise unavailable
from larger maltsters.
From an environmental and
sustainability standpoint, it’s undeniable that using a local craft maltster
creates a smaller carbon footprint for your operation. Instead of shipping a
container across a country or across an ocean, most of that malt originates at
a farm within a day’s drive and never really has to move that much farther away,
meaning less fuel, lower emissions, less labor, and fewer aggregate resources
than it would at a large scale malt house.
Finally, the vast majority of the money paid to that local
maltster stays within the local economy in the form of wages as well as payments
to their suppliers – local farms and local agriculture. It’s a way that a
brewery’s dollars can make a significant and multi-industry impact on the local
economy.
But Is It a Marketing Advantage?
The most challenging part
of using malt from a local maltster, however, isn’t ingredient consistency, how
to use the ingredients, or any potential supply chain issues. It simply comes
down to this:
How Well Can You Tell the Story?
There is no barrier to
entry for a brewery to use a local maltster aside from price. As long as a
brewery is willing to pay the premium for the malt, they are an instant user
and it behooves them to become an instant evangelist. The added price of malt
comes with few immediate end-product advantages itself: A smaller carbon
footprint and better support of the local economy isn’t reflected in the taste
of the beer, in a better bottom line, or any sort of cost-driven advantage.
It’s a marketing point.
While working with a local
maltster on a specific new roast or grain might lead to new recipes, without
something truly distinct showing up in the glass, telling the story of local
malt is a difficult one because drinking customers, in large, don’t really know
what malting is. It falls on the brewery to educate the end consumer as to what
a local maltster really is, and how using one positively impacts the
environment and the local economy. It also lies on the brewery to show their
customer the value of the added cost that local malt brings to beer.
Craft Malt Certified
Enter the seal of
approval: Craft Malt Certified. The seal, created by the Craft Maltsters Guild,
is a tool to help breweries and distilleries tell that story to their
customers. By creating a seal to go into packaging and the taproom, it creates
a conversation piece for customers to engage with. What is craft malt? Why does
it matter?
The odd stumbling block is
that rather than creating a freely-available graphic to help breweries raise
craft malt’s profile, the Craft Maltsters Guild has put a price on the use of
the seal, charging $150 per year to register as a faithful customer – yet
another cost, albeit a small one, on top of the premium cost of using the malt
in the first place.
That is the hurdle that
still needs to be cleared by craft maltsters and their end users: how to sell
the story of increased cost to their customers in a way that makes them care
enough to part with their money. Without the additional value proposition, the
story of craft malt becomes muddled into the same gnarled discussion of what
local means that the entire craft beer industry wrestles with: What does local
really mean? How far away does something have to be to no longer be considered
local? Is it your local neighborhood, your city, or your state? Is your beer
still “local” if it uses malt from another country? What about hops? Will the
customer pay a premium for “local” when it increases the cost of the end
product to well above regional market norms?
With the uncertain answers
to these questions comes the unfortunate follow-up:
Why does any but the most enlightened end-customer care?
The craft malt industry is an exciting new
development within the craft beer industry with reflections of what the craft
beer industry itself went through 40 years ago. In a modern marketplace focused
almost single-mindedly on hops as a key ingredient, it faces a bevy of
challenges that it may only get through with the help of its most ardent
customers.
Do you have real-time visibility into your financial
information? If so, are you confident
you’re monitoring the right type of data to achieve your business goals? We plan to explore these questions and more
as we dive into the issues breweries often face when it comes to financial
reporting. We will also take a look at industry best practices and technologies
brewers are leveraging in order to spot opportunities, identify risks, set
goals, measure progress and adjust their strategy.
Cash is King
Every business, large or
small, depends on cash. However, for many breweries, the focus tends to be more
on sales growth than anything else. While sales growth is fundamental to your
business, it is equally as important to monitor your cash flow.
Cash flow is the movement
and timing of money into, through and out of your business. In other words, it
provides a clear picture of your company’s financial health. A cash flow
projection estimates the timing and amounts of cash inflows and outflows over a
specific period, usually one year.
Let’s take a look at some
high-level benefits of a cash flow projection:
• Allows you to anticipate
changes versus reacting to changes.
• Encourages a
collaborative working environment between operations personnel, management and
owners.
• Fosters “bigger picture”
thinking.
• Enables you to run
different scenarios such as:
a. Impact of cash collection practices and terms (when and how)
b. Impact of accounts payable terms and discounts (when and how)
c. Cash flow for an event
d. Adding a new revenue source
e. Leasing or building a new brewery or taproom
f. Debt restructuring
• Can ease the burden of
sudden and significant changes.
The first step to creating
a cash flow projection is to define your approach and assumptions. For example,
you may want to evaluate the financial impact of adding a new seasonal brew. A
few key questions to ask are:
How much will I expect my revenue and
expenses to increase?
Will I need to tap into my line of credit or
find additional financing as I start up?
Next You Will Need To:
• Obtain historical
revenues, expenses and cash flow for last two to three years.
• Develop a template to
forecast one year into the future.
• Review historical growth
and forecast growth based on discussions with management.
• Prepare a formal report
outlining the significant assumptions and the forecast results.
a. Key assumptions
b. Increase operating revenue
c. Increase operating expenses
d. Capital additions: production or brewing equipment, delivery trucks
e. Debt service / borrowings
f. Cash reserves
To make sure your
projection stays accurate throughout the year, consider these variable
expenses:
• Months with three payrolls.
• Months when insurance
premiums are due.
• Increased estimated
taxes due to increased sales.
A good rule of thumb is to
designate an amount equal to 10% of revenues for “other expenses” under uses of
cash — so you’ll have some cushion when unforeseen costs arise.
To keep your projections
on track, create a rolling 12-month plan that you update at the end of each
month. If you add a new month to the end every time a month is completed,
you’ll always have a long-term grasp of your business’s financial health.
However, don’t try to project more than 12 months into the future or you’ll end
up spending a lot of time trying to predict something with too many variables
(prime rate could shoot up, sales could go down dramatically, etc.).
Cash Flow Projection Example:
After you define your assumptions and approaches and create your 12-month cash flow, you notice a net cash loss in the first half of the year as highlighted below (shown as 6 months).
You decide the next step to minimizing your negative cash flow in the first half of the year is to evaluate the impact of producing a new seasonal brew as seen in the projection below:
Using cash flow
projections is a cyclical activity. As months pass, you can compare your
monthly cash flow statements to your projections for each month and the numbers
should be close. You can get away with a 5% variance but if you start to see
large differences from month to month, you should revisit your key assumptions
to check for flaws in your logic.
Even if the actual numbers
come in higher than your projections, you should take a close look at your
assumptions, because higher returns in the short term could lead to shortfalls
later on. For example, if you predict your Oktoberfest brew to have the
greatest cash inflow during October and you start distributing it in September,
you may run out of product by mid-October. You’ll need to adjust for these
unexpected changes as you move forward month to month.
Once you’ve gotten into
the habit of using a cash flow projection, it should give you added control
over your cash flow and a better understanding of your brewery’s financial
position.
Beyond cash flow, it is important to
understand and consider all of your financials when determining your strategy
and planning for the future of your brewery.
By transforming your
finance and accounting data into key performance indicators (KPIs), you become
equipped to make intelligent, informed business decisions. Below are examples
of relevant KPIs for craft brewers along with items to take into consideration
during analysis.
1. Revenue trends: monthly
comparisons year over year and month over month, actual to budget comparisons,
revenue by category and/or style, revenue by package type, etc.
Are sales meeting expectations? Are any
seasonal brands selling well enough to go year round? Are there any year round
brands that could become seasonal? Are there brands that should be
discontinued? Are certain package types selling more than others?
2. Cost of Goods Sold
(COGS)/gross margins: monthly comparisons in total, by brand, by
category/style, by package type, actual to budget, etc. – report both in
dollars and as a percentage of revenue.
How are margins trending to expectations? Are there styles that
are cost effective to produce with a higher perceived value in the market? Are
costs increasing/decreasing due to raw material cost changes? Are there items
that may need a price increase? Are there potential efficiencies that can help
reduce costs in the brewing process? Should you brew larger batches for better
yield? Are your COGS fully loaded with labor, overhead allocations, excise
taxes, utilities, insurance, etc.?
3. Distributor/customer
performance: revenue, gross margin, rebate/discount tracking month to month by
distributor/customer, actuals vs projections, etc.
How is each distributor
performing compared to projections? Are their margins sufficient to cover
rebates, discounts, samples, shared mark-downs, etc.? Are certain geographical
regions performing better than others? Where should your inside sales team
focus their efforts? Consider additional reporting options that provide
visibility of distributor sales to retailer including: on vs off premise sales,
sell through turns, etc.
4. Operating expenses:
monthly comparisons year over year and month over month, actual to budget
comparisons, etc. – report both in dollars and as a percentage of revenue.
Investigate areas where expenses are
increasing (either in total or as a percentage of sales). Identify areas where
there are cost savings opportunities. Variable expenses should fluctuate with sales
levels, including staffing costs.
5. Tasting room and
restaurant metrics: Revenues and margins tracked by month year over year, food
cost as a percentage of food sales, staffing costs as a percentage of tasting
room revenue, daily sales trends, etc.
Evaluate seasonality trends to determine
staffing needs and consider training time needed when hiring new staff for busy
season. Monitor food costs to determine if menu price increases are needed.
Assess daily sales trends for potential promotions on slower days of the week
in order to increase business.
6. Capacity/efficiency:
Production volumes as a percentage of full capacity month over month, direct
labor costs as a percentage of revenue, etc.
Are you at capacity and losing orders? Is it
time to increase capacity? Are you consistently under capacity? Possibly
consider contract brewing or other ways to fill capacity. Evaluate labor costs
to ensure efficient production staffing levels.
So, now we know what type of data successful
brewers are tracking but what technology is needed in order to access that
data?
Introducing new technology
to any business is commonly viewed as complicated, timely and costly. However
with the rapid expansion of cloud-based technology, there are now a number of
applications tailored to meet the needs of small and midsized businesses in any
industry.
Most of us are familiar
with the phrase “moving to the cloud” but, what does that really mean? In its
most simple form, cloud computing is the use of a shared resource on the
internet to store, manage and process data. Unlike the historical way of
hosting a technology platform on your own server, cloud-based technology allows
unique users to access the same software application from any device, anywhere,
at any time. Information is easily updated and shared between team members without
the need to manually input reports or be in the same physical location. Cloud
applications are also being built with an open-interface approach which allows
for more seamless integration amongst individual solutions.
Business processes that
are commonly handled in the cloud include:
• Accounting
and General Ledger Management- Such as: Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online
• Accounts
Payable-
Such as: Bill.com
• Expense
Management
-Such as: Expensify, Nexonia
• Inventory
Management- Such as: Ekos, OrchastratedBEER
How leveraging those tools
can provide data-driven insights while saving you time and money:
Real-Time Data and Reporting:
Because cloud-based
technology can be accessed from anytime, anywhere, the data really is “at your
fingertips”. This accessibility is becoming increasingly important as the
competitive landscape continues to intensify in the craft beverage space. The
ability to integrate your existing applications with multiple cloud solutions
allows for a comprehensive view of your data (i.e. sales, operations and
finance) and thus, enables you to make timely intelligent business decisions.
Plus, you can use these tools to create tailored management dashboards with
customized reporting capabilities – so you see what you want to see on a
regular basis.
Taking it one step
further, the ability for craft brewers to access data in real time also makes
that data more useful in identifying trends, comparing results to industry
benchmarks, monitoring key performance indicators and, ultimately, being a
better business partner to your distributors and retailers.
Automation and Scalability:
Most growing craft
breweries tend to run lean and have limited personnel resources. In these
cases, leveraging innovative technology to streamline finance and accounting
functions and reduce the need for manual processes can be very beneficial. For
example, cloud-based accounting software typically automates processes by
importing transaction data on a real-time basis. The cloud computing model
empowers team members to collaborate and share information beyond traditional
communication methods – allowing multiple facilities and/or taprooms to
co-manage production, raw materials, packaging levels and distribution
scheduling.
Successful craft brewers
are growing at an unprecedented rate and the ability to scale on an as-needed
basis is one of the biggest advantages of cloud technology. Accelerated
business growth typically leads to growing pains and missed opportunities
resulting from the mismanagement of more data, infrastructure and customers.
The right cloud solution will grow alongside your business to meet market
demands and accommodate growth as technology shifts, revenues grow and your
business needs evolve.
Brewers face many
challenges in an industry that is becoming less predictable with fewer loyal
consumers. Staying a step ahead of your peers in this rapidly changing
environment is critical to maintain a competitive advantage and realize long
term success. Having real-time visibility into your cash flow, sales and
operational data is a key part of that success. This will allow you to
determine KPIs that align with your business goals and track them so you can
plan for the future. Take advantage of the many cloud-based tools that can help
you transform your data and streamline processes so you can get back to what
really matters, running your brewery.
About the Author
Kelly Addink is a Controller in Baker
Tilly’s outsourced accounting practice. She has nearly 25 years of experience
in providing financial accounting advisory services to companies in a variety
of industries. Kelly also worked as a Controller at a craft brewery for more
than 6 years. Today she combines her technical skills and industry expertise to
deliver customized accounting, finance and operational assistance to Baker
Tilly’s craft brewery clients.
North American regional and local cider makers are throwing elbows at major corporate producers, trying to respond to consumers’—particularly those in the 18–24 demographic—demands for alternatives to mainstream products. This is good news for producers eager to tap into the young but evolving cider sector. Current market analyses indicate cider sales will dip slightly through 2022, but some experts report this is only because larger, national brands are losing footing as the craft ciders surge forward.
Nevertheless, there are
growing pains within this emerging product line, especially when there’s so
much education necessary to help the public understand that cider:
1) Isn’t beer or wine.
2) Is just as complex as
those beverages, with particular nuances and unique profiles.
It’s an interesting
challenge for a beverage that relies on a fruit with approximately 2,500
varieties in the United States alone. Apples are grown in all 50 states in
America, and five of the 10 provinces in Canada. This means regional and local
orchardists offer unlimited possibilities for crafters.
To share the knowledge that’s plentiful for wine, beer and
spirits, but less so for cider, we reached out to the following experts:
Peter Glockner, co-owner, director, and brewing/filtration sales, Cellar-Tek. The company started in 2004 as a two-person operation in British Columbia, specializing in winery supplies. Now based in both British Columbia and Ontario, it also provides equipment and supplies for craft brewing, cideries and distilleries.
Bill and Michelle
Larkin,
co-owners, Arsenal Cider House, established in 2010 and headquartered in
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, with additional tap houses in Wexford and Finleyville,
plus taps in rotation throughout Philadelphia. Another location in Cleveland,
Ohio, is scheduled to open by the end of 2019. The Larkins produce hard apple
cider, cider-style fruit, grape wines and mead. Flagship pours include Fighting
Elleck Hard Apple Cider, Archibald’s Ado Hard Apple Cider, Picket Bone Dry Hard
Apple Cider and Murray’s Mead, with various seasonal and one-off releases on
tap at each location. Annual production is more than 50,000 gallons.
Molly Leadbetter, owner, Meriwether
Cider Company, with two locations in Idaho: a taproom in Garden City and a
cider house in Boise—the first in the state. Opening in 2016, Meriwether is
owned and operated by the Leadbetter family: Molly, sister Kate, and parents
Ann and Gig. Notable award-winning ciders include Foothills Semi-Dry, Strong
Arm Semi-Sweet, Blackberry Boom, Ginger Root and Hop Shot, crafted with Citra
hops. Annual production is approximately 30,000 gallons.
Michelle McGrath, executive director, United
States Association of Cider Makers, based in Portland, Oregon. Its mission is to “grow a diverse and
successful U.S. cider industry by providing valuable information, resources and
services to our members and by advocating on their behalf.” The USACM also
stages the popular CiderCon each year, which provides new and existing members
opportunities for workshops, cider tours and networking.
Tie Information to Innovation
The Larkins started
Arsenal with $60,000 and zero working capital in the basement of their city
row-house. Bill was an accountant, and Michelle, a pre-school teacher. His
winemaking hobby expanded into a passion for cider and mead. “When we started
in 2010, there wasn’t anyone doing what we wanted to do anywhere around us. We
had to essentially make up things as we went and hope for the best,” Larkin
said. “This is why I always tell new people in the Pittsburgh industry to feel
free to reach out to me if they have a question.”
The Leadbetter family,
after years in other professions, chose to band together and open a cider
house. “My sister, my dad and I all took cider-making classes at Washington
State University’s extension program, and Mom took a business of cider class.
And webinar-based classes on our specific areas inside the business,”
Leadbetter told Beverage Master Magazine. “We also attended the
USACM’s CiderCon the years before and after we opened, which was incredibly
helpful, and I recommend to everyone!” They launched Meriwether with a
Kickstarter campaign.
McGrath said the USACM
strives to provide as much insight as possible. “Our Certified Cider Professional
program educates distributors and retailers about cider, but cider makers may
gain tools for conversations with those audiences as well,” she said. “We also
have marketing resources our members can use to educate their accounts about
cider. Lastly, our recently-refreshed cider lexicon project aims to curate a
language for talking to customers about cider. Having the same talking points
is good for any campaign—including spreading the cider gospel.”
Refining cider lexicon is
one way to lessen the gap between what consumers currently understand about
cider and how makers want to communicate flavor profiles and other
characteristics. For example, the USACM suggests “focusing on the accepted
scientific classifications of apples: sweet, sharp, bittersweet and
bittersharp.” There are also grouping categories so consumers can more easily
select what taste appeals to them and have confidence in that choice. So the
USACM considers input from producers to create classifications that might
include something like:
• Does it taste dry or
sweet?
• Is it tart? Spicy? Sour?
Floral?
• Is it fruit-forward or
tannic?
• Is it light-, medium- or
full-bodied?
This type of universal
messaging helps all cider producers continue to create beverages people want.
“Don’t make products for yourself unless you’re planning to buy them all, or
you are a social media star influencer,” Glockner said. “Know your market and
cater production to the customer base(s) you’ve researched and proven will
trade their hard-earned money for your product.”
Progressive success
depends on customer relationships—it’s not a cliché when it’s true. “We have a
gold standard of treatment for all of our customers whether they’re tasting
room visitors or on-premises licensees,” Larkin said. “Everyone in our company
in retail, sales and distribution know the customer is always right and that
we’ll bend over backward to make them happy. I can’t overstate the importance
of this.”
“We have four core values:
family, integrity, generosity and fun. We don’t make any company decisions
unless they fit into this framework,” Leadbetter said. “We run a business we
can be proud of, that strives to make our community better, our guests happy,
and makes our and our employees’ professional and personal lives fulfilling.
Working with nonprofits, connecting with the community, and educating people on
cider are huge parts of doing all those things.”
Arsenal Cider House
partners with a local activity and tour provider that plans community
excursions. Meriwether Cider Company’s approach includes integrative actions
such as Purposeful Pours, a quarterly event that raises money for different
nonprofits in its community, and Cider Crews, a tiered club program to
encourage a dedicated clientele.
Mind Your Business
The foundational
practicalities of your start-up are often a mashup of reality and possibility.
So start with the right advice.
“We always advise an
in-person consultation with one of our cider equipment sales gurus to ensure
that our potential customers are correctly assessing their equipment choices
using the correct data and math,” Glockner said. “We also try to get them to
think ahead, so they don’t face having to upgrade their equipment two-or-three
years after opening because they didn’t plan for growth. He stressed the need
for reinforced vision. “Production plans and projections need to be backed up
with solid sales plans and projections. Otherwise, you’ll have an expensive
hobby, not a business.”
He also pointed out
there’s no “right” way for cideries to choose equipment. “’Right’ could mean
the equipment fits their budget, or it could mean it matches the processing
rates they need to achieve for the total volume fruit they harvest. Assuming
that matching equipment sizes to the customer’s projected harvest numbers and
product plans is the ‘right’ equipment, doing so can minimize the required time
to process a given volume of fruit—typically expressed in kilograms per hour of
fruit processed,” Glockner said.
“If one producer is doing
multiple small-batch productions of different styles or varietals, their
equipment and tank size choices will be smaller than another producer looking
to make large volumes of one or two,” he said. “The latter would benefit from
equipment with higher throughputs and larger tanks to process bigger batches
for longer continuous periods of time. So getting the ‘right’ equipment is all
about creating operational efficiencies for the type of production the customer
wants to do.”
Here are some additional tips from Cellar-Tek’s Co-owner:
1) Most equipment for the
cider industry isn’t produced in North America, so expect a supplier of
specialized processing equipment containing electrical components to have the
equipment UL- or CSA-inspected and approved when it lands in North America.
2) Also, expect to have the
supplier set up an appointment at your production facility to start the
equipment and provide basic operations training along with any applicable
maintenance and safety advice. This tutorial might not be necessary for “basic
on/off equipment,” such as manually-fed fruit mills, pumps, or manual gravity
fillers.
3) If you can find used
equipment in relatively good condition and see it working before purchase, it
may save you capital during the start-up phase of development. However, lack of
warranties and local factory support from a supplier makes it a difficult
decision when your equipment breaks down in the middle of harvest, and there’s
no technical support in the area to repair it quickly. The cost of lost production,
spare parts and labor to repair a broken machine can easily surpass the price
of a similar piece of new equipment.
4) If you don’t have
experience with fermentation, hire a pro to do it for you, or at least a
reputable consultant with a list of references who can teach you the many ins
and outs of a successful fermentation. “The pitfalls of fermentation are many,”
Glockner said.
Our experts all
recommended allowing an ample amount of time and patience to make it through
multiple layers of bureaucracy to establish your cidery. “Cider regulations are
incredibly complicated,” McGrath said. “Anybody thinking to jump into the
market should take some time to understand how they differ from wine, beer and
spirits.” The USACM intends to provide more checklists to help answer
producers’ questions, but consult your regional association for more specifics.
Larkin added, “Many people
think the biggest hurdle is getting the liquor license, but it goes way beyond
that. There are zoning and building codes, county and state health
requirements, general business licensing, taxes etc….To be in any business, you
have to be determined and not let anything get in your way. You need to be a
jack of all trades. There’s a solution to almost any problem—you just have to
keep on it. You’ll get through it.”
Leadbetter also pointed to
the need for fluidity in your business approach. “We still have our original
lineup of year-round flagships, but we added many seasonals, one-offs,
barrel-aged and small batches to the mix every year—much more than I thought we
would,” she said. “And we never envisioned having a second Meriwether retail
location when we started. Truthfully, at the time, we were barely two years old
and not ready to expand. But we felt an urgency because downtown Boise was in
the midst of a renaissance with new businesses and bars, and we lucked into the
perfect space. We might have balked and given up if not for that.”
Larkin said, “If an
opportunity seems like a good one and we can afford it, we do it.” This
approach applies to both Arsenal’s stair-stepped location expansion and
shifting model.
“When we first opened, we
planned to sell half our inventory by refillable growler and the other half by
bottle conditioning in Champagne bottles. We sold through the initial inventory
so fast, we never had the opportunity to do any type of packaging, and we’ve
just been trying to keep up all these years,” he said. “We finally started
canning one product and bottling a mead product for the first time after eight
years in 2019. We now have the capacity to expand our product offerings and
plan to do so in 2020. It only took 10
years to get to it!”
McGrath told Beverage Master Magazine that “there are certain pockets of the cider market managing to
make apple-forward ciders cool. That’s always been a challenge, especially in
today’s craft beer culture. It’s controversial, but I think putting these types
of ciders in cans is part of what’s helping drive that. It makes a complex,
nuanced beverage more approachable.”
She added that it’s
important to “figure out how to incorporate educating consumers about apples
into your marketing and branding. Apples are what this industry is all about.
We can celebrate a diverse range of products and styles, but when consumers
catch on to the variation an apple variety (and season) can provide, it will be
good for cider makers and orchardists alike.”
Expanding the Industry
All of our experts are
excited to contribute to the reawakening of this pioneer beverage. Here are
some final thoughts they believe about cider’s potential.
Cellar-Tek’s Glockner: “By
far the most exciting trend is the growing global acceptance of locally-made
craft beverages—be it cider, wine, beer or spirits—by the sectors of the
general public that used to gravitate to the large, corporate-produced
beverages.”
Larkin of Arsenal Cider
House: “High-quality products aren’t optional. It’s not just important for your
business, but the business segment as a whole, especially in one as young as
mead and cider. This philosophy extends to how we source our ingredients, as
well. If care isn’t taken with raw materials, we can tell.”
Leadbetter of Meriwether
Cider Company: “After creating a good product, our main mission is to create
what Danny Meyers (restauranteur and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group in
New York City) calls ‘enlightened hospitality’: ‘treat your employees well, and
they will take care of your customers.’”
McGrath of the United States Association of
Cider Makers: “Most people who love cider also love food, and the consumer
knowledge that cider pairs really well with food is increasing. Regional
cuisine cider-pairings, geographical cider cultures, a focus on
locally-celebrated apples (like Gravenstein for Sonoma County in
California)—these things all make it a really fun time to create cider right
now.”
After all the time and energy spent on vine training, pest-free growth and meticulous care that hop farmers put into raising the best possible crop, the harvest can feel like a whirlwind that’s over in a flash. Depending on the types of hops grown and the climate in which they are farmed, hop harvest can run anywhere from early August to late September. But the actual timeframe to get hops picked during peak ripeness and quality is a short, week to 10-day span.
Hop ripeness and quality
are directly related to the moisture content and alpha acid levels of the hop
cones. Hops too high in moisture aren’t considered at peak alpha acid content.
Hops harvested too late can degrade quickly in storage, be more susceptible to
oxidation, and become more vulnerable to disease and pest contamination. Timing
is everything, and sampling is critical to make sure hops are at peak ripeness.
“It’s not that you can’t
harvest and get good hops after that peak ripening period,” said Sean
Trowbridge, co-owner of Top Hops Farm, LLC in Goodrich, Michigan. “It’s just
that after peak ripening, the hop integrity comes into question and can result
in product shatter during the picking process. Then you’re talking about the
potential of considerable product loss.”
Even when the harvest is
completed, there’s little time to relax. When not evaluating the year in
general, focus switches to working on sales and starting the farm tasks
involving post-harvest sanitation, soil care, weed eradication and addressing
any pest and disease issues that need attention. Since hops aren’t generally
considered a pick and pack crop, there are several drying techniques to bring
the moisture down so they can be stored safely without damaging the qualities
that they bring to craft beer.
“Immediately after
harvest, it’s drying and baling time for the hops,” said Trowbridge. “Then we
move 100% of the harvest to our pelletizers to have a fresh crop of current
year hop pellets for the breweries.”
Fall is Spent on Cleaning and Maintenance
“Cleaning, repairing and
readying our equipment for next year is usually done in the fall. Just by their
nature, hop cones can be pretty sticky, so after harvest, our equipment and
work areas can get gummed up just with all of the contact with the hops,” said
Trowbridge. “We take the time right after harvest to thoroughly clean the
pickers, conveyors, belts, totes, wagons and anything else that gets used
during harvest. Equipment like sprayers, whether boom or air blast type, need
to be winterized. You know, it’s initially just a lot of manual work, cleaning
and maintaining our equipment and getting our barns ready now for the next
growing season.”
Trowbridge told Beverage Master Magazine that after the equipment and buildings have been taken care of,
late fall is generally spent in the hop fields on end-of-season
responsibilities and plant management issues. Hopyard sanitation and cleanup is
a critical function to get done right after harvest because it decreases the
chances of disease and deters pest infestation for the next growing season.
This also includes some type of weed suppression, usually by laying down a
pre-emergent herbicide.
“As far as our hop yards
here, we let our vines go into dormancy and apply a pre-emergent in spring.
There’s no specific reason for that other than it seems to work better for us,
and just like in farming in general, each farmer has his way of doing things
that may not be the norm but have shown success in the past,” he said. “You
still have to monitor moisture levels, because even after harvest, the hop
vines need moisture for optimum winter survival. But once temperatures dictate
action, we have to blow out our suspended drip lines and irrigation systems to
prevent freezing and damage. Fall is the best time to get soil samples analyzed
for pH to see what’s left in the soil and what needs to be replenished. Hops
thrive in soil with a pH between 6.2 and 6.5, so fall is the time to make
corrections if needed. Liming is common, but takes time to become widely
incorporated into the soil.”
Hop scrap can be a subject
of contention. Some farmers take the hop scrap and compost it for use
elsewhere. Others return the composted scrap right back onto the fields, while
others take the scrap that’s not composted and spread it onto the fields. Every
farmer has their opinion on the matter. The decision on what to do with the hop
scrap is largely based on its condition. Were the hop vines healthy? Were there
any signs of downy mildew or other diseases that can overwinter in clippings
and on the ground?
“Late fall is also when we switch our tractor to a mowing head and weed badger to cut all the remaining parts of the hop vines down. There’s usually about 1½ feet left of the vines after harvest, so we cut them and leave them be,” said Trowbridge. “Then, in spring, we go back over the rows with a brush head to remove all of the debris off of the plants and leave only clean rows for new growth. We won’t typically tear out or replace any vines that are healthy and productive. Good healthy rootstock can last fifteen years easy.
Some of the European heritage farms may have fifty to a sixty-year-old rootstock. Sometimes after about ten years, the Western-based hop farms will replace a portion of their hops with a more vigorous growing stock or different variety, but it’s not common. We’ve only done it once, and that was based purely on economics, replacing a portion of very low-income generating hops with a higher income-generating variety.”
Winter Involves Building Relationships And Business
Trowbridge told Beverage Master Magazine that winter activities differ depending on where the hop is
grown. West Coast farms can just keep growing, putting their harvest into the
hands of brokers while they get back to producing more. In Michigan, Trowbridge
first focuses on wrapping up sales for any product that remains unsold. Much of
the harvest might already be spoken for, but any unsold product will be made
readily available for anyone interested.
In addition to sales
duties, Trowbridge said that winter is typically the time to refresh and renew
business contacts and associations and try to get more exposure for his farm.
He uses the winter months to attend any conferences or expos put on by hop
farmers associations or by the Craft Brewer’s Guild. He especially likes those
that allow him to set up a vendor tent or booth so he can personally get his
hop farm more exposure, make new contacts, refresh older ones and reach
potential customers on a personal basis.
Growing Organic: Norton’s Hop Farm
On the other side of the
hop growing spectrum, smaller, organic hop farms have a different view of the
post-harvest season.
Don and Tina Norton
maintain and operate Norton’s Hop Farms in Springfield, Oregon. Since 2008,
they have grown Cascade and Nugget varietals on their family-run, certified
organic hop farm. Because they’re organic growers, their post-harvest routine
is a little different than others.
“Well, we obviously don’t
have to spend the time applying the herbicides or pre-emergent weed killers,”
said Don Norton. “Most of my days are spent doing a lot of grass cutting and
weeding out in the fields. We don’t chemically treat for unwanted growth, so it
has to be continually weeded and mowed. We get a lot of blackberry growth in
this area in addition to the grass and weeds, so it all has to be kept up with
regularity. I do get basic soil testing done to see if we need to add lime and
adjust pH levels in our fields. We don’t fertilize until just before we expect
the new growth to appear, and that can happen in early January.”
In between weeding and
cutting, Norton spends time in the off-season on equipment maintenance as well
as checking and winterizing his water and irrigation lines. He doesn’t have the
same sales and marketing push that some larger volume farmers do because one of
the benefits of being a smaller volume, organic farm, is that his product is
generally sought after and already spoken for by regular customers.
“We’ve sold to our local
craft breweries in the past, but as of late, our harvest is sold to a locally
well-known organic herb company—Mountain Rose Herbs in Eugene, Oregon. They
need the whole flower of the hop, so we supply that to them. There’s also an
emerging market for our hop cuttings and vines for use in-store or in other decorative
displays, and also by local florists that like to use them in their creations.”
“One thing that makes us different than a
regular hop farm is that we don’t plant any cover crops or use any mulches in
between rows,” said Norton. “Instead, we lay a ground cloth with holes cut out
over the growing area for our hop plants to grow through. Doing it this way
helps keep our weeds and grasses to a manageable level so we can remain
organic.”
Hard Kombucha is one of the latest drinks to make a splash in the “better-for-you” alcoholic beverage market. But what is hard kombucha, you ask? Wait, what is kombucha?
Kombucha traces its roots
to China’s Qin Dynasty (221 BC), where it was known as the “The Tea of
Immortality” for its medicinal properties. The drink is made by mixing
sweetened black or green tea with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast
called SCOBY and allowing it to ferment. The result is a tart and sour,
lightly-carbonated drink that’s naturally gluten-free, low in sugar and chocked
full of probiotics. With health-conscious millennials driving today’s beverage
industry, it’s no wonder that kombucha is experiencing a revival, and is one of
the fastest-growing beverages on the market today.
Kombucha first went mainstream in the U.S. in 1995 when GT Dave, the man behind GT’s Kombucha, established the first and largest kombucha brand in the industry. Promotion for the drink touted the health benefits of both tea and probiotics, and sales immediately exploded in supermarkets throughout the country.
With an ABV of less than 0.5%, kombucha could be sold legally as an alcohol-free beverage. In 2010, however, a Department of Agriculture inspector discovered a kombucha at a Maine Whole Foods that contained alcohol levels well above 0.5%. It was pulled off the shelves nationwide, and producers were left with three options: keep their kombuchas under 0.5% and follow strict labeling laws, sell them in the beer section at their current ABV, or create an intentionally higher ABV beverage. For those who chose the latter — a “hard” kombucha — the crisis presented a golden opportunity. The low-alcohol beverage with a healthy dose of probiotics caught on quickly, and in just a few short years, became the hot new kid on the beverage-industry block. According to Nielsen, sales of hard kombucha spiked 247% in the 52 weeks leading up to April 20, 2019.
One of the first to create
high-alcohol kombucha was Dr. Hops, based in San Francisco. “I was working in
Berkley with the fitness and yoga community, and craft beer was exploding and
doing amazing things,” said CEO and founder Joshua Rood. “Non-alcoholic
kombucha was also growing rapidly. I’ve always been a food and beverage guy.
When I saw this happening, I realized you could make a high-alcohol kombucha
that would be authentic to both categories, offering the benefits from the
health properties of straight kombucha, and the flavor, complexity and pleasure
of a really good craft beer.”
With only one hard
kombucha on the market at the time—Unity Vibration in Ypsilanti, Michigan—Rood
approached a brewer who was making both beer and kombucha and asked him to make
a prototype that offered the best of both beverage worlds. “The prototype was
awesome,” he said. “At the same time, my
wife had an adorable rabbit named Dr. Hops, and I thought, ‘what a perfect name
for a health-conscious kombucha that’s all hopped up.’ So that’s why we named
our product Dr. Hops.”
While Rood was developing
his product in 2016, another hard kombucha hit the market: Boochcraft,
California’s first high-alcohol kombucha, and today’s market leader in sales.
To make hard kombucha,
producers start with a mixture of sugar, tea and water. For his base, Rood
selects the highest organic quality and fair trade tea he can obtain. Next, he
adds SCOBY—a combination of bacteria and yeast that he’s developed in-house—and
adds it to the tea mixture. The concoction ferments for a week, allowing the
SCOBY to work and make kombucha what it is: a probiotic, sour and flavorful
drink. To raise the alcohol level beyond the 0.5% from the initial
fermentation, Rood adds a Belgian Ale yeast that creates a slight beer quality
and lets that mixture ferment for another week. This step raises the alcohol
level to 0.7 to 1%. Finally, after the
second fermentation is complete, Rood adds hops, fruit, herbs or spices and
“lets it rest” to let the flavors develop.
“This is a very mellow waiting period,” Rood told Beverage Master Magazine. “We gently stir the mixture and let the particulate matter sink
to the bottom. Then we add a bit of sugar, which gives the kombucha a touch of
sweetness, and finally, we package it.”
Dr. Hops makes four
standard products: the IPK, similar to a juicy IPA; the Lop, a tart, refreshing
pomegranate chai with prominent grapefruit notes; the Jackalope, with prominent
ginger, lime and mint flavors; and the Blinky, with hints of basil and
lemongrass. All are dry-hopped with hops sourced from the Pacific Northwest.
Sugars vary from 4-6%, and ABV runs from 5-9%. Flavors come from fresh, organic
fruits rather than flavoring compounds.
In terms of legal
classification, hard kombucha is typically classified as a beer rather than a
wine product. The Dr. Hops production facility is similar to a brewery, with
stainless steel tanks and temperature, pressure and oxygen controls. To produce
optimum results, brewers have to be very meticulous, Rood explained. “The
process goes through many different phases, and each phase has the potential to
create benefits as well as off-flavors. It’s really an art. We have to check
fermentation constantly, as it’s a living process and not an exact formula,
although we’re getting pretty good at it.”
Ultimately, Rood’s goal is
to create a product that is “good for your belly” and “good for your
buzz.” Hard kombuchas have less sugar
than anything in the alcohol world, he said, except for pure vodka. “As
Americans, sugar is one of the worst things we consume, so we keep ours as low
as possible.”
Rood also uses a kombucha
strain that’s rich with alcohol-resistant lactobacillus, a health-enhancing
probiotic. Because Dr. Hops’ products are unfiltered and unpasteurized (heating
from pasteurization destroys enzymes, organics and flavors), the probiotics
stay in the beverage, helping the body process not just food, but also alcohol.
Another health benefit: Dr. Hops uses only organic fruits, roots and herbs,
which provide additional nutrients.
“Essentially, we’re trying
to eliminate the junk people put in their bodies while drinking alcohol,” Rood
said. “When you take all of our ingredients together, you have a beverage
that’s remarkably distinct and much healthier.”
As more and more
health-conscious imbibers turn to beer/kombucha blends, Dr. Hops is enjoying
great success. Currently, the company produces 1,000 barrels a year, with plans
to triple—or even quadruple—production within the next year. Right now, they package their kombucha in
bottles, but Rood intends to switch to cans soon. Dr. Hops is available in
liquor stores and independent food stores and markets in Northern California
and is on tap in several bars in the Oakland, California area. Rood’s goal is
to increase distribution to the western third of the country and Florida.
“Sales have been amazing,”
he said. “It’s something people want,
but most don’t know it until they discover it, and then they get very excited
about it.”
Within the past couple of
years, many up-and-coming hard kombucha brands have emerged within the growing
industry, including Flying Embers, KYLA, JuneShine and Lambrucha. Established
kombucha producers are also getting in on the action. Wild Tonic, originally a
regular kombucha brand, created two hard kombucha products: one with 5.6% ABV
and one with 7.6% ABV. Kombrewcha, one of the country’s pioneering hard
kombucha brands, received backing from AB InBev’s investment arm, ZX Ventures,
to produce a new line of hard kombuchas.
It’s not only AB InBev
getting in on the action, however. Craft breweries have also extended their
product portfolio to include hard kombucha. For example, New Holland Brewing, a
Holland, Michigan craft beer brand that’s been around for over 20 years, now
produces a seasonal offering that combines the flavors of an IPA with Kombucha.
Boston Beer, maker of Samuel Adams, recently launched Tura Hard Kombucha. And
Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon collaborated with Humm Kombucha to create
Humm Zinger, “a beer that blends together Humm’s tangy grapefruit kombucha with
Cascade hops and Pilsner malt for big citrus flavor with a profound dry hop
character.”
Clearly, hard kombucha is hitting the
mainstream. After all, what’s not to like? It’s all-natural, gluten-free,
organic and vegan, low in sugar and calories yet contains enough alcohol to be
fun. As part of the low-alcohol trend, which includes hard seltzers, hard
ciders and low-alcohol spirits, hard kombucha has a lot of opportunities to
grow. If you think you might be one of those who want it but don’t know it yet,
hustle off to your favorite vegan restaurant, grocery or liquor store and check
it out.
In 2016, the Northwest Cider Association received a specialty crop grant from the Oregon Department of Agriculture. This grant enabled them to launch a signifi-cant initiative encouraging farmers to plant cider apple trees in the Pacific North-west. The Northwest Cider Association chose to focus these planting efforts in Oregon in two areas: Willamette Valley and Hood River.
While there has always
been a small selection of heirloom cider apples available for small-batch
releases, this initiative marks the first time post-prohibition that a sizable
number of cider apples will be available to cider makers. Will these ap-ples
bear fruit in the burgeoning cider market?
Currently, there is no
available national data on the breakdown of cider made with cider apples versus
dessert apples. Michelle McGrath, Executive Director of the United
States Association of Cider Makers, attributes this lack of statistics to the fact that the U.S.
cider market consists primarily of many very small cideries. As such, their sales
are not reflected in any of the scan-based data found in trade reports.
Even though a majority of
ciders available in grocery stores, bars and restaurants are made with dessert
apples, a large percentage of the cideries in the U.S. uti-lize cider apples.
In McGrath’s estimation, “Fifty percent of our paying members grow their own
apples, and 50% of our paying members are using cider apples to make cider.”
Furthermore, regional
brands continue to absorb more of the cider market share, and these brands
offer a greater variety of ciders to consumers. McGrath says that in 2012,
regional brands represented about 8% of the cider retail market, a number that
has risen to 34% today. Also, regional brands of cider sales have grown 16% in
the last year, while national brands declined 9%. Because national brands
represent more of the total market share, the net result is an overall de-cline
of 2% in domestic retail cider sales in 2018.
At first glance, this
appreciation for small regional craft ciders seems to indicate consumers will
be interested in paying a premium for heirloom ciders made with cider apples. Crystie
Kisler,
co-founder of Finnriver Farm & Cidery, observes how the
consumer’s palate has evolved since 2008 when she founded an 80-acre farm situated
in Chimacum Valley, Washington.
“We have appreciated seeing how the sensibilities and palate of folks in the cider-drinking community have evolved over the years,” Kisler says. “We get a lot of interest in our homegrown ‘estate’ ciders—featuring those traditional cider apple varieties with greater complexity—and enjoy seeing people discover the nuances and possibilities in cider fruit.”
Kisler’s partner at
Finnriver, Eric Jorgensen, says that the higher price point of cider made from
cider apples does not appear to deter customers who travel to their tasting
room. “I’d say that despite their higher price point, when we have them
available, they are just as popular as our ciders made from dessert fruit. That
preference runs the full range of consumers—we get a very broad spectrum of
people coming to visit us.”
According to Jorgensen,
this consumer interest in cider apples can be attributed to several factors:
flavor profiles that are nuanced, interesting and complex; gen-eral values
around tradition and the rediscovery of these apple varieties; and in-terest in
products made with ingredients farmed locally and on a smaller scale.
From the cidermaker’s
perspective, Andrew Byers, Head Cidermaker & Produc-tion Manager at
Finnriver, says the advantage of producing cider apples is based in complexity.
“Making cider from dessert fruit—be it antique varietals or more modern
releases—is making cider from fruit that was conceptualized for a differ-ent
purpose, such as eating a fresh apple, or saucing, or baking a pie. Cider fruit
has been selected for the qualities they bring to the cider. Body, phenolics,
aro-matics—all that cannot be found in a dessert-fruit-based ferment.”
Byers describes how these
apples can transport drinkers to another level. “[Cider apples] waltz you
across the room with ease to a place of wonderment where you didn’t know
‘apples could do that.’ [They bring you to] that lovely platform of hav-ing
your horizons broadened—a place to realize you just discovered a previously unknown
potential. Cider fruit, each year, is an opportunity to waltz with the pub-lic
and show them the best we can be.”
Some logistical challenges
are inherent in growing cider apples not necessarily found when producing
dessert apples. Tim Larsen, owner and cidermaker at Snowdrift Cider Company in East Wenatchee,
Washington, says, “These apples were never cultivated because they grew in an
orchard so well, or because they yielded so many tons to an acre. They are
grown because of their flavor and aroma. Furthermore, fermentation and aging of
cider apples is a fair bit different than working with modern eating apples.”
Larsen designed his new operation, Sunred Cider, to manage these challenges for
cidermakers and streamline the process between growers and producers.
Adding to the cost of
producing cider fruit is the U.S. law prohibiting farmers from harvesting
apples that fall to the ground. Hence, farmers cannot mechanically harvest
these apples on a large scale, unlike in the U.K., where apples can be
harvested after they’ve fallen off the trees.
Larsen points to the need
for consumer education. In his estimation, “most peo-ple see cider as a sort of
holistic Mike’s Hard Lemonade.” He attributes this per-ception to the fact that
most large scale cider operations are forced to rely on a very restricted
supply of apple juice that, at its best, is pretty uninteresting. They spice up
their product, adding flavorings, sweeteners and colors. “This is great if you
want something that tastes like alcoholic watermelon juice with hibiscus or
some other flavor combination, but it’s not great if you want to experience
real cider,” he said.
Ryal Schallenberger of Northwest Mobile Juicing says that cidermakers try to distance themselves from the apples when they are using bulk juice. “They make comments on their labels that are generic like ‘fresh northwest juice.’ Folks that are using traditional cider apples say so on their labels, for the most part.” This distinction may be apparent to cider connoisseurs; however, this differentiation does not seem to be conveyed to the general public.
The question, though, is
how many consumers crave “real cider” given the popu-larity of ciders made with
added pineapple, hops, botanicals or spices? In 2018, apple cider without added
fruits, spices or botanicals constituted 63% of national retail sales. Even
though over half of all sales in 2018 were ciders made with ap-ples, the trend
toward producing non-apple ciders appears to be on the rise. For example, Jeff
Parrish,
co-owner of Portland Cider Company, notes that consumer
demand continues to increase for ciders made with pineapples, pears, and other
non-apple fruit.
In his analysis, Parrish
does not view large-scale production of cider apples tak-ing off unless enough
cider apples are grown and harvested to bring the cost down to the same price
point as craft beer. Simply put, not enough consumers are willing to pay $10 to
$12 for a bottle of cider made with premium Pacific Northwest cider apples to
justify producing it on a large scale.
Also, Jorgensen says the
general cider distribution market trends towards cans, and thus towards higher
production volumes. He’s not aware of anyone with ac-cess to enough
“traditional” cider juice to be able to package and sell in large quantities,
let alone at a price point comparable to the more contemporary ciders on the
market.
Emily Ritchie, Executive Director at Northwest Cider Association, acknowledges the difficulties faced by craft cideries like the Portland-based Cider Riot. They closed their doors in November 2019 as they found themselves unable to produce their award-winning heirloom ciders while also maintaining a viable cidery and pub. “Right now, it’s harder to keep a business open when you’re just using cider fruit, as your price points are higher,” Ritchie says.
In assessing the future of
cider apples, Parrish points to cider’s long history as a working man’s drink.
“It’s never been seen as having a high intrinsic value, and will not be viewed
by the mass market as having a high value similar to wine.” In his estimation,
history has proven that cider apples will remain a niche market with a loyal
following.
Conversely, Ritchie
compares the potential growth of Pacific Northwest cider ap-ples to the growth
of the wine industry in Oregon over the last 30 years. Those who planted the
first vineyards in Willamette Valley and other AVA’s began from a place where
they had no name recognition into producing internationally re-nowned Pinot
Noirs and other varietals.
With the first harvest
from these aforementioned cider trees slated for 2020, will cider apples join
Pinot Noir grapes as a fruit that defines this region? Time and price point
will tell.
