There are few business pursuits as noble to the layman right now as opening a small American craft brewery. From the outside looking in, it's perfect – brew awesome beer in a neighborhood you love; open a taproom to give customers the full experience, maybe serve some food; keep production down and demand high; before you know it, people will be lining up for more.
It's hard to blame anyone for thinking that's how it should go. We're living in the Golden Age of craft beer, after all. Much like the weather here in New England, it would seem, if you don't love your local brewery just wait five minutes and another one will open across the street.
Staying relevant is important, but always chasing the latest fad can be fatal.
Of course, that's all bullshit. Brewing beer is a beautiful art, but it's far from glamorous. It's back-breaking and dirty. The smell never comes out of your clothes. And owning a brewery is no easier. Sure, it's hard to imagine a more gratifying feeling than sipping on a beer of your own creation in your own packed taproom. But it's a business like anything. And breweries, despite current demand, certainly aren't immune to failure.
Norwood's Castle Island Brewing Co. is a Massachusetts success story, having just celebrated one year in business this past Sunday. With a host of beers in regular rotation across the state and a taproom planned for spring, it would seem founder Adam Romanow has it all figured out. So I asked him to reflect on his first year in the business.
As expected, there were some hurdles along the way. But the first 365 days were just the beginning.
Alex E. Weaver: Congrats on one year in business in Mass. What are you doing to celebrate?
Adam Romanow: We celebrated the official anniversary by taking yesterday, a Sunday, off to rest up for a big week of celebrations. Today we’re releasing ONE, our Russian Imperial Stout, at the brewery. (Pictured below.) Thursday we have another release; I can’t say what yet, but I’ll hint that it’s an old favorite that’s been gone for close to a year now. And then on Friday we’re taking over Stoddard’s in Downtown Crossing from 7-10 p.m. for our One Year Anniversary party.
AEW: What would you say has been your biggest success so far?
AR: One of our major successes this year was just getting the brewery off the ground. Opening a brewery is no easy feat – you’re a manufacturing operation, a brand developer, and a hospitality center, all rolled into one, so you’re juggling many balls at once and there’s a lot that can go wrong. Our team here has nailed it though: we haven’t had any product recalls or inventory issues, we’ve sold beer to over 1,000 accounts, we’ve released 20 unique beers with exceptionally positive feedback across the board, and we’ve become a little destination down here in Norwood. All in all we’re psyched about how great this first year was.
AEW: What's been your biggest hurdle or failure?
AR: I think one of our biggest hurdles was not getting the taproom open in 2016. We originally had hoped to get it done this year, but we had a lot more success through distribution channels than we expected and that required a lot more of our time and attention than we planned. To be fair, this is both a great and not-great thing. Our retail partners are an incredibly valuable extension of our business, so focusing on the wholesale operation was key to building a deep foundation in the local market. But missing out on the foot traffic and brand-building capabilities of a full-pour taproom probably did hinder growth to a degree. Everyone’s got a taproom these days and it’s becoming a required component of the business to stay competitive, so we missed the boat in 2016 but are excited that we’re well on our way to getting the doors open next year.
AEW: How would you describe the craft beer landscape right now?
AR: The craft beer scene right now is, in a word, dynamic. Things are changing so rapidly that it can be hard to stay on top of it all. In the span of just a few years, we’ve seen the proliferation of taprooms/own-premise business models, canned beer, heavy rotating accounts, the emergence of IPA as the dominant style, and a furthering of the promiscuous mindset of many craft beer consumers. Honestly, parts of the business plan that I wrote just a couple of years ago look outdated in today’s market. I look at the current market with optimism for the future of craft beer, but with a guarded approach – staying relevant is important, but always chasing the latest fad can be fatal.
AEW: What advice would you give someone thinking about opening a craft brewery in Mass.?
AR: Do your homework. It’s the same advice I got early on – before I was even in the beer business – and it will always be the most appropriate, relevant advice I can offer up. Brewing is more than just making beer, and I do get a little concerned about how many new breweries are popping up without the requisite knowledge of how all of the pieces of the business fit together. It’s not to say it can’t be done, and I do think there’s still opportunity out there for new entrants that have their shit together, but it’s getting ungodly competitive in the market right now and good liquid isn’t enough anymore.
AEW: What's next for Castle Island Brewing?
AR: We’ve got a bunch planned for 2017. In addition to the taproom, which we’ll hopefully be opening in the spring, we’ve got some new products that will go out to market, we’re going to be beefing up our ranks, and we’ve got a few surprises in the works that we think our fans will be pretty psyched about. The one thing we will continue to do is focus on our local market first, making sure that the beer we’re cranking out is top notch while not expanding too fast or too far. Every morning when I walk out into our warehouse I look at the sign above our loading dock – the one that reads “If you’re not proud of it, don’t ship it” – and remind myself that we need to make sure we’re following that credo every single day. So as much as there will be some new things and a couple changes in 2017, the core parts of us will still be the same Castle Island that our fans have come to love.
Images provided or via the author.
