It’s an unprecedented time for craft beer. The industry continues to gain market share from domestic big beer (nearly 18 percent and rising), and a historic number of craft breweries of all sizes are in operation across the country (more than 4,100 and counting).
By many estimations, the craft-beer industry is nearing an adolescence marked by rapid growth and change—in baseball terms, Upland Brewing Co. President Doug Dayhoff likens it to somewhere around the fourth inning—but is maturing rapidly as more veteran and rookie players alike get in the game. For those who are bullish on beer, it’s a tempting proposition to try to claim some of the action.
Developing and running a brewery, however, is more involved than your average enterprise. As with any business, there are critical junctures in the lifecycle of a brewery that affect how effectively and at what rate it grows. That equation tends to be more complicated, however, given the number of moving pieces involved.