We know what you’re thinking: a passion project, in this economy?
Today, the safest route to pleasing a fickle consumer base is delivering consistency in go-to styles and flavors. It can feel like too big a risk to step outside that wheelhouse and experiment. If your regulars come in for hazy IPAs, can you really put precious resources into a tmavý?
Yes. You can. But…
There are caveats. To raise the odds of success, it helps to embrace a measure of authenticity with any beer outside your brewery’s comfort zone. It also might need some extra love when it comes to consumer education and marketing. Yet with good communication built on a foundation of trust between your brewery and your customers, finding unexpected success with a novel beer is completely achievable. It happens.
Inherent in craft brewing is the ethos that brewers should make what they want to drink. The reality, of course, is that the ethos is always in tension with the business—and making what consumers want to drink is what keeps the lights on. However, establishing a reputation for quality helps to build the trust that can make that Venn diagram—what you like to drink and what they like to drink—closer to a perfect circle.
Here, looking for helpful insights on how brewers can find real value in brewing beyond their usual suspects, we speak to brewers who had unexpected hits on their hands. How did it happen, and are there lessons anyone can draw?