Small is beautiful

I noticed that a new craft brewing law was signed recently.  Amongst other things this new law imposes a minimum production level on licensed breweries.  The law set the minimum at 50 barrels.  Which might not sound like much, but for your small-scale nanobrewer, 50 barrels might be a difficult target to reach.  For the last few years, RPAB's annual production has been right in that range (I don't have the exact figures in front of me, but 50 barrels is BIG for a nanobrewery).

My guess is that there is pressure from the breweries with larger production to restrict the proliferation of tiny breweries, the sort of breweries that Mike, Rich, and I envisioned when we founded the Long Island Beer and Malt Enthusiasts (LIBME).  My goal was to have a nanobrewery in every village brewing just enough for the local craft beer drinkers.  Back of the envelope calculations suggest that Long Island could support at least 80 of these small breweries.  There are some cultural conditions which need to be met though to sustain this kind of movement.  I could write about that in a future post.

What's interesting is that Brooklyn and Manhattan is a more receptive environment for the small-scale craft brewer than Long Island.  RPAB struggles to keep the attention of the local beer drinkers of Rocky Point.  There are many reasons for this.  Local bar owners (even the ones with an interest in craft) are not necessarily the best advocates for "local" producers.  What I mean is that most bar owners are more interested in beer that sells than they are in selling beer.  Even in Rocky Point, most people don't know about RPAB.  (It's not like we have much of a marketing budget.  We rely on word of mouth.)  So the bartender is the one that needs to be on board and convince people that it's something they absolutely much try.

One issue we've run into is a clash of expectations.  For example, DEKS here in Rocky Point, regularly asks for our "higher ABV" beers and we are happy to oblige.  However, I go to DEKS every Wednesday after work with a group of folks from my office.  Hardly any of them orders an RPAB beer at DEKS because the alcohol level is "too high."  I explained that RPAB makes plenty of low ABV beers (our Pilsner and Vienna lagers are right at 5%) and my friends asked why we don't sell those beer to DEKS.  Good question.  Is it the brewers' fault or the bar owners'?  Probably nobody's fault.  It's just one of those things.  Now if everyone who walked in asked for RPAB Pilsner, then the bar owner's ordering habits just might change.

If you are a local beer advocate, you should speak up.  Let your publican know what you want.  Let them know you want to "drink local."