09 Sep Does Brew Hub Hurt Craft Beer Cred?
Brew Hub CEO Tim Schoen, after a long career at Anheuser-Busch, got the idea to make product for craft brewers about three years ago when he saw the surge in market share for niche brands.
By Eric Snider of the Tampa Bay Business Journal
The gleaming, cavernous new facility off Interstate 4 in Lakeland does not exactly shout craft beer.
But that did not deter Joey Redner, founder and CEO of Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing, from signing a five-year contract with Brew Hub to produce up to 20,000 barrels per year there.
The arrangement came out of necessity. Cigar City cannot keep up with demand, so options boiled down to a couple: build more brewing capacity, which Redner has not ruled out, or outsource some
of his production.
Redner allows that he had some initial misgivings about the relationship. “I definitely had concerns about their corporate culture,” he said. “They come from a very different background.”
St. Louis-based Brew Hub’s origins go back three years to when Tim Schoen, a 28-year veteran of Anheuser-Busch, saw that small breweries were not able to keep up with burgeoning thirst for boutique brands. He raised private equity money and built the 50,000-square-foot facility in Lakeland, the first in a planned network of five. Brew Hub aims to fulfill the excess production needs of growing brewers, as well as provide business expertise.
But doesn’t Brew Hub’s business model effectively corporatize craft beer? It’s a question Schoen has heard before.
“What we’re doing here is establishing and maintaining the soul of craft beer,” he said during a VIP party at Brew Hub last week. “The integrity of Joey Redner’s beer is paramount to us. Craft beer’s market share, now around 8 percent, is on a spike. And retailers are making more and more shelf space. We’re providing access to more efficient equipment for hopefully better production runs.”
Redner is least worried about Brew Hub making beer that lives up to Cigar City standards. “Little brewers may not like big brewers’ style, but all of us want to get to their level of quality control, and Brew Hub’s QC is solid,” he said. “Plus, if they make the beer and it’s not right, I don’t have to pay for
it.”
When the outsourced brewing begins this month, Redner, his brew master and other staffers will be on site at Brew Hub. “We’re going to be on their butts,” he cracked.
For 2015, Redner expects his own operation to produce up to 50,000 barrels, with 20,000 shifted to Brew Hub.
He’s not concerned about damaging his craft cred. In fact, producing his less complicated flavors — starting with Maduro Brown Ale and Hotter Than Helles lager — at Brew Hub will benefit creativity.
“Our approach is to be prolific, to make lots of different beer,” he said. “But if 50 percent of my fermentation capacity is dedicated to Jai Alai (IPA), that limits what I can do. We still want to make new beers on a whim. We need to have that playground where we can have fun.”
Additionally, freeing up brewing space will allow him to grow mini-brands. Redner said Cigar City could sell 600 barrels of Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin Ale, but his current system only has room for 90.
Redner summed up his nascent relationship with Brew Hub. “We kind of need to rub a little dirt on them,” he said. “And they hopefully can rub some of their corporate know-how on us. Cigar City is not a loosey-goosey family business anymore. We have 60-plus employees. It’s not just me and my brewer goofing off in our warehouse.”
The gleaming, cavernous new facility off Interstate 4 in Lakeland does not exactly shout craft beer.
But that did not deter Joey Redner, founder and CEO of Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing, from signing a five-year contract with Brew Hub to produce up to 20,000 barrels per year there.
The arrangement came out of necessity. Cigar City cannot keep up with demand, so options boiled down to a couple: build more brewing capacity, which Redner has not ruled out, or outsource some
of his production.
Redner allows that he had some initial misgivings about the relationship. “I definitely had concerns about their corporate culture,” he said. “They come from a very different background.”
St. Louis-based Brew Hub’s origins go back three years to when Tim Schoen, a 28-year veteran of Anheuser-Busch, saw that small breweries were not able to keep up with burgeoning thirst for boutique brands. He raised private equity money and built the 50,000-square-foot facility in Lakeland, the first in a planned network of five. Brew Hub aims to fulfill the excess production needs of growing brewers, as well as provide business expertise.
But doesn’t Brew Hub’s business model effectively corporatize craft beer? It’s a question Schoen has heard before.
“What we’re doing here is establishing and maintaining the soul of craft beer,” he said during a VIP party at Brew Hub last week. “The integrity of Joey Redner’s beer is paramount to us. Craft beer’s market share, now around 8 percent, is on a spike. And retailers are making more and more shelf space. We’re providing access to more efficient equipment for hopefully better production runs.”
Redner is least worried about Brew Hub making beer that lives up to Cigar City standards. “Little brewers may not like big brewers’ style, but all of us want to get to their level of quality control, and Brew Hub’s QC is solid,” he said. “Plus, if they make the beer and it’s not right, I don’t have to pay for
it.”
When the outsourced brewing begins this month, Redner, his brew master and other staffers will be on site at Brew Hub. “We’re going to be on their butts,” he cracked.
For 2015, Redner expects his own operation to produce up to 50,000 barrels, with 20,000 shifted to Brew Hub.
He’s not concerned about damaging his craft cred. In fact, producing his less complicated flavors — starting with Maduro Brown Ale and Hotter Than Helles lager — at Brew Hub will benefit creativity.
“Our approach is to be prolific, to make lots of different beer,” he said. “But if 50 percent of my fermentation capacity is dedicated to Jai Alai (IPA), that limits what I can do. We still want to make new beers on a whim. We need to have that playground where we can have fun.”
Additionally, freeing up brewing space will allow him to grow mini-brands. Redner said Cigar City could sell 600 barrels of Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin Ale, but his current system only has room for 90.
Redner summed up his nascent relationship with Brew Hub. “We kind of need to rub a little dirt on them,” he said. “And they hopefully can rub some of their corporate know-how on us. Cigar City is not a loosey-goosey family business anymore. We have 60-plus employees. It’s not just me and my brewer goofing off in our warehouse.”
No Comments