Banjo
01-19-2011, 01:01 PM
A Tale of Four Businesses. Part 1: Ninkasi
http://beeronomics.blogspot.com/2011/01/tale-of-four-businesses-part-1-ninkasi.html
I have been swamped lately and have not had time to get back to writing about my trip (with the Beerax) down the valley to visit four very different breweries. Jeff has done a good job describing them and their different objectives, but I want to focus on their very different businesses. I will do it in four parts (because I am still pretty busy). I will start big and go ever smaller: Ninkasi, Oakshire, Block 15 and Brewer's Union Local 180.
So today I'll talk about arguably the easiest one - Ninkasi. Ninkasi is a packaging brewery that is the big success story of Oregon brewing over the last few years. Personally, I heard about this new brewery and their great beers about four short years ago. Now, there is hardly a store in Oregon that doesn't feature their beer, they have tap handles everywhere and they are rapidly expanding into Washington and California. In fact Ninkasi is, along with Deschutes, probably the most likely craft beer to encounter in any situation in Oregon. There is a very good reason for this success: the beer is fantastic and nails the Northwest palate sweet-spot - extremely aggressive hop bombs that maintain balance and produce wonderful flavor and aroma. Jamie Floyd brewer and founder (with Nikos Ridge) told us when we were there that Ninkasi was a 30,000 barrel a-year brewery that buys an amount of hops suitable for the average 200,000 barrel a-year brewery.
Ninkasi decided to go for aggressive big beers and to big fast. The economics of brewing are clear: there are significant economies of scale that don't go away until well into macro territory, so growing fast makes all kinds of sense. But going big was a significant risk. There is a significant and growing craft beer enthusiast consumer base in the NW but would there be enough out there to sustain the amazing growth that Ninkasi has enjoyed? I wouldn't have thought so, but I would have been wrong. The appetite for Ninkasi's big beers has amazed me.
Read more and see pictures here: http://beeronomics.blogspot.com/2011/01/tale-of-four-businesses-part-1-ninkasi.html
http://beeronomics.blogspot.com/2011/01/tale-of-four-businesses-part-1-ninkasi.html
I have been swamped lately and have not had time to get back to writing about my trip (with the Beerax) down the valley to visit four very different breweries. Jeff has done a good job describing them and their different objectives, but I want to focus on their very different businesses. I will do it in four parts (because I am still pretty busy). I will start big and go ever smaller: Ninkasi, Oakshire, Block 15 and Brewer's Union Local 180.
So today I'll talk about arguably the easiest one - Ninkasi. Ninkasi is a packaging brewery that is the big success story of Oregon brewing over the last few years. Personally, I heard about this new brewery and their great beers about four short years ago. Now, there is hardly a store in Oregon that doesn't feature their beer, they have tap handles everywhere and they are rapidly expanding into Washington and California. In fact Ninkasi is, along with Deschutes, probably the most likely craft beer to encounter in any situation in Oregon. There is a very good reason for this success: the beer is fantastic and nails the Northwest palate sweet-spot - extremely aggressive hop bombs that maintain balance and produce wonderful flavor and aroma. Jamie Floyd brewer and founder (with Nikos Ridge) told us when we were there that Ninkasi was a 30,000 barrel a-year brewery that buys an amount of hops suitable for the average 200,000 barrel a-year brewery.
Ninkasi decided to go for aggressive big beers and to big fast. The economics of brewing are clear: there are significant economies of scale that don't go away until well into macro territory, so growing fast makes all kinds of sense. But going big was a significant risk. There is a significant and growing craft beer enthusiast consumer base in the NW but would there be enough out there to sustain the amazing growth that Ninkasi has enjoyed? I wouldn't have thought so, but I would have been wrong. The appetite for Ninkasi's big beers has amazed me.
Read more and see pictures here: http://beeronomics.blogspot.com/2011/01/tale-of-four-businesses-part-1-ninkasi.html