So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#71

Post by mrbrowning » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:32 PM UTC

electricslpnsld wrote: post #66

walrus01 wrote: post #2

My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer. There are so many other possible flavors and types to a beer than some type of IPA that is absolutely overloaded with hops. But that seems to be a very common type of thing to brew. When I open something and am assaulted with the aroma of hops, it's not appealing anymore. It was interesting 7-8…

This might have been true a few years ago, but even in my middle of the road rust belt city you can get a huge variety of beers now. There are entire breweries dedicated to sours alone! Even within the IPA genre the crazy hopped to death west coast IPAs from the early 2010s seem to be getting pushed out by New England IPAs, milkshake IPAs, and a smattering of super weird stouts.

The Midwest is far ahead of at least the West Coast on this. I saw much more variety of brewing methods, beer styles, and flavor profiles when I lived in St. Louis than I do here in the Bay Area. A lot of the great breweries from the other side of the Rockies (Left Hand, Odell, Bell's, etc.) are either difficult or impossible to find products from here, too.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#72

Post by davidw » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:32 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #35

munificent wrote: post #32

I live in Seattle where the IPA thing is just out of hand. My uncharitable pet theory is this: A certain class of men (sometimes women, but it's almost always men) get interested in something and then desire to make it part of their identity. That in turn means they want to convey that they are more into it than other people. Their passion expresses itself as competition. Most people that aren't really into beer don'…

As an enthusiastic road cyclist I don't think there has ever been a time in modern history when the cohort of people who ride 10,000km+ a year for general conditioning/cardio/training, and spend $2,000+ on road bikes, wasn't gender ratio skewed by at least 85:15 towards men. It is kind of unfortunate because there should really be nothing gender specific about cycling.

Something I saw road biking in Italy vs in the US is that there is a vastly bigger 'casual' set of people doing it in Italy. It seems like that's less prevalent in the US; you're either really into it or not much at all.

It seems like this happens, sometimes in the US... for years beer in the US wasn't that great, and then there was this craft beer explosion, whereas in, say, Austria where I lived for a while, they are still drinking their local beers which are pretty good but don't have so much variety and experimentation.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#73

Post by subpixel » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:35 PM UTC

zwkrt wrote: post #6

walrus01 wrote: post #2

My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer. There are so many other possible flavors and types to a beer than some type of IPA that is absolutely overloaded with hops. But that seems to be a very common type of thing to brew. When I open something and am assaulted with the aroma of hops, it's not appealing anymore. It was interesting 7-8…

This is a west coast phenomenon, I’ve found the Midwest and east coast to have a lot more variety. It feels in Seattle like beer bars have a “token” stout in the same way that they have a single house wine. Hops must be what sells though.

You have not been to Maine or Vermont since how long?

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#74

Post by S_A_P » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:35 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #2

My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer. There are so many other possible flavors and types to a beer than some type of IPA that is absolutely overloaded with hops. But that seems to be a very common type of thing to brew. When I open something and am assaulted with the aroma of hops, it's not appealing anymore. It was interesting 7-8…

There was a similar trend with sour beers that had fruity syrups added a few years back. I live in the Houston area and it seemed there was a micro brew bubble that started around 2012-2014. In the southwest suburb of Houston where I live (30 miles away from downtown) there were 3(!) breweries within a couple miles of each other. One of them jumped on the sour beer trend full fledged. While everyone is entitled to their own sense of flavorful beverages. I think this particular brewery overestimated the demand for beer that smells like feet and tastes like sock sweat. They have since abandoned their brewery, and were brewing on a batch for hire basis. I think they finally have ceased all together. It also seems with the success of Titos vodka a similar trend is happening with spirits here in Texas.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#75

Post by Ididntdothis » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:38 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #2

My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer. There are so many other possible flavors and types to a beer than some type of IPA that is absolutely overloaded with hops. But that seems to be a very common type of thing to brew. When I open something and am assaulted with the aroma of hops, it's not appealing anymore. It was interesting 7-8…

”I have a personal theory that the overwhelming aroma and taste of hops in a beer can be used to mask many errors and missteps in the brewing process”

I think there is something to this. the same happens to other foods too. Just make them extremely spicy, cheesy or sweet and you don’t have to worry about taste subtleties anymore.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#76

Post by LargeWu » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:38 PM UTC

zwieback wrote: post #13

cafard wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quite odd, the dominance of IPA. I wasn't aware of it until I walked in Rodman's in NW Washington, DC, and found that what appeared to be 80% of the American beer offerings were IPAs of one sort another.

They are easy to brew and hide fermentation or sanitation defects well.

I don't get out to too many taprooms anymore, but I used to be in the habit of ordering their pils or lager first, since it's much harder to hide the quality behind the hops. Generally speaking, breweries that have good beers of those styles are good across the board, while those that don't have a lot more variance.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#77

Post by jcomis » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:41 PM UTC

petra wrote: post #51

tempsy wrote: post #9

I wish there was a "Stripe Atlas" for brick and mortar businesses. 90% of the work to start a restaurant, cafe, shop, etc., must be the near identical to others colocated in the same city/state. The rise of "ghost kitchens" tries to solve this in some way but I think there's opportunity to go further.

1. I wonder why we are not seeing "cloud brewing"? The process, as they describe it, seems very standard. 2. For restaurants, it's either "ghost/cloud kitchens" or franchises. If you go outside those, it's possible that restaurants require too much uniqueness and too much risk to fit a standardized model.

contract brewing is huge. Usually it's used when a small brewery wins a national award (GABF Gold is a popular category) or if they want to start distributing outside of just the taproom.

http://www.sleepinggiantbrewing.com/ is an example of one such contract only business.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#78

Post by ljm » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:42 PM UTC

munificent wrote: post #32

I live in Seattle where the IPA thing is just out of hand. My uncharitable pet theory is this: A certain class of men (sometimes women, but it's almost always men) get interested in something and then desire to make it part of their identity. That in turn means they want to convey that they are more into it than other people. Their passion expresses itself as competition. Most people that aren't really into beer don'…

It feels a little cynical. You can enjoy beer and music and stuff without getting into a dick measuring contest. If all they want to do is one-up you then they’re not your friend. Find someone who listens to you.

If that’s their way of enjoying things, then what’s so bad about it? They presumably dislike a lot of the hobbies you enjoy, they’re not out there to ‘mentrify’ them. (Why this gendered insulting is okay when it’s aimed against men, I don’t know.)

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#79

Post by rsync » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:43 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #42

giggles_giggles wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow this is all incredibly sexist.

Making a neutral observation that various activities have a high proportion of dudebros, and declaring that only men should participate in said activities are two different things.

Actually, your parent is correct: it is sexist.

It makes a distinction based on sex. It is sexism.

It is not, however, negative, as your parent implied.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#80

Post by triceratops » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 6:45 PM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #9

I wish there was a "Stripe Atlas" for brick and mortar businesses. 90% of the work to start a restaurant, cafe, shop, etc., must be the near identical to others colocated in the same city/state. The rise of "ghost kitchens" tries to solve this in some way but I think there's opportunity to go further.

Restaurants and other brick-and-mortar food businesses are highly location dependent. Only way to find the right location is boots on the ground, getting a good real estate agent, real estate lawyer etc. That's a rather more bespoke service than something like Stripe Atlas could provide.

As for incorporation, tax filing, payroll and everything else a business needs, there are already companies providing those services to the food industry. Maybe they're ripe for disruption by a superior experience though?