Re: The problem with wow

A friend sent me a link to a blog post today, from Mystery Brewing in Hillsborough, NC. I encourage you to read the whole thing, but here is what resonated with me:

As soon as we open our doors and roll out onto the market, we graduate from pre-opening buzz. How do you keep that wow? [...] Will the anticipation built in pre-opening buzz live up to a blonde ale, even if it’s a great one?

While I don't have quite the same concern that buzz around Fat Bottom is going to outpace your enjoyment of the beer, this is a question that I kicked around this week. Fat Bottom and our neighbors at Broadcast garnered a snowball of media attention, triggered by a story published in the Nashville Post last Sunday.

I did (very briefly) contemplate turning down the interviews, for precisely the reason above...I did not want to take all the media coverage now and not get any attention when we open in a few months. However, every business, particularly those selling to consumers, has a marketing obligation to maintain interest in their products. At best, turning down media coverage would simply defer the need to find the next exciting thing about the brewery. At worst, I might see little to no coverage or public interest at opening, which is when you want it the most.

To quote Erik at Mystery one more time:

...the only thing we can do is just keep on making great beer...enough to keep us a little corner of the wow.

I hope you get try the beer soon and have a little "wow" moment of your own. For now, keep an eye on your preferred network: Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. We'll be announcing several pre-opening public events in the coming months where you can get your hands on a Fat Bottom.

Refs:
http://www.topfermented.com
http://twitter.com/topfermented
http://twitter.com/mysterybrewing

Brewery Neighbors?

I was excited to learn late last week that I'm getting a brewery neighbor in the Fluffo factory complex. Broadcast Brewing (splash page, twitter) officially signed their lease for another space in the same building as Fat Bottom.

This was not a huge surprise, but was good to hear. When I first met the landlords, they were up front with me that they wanted multiple breweries in the building. While Fat Bottom was the first to sign a lease with them, another brewer was in serious discussions with them, but ended up pulling out and putting their project on hold.

A few weeks later I was in the building to meet with the architects and ran into the guys from Broadcast. We went out for beers and dinner and talked about our respective plans. They're nice guys and now I will get to look out across the courtyard at their operation and maybe borrow a pound of hops occasionally.

Some people that I've mentioned this two pull back and give me a look that says "why do you want competition right next door?" I really believe that the more craft breweries there are in Nashville, the better we will all do, and I'm excited to create a brewery complex in East Nashville. Together, I think we can draw more people in, and at the end of the day Broadcast and Fat Bottom are both trying to create a packaging brewery, not a pub business.

Cheers to Nashville craft beer!