I always said that if I ever open a brewpub, I’ll serve BMC in bottles. You ask for it and you really, really need your fix, man, I got ya covered. But I’m not advertising.
Of course I say that now. Red ink has a way of swaying opinions.
Average brewpub brings about 11% revenue from beer.
So brewing your own beer will set you apart in the market but food will make you money.
Just to put it into perspective.
IF you have the right chef. ;D
My experience with the restaurant business is not good. I had great location, write ups in the paper and all. Still very hard to make money. Lots of overhead. But I know others that do really well with food that isnt half as good.
So you guys wouldnt give a brewpub a chance if they had BMC on tap?
FTR If I had a brew pub it would have only my beer on tap. I would sell liquor and wine to if a had that license, and the food would be awesome.
Im not gonna do it though. When those places go down, they go down hard.
I’d do it if I hit the powerball. Set myself a little budget, have a huge party when it opened, and a bigger one when the money ran out.
The maxim that has stuck with me, is:
How do you make a small fortune in brewing?
Start with a large fortune. ;D
Bwahaha! Too damn funny!
That’s not at all what I said. Not speaking for anyone else.
This, children, is called Selling Out. Keep your eyes on the prize, kids $$$
I’m not a beer snob. I have ordered Budweiser when good craft beer is available. Sure goes down nice on a hot summer day.
Sure, I don’t mind a bud every now and then. But I can honestly say I never have, and most certainly never will, walk into a brewpub to try their selection of Bud products. If its a hot day I might try their kolsch. 
Because they could buy a bottle of fizzy yellow water - why waste a precious tap.
Yeah, when it’s 105F on the Deschutes I’m reaching in the cooler for a Coors Banquet and not a Gordon. Never a Bud though, that stuff is terrible, Busch is better among the AB products IMO. Next time though, it will be Bitburger now that I can get it in cans from my local bottle shop.
When I go to a brewpub I like to sample their beers. I like to take in the atmosphere, try some of the chef’s specialties and sample what I hope to be good microbrewed beer. I never drink the BMC’s at a brewpub. Not that I don’t like them but I’m more interested in craft beer.
Here in Pasadena, there’s a successful little chain (about to have a third location) of beer bars that specialize in being eclectic and having a bad ass selection of different beers. Lucky’s has such an amazing selection of Belgians for instance that Dave, the owner and speaker in this story, was knighted by the Brussels’ Brewer’s Guild.
One day I was in the pub and pointed at a tap of Stella that he had on and made fun of it. Dave stopped what he was doing and emphatically said: “That one tap pays for all of these others” (He has about 40).
Now granted that’s a pub and not a brewpub, but Dave has managed to thrive in what has been a beer desert by that rule. I think for anyone in the beer business, I cannot begrudge them using the big brewers as means to siphon off the cash they need to make the rest of our happiness possible.
Besides, at some point, some one drinking a big lager product in one of these places is going to have to get curious and try something. If they don’t after multiple exposures get curious, then they’re never going to anyway.
This was a point I made earlier in the thread. Using the big boys to your advantage for survival purposes is a viable option for brewpub owners.
Exactly - and thats a big difference right there.
See and I don’t feel it really is that big of a difference between a pub and a brew pub. Yes, a brewpub wants to push it’s own products, but ultimately they’re both looking to do two things - stay in business and educate about beer. (And by pub I’m obviously thinking of a good beer pub, not your local dart shock)
If it comes down to a brew pub having to keep their doors open by offering BMC then I can see it. But if a brew pub can’t come up with a “cross over” beer to please the masses and have to rely on Bud then their beers probably suck anyway and the doors probably won’t be open long.
As I said before, you wouldn’t offer McDonald’s hamburgers at an upscale restaurant just because people amy want them. Its the same thing with a brew pub. And a brew pub should be all about educating teh public about fresh, local beer. They are sending the wrong message otherwise. And it is obvious from this thread that a good portion of craft beer drinkers would be turned off by seeing BMC sold at a brewpub. On top of all that its just weak.
The next time I go to a brewpub, I’m carrying in a sack of $1 Double Cheeseburgers, sitting at the bar and ordering a Bud, just to see what happens. Life is too short not to know.
This was my point.
…but I can agree in the sense that a brewpub carrying BMC’s only detracts from the craft beer products they create onsite.
I don’t disagree with your position, but I disagree with your analogy. People who eat McDonald’s hamburgers will typically eat other hamburgers as well. Most of the BMC drinkers I know are ferociously loyal to ONE brand of domestic lager. So while you would probably be able to sell a restaurant burger to a McDonald’s man, chances are that Mr. Bud Light and his buddies would turn and walk out the door. Whether or not that’s acceptable to you as the pub owner is what should drive your decision.
That being said, I’ve always wondered if posting a big sign that clearly states BMC is foreign-owned and a big “Buy American” under that would be enough to sell an adequately watered-down house lager in a working-class town.