Beer Survey, New Microbrewery.

[gtg904a]

Hello, I don't know if this is the place for this post, please excuse it if it is not.  I have some friends that are thinking about opening a microbrewery in the Atlanta area. 

This spring I took a marketing classes and one of the other groups in my class mentioned this website as a great place to gather the perceptions of people in the Atlanta area. 

I would love to know more about your beer perceptions and preferences.  If you could take a minute or two to fill out my survey, that would be fantastic:
https://gtech.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4UCt4GrRyJExXgM

If you would like to know about any upcoming tastings you can enter your email address at the end, otherwise if you'd like to remain anonymous then don't put your email in. 

Thanks!  (why is there no beer-stein smiley?  There is clearly a wine toasting smiley!)

[angryuser]

Survey completed.

(why is there no beer-stein smiley?  There is clearly a wine toasting smiley!)

It's a travesty.  So I thief one from another site I frequent.

[Gmoney]

Are your friends talking microbrewery or brew pub?  Your questionnaire gave me the impression of a brew pub, which is a completely different animal.

While Atlanta could certainly accommodate another local brewery (Sweetwater being the only existing one of any value if you discount Terrapin (in Athens), Wild Heaven (not built yet), and Jailhouse and Atlanta Brewing Company (crappy beer)), state laws tying brewers to a single distributor and making it next to impossible to break that relationship really make Atlanta a less-than-attractive location to start a new brewery.   Not saying it can't be done (as Sweetwater has shown), just that it's a bit risky, and those laws have killed other local breweries (RIP Dogwood).

[mongo]

gtg904a?  You must have gone to Georgia Tech in the late 90s...  Only school in the United Staates that gave you a freaking number instead of your name as an email address. I still remember when I showed up on campus as an idealistic freshman and was told that from now on, I was known by the Institute only as my GT number.

As for opening a new microbrewery....   I'm always a fan of making more kinds of local beer available.  There was actually a recent article in the GT Alumni Magazine about a Tech graduate and former employee of Sweetwater's who is now the head brewmaster of a brewery in Mount Pleasant, SC...

Hello, I don't know if this is the place for this post, please excuse it if it is not.  I have some friends that are thinking about opening a microbrewery in the Atlanta area. 

This spring I took a marketing classes and one of the other groups in my class mentioned this website as a great place to gather the perceptions of people in the Atlanta area. 

I would love to know more about your beer perceptions and preferences.  If you could take a minute or two to fill out my survey, that would be fantastic:
https://gtech.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4UCt4GrRyJExXgM

If you would like to know about any upcoming tastings you can enter your email address at the end, otherwise if you'd like to remain anonymous then don't put your email in. 

Thanks!  (why is there no beer-stein smiley?  There is clearly a wine toasting smiley!)

[angryuser]

Are your friends talking microbrewery or brew pub?  Your questionnaire gave me the impression of a brew pub, which is a completely different animal.

While Atlanta could certainly accommodate another local brewery (Sweetwater being the only existing one of any value if you discount Terrapin (in Athens), Wild Heaven (not built yet), and Jailhouse and Atlanta Brewing Company (crappy beer)), state laws tying brewers to a single distributor and making it next to impossible to break that relationship really make Atlanta a less-than-attractive location to start a new brewery.   Not saying it can't be done (as Sweetwater has shown), just that it's a bit risky, and those laws have killed other local breweries (RIP Dogwood).

Yeah, on this note, they may want to take a (Thursday, if they're still popping a cask at 5:something) trip over to 5 Seasons Westside to talk with Crawford Moran (of Dogwood brewing fame) about the difficulties local breweries face.

Also, gt7546a here. Still comes to mind faster than my SS#.

[gtg904a]

Are your friends talking microbrewery or brew pub?  Your questionnaire gave me the impression of a brew pub, which is a completely different animal.

I got the impression from them that brew-pubs had even more problems:  Can't sell off-site, must have at least X% of sales from food, competes with the restaurant scene, etc.etc.  Because of those laws and the restaurant competition, they are trying to do a brewery.

Does anyone know if the legal restrictions will change at some point?  Are there any laws in the works?  Georgia has one of the lowest breweries per capita in the US. 

[Gmoney]

Are your friends talking microbrewery or brew pub?  Your questionnaire gave me the impression of a brew pub, which is a completely different animal.

While Atlanta could certainly accommodate another local brewery (Sweetwater being the only existing one of any value if you discount Terrapin (in Athens), Wild Heaven (not built yet), and Jailhouse and Atlanta Brewing Company (crappy beer)), state laws tying brewers to a single distributor and making it next to impossible to break that relationship really make Atlanta a less-than-attractive location to start a new brewery.   Not saying it can't be done (as Sweetwater has shown), just that it's a bit risky, and those laws have killed other local breweries (RIP Dogwood).

Yeah, on this note, they may want to take a (Thursday, if they're still popping a cask at 5:something) trip over to 5 Seasons Westside to talk with Crawford Moran (of Dogwood brewing fame) about the difficulties local breweries face.

Also, gt7546a here. Still comes to mind faster than my SS#.

gt4395b (undergrad) and gtg203t (grad) here.  gtgs were still around in the early 00's

4395 just happens to be Val Kilmer's prisoner number in Top Secret!

[angryuser]

Are your friends talking microbrewery or brew pub?  Your questionnaire gave me the impression of a brew pub, which is a completely different animal.

I got the impression from them that brew-pubs had even more problems:  Can't sell off-site, must have at least X% of sales from food, competes with the restaurant scene, etc.etc.  Because of those laws and the restaurant competition, they are trying to do a brewery.

Does anyone know if the legal restrictions will change at some point?  Are there any laws in the works?  Georgia has one of the lowest breweries per capita in the US.

Our distributor system is horseshit. And corrupt. They feed too much money to our politicians to get it changed.
http://clatl.com/atlanta/beer-bust/Content?oid=1250475

[SteveD]

1985 BCE Ga Tech grad here.  Us old-timers weren't issued email addresses WAY back then. 

[Gmoney]

Are your friends talking microbrewery or brew pub?  Your questionnaire gave me the impression of a brew pub, which is a completely different animal.

I got the impression from them that brew-pubs had even more problems:  Can't sell off-site, must have at least X% of sales from food, competes with the restaurant scene, etc.etc.  Because of those laws and the restaurant competition, they are trying to do a brewery.

Does anyone know if the legal restrictions will change at some point?  Are there any laws in the works?  Georgia has one of the lowest breweries per capita in the US.

Brew pubs would have some issues, much along the lines of what you've mentioned here, but based on the number of brew pubs versus breweries, I'd bet that brew pubs would be easier from a regulatory standpoint.

Georgia does have one of the lowest number of breweries per capita, and from what I understand, it's largely a result of the restrictive laws.  Ask me a year ago if that would have a chance of changing and I would have said no way in hell, but I would have said the same about Sunday alcohol sales, and look what happened.  I definitely think it's possible now, but it's gonna take a concerted effort to overcome the distributor lobby in the state legislature.  That said, Atlanta is really becoming a beer aficionado's destination, with the key missing piece being a strong local brewing contingent.

If you're serious about this, I'll echo angryuser's suggestion to talk to Crawford over at Five Seasons.  He can give you a first-hand account of how these laws killed his business.

[hfranks]

What about Wrecking Bar Brewpub?  I mean, I think we can accommodate another one or two within a 3 mile radius.  You can never have too many brewpubs.

[gtg904a]

I definitely think it's possible now, but it's gonna take a concerted effort to overcome the distributor lobby in the state legislature.  That said, Atlanta is really becoming a beer aficionado's destination, with the key missing piece being a strong local brewing contingent.

So is there any concerted effort?  Anything like "Georgia Craft Brewers Alliance"?  I saw "Georgians for World Class Beer" but it doesn't seem to be active anymore.  Is there a current organization pushing for improve distribution laws?

[Gmoney]

I definitely think it's possible now, but it's gonna take a concerted effort to overcome the distributor lobby in the state legislature.  That said, Atlanta is really becoming a beer aficionado's destination, with the key missing piece being a strong local brewing contingent.

So is there any concerted effort?  Anything like "Georgia Craft Brewers Alliance"?  I saw "Georgians for World Class Beer" but it doesn't seem to be active anymore.  Is there a current organization pushing for improve distribution laws?

None that I'm aware of.  Georgians for World Class Beer was an effort to lift the 6% ABV limit for beer in Georgia, and once that passed back in the early 00's, they were pretty much done.  Honestly, I don't think there's too much knowledge of the issue with distribution laws since local beer isn't all that big a deal to too many people, as long as it's coming from somewhere.

If you're going to try to start a push for this, though, I think now's the time with people still somewhat organized and euphoric from their victory in the Sunday sales arena.  Wait a year or two and you lose that pre-built structure and momentum.

[cmcewen]

Survey completed.

[konfuzed]

I and some friends will go fill it out, as there are several local brewers who would like to go bigger but the laws are awfully daunting.

And gt3877b here. Gawd we're like locust popping up on a different cycles