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We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
Atwater and Redhook coming to Ontario
Hey Folks,
Wanted to chime in here to give some context.
We're stoked to bring in Redhook and Atwater to market on draught.
There are a lot of things at play when bringing kegs to Ontario:
Does the brewery have any desire to play by Ontario's rules?
Do they have steel kegs that they are willing to ship to Ontario (because one-way kegs make the beer quite expensive to bars - which increases the pint price and limits rate of sale at the bar level)
Is it a beer that you can realistically get to Ontario fresh and sold in a quick turnaround?
Does the brewery have capacity to ship full containers of kegs - as anything less the freight is very costly.
And for us, can we activate with the brewery on a regular basis?
In all cases of Atwater, New Holland and Redhook, we convinced them to abandon expansion to other markets in favour of Ontario - due to freshness, opportunity and margin.
When we started this business, we had three basic criteria for who we would partner with: a) Good liquid b) Strong branding c) Good people
Michigan was always going to be a focus for us as the beer scene is simply awesome in Michigan and the beer can be in Ontario in hours, not days. Michigan has been fertile ground for us. New Holland has had a couple strong LCBO releases and will be launching on draught later this year. These are people we would run through a wall for. Great folk. Plus, Ontario consumers can jump in a car and get to the brewery in a half days drive to check out the brewery and brewpub and experience the New Holland vibe first hand.
As we were travelling through Detroit to New Holland we met the people at Atwater. Super passionate, great beers, working man's branding and a pride of their Detroit roots. Great vibe. They have recently opened 'Atwater in the Park' - their biergarten located in an old church. It has been named one of the Top 10 Beer Halls in the US. Again, the appeal is that the kegs can be delivered extremely fresh and Ontario consumers just need to bomb down the 401 to experience the brewery - and hit Slows BBQ on your way out of town. We're proud to help bring their brand to Ontario and the Windsor area has been contacting the brewery for almost a year trying to get the product, for to Windsor residents, it is one of their local breweries.
Redhook is a nostalgic one for Chris and I. Over the years as we've travelled to the US, we've always picked up a 6 of Redhook. It was always consistent, it was always tasty and you can drink a good number of them.
When Redhook contacted us about representation, we were pretty jazzed. When we had a chance to meet the folks at the brewery (and keep in mind it is a very big company - not Sierra big, but big) we were equally as pumped. Really genuine group of people who understand their role in the craft brewing segment - get more and more mainstream consumers in to craft beer and the segment will benefit as a whole. This propels our strategy with Redhook. We are looking at getting Redhook in a wide range of bars - not just beer bars. It plays a key role in bringing more consumers in to craft beer and driving rate of sale. Audible Ale is a great session beer and has the best tap handle in the league. With it shipping from New Hampshire, the product will be fresh and here same day.
Lastly is price. Craft beer needs to be priced competitively to have staying power. As someone mentioned earlier, a $12/12oz glass can work, but might not generate enough volume or margin to keep it around. If there isn't enough volume across the board, the brand pulls out of Ontario and we all lose.
The kegs we have brought in and will continue to bring in will allow bar owners to make some loot, will offer pints at a reasonable price and will drive healthy volume. We will explore short run kegs from breweries like Omnipollo that will be crazy beers that everyone will be excited about, but they'll also be $500/keg and we'll only be able to get really limited quantities.
We look forward to enjoying a pint with some of your folk on the event circuit this spring/summer.
We will be organizing a bus trip down to Atwater (and possibly New Holland) in the coming months.
As well, we are launching our private order beer club called KoldTe on Feb 19th at our offices in New Toronto.
If interested, sign up for notifications at:
www.craftbrandco.com and click 'Let's Talk' and sign up for KoldTe
Cheers and happy drinking,
Mike
Wanted to chime in here to give some context.
We're stoked to bring in Redhook and Atwater to market on draught.
There are a lot of things at play when bringing kegs to Ontario:
Does the brewery have any desire to play by Ontario's rules?
Do they have steel kegs that they are willing to ship to Ontario (because one-way kegs make the beer quite expensive to bars - which increases the pint price and limits rate of sale at the bar level)
Is it a beer that you can realistically get to Ontario fresh and sold in a quick turnaround?
Does the brewery have capacity to ship full containers of kegs - as anything less the freight is very costly.
And for us, can we activate with the brewery on a regular basis?
In all cases of Atwater, New Holland and Redhook, we convinced them to abandon expansion to other markets in favour of Ontario - due to freshness, opportunity and margin.
When we started this business, we had three basic criteria for who we would partner with: a) Good liquid b) Strong branding c) Good people
Michigan was always going to be a focus for us as the beer scene is simply awesome in Michigan and the beer can be in Ontario in hours, not days. Michigan has been fertile ground for us. New Holland has had a couple strong LCBO releases and will be launching on draught later this year. These are people we would run through a wall for. Great folk. Plus, Ontario consumers can jump in a car and get to the brewery in a half days drive to check out the brewery and brewpub and experience the New Holland vibe first hand.
As we were travelling through Detroit to New Holland we met the people at Atwater. Super passionate, great beers, working man's branding and a pride of their Detroit roots. Great vibe. They have recently opened 'Atwater in the Park' - their biergarten located in an old church. It has been named one of the Top 10 Beer Halls in the US. Again, the appeal is that the kegs can be delivered extremely fresh and Ontario consumers just need to bomb down the 401 to experience the brewery - and hit Slows BBQ on your way out of town. We're proud to help bring their brand to Ontario and the Windsor area has been contacting the brewery for almost a year trying to get the product, for to Windsor residents, it is one of their local breweries.
Redhook is a nostalgic one for Chris and I. Over the years as we've travelled to the US, we've always picked up a 6 of Redhook. It was always consistent, it was always tasty and you can drink a good number of them.
When Redhook contacted us about representation, we were pretty jazzed. When we had a chance to meet the folks at the brewery (and keep in mind it is a very big company - not Sierra big, but big) we were equally as pumped. Really genuine group of people who understand their role in the craft brewing segment - get more and more mainstream consumers in to craft beer and the segment will benefit as a whole. This propels our strategy with Redhook. We are looking at getting Redhook in a wide range of bars - not just beer bars. It plays a key role in bringing more consumers in to craft beer and driving rate of sale. Audible Ale is a great session beer and has the best tap handle in the league. With it shipping from New Hampshire, the product will be fresh and here same day.
Lastly is price. Craft beer needs to be priced competitively to have staying power. As someone mentioned earlier, a $12/12oz glass can work, but might not generate enough volume or margin to keep it around. If there isn't enough volume across the board, the brand pulls out of Ontario and we all lose.
The kegs we have brought in and will continue to bring in will allow bar owners to make some loot, will offer pints at a reasonable price and will drive healthy volume. We will explore short run kegs from breweries like Omnipollo that will be crazy beers that everyone will be excited about, but they'll also be $500/keg and we'll only be able to get really limited quantities.
We look forward to enjoying a pint with some of your folk on the event circuit this spring/summer.
We will be organizing a bus trip down to Atwater (and possibly New Holland) in the coming months.
As well, we are launching our private order beer club called KoldTe on Feb 19th at our offices in New Toronto.
If interested, sign up for notifications at:
www.craftbrandco.com and click 'Let's Talk' and sign up for KoldTe
Cheers and happy drinking,
Mike