Selling Craft Beer by Greg Koch of Stone

Rob Creighton · Post by **Rob Creighton** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:27 am

In case you haven't seen it, well worth checking out

www.sellingcraftbeer.com

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:56 am

It's great that he says the only 'loyalty' people have to Commodity Beer has nothing to do with the product or the beer even tasting good. They care NOTHING about your bar except its next to their condo.

He contrasts that with the excitement, loyalty and interest people will have for craft beer because 'people do have good taste, they just haven't been exposed to it.' - this can create loyalty in a consumer where none existed.

I like this guy, he's not a corporate-minded drone. Instead he creates his own model for success.

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:05 pm

Yes, very nice. The YouTube links at the end of the clips are funny. I think the webmaster forgot to scrub them.

Jon Walker · Post by **Jon Walker** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:38 pm

Belgian wrote: I like this guy, he's not a corporate-minded drone. Instead he creates his own model for success.

I admire the business model of his brewery and the fine quality products it releases...the guy in person is (IMHO) a self absorbed prick. People (beer geeks) make the mistake of treating him like he's some sort of beer rock star and he FULLY buys that and behaves that way. Seldom do I slag people who I admire but he's one of the few (and I've met and worked with a great many genuine celebrities) who left me with a truly ugly impression of unrestrained arrogance. Several of the Stone beers are aptly named.

Ale's What Cures Ya · Post by **Ale's What Cures Ya** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:16 pm

Greg Koch is the man. Ontario beer would be far better off if we had some guys like him running around.

Jon Walker · Post by **Jon Walker** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:16 pm

DragonOfBlood wrote:Greg Koch is the man. Ontario beer would be far better off if we had some guys like him running around.

Which you won't until the economic reality of making micro beer in Ontario changes. Greg and his partners couldn't have started Stone today, in Ontario, and succeeded. They would have needed vastly more money than they had, the ability to run in the red for a very long time and the ability to change government regulation and disincentives that simply aren't present (even today) in California.

So keep dreaming that one day your prince will come...he better have money to burn.

Ale's What Cures Ya · Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:06 pm

Jon Walker wrote:
So keep dreaming that one day your prince will come...he better have money to burn.

Despite your disparaging tone I find nothing wrong with dreaming that the Ontario brewing scene will one day elevate itself from passable to great.

The_Jester · Post by **The_Jester** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:46 pm

DragonOfBlood wrote:Despite your disparaging tone I find nothing wrong with dreaming that the Ontario brewing scene will one day elevate itself from passable to great.

Would you settle for "moderately satisfying"? When it comes to brewing scenes, that is.

Ale's What Cures Ya · Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:51 pm

The_Jester wrote:
DragonOfBlood wrote:Despite your disparaging tone I find nothing wrong with dreaming that the Ontario brewing scene will one day elevate itself from passable to great.
Would you settle for "moderately satisfying"? When it comes to brewing scenes, that is.

Well if that's the ceiling then that's the ceiling.

TJ · Post by TJ » Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:10 pm

This guy just rubs me the wrong way. I can't explain it. I love Stone beers, but every time I see Greg Koch interviewed or on some online video I want to spit.

Anyway, the whole thing just came across as a self-serving infomercial to me.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:09 am

DragonOfBlood wrote:
Jon Walker wrote:
So keep dreaming that one day your prince will come...he better have money to burn.
Despite your disparaging tone I find nothing wrong with dreaming that the Ontario brewing scene will one day elevate itself from passable to great.

I sympathize with both views actually. Nice dream to have, and why would somebody that rich look for ways to lose that much of their capital by 'jousting with windmills.' We're in a commercially stupefied province that defies nearly all reasonable goals for selling non-shitty beer. Our beer situation is much as if all they were free to sell at Whole Foods is wonder Bread and Cheez Whiz instead of real high-quality food. How do you overcome such anachronism.

Jon Walker · Post by **Jon Walker** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 2:16 am

DragonOfBlood wrote:
Jon Walker wrote:
So keep dreaming that one day your prince will come...he better have money to burn.
Despite your disparaging tone I find nothing wrong with dreaming that the Ontario brewing scene will one day elevate itself from passable to great.

I'm not crapping on your dream, far from it. I've been around a long time not just bitching about the Ontario situation but actually working with others to change it. I wasn't disparaging you. I was merely suggesting that it's somewhat simplistic to assume that more guys like Greg in the Ontario brewing scene = brewing scene far better off. There's a whole bunch of factors in Ontario that deter the Greg's of the brewing world...or force them into tamer, more economically sustainable business models.

Other than the Volo one-off Greg won't even ship his beer to Ontario and that's because he knows how backward the current bureaucracy is. It's not a case of having more Greg's in Ontario, it's a case of Ontario being a place that attracts more Greg's to take the leap.

SteveB · Post by **SteveB** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:32 pm

Hmmmm...I've met Greg and thought he was a nice guy, I love the fact that he is pushing brewery ethics ahead of craft beer industry growth and agree that California is a beer mecca.

If I can stand up for Ontario for a moment though, we have 1/3 the population in the province and virtually no access to other provinces, in effect making our customer base 97% smaller than a Californian brewery's. Despite this, the Ontario craft scene has...

Big IPA's (Grand River's Curmudgeon and Black Oak's 10 Bitter Years are good examples)
Innovative and emerging beer styles (Flying Monkey's Cascadian and our Gruits are good examples)
Way more organic beer (by %) than almost anywhere in the World
Toronto Beer Week, Ontario Craft Beer Week, Brewers Plate, Golden Tap Awards/Festival, C'est Whats beer festival, Volo Cask Days, Beau's Oktoberfest and hundreds of beer dinners
Brewers from around the world visiting and hosting special dinners and events (Brooklyn, DogFish, BrewDog, De Konnigshoeven and more)
An ever increasing selection of local and (good) imported beer in the LCBO
Specialty and one offs (my brewery alone in the last year has put out a belgian imperial stout, a collaborative beer with a monestary brewery, a Sticke, a IIPA, a local malt & hop pilsner, a dunkelwiessen, a Gose, an imperial strength gruit and a coffee infused amber ale - and we're only one of dozens of breweries doing similar things)
And a virtual tidal wave of new enthusiastic breweries joining the ranks every year (railway city, hogsback, kichissippi, Maclean's, Lake of Bays and I know of at least three more in various stages of setting up) not to mention the exciting rejigging or change of ownership in breweries like King, Cameron's, Heritage & Scotch Irish and Flying Monkey's

Get with the times my friends, shitting on Ontario's beer scene is soooooooooo 5 years ago. We are vibrant, dynamic, innovative and delicious. And believe me, we're just getting started.

NRman · Post by **NRman** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:58 pm

^---^ What he said!!!

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:00 pm

Keep fighting the good fight Steve! Differing opinions on the Beau's range aside, companies like you and Flying Monkeys are certainly shaking things up.