• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

How 450 North Brewing has adapted to a changing U.S. beer market

August 8, 2017Cody Fague and Isaac Arthur

450 N Cover Codo
“It’s beer as marketing, and it’s brilliant.”

It’s been reported that a majority of the top 30 breweries in the United States have stalled, if not declining sales over the last few years. While it can be tempting to scream about a bubble and limber up to dodge impending pieces of falling sky, a cursory glance into why those sales are sliding offers an opportunity for smaller breweries who are nimble enough to adapt to the changing landscape.

A major driver of this slowdown appears to be shifting consumer habits—beer drinkers, faced with ever more options, tend to chase the new in lieu of a traditional flagship lineup. Another issue, though maybe less critical (for the time being, though it’s growing) would be concerns over who is “authentic” craft versus who is owned by a global conglomerate.

At an industry-wide level, do issues facing a brewery that makes nearly 1,000,000 bbls per year even apply to smaller breweries? Isn’t a lot of this due to their sheer size and the fact that for a brewery at that scale, volume is paramount? Yes. To both. We’re hearing directly from many of our brewery clients that being regional, or even a newer “small” outfit doesn’t necessarily gird you from these threats.

One of our oldest clients, 450 North Brewing Co. (Columbus, Ind.) has embraced this changing landscape by introducing an evolving line of limited release IPAs available on draft in their taproom and in cans through limited retail accounts.

For industry folks reading this, they’re brewing 20-bbl batches, packaging in 16-ounce cans with a pressure sensitive label (sleeves take too long to print/apply, in this case), and offering them up as 4-packs priced in the neighborhood of $15–19.

450 North Dank Candy full450 North 2 Dank Candy

This strategy has driven an enormous amount of sales and allowed them to quickly touch on some of the trendier styles you’re seeing across the country (single hop IPAs, hazy, juicy, dank, insert-other-adjective-here, NE IPAs, etc.) the way a brewpub (and not a packaging brewery) usually would.

But beyond the sales impact, this has been a great tactic for helping them stay top of mind across Indiana. One look at 450’s beer announcements on social media show a frenzy of people tagging friends and asking about availability. The beer itself (with a healthy dose of scarcity) is becoming a monthly must-have item for many Midwestern folks.

It’s beer as marketing. And it’s brilliant.

450 North Juice-Citra450 North 4 GalaxyIs this a sustainable model? That’s to be determined. But for now it’s helping 450 North weather the potential storm of slipping flagship sales, further endear themselves with fans, and raise their profile as a Midwestern (Indiana!) brewery.

450 North 5 Juice -Haze450 North 6 420 - Nuggets

  • More about 450 North Brewing
  • More about CODO
  • Learn how to brand your brewery

This column was provided by the folks at CODO Design, a five-man branding firm based in Indianapolis, IN. They’ve worked with breweries across the United States and around the world, on naming, branding and positioning, responsive web design, and package design. They’ve gathered their experience into a comprehensive Craft Beer Branding Guide to help startup breweries navigate the entire branding process. Check it out at www.craftbeerbrandingguide.com.

 

 

2018 craft beer branding trends: An aesthetic State of the Union for beer packaging
CBE branding expo Desination Marketing Panel
Professional craft beer branding: 10 best tips, advice from 2017
Understand the age and changing demographics of craft beer drinkers (then market properly)
graphic-design-craft-beer-packaging
How to assess your beer packaging like a design professional

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Hi-Wire Brewing is opening a third location in Asheville, mostly for distribution and outdoor space
  • To enjoy DuClaw Brewing’s special edition Unicorn Farts beer, you’ll need to stick your poop in the mail and get screened for colon cancer
  • New Realm Brewing to open a distillery in Savannah this spring
  • Gilman Brewing Opens Third Bay Area Taproom + Expansions in West Berkeley and Daly City for better pandemic protocols

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • DuClaw Unicorn Farts can beer 1To enjoy DuClaw Brewing’s special edition Unicorn Farts beer, you’ll need to stick your poop in the mail and get screened for colon cancer
    March 4, 2021
  • beer flow pour glass multiple pictures data-001The beer flow: tallboys are trending, top IPA SKUs and on-premise taps continue to pour more
    March 3, 2021
  • Innokeg CombiKegKHS keg fillers updated to be more sustainable, efficient
    March 3, 2021
  • Summit IPA variety packIPA sales growth continues thanks to subcategories, according to 2021 IPA Forecast
    March 2, 2021
  • Free samples! These frozen whole cone hops from Michigan’s Blue Lake Hops are perfect for year-round harvest hop brews
    March 1, 2021
  • Whoa, Boulder Beer’s rebrand is badass (enjoy this photo post)
    March 1, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by