Micro Microbreweries

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Scott Smith has built a solid following for the beer he’s making on his own at East End Brewing in Pittsburgh by promoting directly to drinkers. He delivers kegs—sometimes by bicycle—he does promotions, he fills growlers at the brewery: When you get East End, you get the brewer and the owner.

That’s part of the appeal of these small operations. People may discover a brand like Blue Moon, or Samuel Adams, or New Belgium and embrace it because it’s different, it’s small, and not as many people know about it as they would a mass-market label. But for some, that’s not enough. They want a truly different, truly small beer that next to no one knows about. Savvy retailers want those beers to draw that kind of crowd, the kind that is willing to pay a bit more for a beer they can’t get elsewhere.

Oddly, for these tiny operations, success can seem like a threat: If your beer sells well enough, pressure mounts to expand. Hunt’s brewery is “bursting at the seams,” though so far he’s been able to find ways to make it work. Adding another person represents a large increase in spending and accounting overhead, and small brewers hold off as long as possible.

The pricing threats faced by the industry, which I covered in a November column, “A Harvest of Higher Prices,” have hit the small brewers as well. The problem is less severe, however, because they’re able to make microscopic buys in the lowest tier of the market. Hunt compares it to being in a rowboat when the large brewers steering the Titanic spot an iceberg. “It’s cold in the rowboat, but there’s a big difference in flexibility,” he points out.

One Guy is using that flexibility and independence to try something that doesn’t rely on hops. Hagner has brewed up something he calls Cinnamon Boldy, a lager with honey and Vietnamese cassia cinnamon. It actually drinks a lot better than it sounds—a warming, aromatic beer with a hot, sweet center that’s been doing well in initial sales. Bigger brewers with big budgets may have better equipment, but they don’t have a corner on imagination. A small brewery—a tiny brewery—may be where today’s cutting edge is being honed.

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