Been dazed and confused for so long... & beer democracy
Jul 11, 2025
What's Up?
Warm enough?!
Same theme as last week - lots of places to take beer to but volumes per venue slightly lower with the hot weather meaning slightly less ale drunk. Also both unamused and amused to see the headline today on the BBC about growth... email a few weeks back saying it wouldn't be no "surprise"... but "oooft" all the same...
No slowdown in Black Velvet sales which is counter intuitive to me at least... and Sundown is flying as is Satisfaction. Personally, am not usually a Moondance drinker but it is my choice of pint at the moment...
This time next week we are making our debut at London Craft Beer Festival. Usually I think that is too cool for us, but Jack is young and cool enough so maybe they will be fooled by appearances. Come and see us if in the smoke!
Dazed and Confused 4.6% ready to ship now too...
What's On?
What's About?
One of our most switched on customers suggested we do something on transparency, which generally speaking is hard to argue is not a good idea. The topic concerned is controversial, but that is what it is.
This person runs a truly fabulous, Nationally Acclaimed Pub and really knows their craft. We are really proud to be in there - when we are in. We love the pub. We love the landlord. When I have a pint there, I am very happy to pay the ask because the whole experience is utterly brilliant. They order from us typically 12x per year, with an average order size of 2.5 casks. Because of the regularity and the relationship, they get fffabulous prices and of course fffabulous beer.
The landlord is super on-it with regards to pricing. Three years ago when our then bar-manager did a price promotion in our Tap Room on Pressed Rat, the landlord flagged this as an objection point, and we removed it immediately (even though the pub is 30 mins drive from us, it was about the pricing that we could control that counted).
On that theme our debate has now swung to whom we sell to - and whilst we can't in many cases be explicit on contracts/pricing etc., yes, we are listed on SIBA ✅ - but then you might ask, who isn't? http://www.siba.co.uk/directory/brewer-members/brewer-members-south-east/ - this typically covers Greene King, Punch, Star, etc. etc. . Stonegate/The BeerCompany? ✅ Yes we do that. A few limited wholesalers? ✅ Check. Then the one that is the most contentious for some. Spoons. Do they buy from us? Well, like Thornbridge, Hog's Back, Flack Manor, Hook Norton, Greene King, Oakham, Stonehenge, Vale, Bradfield, Exmoor, Dorset, Ringwood, Loddon, Purity, Redemption, Daleside, Kirkstall, Inveralmond, Theakston, Adnams, Courage, Burton Bridge, Morland, Morehouse, Maxim, Batemans, Wychwood, Purity, Sharps, Goddards (Powder Monkey), Brains, Ramsgate, Stancil, Windsor & Eton, Twickenham, Dorking, Frome, St Austell, Little Valley, Leeds, Sambrooks, Nethergate, Wimbledon, Robinsons, Lancaster, etc., etc, (just what is available in only 30 miles from us), ✅ yes they do. They have done discreetly for around 20 years according to old records.
A few things here. Brewery Trade is incredibly hard. I don't get paid, no dividend - nothing, literally not a single penny - nor does Graham. We've ploughed plenty of savings in, though! We'd like to get to be getting something and work our chops off towards that. With the legacy set up we have, we are heavily dependent on volume. We're making great progress, and have a wonderful team. "This time next year, Rodney... "
Crucially, we don't think that for many of our customers, there is much of an overlap with JDW customers and their core customers. It is nuanced, but they come to us with orders rather than us "selling" to them per se on the phone - so if the prospect of us supplying one near you would be damaging to your trade, of course we can have a chat and make a business call - but as above this is something that has gone on for 20+ years, so not sure why it would suddenly kick in now, but chat we can if needed.
We want to help our customers thrive, but equally we have to get to a point where we can turn a profit, or we don't survive. Really simple. So for us, it isn't someone moaning to us about the price of a pint in a lovely venue versus the pint in something clean but more functional, for us, it is literally if we don't do it then how does our business model work?
We love free-houses. Graham has one, I am hopefully in the process of completing on one this year - and we (unlike the landlord who flagged this, who to be fair has won the highest acclaims, not us) don't see the conflict of interest.
Finally, whilst we can control our prices and who we sell to, we can't control end prices. Those guys have upped both their prices to us to levels that work (FWIW much more than we upped our trade prices). Have I just opened a can of worms with regards to beer-democracy? Happy to have a chat one-on-one on this.
Bon weekend, stay cool,
Xen
P.S. Fact of the week:
SIBA: 46% of Brewers said in May that their main priority is survival versus 43% in 2024...
FWIW We want thrive-all, not this survival nonsense, but there you go, tells you the state of the state...
P.P.S.
I spent the whole afternoon trying to set up a smart TV. By the end, I was Dazed and Confused and yelling "auto-tune function on" at the Microwave...
The worst thing?
The Microwave answered....
Sorry not sorry, and watch out for your Chinese made air-fryer and all the kitchen discussions about state secrets!
