May 27th, 2009
Sam Adams getting too big for the craft beer playground?
Jim Koch faces an interesting problem, possibly as early as this year. As reported by the Washington Post, Jim Koch’s brewery, Samuel Adams, is growing at such a rate that by the end of this year, and by the latest next year, they will have outgrown their membership in the Brewer’s Association.
Jim’s quote from the article is:
I don’t think the IRS should be determining what craft beer is
Unfortunately, they do.
Thus is the dilemma of becoming too successful. Sam Adams is about to find themselves in no mans land. They will have reached a point where their volume will eliminate them from the very definition of craft brewery (less than 2 million barrels per year), but will never be viewed the same as any of the large macro brewers. So, there they will sit, victims of their own success, outcast from their pioneering roots, yet with a reputation that will keep them from being associated with AB – InBev or MillerCoors.
Link to the full article is Sam Adams Is Big. Maybe Too Big.