Monday, July 27, 2009
Restaurants Talking Head: Monday Night Brewery
Posted by Jeff Holland on Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 5:12 PM
On a balmy Monday evening in a cozy neighborhood not far from the industrial-sized tanks of the Atlanta Brewing Company, three intrepid entrepreneurs are cooking a 10-gallon batch of Belgian Pale Ale using a pot atop a propane burner. Juggling hoses, fittings and timers, they trade barbs, avert crises and entertain guests, who mill about casually, asking questions and sipping previous nights' brewings.
This is Monday Night Brewery, and it wouldn't be all that different from any other homebrewing party, except that Jeff Heck, Joel Iverson, and Jonathan Baker have bigger ambitions that brewing backyard suds for their friends. The three partners are actually working toward brewing commercially, and the weekly brewing parties are just part of their master marketing plan. They have a striking logo, a slogan inspired by their brewing and beer-drinking philosophy ("Weekends Are Overrated"), and an honest-to-God business plan that has them on track to start selling their beer in 2010.
"I think every homebrewer thinks at some point, 'What if I could do this commercially?'" says Baker, who serves as the company's Marketing Guy and Director of Mind Control. "We were throwing the idea around, not taking it that seriously, but we figured, at least let's explore it, so we started a blog, kind of put a stake in the ground. I think it became more real for us as time went on, and we started improving our beers and getting positive feedback from people. And we've gained a lot of experience brewing every week. Not many homebrewers brew that often."
MNB is part of a trend in the brewing industry that is seeing small, upstart local breweries building up a market for their beer months, even years, before it is available by sharing the experience with the public via parties, blogs, Twitter, and any other way they can think of to get the word out. Most bring a good business sense, a sharp eye for design, a wide-ranging sense of humor, and an appreciation for pop culture to the mix. Tampa's Cigar City Brewing, which began releasing its beers this year, built a significant following via founder Joey Redner's blog that chronicled the process for all to experience vicariously. North Carolina's Fullsteam Brewery, like MNB, is still in the planning stages and has been sharing its prototype beers with an ever-growing fan base. They also have a slick website and a unifying concept of Plow-to-Pint Southern brewing, which they hope they can parlay into investment money.
"Brewing is such an emotional category, and like it or not, marketing is an important piece," says Baker, who designed the labels and runs the blog. "People may come back to a beer because it tastes good, but they might try it first because the label looks good." Baker's graphics reflect the company's white collar origins and after work brewing sessions with a design at least partially inspired by the TV show "Mad Men." He's also working on a tap handle design that is shaped like a tie. "We're essentially marketing to ourselves. That's who we are. Twenties, young professionals, Atlanta transplants. Cosmopolitan but still Southern. It's a clever, fun vibe that we are trying to go for, and it is different."
Heck, Iverson, and Baker each bring a particular skill set to Monday Night Brewing, giving them a corporate structure despite their humble origins. Heck, CEO Guy and Supreme Beer Chancellor, works in private equity and handles the finances. Iverson brings engineering skills and is the operations guy and taste-testing ninja. Baker has a marketing degree from Emory. "What made it come together for me," says Baker, "is when I realized that it took the three of us to make it work. We became better friends, even fighting about some of this business stuff, and it's just been so much fun to work with them."
Monday Night Brewery plans to release two beers, Eye Patch IPA and Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale, which will be contract brewed initially. Already they have had a test batch of the Scotch ale brewed for them by Thomas Creek Brewery in South Carolina, but they are still tweaking the recipe for the IPA. Eventually they hope to have their own facility, but contract brewing will require less initial capital outlay and give them a chance to use their business skills to build the brand before investing in expensive brewing equipment. Purists may scoff at contract brewing, but the executives at MNB have no intention of neglecting the beer. "We want to be a local beer, but it's pretty hard to do that, at least at first," says Baker. "We're not just in it for the money. It's more a means to an end."
Despite the vast amount of paperwork and spreadsheets involved in starting a brewery, producing a good product has been one of the hardest parts of the process. "With craft beers, you don't want to launch without beers that you can stand behind 100%," says Baker. Consistency has been a bugaboo, although they hope that their latest toy, a SABCO Brew Magic system, will help with that. "It's a closed system, computer-monitored, all stainless steel fittings," says lead brewer Heck. "It will allow us to make adjustments in one area without other factors coming into play."
Meanwhile, the Monday night parties continue. "It's an added bonus that it also serves as a marketing tool," says Heck. "We just really enjoy it. We get all kinds of people through here. You know, it's not a bad way to succeed, not a bad way to fail. If this is all it ends up being, that's great."
(Photos courtesy of Matt Altmix of Altmix Photography)
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