WORD TO THE WISE
 Sam Holloway 
President,
Co-Founder
Greetings!
I'M SCARED ... WE NEED TO CREATE OUR BEST FUTURE, NOT SOLELY RETURN TO THE COMFORTABLE PAST

I have been having a lot of conversations with CAS members this past week. Most of them start with mutual relief that a COVID-19 vaccine has been approved and is being distributed around the world. Next, we usually ask each other when taprooms will reopen for good and how quickly people will come back. We talk about how much we miss our regulars and how excited we are to get our staff back and start up with 'business as usual.' That is what scares me the most. Our main goal should be to learn from COVID-19 and use the innovations we've developed to continue to GROW. We shouldn't discard them completely, rather, we should use the lessons learned to go out and create new sources of demand. We need to find new customers and stop solely competing for the same customers. We need a new strategy.

This week, I introduce a New Blog: Creating New Demand In 2021 and Beyond (Publicly Available).

Using the concept of "Noncustomers" from Blue Ocean Strategy, I build beer business examples into a narrative that should challenge conventional thinking. This is a must read for brewing entrepreneurs looking beyond the vaccine's rollout and mere survival and toward strategies that lead to sustained growth.
Kim & Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy Suggests There Are 3 Tiers of Noncustomers
(Image credit: Blueoceanstrategy.com)
ALESOG BREWING & BLENDING'S MANHATTAN BEER

A BRIEF EXAMPLE OF A BEER THAT CAN CONVERT TIER 2 NONCUSTOMERS INTO YOUR CUSTOMERS

One of the hardest parts of linking traditional strategy research to the beer industry is coming up with examples that fit well and tell a consistent and compelling story. As I sat back and tried to think about a beer that was so creative and yet so easily recognizable to a Tier 2 noncustomer, I thought about my friends who drink cocktails, but don't like IPAs. I thought if I could give these friends only one beer to make them love our industry, it would be Alesong Brewing & Blending's Manhattan. Check out their description: (Image Credit: Alesongbrewing.com)

Because of the lighter body, this base beer was holding on to the warm and complimentary flavors in the bourbon barrels: cinnamon, caramel, vanilla and tobacco. The color was a brilliant amber-gold, very expressive of American oak, and it was reminding us of some of our favorite cocktails.

If we were really mixing a drink, this beer was our bourbon. To make a Manhattan, we still needed vermouth, bitters and a cherry to garnish. 

We brewed a fresh red rye ale with earthy bittering hops. Then we added Oregon cherries and let it meld. This was our home-made, one-of-a-kind, Alesong Manhattan mix.
~Alesongbrewing.com
LATEST UPLOADS
New Forum Thread:
(Members Only)

New Public Blog:
(Publicly Available)


External Content:
(Blueoceanstrategy.com)

Updated Resource Page:
(Publicly Available)
WHAT'S BREWING
MEMBER NEWS: HOW DOES CAS MEMBER BREWERY FINANCE CREATE CUSTOMERS FROM NONCUSTOMERS?

I remember the first phone call I had with Rick Wehner, Co-founder of Brewery Finance. I had heard about his equipment leasing company from CAS Members Crooked Stave and I found his program so innovative I was pretty scared to talk to him. I brought in a finance professor on the call so I didn't look stupid. I started asking questions and realized what a great guy Rick was and how he saw a need in the market.

It's been about seven years since that first phone call, and only now am I connecting the dots about how Brewery Finance converts Tier 3 noncustomers into repeat customers. Talk about a blue ocean strategy! Want to know how they did it? Click here to read our new blog.
FEATURED MEMBER OF THE MONTH
STEVE DRISSELL
FOUNDER AND OWNER
STAVES BREWERY (SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA)
2020 has been a strange and challenging year for all of us. I was fortunate enough to travel to Australia before the COVID-19 lockdowns started taking effect, and I met some incredible entrepreneurs during my one week trip down under. It gives me great joy to recognize one of those entrepreneurs as our December 2020 Member of the month. Please meet, Steve Drissell!

An IT consultant by day, Drissell hails from the United Kingdom and grew up appreciating finely crafted ales. He founded Staves Brewing in 2016 and was quickly recognized for the quality and "clean, traditional-style" pale ales he and his brewers crafted. In just three years, Staves Brewery won the 2019 Champion Draught Beer and Best New South Wales Beer from the Sydney Royal Beer and Cider Show.

My subsequent conversations with Steve have confirmed what a creative and passionate entrepreneur he is. I've also learned he loves music and sometimes plays the drums live in his brewery. A true renaissance man and representative of the great people of Australia. Congratulations, Steve and the entire Staves Brewery team!
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