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3 thoughts on “Reflecting on the beer blogger – beer retailer connection”

1. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Can I just post this to our homepage? 🙂 Well done!

   1. Thanks! Yes, please share. Also a follow-up by Kendall is on the Washington Beer Blog:

2. A very thought provoking article. I switched my career path to craft beer because of the very positive vibe I get from it…but ultimately knew not all could be hunky dory in craft beer land. Here are my thoughts.

   – As small as the craft beer consumer base is, it is changing the industry faster than the industry can handle. And no one has sat down to “plan” for the change. So the default mindset is to just go to reaction mode. It’s all anyone can do to “address the problem” in the moment. The good / bad news is that consumer interest is like a wave out at sea. It’s not even close to shore yet. Craft beer can either try to ride it or just watch as it crests overhead. With the growth going on, there needs to be a focus on change management at the system level, not just individual companies reacting in isolation. I think craft beer still has time to become proactive.

   Company after company has fallen on its face when it relied too heavily on the reactionary mode but just about every new company makes the same mistake.

   – You are up against “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Companies soundbite the shit out of saying they avoid this but it takes a lot more work than a soundbite. It’s only compounded when a few have a controlling financial interest in maintaining the status quo. I don’t know much about the system yet but I would venture to guess that it does not serve today’s needs very well. When the system controls people, the system is broken.

   – You are down in the trenches. No one really listens to those down in the trenches, with the finger on the pulse of what is really going on. It’s too bad because there is a wealth of knowledge down in the trench not being tapped. It exists anywhere systems or companies stick to doing things the way they’ve always been done. Unfortunately, that’s a lot of places because too many just want the cheapest quick fix.

   I look forward to the session next month.

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