Most likely, there’s another tap handle or store shelf to fill in your immediate area before having to worry about filling it down the road or across state lines.
That’s the mentality that SanTan Brewing has undertaken recently and Head Brewer Gabe Wilson told Brewer during the May/June cover story that the Arizona brewery has pulled way back in distro, especially since the pandemic began, to focus on having the best beer for customers that can associate directly with the brewery.
The Phoenix suburb-based brewery located in Chandler, Arizona has grown year-over-year minus a small dip in output in 2020 and is now producing more than 40,000 barrels per year along with making spirits and RTDs.
​”​We feel that we have A: plenty of room to grow still within Arizona, but B: also we really like the ability to have control within our immediate area,” Wilson explained. “If something’s wrong, we have that ability to immediately respond to someone. If they have a problem with a product, we can shoot them out a replacement. But no matter what kind of steps you take, there are going to be non-optimum products out in the market that people are going to pick up and you want to be able to stand behind it, and want to be able to make sure that customer impression is a good one.
“We have a more direct ability to react to that than if you know something happens, say if something like that happens in Texas. I feel like we have more of an ability to be proactive as well locally than outside of the state.”
There’s also the ability to create more exclusivity if the product stays closer to home, which helps create a tourism effect.
​”The last thing you want to do is gain points of distribution outside of your immediate focus area and then not be able to supply [closer to home],” added Marketing Manager Becky Gibbons. “You still have to develop that demand and get it out there so people can try it, and develop an affinity for the brand and the product overall.
“From a marketing perspective, there’s a good way to do that. And then if you say you’ve got it, and then you don’t … you don’t want to disappoint.”
The May/June issue of Brewer is available now. Breweries across the country can subscribe for free here.
Photo courtesy Alice Huynh, SanTan Brewing
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