Derek Gallanosa helped fuel the hype that it took to make his Abnormal Beer Company one of the hottest new breweries in 2015.
The company’s first-year anniversary beer was a 500ml Imperial Oatmeal Stout with cacao nibs, lactose, espresso, vanilla and coconut. Gallanosa had 600 bottles made and waxed with a limit of three bottlers per person and available for sale at noon on April 12 at the price of $17 per bottle.
The beer was sold out in 30 seconds as 214 buyers purchased the beer. The brewery’s website had 47,000 page views in less than five minutes.
“It’s not about what we are presenting to people, it’s the perceived value, what they think of it,” Gallanosa explained. “We are built on hype. If all things are equal beer-wise then who do people choose? The one with more buzz going on around it. You want to play to that demographic of your customer base.”
A former brewer at San Diego’s Karl Strauss and a member of the San Diego Brewers Guild, Gallanosa is known by other brewers and consumers in the area. After a successful opening year, sustaining the hype and delivering on quality is the next step.
“The biggest worry has been living up to that hype and giving people what they expected,” Gallanosa said. “Expectations versus reality. And hopefully the reality matches their expectation. That was was I was nervous about. Not only on this bottle release and how much we were selling it for. To see people enjoy it, that said something.”
Along with being the head brewer at Abnormal, Gallanosa is an instructor at San Diego State University, teaching the “Marketing Craft Beer” course for the Business of Craft Beer Certification Program. He has practiced what he preaches, using social media to build his brand in a crowded marketplace of more than 120 area breweries. Along with online work, face-to-face marketing and being the public image of Abnormal has also helped gain traction, Gallanosa said.
“I go out and drink with people, so people know that I am the head brewer and am representing the brewery at all times. That is important,” he noted. “If you have a public image, let people know what your position is. You have to represent correctly. It’s constant promotion that helped build up that hype.”
Building connections through collaborations with Stone Brewing, The Bruery and J. Wakefield along with being named the best new brewery in San Diego last year from Thrillist led to a million-dollar investment into the company just six months into being open.
“Someone liked the beer and the image and they invested into it, and we can now take it wider to a bigger audience,” Gallanosa said.
Abnormal was the 92nd brewery to open in San Diego when the doors opened in April, 2015. Since, 30 more breweries have opened in the area. After producing around 440 barrels in 2015, Abnormal looks to jump capacity in 2016 to around 5,000 bbls as it has sunk the money into a warehouse for storage and installing a total of 11 new fermentors to a farm tank that housed four 20s before last month.
Located inside The Cork & Craft restaurant, a fine-dining establishment that also has its own winery, Abnormal was created to cater to consumers tastes.
So far so good thinks Gallanosa. Relying on his past experience, he has been crafting recipes and delivering them straight to the main system with no time for practice runs.
“I mean, I think it tastes good, but that does not matter at all. It can matter somewhat, but the biggest thing is what the public thinks,” he said. “It was something I felt proud of and what I wanted to take to market and it was well received and we have been progressing pretty fast.”
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