Many breweries may feel pressured to grow at all costs, and that may have been the case early on for Cincinnati’s MadTree Brewing. But, as they shared in their sit-down cover story interview with Brewer Magazine, the company is now taking a different track, one rooted in discipline, focus, and profitability.
Co-founders Kenny McNutt and Brady Duncan said the current industry climate demands less chasing of trends and more clarity about where a brand can truly win.
McNutt said the company learned this lesson the hard way.
“We kind of shotguned a bunch of stuff out there,” he admitted, referencing MadTree’s experimentation with various can sizes and package formats. “We could do anything — 16s, 19.2s, four-packs, six-packs, 12s, 15s, 24s — you name it.
“But watching some of those trends, you start to understand where you’re actually making money and where you’re not.”
That realization led to a sharper focus on margins.
“The 19.2-ounce convenience game doesn’t really work for us,” McNutt said. “The margins are garbage. If you’re buying it for three bucks off the shelf, it can cost us something like 57 cents just for the aluminum.”
Rather than continuing to pursue every possible format, MadTree is now refining where it invests.
“Going forward, we need to look at where we can actually win, where we want to invest our time and money, and see if we can get some margin back from some of those things and kill off the others that just aren’t working,” McNutt said.
That kind of disciplined thinking also extends to the brewery’s growth plans. Duncan said MadTree isn’t chasing new locations or untested categories just to show momentum any more.
“We’re not interested in making long-term investments right now,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re not doing things to grow, but I don’t think we’d be willing to put out $2 million to open a new space.
“The return is just far too long.”
The same cautious approach applies to production upgrades, such as adding a pasteurizer to enter the non-alcoholic market.
“We haven’t pulled the trigger because the return is too long,” Duncan said. “There’s a lot of instability in alcohol right now with tariffs, political shifts, and just general uncertainty.
“Who knows what’s going to happen?”
In today’s volatile market, MadTree’s restraint looks less like hesitation and more like strategy. By focusing on profitability, tightening operational discipline, and prioritizing capital efficiency over aggressive expansion, the brewery is looking to position itself for sustainable longevity rather than speculative growth.
Sustainable breweries aren’t necessarily the ones that grow fastest — they’re the ones that grow smartest.
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