​How Falls City Finds a Sales Balance​ in Portfolio

Terms like “Rotation Nation” and “New Sells” are one way to create a business plan and find success yet for a brand like Falls City, what’s old can be new as well and it’s working well for the Louisville, Kentucky company.

Born originally in 1905 and re-introduced about 10 years ago, Falls City has the brand name recognition but it’s also fighting the “old beer” mentality at the same time, so having a diverse portfolio helps cater to a variety of consumers, says Marketing Manager Ryan Berg.

“The original Falls City went out of business in 1978 before being brought back in 2010, so the brewery missed out on a couple generations of beer drinkers,” he said. “We get a lot of ‘my uncle drank this in the ’70s,’ or ‘I remember my grandfather drinking Falls City lagers in the ’60s,'” Berg said. “I like marketing to those people and keeping those memories going for that group of people.

“But I also want to let people closer to my age group — I’m 30 — in Louisville, or who may be traveling to Louisville, think that Falls City is a cool spot to drink quality craft beer.”

So along with Streetlamp Porter and Classic Pils, Falls City has Hipster Repellent IPA.

“From a marketing perspective, I find getting the message of Falls City as a whole and on the level of individual beers to be very interesting,” Berg said. “My goal for the brewery is to acknowledge and honor the past while remaining in the present and looking towards the future.”

On the individual beer level, Berg feels like the beers do the talking for themselves.

“I just have to put it out there,” he said. “American craft beer is in a bit of a transitional stage right now in my opinion. With all of the hazy IPAs, milkshake IPAs, and pastry stouts out there, I find it refreshing that a brewery still offers true-to-style, or close to true-to-style beers.”

Hipster Repellant is an ode to the hop-forward IPAs Sierra Nevada puts out while the Classic Pilsner is a revamped recipe from the old days.

“The English Style Pale Ale is our modern take on a beer the original brewery offered,” Berg pointed out. “Streetlamp Porter is modeled after pre-Prohibition style porters of the old days.

“So, we’ll do things like hazy IPAs and we do experimentals but we like to offer the beers we like to drink and the beers that made us fall in love with craft beer in the first place.”

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