Minus one market, the furthest one away from the home base of Elk Rapids, Michigan, Short’s Brewing packaged and sold a triple-hopped IPA in the span of 24 hours.
It was exhausting. The entire crew began the production at 12:01 a.m. on August 17 after weeks of planning to make sure things went smoothly.
A few unfortunate things and oversights happened, but overall Short’s partner Scott Newman-Bale and sale coordinator Pauline Knighton agreed in an email with Brewer Magazine that the process went “very well.”
“We managed to deliver most of the beer on the same day in time to get onto store shelves or tapped, that day,” they wrote. “Philadelphia was our one exception. Their beer arrived around 10 p.m. so most of it hit most shelves the next day.”
The brewery said the driver heading to Philadelphia tried to skip a toll road and ended up adding six hours to the drive, which caused the delay.
A few smaller hiccups included a flat tire for the Northwest Ohio delivery caused a delay, but most of the beer was on shelves by 7 p.m. Also, the plane carrying beer to Wisconsin was forced to land in Frankfort, Michigan due to storms. It was eventually able to get to Wisconsin that day for delivery.
“We forgot to have someone in logistics sleep during the midnight bottling run, so when the above happened they had to hope that our logistics team were not all asleep,” the brewery team wrote. “Should we do this again, we need to have a point person for the day of the release who does not stay up all night packaging and is ready to take calls from distributors, logistics companies, and customers.”
Short’s learned that social media really ruled the day as well. Along with the positive feedback of consumers purchasing the product that was packaged just hours before, some buyers were wondering why they got left out.
“If anyone had any doubts that social media is huge for craft brewers, this release was a great indicator of how influential it really is,” the Short’s team wrote. “We received a number of calls and emails in the days after the release from establishments that were disappointed they were not included. It is really important to Short’s to thank all accounts for their endless support, so not being able to get this beer to every account who supports us is something we feel bad about. Some good friends and supporters were left out and we are sorry that happened.”
Looking at the weather and tolls are just two of the many aspects of this sort of project that are important and easy to overlook, they said.
“We also have a new, and much longer, checklist that we need to check off on a next big project,” they wrote.
When asked what three things will be needed should a similar process happen again, the team said that the ability to deal with change, strong communication and having a quality product are key.
“We had committed distribution partners who, although probably lost money on this project, adjusted to all the last minute changes and went above and beyond to get product to as many people as possible,” they wrote. “This release wouldn’t have been successful without their patience and flexibility.
“Of course, some aspects of the plans could have been stronger, but overall, for a first approach, this went very well. “Psychedelic Cat Grass” was sought out for the 24-hour concept, but we also felt very strongly about the quality of the product. At the end of the day, the quality of the liquid is the most important part of any release.”
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