#177: Bright and Shiny
We say goodbye to Vermont legend Ray McNeil. Then, how to resist the Bright and Shiny allure of new hopyard tools – or maybe they’re just toys?
Category: Business Management
Hopnology Classic: Selling at Beer Festivals
When don’t brewers want to buy your hops? When they are navigating hundreds (thousands?) of drunken consumers at a beer festival.
Hopnology Classic: When to Harvest
It depends. It depends. It depends. You get it.
#176: Burnout and More
On another “We read it so you don’t have to” we leaf through the latest New Brewer. Topics on tap include non-IPA breweries, craft beer in Mexico and a deep dive into employee burnout.
Hopnology Classic: Pre-Harvest Marketing
As if running a hop farm isn’t busy enough, how do you handle the looky-loos who stop by “because beer is cool” as well as legitimate potential customers who want to see how the sausage is made?
Hopnology Classic: Collaboration
Growers and Brewers, sitting in a tree. Trying to make an IPA that doesn’t smell like cat pee-pee. Not one of my best poems, but you get the idea.
#169: Cost Creep
First, let’s poison Gregg. Then there’s the issue of rising prices for fertilization. Did you notice your budget isn’t sufficient anymore? Might there be some alternatives?
#162: We’re Biased
Thinking, Remembering and Knowing. We are each a collection of our own experiences which turn into biases impacting the actual facts behind any decision. The goal isn’t to remove our biases, but to understand their impact.
#161: Value Added
Secondary steps such as drying and processing don’t have to be done. When you choose to do these things you create cost, but you also create value (and price point). What does it cost to add these value elements and is it proportional to what you can get out of it?
#158: KPIs
Krappy Pulpy IPAs? No, we’re talking about Key Performance Indicators. If you had to just pick a handful of critical, high-level metrics to measure the health of your business, what would they be?