case study

SIDE LAUNCH EBREWING COMPANY E CONTINUING CASE The Art of Craft To hear founding brewer Michael Hancock describe the care that goes into Side Launch beer is akin to hearing a violin maker describe, in impassioned detail, the difference between the acoustic nuances of spruce and maple. "The hops that we use here are very del- icate and, as of yet, remain one of our best kept secrets--no one knows who supplies us." He continues, "The malt, however, which I brought in from Germany in 2007, is now the brand that most craft breweries use" for the lagers and the wheat beer. But his adamant stance on quality doesn't end merely with the basic ingredients. Achieving specific physical qualities of the wort boil, time periods of aging, even the temperatures maintained in the loading area, once the beer has been packaged and is ready for transport-all of these and dozens of other considerations are strictly monitored and enforced to achieve a flavour profile deserving of the Side Launch name. It is clear that his steadfast commitment to quality is not merely toler- ated by everyone in the brewery, but revered as perhaps the single most important aspect of the Side Launch success story. "It's true that every craft brewery is going to have quality as their calling card,"reflects founder Garnet Pratt, "but how is quality really measured? You can look at high beer ratings scores and awards, but you also have to look at experience. Michael Hancock has been in the business for 30 years, and he's been brewing three of the four recipes in our year-round line-up for most of his career. So he's had a lot of time to get them right." "It has to be authentic and true to style," emphasizes Michael. "But it also has to do with accessibility appealing to craft beer drink- ers and aspiring craft beer drinkers. We stay away from heavily hopped IPAs, for example, that a certain number of people say they like, but when you really get down to the nitty gritty, in terms of a refreshing beverage, they'd gravitate toward something we produce on a regular basis." Those beers produced on a regular basis (at the time of this writing) were Pale Ale, Dark Lager, Wheat, and Mountain Lager. Each, according to Michael, a beer historian as much as a scientist, covers a significant and distinct cat- egory within a craft beer consumer's diverse palate. To maintain a level of innovation, seemingly another expectation of craft breweries, Side Launch produces quarterly seasonal beers through its "Ships of Collingwood" series. And for truly experimental styles, it makes the appropriately named line "Man Overboard." TUNITVI CHAPTER 10: Prod But while "new" may be a differentiator in other industries, consistency is the anchor in craft, according to Michael. Copious, detailed, handwritten forms attached to clipboards hang from every fermentation tank in the brew- ery, documenting the precise life cycle of each specific batch of beer and thereby dictating when it's ready for canning and shipping. "People expect craft beers to be different with every brew and yeah, they might," explains Michael,"but if every brew you do is different, you're going to have a problem. Because no matter how much people say they don't mind variations in craft beer, they really do." Questions 1. Based on the descriptions of convenience, shopping, and specialty products in this chapter, how would you categorize the Side Launch line of beers? 2. How would you organize the Side Launch product mix into product lines? 3. How is Side Launch beer both a business and consumer product simultaneously? MINX LAGER NCH COMPANY