Posted 03 November 2020 - 09:15 AM
They have been struggling for years unfortunately. It really is scary how fickle the beer market is. Ommegang is an amazing state of the art brewery with a pretty big capacity. They used to crank out fantastic Belgian ales. The demand was such that they rarely could add another beer or even brew a seasonal or one off. Something flipped tho. No one drinks Belgian beer anymore and it’s really a shame. I was just drinking a dark lager from them the other day and they have IPAs. These beers would have been unimaginable a few years ago.
BCTC was the best beer festival I have ever been to, but the last few years it really started to go downhill. Less and less Belgian style ales and the vibe had really shifted. I volunteered for like 15 of them so I was always kind of clued in over the years with how the brewery was doing. It’s been a slow slide. I would imagine that they took a big hit not having concerts this summer. Cooperstown is kinda remote and there aren’t a lot of other breweries nearby (I can think of two and neither one is really much of a destination) so they need events to do much business out of their tasting room. Granted, for a brewery that big, the tasting room is only gonna be a smaller revenue stream relatively, the margins are still big in the tasting room.
I guess that’s a little bit of a tangent, but why don’t Americans drink Belgians anymore? I wish I knew. I brewed a Belgian pale ale with rice last week with Omega Belgian W. Nice and dry. 1.040 down to 1.006. It is basically a starter for a tripel that I am brewing next week. It’s going to be our 3rd anniversary beer. It was my boss’s idea and I’m excited to brew it, but I’m worried about these two beers selling well.
One of my favorite beers I ever have brewed I did last year. It was a honey saison with 3711. I absolutely loved it but no one drank it.
What sells in my tasting room? Light lager, blonde ale, and IPA. It’s frustrating. I keep trying other styles, and I shouldn’t say that they don’t sell at all, but it’s like half the amount per week as the others.