State of Beer Crunchers: 2024 in Review
Whether you’re new to Beer Crunchers or have been here since day one, thanks for tuning in each week. The past year has been a big leap for this unusual hobby of sharing beer industry content while working in the thick of it. Every year around now, I take a quick step back, look at the past 12 months, and reassess questions such as: “Why do I do this?” and “Where does the motivation come from?” The hope is that buried in my own self-assessment and transparency, there’s some underlying nuggets or advice that is helpful to the many current or aspiring entrepreneurs following along.
Quick Backstory
On a Monday in October of 2008, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the airport for my weekly flight from Chicago to San Francisco, where, upon landing, I would rent a car and drive to a project site near San Jose. I worked in consulting, specifically helping companies through situations involving fraud or misstatements of their financials. After completing the 8 hour “commute”, I arrived at the client site before Noon and had barely setup my laptop when I received an e-mail from HR at the Chicago headquarters. They asked me to step outside for a phone call where I learned I was being laid off.
Nobody considered whether I might be traveling or the benefits of avoiding having me get on that flight, even though it had been my routine for two straight years. It didn’t matter that I was the most utilized and profitable employee at my level without a negative performance review. I simply had no allies in the home office where the decisions were being made, making me an easy cut when the business was under economic threats. At age 26, in the first month of a recession, it was a scary time to face unemployment. As I stewed on that long, 8+ hour commute of shame back to Chicago, I vowed that if I ever found myself in this position again, I was going to have a better backup plan in place. Something that couldn’t ever be taken away.
As it turns out, having a chip on your shoulder is a pretty powerful source of motivation. That frustration eventually got channeled into confidence and fearlessness that helped me advocate more for myself and push me farther in my career. Side hustles can be a tricky topic though, spanning the range of being inappropriate conflicts of interest (and energy) all the way to being extremely valuable to an employer. I try hard to walk the line in what I do here, perhaps crossing it at times, but making sure the net impact is positive for you all, my employer, and myself.
The goal is to combine my experience in audit and consulting as a CPA and fraud investigator, with the eight years I spent in distribution at Reyes Holdings, then the most recent eight years at Revolution Brewing (half as CFO and half as CMO) combined with a love to write, edit videos (I hate the filming part), photography, and using social media in my free time. That oddball combination leaves a fascinating opportunity to create something pretty unique, which is why I plan to continue building whatever the heck this is, along with the presence on Instagram and TikTok which creates a fascinating feedback loop with you all, as well as a funnel to Substack where we go deeper.
While it’s a ton of work and sacrifice, the effort makes me better at what I do and hopefully adds another layer to your repertoire. Most importantly, I have a lot of fun piecing these puzzles together. Whether it’s the organizing of thoughts on topical subjects through writing, learning how to fight through today’s algorithms by knowing what resonates on social, or the networking and conversations that from industry members and fans created as a result, I love this game.
2024 Topics
I didn’t realize just how much ground was covered last year until I put this summary together, but it’s worth a scan through in case you missed any of these or want to see what you’re in for coming up in 2025.
The Predictions
The year kicked off with predictions from my infamous alter ego Nostadouglas which wound up setting up many of the topics that I would track and cover throughout the year most.
The Year of the Lager
I think it finally happened, right? 2024 saw an explosive number of new lager brands launched all around the country, becoming my most written about topic of the year, including breakdowns of how each brewery approached their design and brand.
The Strategy
Perhaps my favorite type of writing is about the strategies behind the beer industry, sharing my own case studies and favorite executions from observing industry peers and traveling around the country.
The Styles & Trends
As much as I think it’s important to digest what the “big guys” are doing and why, I find it equally important to keep an eye on the industry’s long tail and the trends that are seeing the most momentum out of the small and local operations around the country.
The News
One of the most popular types of posts has been breakdowns of the news, usually relating to M&A. These are intended to approach the story differently than the traditional reporting model, instead putting myself in the shoes of the decision makers, trying to unearth and share "the why” by breaking down the potential ramifications of the deal.
The Data
Beer Data Wars is a new series that provided a wide look into popular data sources used around the industry, providing insights and use cases for those newer to the industry or leaders hoping to apply more data into their strategies.
Social Medium Experience
I take pride in not only having been able to build a sizable Instagram following, but to have figured out how to adapt a presence to what works today with an even larger following on TikTok. I’ve begun to translate this experience into useful ways breweries can apply what’s working for me as an individual.
Still a Beer Geek
Like many of you reading this, I’m still a beer geek at heart. As a result, I’m going to continue using the platform to fanboy out over whatever gets me excited, including observations in my travels.
As rewarding as it is to explore these topics and engage with the beer community, the reality is that sustaining this kind of output requires more than just passion—it also requires the right resources and support.
Monetization
A big change took place in June when I turned on the Premium Subscriber tier. This was a necessary update to build accountability and reward myself for the time that it takes to make it all happen. Pricing was really tricky because I try to thread the needle between beer fans, industry workers, and owners/senior leadership. The bigger the audience between those three groups, the smaller their willingness is to pay, understandably so. I sought a lot of advice and received recommendations for as low as $60/year and as high as $600/year. Long story short, I settled in where you almost never want to be, which is in the middle at $199/year, while letting plenty (half?) of posts remain free for all.
The launch was a bit disappointing compared to what I had hoped, which left me second-guessing the decision at first. I banked on the fact that one small nugget from one post could easily return a subscriber that much value right back. As the year went by and I continued proving out the cadence and quality of what I could do, things started to pick up steam leaving me extra motivated heading into 2025. I have considered alternative pricing that would involve lowering the cost for the writing, while creating higher tiers for all the breweries and businesses always asking to send samples and collaborate on my social channels. Feedback is welcome on those approaches.
As the former kid always running a lemonade stand, having a newspaper route, raking leaves for neighbors, caddying, and buying/re-selling nintendo games, I absolutely love having a mini-business (very mini!). Now that I’ve dialed in ways to write faster and create/edit videos on the fly, it’s becoming sustainable from a time commitment standpoint. Hopefully, if the subscriber base grows a little, I can bring more industry voices into this project to share well outside my wheelhouse.
Crunch On
Reflecting on the sweat that’s gone into Beer Crunchers since 2016, I remain appreciative of the opportunity to share my love for beer, business, and storytelling to so many industry peers and beer fans who always shoot me straight. I don’t enjoy public speaking though I’ll do it occasionally, so this is my half introvert / half extrovert alternative. As I look ahead to 2025, I’m energized by the continued growth of this platform and the creative ways to use it in tandum with Instagram and TikTok, diving deeper into the challenges and opportunities facing the beer industry.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned industry pro, I hope my experiences, recommendations, and occasional missteps can provide some value as you carve out your own path. The support and feedback from all of you has been a huge motivator, and I’m excited to keep being a source of infotainment in your feeds and inbox. So, here’s to another year of great beer, compelling stories, and the endless adventure of chasing what gets us excited. Cheers 🍻
Love the content and deep-dives, which is why I subscribed. FWIW, if I didn’t put it on the company card, I wouldn’t have done the pay model. IMHO, especially compared to other substacks I pay for, it’s steep…and I think too steep for a rank-and-file beer employee to consider these days (sorry, I know pricing your valuable time is highly personal…just responding from today’s request for feedback).
On the monetization front, Substack has a one-size model—and it doesn’t fit all. I cast around a long time to find an approach that fit my needs: needing some remuneration to support the work, needing a solution that didn’t require a lot of my time to maintain, and also wanting a clean, wholly open-access site free of annoyances.
For writers working in niche subjects, the sponsorship model is an excellent solution. At Beervana, I do an annual sponsorship with companies I admire (so far it’s only been breweries). We all have relatively small reaches, but if you’re doing a good job, you’re hitting exactly the audience many companies desire. I know that’s true with Beer Crunchers. It’s a small investment of time to do annual asks, and then it’s done for the year. And no annoying ads!
I suspect that, like me, you’d like to reach the widest audience. Substack’s model isn’t designed for that. It does, however, allow for serious supporters to offer some revenue (I have a ko-fi account for that), which is also gratifying.
Just a thought—