Brewing, Cideries & Spirits  June 29, 2020

Berthoud’s City Star Brewing pivots to cans after focusing on taproom growth

BERTHOUD — City Star Brewing Co. is launching a wide release of its first canned beers, marking a rapid shift from a taproom-focused brewery into a to-go sales model echoed by other small brewers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Berthoud-based brewery said it purchased a canning system from a Michigan brewery, able to fill up to 24 cans per minute. City Star was quietly selling canned beer out of its taproom for weeks, but now says it is ready for wider demand.

City Star’s strategy is a pivot from last October, when it said during a BizWest CEO Roundtable that it was shrinking its distribution radius and investing heavily in its taproom, particularly because it wanted to build upon Berthoud’s relatively small community of about 6,500 people as of the last U.S. Census estimate.

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In an interview with BizWest Monday, co-founder Whitney Way said the brewery entered 2020 in a “comfortable” position, focusing on building its customer base in the small town and pulling back from the headaches that come with managing a larger distribution footprint.

“But as soon as the shutdown happened, we kind of had to get uncomfortable,” she said.

COVID-19’s rise in the U.S. struck during a period when City Star was paying down much of its debt, and it received support from some of the federal small business programs implemented in the wake of the pandemic. It managed to keep some sales flowing by selling growlers before the canner arrived.

In mid-April, a Brewers Association survey found 46% of its member respondents didn’t expect to stay in business for more than one to three months within the operating conditions of an economic recession and stay-at-home orders across much of the country.

Way said City Star has had plenty of support from its local fans, and the federal funding has greatly helped to manage operating costs. However, she still sees a great deal of uncertainty in the future for small breweries, especially ones like hers that bet on taprooms as the main draw. 

“I think that how sustainable everything is kind of depends on the community and customers, and if the economic impacts and ripples in the economy from this are continued to be felt wider and wider, people’s spending money might dwindle and we might see that eventually start to impact craft beer buying choices,” she said.

BERTHOUD — City Star Brewing Co. is launching a wide release of its first canned beers, marking a rapid shift from a taproom-focused brewery into a to-go sales model echoed by other small brewers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Berthoud-based brewery said it purchased a canning system from a Michigan brewery, able to fill up to 24 cans per minute. City Star was quietly selling canned beer out of its taproom for weeks, but now says it is ready for wider demand.

City Star’s strategy is a pivot from last October, when it…

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