Forged by fire.
The Mass. Bay Brewing Co. has emerged as a strong competitor in the New England specialty beer market.The Mass. Bay Brewing Co. makes it home in one corner of a vast building that was once part of the Boston Navy Yard. In the 1940s, the cavernous space echoed with the clangor of America's industrial might, as destroyers rolled down the ways, and the United States feverishly prepared for war.
Today, what was once the largest structure in the U.S. (in sq. ft.) has reverted to quieter civilian uses, including the brewing of beer.
The Navy Yard serves as an appropriately nautical backdrop for the Mass. Bay Brewing Co., as they launch trucks laden with Harpoon Ale into New England's frothy specialty beer market.
Dubious Fortune
Mass. Bay was among the first wave of microbreweries to open in New England, and has weathered its share of tribulations on the path to maturity. In its first hurdle, Mass. Bay had the dubious fortune to share a home town with the Boston Beer Co., a successful contract brewer.
Mass. Bay was the first true microbrewery to open in Boston, and the divergent philosophies of the two competitors led to a vitriolic slanging match about the virtues of local production.
By playing to local loyalty, Mass. Bay hoped to capitalize on the fact that its beer was the only brand actually brewed in Boston, a claim that the company could make at that time. For three years, Mass. Bay bottled its product in-house. The company turned out tens of thousands of cases in a grueling competitive battle. Ultimately, the brewer's donnybrook proved damaging to both companies, and largely fruitless. "It was true that we were the only beer brewed in Boston," says president Rich Doyle, "but as it turned out, people didn't care. I'm not criticizing that, I just learned."
As a result, Mass. Bay closed down its labor-intensive bottling line and began to contract its bottled production at the F.X. Matt Brewing Co. in Utica, N.Y., while retaining draught production at the Boston brewery.
Although the shift to partial contract operations meant that the company had become what it beheld, it also meant that Mass. Bay became more profitable. The shift to contract brewing transformed the company into a hybrid operation with greater flexibility.
For one thing, the contracting arrangement has allowed Mass. Bay to launch a full line of year-round and seasonal bottled products in addition to its flagship Harpoon Ale. The company now produces two additional year-round products; Harpoon Golden Lager and Harpoon Light, together with four seasonals; Stout, Octoberfest, India Pale Ale and Winter Warmer.
All the products share new packaging, designed to clarify the identity of the products. Each bottle of Harpoon now bears the chequered imprimatur of the brewery, a pattern derived from the traditional blue and white checked motif of the Bavarian Octoberfest. Harpoon products now present a more uniform front and bolder shelf facing, a move designed to build awareness among consumers.
The company's light beer is its most recent introduction. "We spent a lot of time thinking about it," Doyle says, "and since we're not a group of people that drink a lot of light, we weren't sure we wanted to do one. As it happens, we now have a light we like, and we see room in the market for it all year round."
The rapid expansion of Harpoon seasonal offerings owes much to the success of Winter Warmer and Octoberfest, the first seasonals the company offered. "Although I have a negative visceral reaction to brand proliferation," Rich Doyle says, "each of our seasonals has a place in the market. We haven't just thrown a bunch of brands out there."
The company will field a new seasonal for the summer, aiming at filling a new niche. "We thought about doing a wheat beer," he says, "but I'm not sure that Americans really go for wheat beer. For those that do, there are several on the market, so it's a segment that's well served. We also wanted to avoid getting caught up in the ritual that goes with German wheat beers: using the right kind of glass, pouring them properly, etc. In our eyes, it's too small a market to get involved in all that."
Ultimately, Mass. Bay settled on an India Pale Ale recipe. "We wanted to come out with an ale that is very hoppy," he says, "in contrast to most of our other beers, which are rather mildly hopped. We see it as a tribute to the beers of the Pacific Northwest, where they serve beers hoppier and unfiltered."
As Mass. Bay builds shelf presence with new and different beers, the company also takes other avenues to build awareness. Like most microbrewers, the company is constrained from using print and visual media, but Mass. Bay has been more imaginative than most when it comes to promotion. "We don't do any conventional advertising," marketing manager Nick Godfrey points out. "Our dollars are better spent doing other things, rather than running in a race with people who are bigger than us."
In one example, the microbrewer now sponsors quarterly festivals, intended to broaden awareness about the company and build sales for seasonal brands. "We've been doing an Octoberfest for three years," Godfrey says, "and we had 2000 people come for the weekend last year." This year, Mass. Bay will also sponsor a St. Patrick's Day party, a Christmas party and a summer outdoor event called the "Harpoon Beer Invitational."
The company has also instituted an unusual promotional effort, dubbed the "5:30 Club." The "club" is designed introduce Boston's teeming population of young professionals to the brewery and the brands it produces.
The premise is simple. Tours of the brewery, arranged in advance, begin at 5:30 three nights a week. Groups of 20, 50 or even 100 people gather in the Harpoon taproom, which overlooks the brewery. Brewery-goers are treated to a visual tour of the plant through the plexiglass wall that runs the length of the room, while sampling the full range of Harpoon beers.
"Attendance has been running about 1000 people a month," Godfrey reports, "and we've got a six-week waiting list. Some people bring their whole office down, and then a few weeks later come down with their wife's office. For many people it becomes their own personal secret, and they get a kick out of bringing their friends."
"Many people who attend are trying Harpoon for the first time," Godfrey observes, "and it's a great way to introduce them to the beer. It's an effective marketing tool that isn't perceived as advertising. People meet us, see the brewery and try the beer in a very personal, familiar way."
According to Godfrey, the campaign has had tangible benefits. "We've opened several new accounts through the 5:30 club," he says, "and we've sold a lot of T-shirts and hats. Its also brought us a couple of apprentice brewers."
Godfrey believes that Mass. Bay's promotional tactics are having an effect. "Sales have increased tremendously," he says. "I think we tickled people's appetites when we started doing the Octoberfest seasonal, and things have really taken off since then."
Godfrey reports that Harpoon sales have begun to grow in outlying areas, and the company is adding a salesperson to help cover Massachusetts and Connecticut. The company continues to handle most of the local distribution of Harpoon, and utilizes wholesalers for its sales in the remainder of Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Manhattan.
"For the time being," Godfrey says, "we're going to concentrate on adding depth to our primary market here in Boston. We've been opening more accounts and selling more beer, and keg sales are way up."
The success of Harpoon's brands have heightened hopes that the brewery can reinstall a bottling line. "Now it's beginning to make sense for us to bring back bottling capability,' Doyle says, "because it would allow us to fill in the gaps in our seasonal production. It's very hard to estimate sales of the seasonals in advance, and we usually have to err on the low side."
Asked about the next developments for Harpoon, Doyle says, "There are a lot of next things. We've got a light beer in draft and in bottles, we've got a summer seasonal product, a big summer seasonal product, a big summer event and some big equipment changes."
Doyle also reflects on the progress the company has made. "We've worked hard for a long time," he says, "and although not everything has worked out as we expected, we've got the best crew we've ever had and things are coming together."
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| Author: | Reid, Peter V.K. |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Modern Brewery Age |
| Article Type: | Company overview |
| Geographic Code: | 1U100 |
| Date: | May 10, 1993 |
| Words: | 1438 |
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