Sanitation in Beer Land

Current state of craft beer. Summer 2022.

Let’s just say, things are tight. Exhaustion from supply chain uncertainty and sky rocketing inflation has got us all in a less than generous frame of mind. Protecting shelf space, brands and employees has gone from a fun game of life to a cut throat game of survivor.

As we venture into this newer, leaner, harder future of craft brewing a few questions require asking:

In this brave new brewery world, how do we not only survive, but thrive?

Can proper sanitation really lead to redemption?

Does it really matter?

You betcha.

Let’s rewind back to the hipster optimism of the early 2000’s. We made our money with computers but really, we were craftspeople at heart. It made all the sense in the pre-pandemic world to trade in that day job for the seven-figure beast of burden that is a craft brewery.

It was cool! We had a support system. We crowd funded our family, friends and neighbors and they actually gave us money! We matched that money with our own money accompanied by hard work and through an enormously difficult labor of love, a brewery was born.

We hired tap room staff that we really liked. We hired grandpa to hand pack boxes on the packaging line. We hired our mom to buy merch and our second cousin to design it. Our neighbors told us how great our beers were. Our community embraced our festivals and events. Things were going better than expected. Things were going well.

Fast forward to a global pandemic later. Costs of supplies and production materials have increased by double digits. Distribution is stretched thin. Margins are lower than ever. It’s a sobering time.

Let’s take a moment to wallow in the difficulties of our current situations.

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Now, let’s move forward, leaner, meaner and stronger.

Here there is no room for error. There is no room for contaminated tanks, wasted ingredients and recalled products. To succeed in this market, there is room only for perfection.

The kinda perfection that is achieved by using an excruciatingly strict sanitation program.

Knowing the status of everything in the production schedule at all times. Testing everything in our power and control to test. Inspecting every nook and cranny of every tank in every room with a flash light.

In this day and age, the Devil is truly in the sanitation details.

This is the truth and you are in Beer Land.