Jewelry, mattresses worth look this month
Buy it now
Don’t be napping: It’s been good sleeping weather lately, and sales at the end of this month should make it even better. May happens to be one of the best times to buy a mattress. The end of the month, during Memorial Day sales, is typically the best time of all, so be on the lookout for retailers to offer discounts of 50 percent or more on top brands.
For every season: The cycle of retail typically includes a purging of inventory at the
demand.
“I’d never seen anything like it,” said Stewart, 32, who started working in bars in Edinburgh, Scotland, when he was 18. “The bar has been twice as busy as we ever planned for.”
Along with its Ohiomade beers flowing in the weeks to come, BrewDog is launching an online store May 16 to hawk its T-shirts, hooded sweats, dog collars, glasses, growlers and trucker hats. The merchandise will ship from Canal Winchester, greatly reducing shipping time for customers.
There will also be more BrewDog bars coming this year. Demolition started recently on a property BrewDog purchased in Franklinton, which will become a sour-beer brewpub. The company also plans to sign a lease for a space in Short North which will become a second bar and restaurant later this year. The Short North restaurant will be similar to the one in Canal Winchester, but on a much smaller scale.
The exact location in the Short North was not revealed, but it will be on the northern end of the district, close to Skully’s Music-Diner.
“That part of the neighborhood is just right for us,” said Keith Bennett, BrewDog’s U.S. projects manager.
From there, growth will radiate from central Ohio, but not too far in the near-term.
“We’ll definitely open more bars in Ohio,” Stewart said. “It makes sense for the next few years to stay close to home.”
That strategy makes sense to Darren Tristano, vice president at Technomic, a food service consultant based in Chicago. Tristano recently traveled to London and scoped out BrewDog’s bars there.
“They will really do well as long as they don’t overexpand and try to do too much,” Tristano said. “They have built a brand that aligns really nicely with younger generations. This is a brand that gets it.”
BrewDog has some work to do though, and has admitted so. Founder James Watt wrote a blog post earlier this year explaining the challenges of opening DogTap in Canal Winchester, and vowed to improve service and the quality of its food.
“The long lines and waits might actually help drive the mystique, but they need to get the service right.” Tristano said. “They do a great job with the quality of the beer, but the food part is an area where they still have to learn.
“I hope they get it right.”
BrewDog is the first foreign craft brewer to set up shop in the U.S. Its overseas experience, with dozens of bars across Europe and a big fan base thanks to its unique crowd-funding model, should lend itself to growth here as well, Tristano said. It also helps that Watt and cofounder Martin Dickie starred for three seasons, from 2013 to 2015, in Equire Network’s popular “Brew Dogs” TV show.
As for the beer, Americans can hope to see Punk, Dead Pony Club pale ale, Elvis Juice, an IPA with grapefruit juice, and Jet Black Heart, an oatmeal stout on nitrogen, trickle into bars soon. A canning line that can produce 500 cans a minute is nearing completion and will allow BrewDog to stock retail stores beginning in June if everything goes to plan. For now, distribution will be limited to Ohio, though BrewDog plans to be a national brand sooner than later.
“The brand that they have built in Scotland has a lot of legs to it,” said Justin Hemminger, spokesman for the Ohio Craft Brewers Association. “I don’t think they are going too have any trouble selling their beer. They could be one of the bigger craft brands pretty quickly.”
BrewDog remains a craft brewer, as defined by the Brewers Association, a national trade group for craft beer, though TSG, a privateequity firm, bought 23 percent of the company last month for about $260 million. Watt and Dickie remain the controlling shareholders.
BrewDog plans to use the investment to fuel even more growth, with breweries being planned in Asia and Australia. It will also finance the construction of DogHouse, a hotel and sour beer brewery planned beside its U.S. headquarters in Canal Winchester — BrewDog also raised more than $300,000 for that project via crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.com.
Back here, Stewart understands that the U.S. craft beer market is awash in brands and high-quality brews. Growth in the segment slowed the past two years as some large craft brewers were bought up by the parent companies of Budweiser, Miller and Corona, while national craft brands like Stone and Sierra Nevada ceded retail shelf space and tap handles to small, local breweries. Still, Stewart sees a path for BrewDog.
“There are a lot of challenges,” he said. “In the U.K., which is 10 years behind the U.S. when it comes to craft beer, it is all about getting people to understand craft beer. Here, consumers are very educated about beer. There is such an abundance of great beer.
“It’s a challenge, but also an opportunity. There are still a lot of people who don’t drink craft beer.”