Using this image for the header cause, why not? lmao
It’s no secret that the past 3 years have been a challenge for our industry: uncertainty, shortages, increases in costs across the board, etc. We know you’ve seen a lot of the same in your daily lives. While Able Ebenezer has not been immune to these challenges, I am proud to say we are holding our own and staying in the fight.
With that, I wanted to give everyone a quick recap of this past year, and lay out our strategy for 2023, with a “call to action” covering how you - our loyal customers - can support the effort.
2022: HOLDING THE LINE
A year ago, it became clear that the cost increases we endured over the previous 2 years were not going to be temporary, and we needed to take steps to remain sustainable. At that time, the cost of everything from grain, hops, cans, case boxes, CO2, natural gas, electricity and more - along with the cost to ship them all to Merrimack - had gone up over double-digits in terms of percentage, and it was not looking like that trend would ease in 2022.
Thus, we executed our first price increase in the history of Able (going on 8 years at the time), adding a dollar to the cost of pints at the bar, from $5 to $6 (we still eat the tax), and increased our wholesale case pricing ~10%. This helped keep our margins relatively healthy, as we embarked on a year with the focus of “holding what we’ve got:” maintain our current Distro territory and Taproom traffic, and be prepared to adjust should uncertainty appear once again.
Uncertainty did reappear: CO2 prices increased twice, with deliveries becoming sporadic as the supply began to run short (it’s still short; shout out to Matheson for keeping us going though). Fuel for our Distro vehicles - which we run daily - obviously increased, and energy costs for the brewery spiked once again at the end of summer.
Getting on my soapbox for a minute: To top it off (or add insult to injury), the regulatory environment in NH shifted over the summer, with new legislation officially forcing our home delivery service - Distro Direct, later BringtheBeers.com - to cease operations. This one likely hurt the most as home delivery, something we created out of the shutdowns in March 2020 to stay in the game, kept our team together and Able going during that volatile time.
But, as we learned in the military, you focus on what you can control and channel all of your effort towards staying in the fight, regardless of the challenges. After all, we didn’t cry and tap out when the shutdowns came, and we weren’t going to do so when we received that call from the state.
Take the L, pick yourself back up, and drive on.
And that’s what we did: we finished 2022 having held *most* of what we had at the start of the year. Uncertainty still lingers, but we held together.
The question going into the end of the 2022 became what the focus in 2023 would be, given everything that had happened during the year. Would we stay the course and hold what we had? Should we dial back in an attempt to reduce costs, or increase prices again to make our margins healthy again and hope the market will bear it?
We’re not pursuing any of the above; instead, we’re expanding our operations in 2023.
2023: LFG
“Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity.”
-General Carl Von Clausewitz
Right before the New Year, we received a call from Hannaford; they wanted us to expand our distribution to their stores…by a lot.
Some background: We started with Hannaford at the end of 2018, serving just 6 stores in the towns around Merrimack. A year later, our sales performance encouraged them to expand our presence to 10 stores (big shout out to y’all!). We’ve served those 10 stores consistently since then, throughout the recent years of uncertainty. In 2023, however, they wanted us to take on 17 new stores (!!) across the state, with the goal of pushing into the remaining 9 at some point in the next year.
Boom. Go Time.
Note: I really want to take a moment to thank both Hannaford and Whole Foods (who we’ve been doing business with since 2015) for being the only grocery chains willing to work with small, local, self-distributing breweries like Able. It really means the world to us, especially since we’re only maintaining 2 out of hundreds of SKUs on their shelves, and they could easily simplify by just having the large distributors fill those slots.
Our Distro Team adjusted their rhythm to enable us to get hands on all of these stores, while also continuing to service our current partners in the market, and started making the first deliveries this past week. In the coming weeks, as shelf plans are finalized, our core brands “Burn the Ships” and “Victory nor Defeat” will have a locked-in presence at 27 of the 36 Hannaford stores in NH, spanning from West Lebanon to Portsmouth, Nashua to Meredith.
This expansion is what triggered our shift from “holding what we’ve got” in 2022 to “let’s f*cking go” in 2023.
As stated up front, the challenges of recent years have impacted all brewers, and the hospitality industry in general. Many reacted similarly as well, by increasing their prices. They are also adjusting in a manner we didn’t anticipate: reducing the number of SKUs they send out to the market and placing focus back on core brands instead of maintaining a wide variety. This is a solid way to simplify an operation on many fronts, as well as streamline & reduce overall costs, since maintaining a variety of new and rotating products typically comes with higher costs. What this shift has caused in the market is less SKUs available to fill shelves and draft lines, both of which have expanded significantly over the past decade to keep up with the boom of craft beer. Now, with less products available to stock, those shelves and lines are at risk of being underserved, hence the call from Hannaford to expand.
Able has been unique in that we’ve never really leaned on a wide variety of brands to keep y’all interested. Instead, while we always have fun occasionally developing new beers and rotating through our old favorites, our operation has always been focused on our core brands: “Burn the Ships” and “Victory nor Defeat;” the most solid, consistent, proven and loved of our beers.
This presents an opportunity for Able: we can expand the presence of our core brands by simply occupying vacant space across the state, without the need to dial back the rhythm of our rotating & experimental brands. This in turn increases “Burn The Ships” and “Victory Nor Defeat” production, simplifying and streamlining our overall raw materials, which in turn reduces costs.
So, we decided we don’t need to increase our prices again at this time; by simply increasing the raw material purchases, production and sell-through rate of our core brands, we should be able to keep our margins healthy enough for Able to be both sustainable and grow.
Thus, our 2023 strategy is centered around the following mission:
Increase the presence of “Burn The Ships” & “Victory Nor Defeat” across our expanded Area of Operations in order to secure Able’s place as a solid, reliable and true state-wide brand.
Our expanded Area of Operations.
This is a big adjustment for us, having been mostly focused on the Merrimack River Valley in year’s past. Keep in mind: A lot of folks who don’t live around Merrimack may have never had the opportunity to try an Able beer, so we’re not really a state-wide brand. We have the chance to change that in 2023.
I say “simply” but it really isn’t simple; meeting this goal will take a lot of hard work and dedication. Production and Distro have already begun spinning up to set conditions for the ongoing expansion, and the effort will continue well into the year. We’re likely going to need to upgrade our vehicles in the near term, and potentially (hopefully) expand our team. We’re also going to need to manage our costs and raw material supplies even more so than we had in recent years to ensure the party doesn’t stop.
Further, and most important, we’re also going to need YOU.
CALL TO ACTION
In military terms, “asymmetric warfare” is a fight where the competing sides vary significantly in terms of size, capability, technology, etc. This forces the “weaker” opponent to adopt new and creative strategies in an attempt to nullify some of the advantages held by the larger, stronger, more capable force. This is seen often in fights for revolution, where an oppressed people rise up against and take on a superior force. We all know of the successful ones, while no one really remembers those which failed.
Throughout the American Revolution, the Patriots relied heavily on the local population for support. Resistance fighters in Axis occupied territory during WW2 - like the Maquis in France or Detached Separatists of Poland - were as dependent, if not moreso, on the people. So too were Guerilla fighters in the Caribbean, the revolutionaries of Central and South America, and the various insurgencies in the Middle East.
“Guerrilla war is a kind of war waged by the few but dependent on the support of the many.”
-Captain B.H. Liddell Hart
For almost 9 years now, Able Ebenezer has continued to operate as a fully independent, self-distributing brewery, in an industry where such an operation shouldn’t have lasted this long without tapping out. We go toe-to-toe with the larger brewers and their very robust & capable distributors daily, facing all manner of challenges from that level of competition…and we are still here.
We are the few (there’s still only 7 of us); but the only reason we still remain in the fight after all these years is due to the support from YOU the many.
And now, we want to employ a creative strategy to support our fight in this challenging market by asking for your support yet again: as we venture forward into 2023, we will need your help reaching our goals by increasing the flow of “Burn the Ships” and “Victory nor Defeat” across NH.
Here are some easy ways you can support the effort:
Starting with the obvious: Grab a 4-pack from one of our partnered stores, or a pint from one of our partnered restaurants. After all, without them, Able would cease to exist, and they need our collective support now as much as we do.
Come visit us at the brewery! We have an awesome community of regulars and are always having a good time.
Ask for Able at your favorite restaurant. If they don’t have us available, ask “why not?”
If you’re at a restaurant or store that doesn’t yet work with us, let them know that, since we self-distribute and are on the road daily, they can contact us directly (distro@ableebenezer.com) to learn about our offerings and get delivery within a matter days, if not same-day.
If you’re strolling through your local Hannaford or Whole Foods and see our 4-packs tucked back from the front of the shelf, give us a hand by pulling them forward (you’d be surprised how big of an impact shelf facings make; below is an example of what we shoot for).
If you happen to grab a 4-pack, it’s a huge help to pull cans behind it on the shelf forward so those behind you can find them easily (this courtesy applies to all beer brands out there, not just Able, and is greatly appreciated by all of us).
Happen to see our shelf empty, or another brand in our slot? Ask an employee if there’s any back stock, or give us a heads up and we’ll make that location a priority on our next route.
Even something as simple as emailing our Distro Team a photo of how our shelves look at any of our partnered stores (distro@ableebenezer.com) is a big help to the effort (helps us to allocate our time efficiently; in the military we call it “economy of force”).
We’ll be sure to keep you updated on our progress as we move forward, and give everyone a heads up if there’s any areas where we’re slacking & need to channel our efforts.
Back in 2020, you all rallied behind us when everything came to a halt, and that support made that trying year a big win. We hope you’ll rally with us again as we take on 2023.
“But my favorite aspect to think back on from this year has been our community; all of you. You made Able Direct a source of positivity in a very negative time, and it was contagious. You not only believed in us, tried Direct for the first time, and helped spread the word - you went out of your way to add to the positive vibes…Just know that everything you all have contributed to the cause has not gone unnoticed, and is appreciated more than words can convey."
-me in March 2021, reflecting on the 1 year anniversary of the shutdowns.
With your support and positive vibes, Able Ebenezer will continue to be the independent brewery you’ve come to love. In return, we’re committed to putting in the work required to continue delivering consistent, quality beers for your enjoyment. Together, we can make 2023 one of the best years in Able’s history, and a “win” for our entire community.
With that, let’s get after it. See you at the bar! Cheers.
-Carl
