Austin, Texas-based Independence Brewing is nearly old enough to drink itself. Founded in 2004, Independence has long been a bastion of traditional beer styles with Texan flair and has watched a dynamic craft beer scene grow up around it.
Brewbound got a round with co-founder and president Amy Cartwright to look back on the brewery’s two decades and seismic shifts in the Lone Star State’s craft beer landscape, including a team celebration and how everything – including the grocery channel and the cost-of-living increases – is bigger in Texas.
Below is our conversation, which has been lightly edited for clarity.
How has the Austin craft scene changed in the past 20 years?
Amy: When we first started in 2004, the Austin craft beer scene had gone through a bit of a shakeout and there were less than a dozen left. While similar closures happened in other states in the late 1990s, Texas particularly went through more closures due to the restrictive regulatory rules in place at that time.
The most fundamental changes in the craft beer scene have been in legislative changes that updated archaic label requirements, enabled brewpubs to distribute, allowed production breweries to have taprooms and offer beer-to-go. There were so many rules and limitations that created artificial separations between brewpub versus production brewery business models. Rather than having to pick one or the other, you can start as a brewpub, offer beer-to-go, distribute to retailers – there are more avenues to sell.
Another major difference was the number of taps bars and restaurants have now. When I started, it was common for there only to be 2-3 taps, which were usually Bud, Miller and maybe Shiner. You’d be lucky to find Sierra Nevada in bottles and a better bar. In a similar vein, shelf space at stores was more limited.
I was fortunate to have local independent stores that were interested in working with me early on. It also helped that Whole Foods headquarters was in Austin, and I was able to learn the ropes of working with chain grocery stores early on.
Finally, distributor interest shifted in the late 2000s. We self-distributed the first five years of Independence – at first this was just me, and eventually I was able to add a couple of drivers. At that time, distributors seemed very protective of their space, bordering on adversarial. They could outspend us at every level and had a lot of control of the store reset process. As we were able to grow from a handful of accounts to a couple hundred on- and off-premise accounts in the greater Austin area, Brown Distributing (our local A-B house) approached us to work with them.
Timing could not have been better for me because I was pregnant with my first daughter and while I did deliver and merchandise beer up to a couple of days before giving birth, I was ready to hand over the day-to-day deliveries. Brown Distributing was an exceptional distributor to work with as our first. They had started selling New Belgium and were excited to work with me to grow our brand. I learned a lot from them.
What’s different about craft beer in Austin compared to Texas at large?
Amy: Austin has more independent off-premise retailers than other areas of Texas. Lots of independent small stores. And many people from out of state or other cities in Texas think Austin is bigger than it really is. There seems to be an expectation for Austin to sell more beer, based on its reputation as a beer city, but people don’t realize how much larger the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston markets are.
Independence is one of the first woman-founded breweries in Texas. How has women’s place within craft beer evolved since then?
Amy: There were only a handful of breweries operating in Texas in 2004, and the men who led them were the only peer group around. While I was able to participate in the early meetings to help restart our state craft brewers guild, I was young and had lots to learn. I was able to support versus lead these efforts.
Over the last 20 years, women are now in leadership positions within the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, including the director, Caroline Wallace, and the education and events manager, Sheila Garcia. There are more breweries that are led by women. Karen Killough from Vista Brewing and Sarah Watson from Vacancy Brewing are great examples. There are more women in brewing, QA, operations and sales roles than ever. And there are more women decision makers at retailers like Whole Foods, Walmart, etc.
In my experience, communication dynamics improve when both men and women are leading and participating in organizations. Different perspectives and life experiences add to the discussion and problem solving.
We’re three years out from a massive reckoning about the abuse some women in the industry have faced. In what ways have things changed since then?
Amy: On the positive side, there are more HR resources available from organizations like the Brewers Association and other trade groups, and most breweries have thoughtfully invested energy into harassment training and response. However, I think that women feel there is still an inherent risk of raising a complaint – you could face negative reaction from your peers, you could be viewed as “difficult,” you could be passed over for opportunities, etc.
Legal remedies are lengthy, grueling and don’t tend to lead to career advancement. It is up to leadership in organizations to create a safe environment for all employees and develop systems that enable employees to safely report harassment, and that hold team members and management accountable.
What has been your favorite moment or memory in 20 years of Independence?
Amy: One of my favorite memories was a team celebration we had for winning a gold medal at the World Beer Cup for Power & Light in 2016.
We packed up a bunch of coolers and our brewery grill and headed to a small boat dock at Commons Ford Ranch on Lake Austin. It was a beautiful, sunny day filled with grilling, beers, swimming and boating. But more than anything, having the entire team together – celebrating our first gold together – was awesome.
Every person knew they had contributed to making something exceptional, and it was awesome to celebrate together. It felt like we could do anything with this amazing group of people.
Independence’s sales are up +2% in a very challenging market, which is impressive enough on its own, but you’ve accomplished this on the backs of your flagship offerings Stash IPA and Austin Amber – both unabashedly “beer-flavored beer.” What’s driving the success?
Amy: While reviewing scan data from the end of July across all U.S. Foods, sales for American Amber were down nearly -8%, but sprinkled in there were beers like Switchback Ale (+3.9%), Odell 90 Shilling (+3.6%), Anderson Valley (5.9%) and Austin Amber (+27%). What we have in common is that we are established brands that define the category for our local regions. And while I can’t say for sure with other brands, we have been able to steadily grow our sales and distribution footprint for brands like Austin Amber and Stash IPA over time.
It feels like it’s been much harder to launch new brands in the post-COVID era. With so many import, domestic, craft beer, seltzers, RTDs and non-alcoholic options available, customers can have decision-making fatigue. People may be returning to certain tried-and true brands, and we are fortunate to have built that with our core flagship beers.
The game has changed over the last few years. While distributors were much more active in working with breweries to build brands in the 2010s, it has become much more important for breweries to win in chain accounts to be able to expand.
Independence sells about 20,000 barrels of beer annually in just Texas and Arkansas. What would it take for you to expand distribution to other markets?
Amy: While we do receive requests from people out of state, there is still a lot of ground to cover in Texas – especially in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and El Paso, some of the largest metros in the country. Texas really is like selling to six or seven states.
We’ve done a good job with HEB, Whole Foods, Walmart, Total Wine, Randalls and even cracked into a couple of Targets, but we’ve yet to get into Kroger, which covers much of Houston and Dallas. It would take the alignment of chain placements with distributor interest to take on additional states.
What business-related worries are keeping you up at night?
Amy: Inflation, Austin’s rapid increase in cost of living, and being able to keep up with rent and labor costs. While these types of worries are part of running a brewery, the last few years have been more intense. Trying to gauge and time price increases is challenging.
It’s hard to fuel growth when margins are tight, access to capital is tight, and the category is going through a generational transition. Yet it was after a previous downturn in craft that Independence Brewing first got its start. I’m trying to keep the business adaptable and on the lookout for new opportunities, whether that be in new product innovation or through new partnerships. Opportunities often present themselves when times are tough if you’re open to them.