What propelled the craft beer industry to nearly 9,000 breweries over several decades isn’t volume growth, distribution expansion or heaps of medals, but the stories of its people, according to Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban.
Kleban delivered a keynote address Thursday at the New England Brew Summit, hosted by the Maine Brewers’ Guild centered on the theme of standing out in a crowded marketplace.
“There’s no formula to success but when you distill it down, what has allowed the craft brewing community to truly stand out and thrive … is the authentic stories that we have to tell,” Kleban said. “It’s the stories of scrappy upstarts, innovators, entrepreneurs literally mortgaging their homes and our families’ future all in the pursuit of a passion project.”
Kleban detailed the stories of craft beer pioneers Fritz Maytag, former owner of Anchor Brewing; Ken Grossman, founder of Sierra Nevada; Kim Jordan, founder of New Belgium; and Rob Tod, founder of Allagash. He pointed to the meteoric rise of hazy IPAs as proof that local companies continue to inspire brewers and drinkers alike.
“You created styles that are uniquely New England and are the envy of the world,” Kleban said.
Maine Beer Co. was born in the aftermath of the last economic crisis after Kleban was laid off from his role as an associate attorney at a Portland law firm in 2008. Unemployed and bogged down with more than $200,000 in law school debt, he and his brother decided to make their shared homebrewing hobby a career and opened a small brewery on Portland’s Industrial Way, a street that has launched some of the state’s most prominent craft brewers.
With an investment of $30,000 from Kleban’s wife’s 401K, the brothers designed a values-based company around paying future employees a living wage and joining 1% For the Planet, a network of businesses and organizations that donate 1% of sales to environmental efforts.
“We built it into the cost of our product. We worked backwards,” Kleban said. “That’s why we have a 500 mL bottle that costs the way it does and that’s because that was the only way that we can make the numbers work.”
An expansion took Maine Beer Co. north from its original Portland location to Freeport and an investment in solar panels followed. After a few years, the brewery outgrew that location and built a larger one with a tasting room, which Kleban pointed to as a driver for the company’s success – and likely one for many other craft breweries as well.
“Not only is it an important business model, but again, it’s a chance to tell our story,” he said. “How many consumer products do you have people coming knocking on the door saying ‘I want to sit in your factory and watch what’s going on. I want to sit down with my family and just hang out?’
“Not many. We’re one of them, so we should take advantage of that,” he continued. “So at Maine Beer Co., we try to leverage that. We try to use our tasting room again as a storybook, as a chance to tell the story of Maine Beer Co..”
The 2013 launch of Lunch IPA propelled Maine Beer Co. beyond its home state and cemented it as a renowned presence in the region. That year, the company’s output reached 3,906 barrels of beer, topping Kleban’s original goal of 3,000 barrels.
“That was pie in the sky for us,” he said.
In 2014, Maine Beer Co.’s production nearly doubled, reaching more than 6,300 barrels.
In 2020, the most recent year for which data is available from the Brewers Association (BA), the brewery produced 19,584 barrels, a -22% decline from 2019 levels, driven by the loss of on-premise sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the exceptions of 2020 and 2017, when production was flattish, Maine Beer Co.’s output has increased each year available from the BA. Kleban partly attributed this to the company’s ethos, embodied in its “Do what’s right” tagline, resonating with drinkers.
“We believed that consumers would reward companies that do the right thing,” he said. “Over 13 years, I think that we’ve proven that they will.”
In addition to helping run Maine Beer Co., Kleban took on leadership roles on the boards of directors for both the Maine Brewers’ Guild and the BA. He advised fellow New England brewers to appreciate their employees, get involved in fighting climate change to protect the future of agricultural ingredients and strive to create environments that are welcoming to people who historically haven’t been reflected in craft beer culture.
“We still have challenges,” Kleban said. “Our industry, I think not deliberately, because perhaps we just had our head down to the grindstone and trying to survive, left too many people out of the conversation.”
He also cautioned brewers to be aware of the external forces putting pressure on the industry, such as spirits-based, ready-to-drink canned cocktails.
“Let’s not be blind to that,” he said. “They’re a powerful force.”
After a volatile two years, Kleban urged brewers to keep their chins up, and lean into the spirit that built the craft beer industry decades ago.
“Let’s all remember why people support us: We represent American promise,” he said. “Let’s not forget that. Let’s all strive in our own unique way to tell our own stories, do the right thing and make the world a better place through beer. Success will follow.”