This story aims to provide some insight into how one craft brewery found a bright spot and a path forward in the face of all-too-common adversity.
Like many other breweries, the post-pandemic world presented some formidable challenges for North Jetty Brewing. Beer sales through its distribution partners dwindled to practically nothing, crowds at the taproom never quite bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, the rising cost of goods, and all the rest. Closing the books at the end of each month led to the same question: can we keep doing this? North Jetty Brewing was not, and is not, alone. I’m sure the story sounds familiar to many brewery owners.
“Distribution just dried up,” said Michelle Svendsen, who owns and operates North Jetty Brewing with her husband Erik. “It just wasn’t there. We were relying more and more on our taproom and even that was struggling.”
North Jetty Brewing is located in Seaview, Washington on the state’s southern coast. It’s very near the more familiar town of Long Beach. It’s a small town, a beachy vacation destination, so traffic at the taproom is seasonal, but there is also a decent-sized local community of year-round residents eager to support small businesses like the brewery. However, there’s only so much a brewery taproom can offer its patrons and, as we’ve reported in recent stories, studies show that today’s craft beer drinkers most often drink other things too. We frequently drift out of our lane, so to speak.
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Not too long ago, North Jetty Brewing announced that it was making a significant change to its business model. Since opening in 2014, the taproom focused solely on the brewery’s beer. There was no kitchen and just a few non-beer options. In February, all of that changed when the brewery’s taproom added a kitchen and began serving cocktails. Still serving the brewery’s great beers, of course, but now offering more choices. The word “Brewing” is still on the sign out front, but guests know they can enjoy more than beer at North Jetty Brewing.
“It’s been a lifesaver. Things have really turned around,” Michelle told me when I visited North Jetty Brewing recently, just six months after the big switch. I could sense the new energy and the lifted mood.
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They didn’t just do it, they did it right
“I read something that said ‘It isn’t enough to be the best brewery taproom in town, you need to be the best bar in town,’” Erik Svendsen told me. “I don’t know if we’re that, but we are definitely the best tequila bar in town. Maybe on the coast.”
When making the switch, Michelle and Erik made a very smart decision and stuck to their passions. They’ve enjoyed vacationing in Mexico for many, many years. Predictably, that led to an acquired fondness for tequila. They have now combined those two passions: great beer and great tequila. They serve other types of liquor, but North Jetty Brewing has about 75 different tequilas on the menu at any given time, sometimes upwards of 100. It is probably the broadest tequila selection on the Washington Coast.
Erik, who has evolved into a serious tequila geek, leads special tequila-tasting events at the bar. Those events have proven popular. The margaritas and other tequila- and mescal-based cocktails are creative and inspired. Locals know that Wednesday nights often lean heavily into the Latin-American theme. If the mood is right, and the beer and tequila are working properly, the rhythms might even inspire some dancing.
It is still a brewery taproom and plenty of folks sidle up to the bar to explore and enjoy the beer but the addition of food and liquor resuscitated the business and invigorated it with new energy. It worked because North Jetty stayed committed to quality. Michelle and Erik approached the change with passion and made the move with intention. If they’d just decided to add basic budget-minded cocktails, like the dive bar down the street, this probably would not have worked.
Quality, passion, and intention
As a brewer, you take pride in the quality of your beer. You obsess about the details. That is one of the things people love about craft beer. It is intentional and carefully considered. Everything you do at your taproom should get the same attention. Do not serve your world-class beers alongside a mundane, thoughtless selection of other stuff. People visiting your brewery expect quality, even if it’s not beer. It sounds weird, but it’s true.
Cider, wine, seltzer, kombucha, soda pop, and anything else you serve at your brewery taproom should be on par with your beer. Don’t just phone it in and serve Coke, box wine, and Angry Orchard. Ideally, you should lean into something that interests or excites you — a quality product worthy of sharing space on the menu with your beer. For Michelle and Erik, it was tequila.
North Jetty Brewing took a big leap of faith. They changed their liquor license and essentially moved from being a brewery tasting room to being a restaurant. A big move. They invested in a kitchen. There were a lot of expenses involved with setting up the bar. They surely worried about upsetting some craft beer traditionalists. In the end, it was the right thing to do. It seems the bet is paying off.
Should you do the same thing that North Jetty Brewing did? No, certainly not. That is, not unless you are passionate about tequila. Every circumstance is different. Every brewery is unique. You are unique. There is no foolproof recipe that makes sense for everyone. The only common ingredients are quality, passion, and intention.
Do you know of other breweries that have made such bold adaptations? Let me know.
