Distribution – The Good Side

Here at Eventide, simply as a matter of good business sense, we are all for breweries being allowed to self distribute. As we addressed on Monday, when a company is very small it needs all the help it can get. The revenue from distribution could easily go towards expansion or any number of worthwhile endeavors, if GA breweries were allowed to distribute on their own.

Self distribution also makes a lot of sense when you get very large. Large companies have profits that, if not invested in growing the primary company or its subsidiaries, gets taxed to death. This is why the big three (Anheuser Busch, Miller, Coors) all own distribution houses. This is not a bad thing, it’s just smart business.

The federal government does not require 3rd party distribution, so why are GA breweries forced into distribution through others? Well, there are many reasons we have this law in Georgia, and one main reason is taxes. It is easier to regulate and collect taxes if all the product goes through a central location. The fewer distribution outlets there are, the easier it is to collect taxes. It is as simple as that.

For us we are going to have to choose a distributor soon, and we will do so happily because that means we’ll be able to start putting beer in the hands of all Atlanta residents, especially our friends and followers (finally!). We would love to have the ability to choose to self distribute or go though a 3rd party, but in our case we would have chosen a 3rd party regardless. The reason being that we have limited resources, and don’t currently have the extra capital to buy a truck or install a taproom for growler pours. We also don’t want to have to take the time to build all of the relationships which our distributor already has, mostly because we won’t have that time to give for a while. Remember it takes equipment, time, trucks, people, coordination, and warehousing to distribute your product. They also put on many events which allow those with limited resources or who are new to the landscape networking opportunities which may not be readily accessible. We will be choosing someone to distribute our product for us soon. However, we do wish that we were given a choice in the matter and not a mandate.