For this edition of ‘The Startup Dialogues,’ I talked with Equinox Brewing, a brewery-in-planning in Fort Collins, Colorado. Equinox grew out of a local home brew store and will place its emphasis on education and beer appreciation. Considering Fort Collins already has six other breweries and one other brewery-in-planning, brewery differentiation is a very important factor. Shannon and Colin, the founders of Equinox, were kind enough to discuss this topic with me.

1. You are opening your brewery in one of the cities that has the highest craft breweries-per-capita. How has this affected your strategy?

It would be very difficult to open a brewery in Fort Collins that is planning on distributing the majority of its product.  The competition for tap handle space and shelf space in liquor stores is huge when you consider the marketing power and presence of New Belgium Brewing and Odell Brewing.  We have no plans to push ourselves into that market, and instead are focusing on in-house sales for on-site consumption.

But, because the local breweries have built such an enthusiastic beer community, there are a lot of people looking to learn more about brewing and beer tasting.  Our goal is to offer a relaxed environment for beer appreciation and supporting information about recipe formulation, brewing techniques and beer style history.

2. Are you going to be the ‘first of your kind’ in any category? If so, what are you doing that is unique – that no other brewery has done before?

The idea of combining a home brew supply shop with a brewery is not unique.  In Colorado there are a few examples of other people already doing this: Ska Brewing Co. in Durango has a small home brew shop on the side and Dry Dock Brewing in Aurora grew out of The Brew Hut, a home brew shop.

We are going to present all of our beer recipes openly in our tasting room.  We want customers to know as much as possible about each beer we produce.  While I doubt we are unique in how much we are willing to share about our brewing process, I am unaware of anyone already doing so.

3. What specific measures are you taking to differentiate your brewery from others in Fort Collins?

Our two main focuses are beer presentation (various dispensing methods and quality beer) and beer education (supporting literature about brewing methods, beer styles, recipe formulation and tasting notes).  We are not a brew pub, so we don’t need to focus any of our attention, or our customer’s, on the food.  We’re also not a full production facility that concentrates on production for distribution and consumption off-site.  We’ll have direct interactions with the majority of our customers and will be able to offer them a unique and educational beer drinking experience.

4. Are you looking to expand beyond the Northern Colorado beer market? If so, what measures are you taking to differentiate your brewery from others in Colorado and the US?

We are not planning to distribute our beer beyond walking distance of our location.  We try to keep all of our purchasing, personal and professional, as local as possible.  We want to be an extremely local product.  Our beer will only be available in Old Town Fort Collins, primarily in our tap room.

5. What aspect (branding, quality of ingredients, beer styles, experiences, etc) is the most important to differentiate in?

The experience our customers take away from a visit to our tasting room and beer garden is the most important aspect that will differentiate Equinox Brewing from other breweries in town.  The tasting room environment will be relaxed and approachable, typically with the brewer on hand to answer more technical questions.  Servers will be trained to properly dispense beers and will be well versed in brewing methods and beer styles.  Of course we will be using high quality ingredients and producing beer styles we feel customers will enjoy, but more importantly, we want to make sure they gain a deeper understanding of beer styles, brewing techniques and a general appreciation for beer.

6. From a strategic standpoint you are operating under the differentiation focus model – you aim to differentiate within just one or a small number of target market segments (craft beer drinkers). The craft beer target consumer is someone who is already looking for differentiation (from the macro lagers everyone else is drinking) – how do you think this helps (or hurts) your strategy?

Our strategy is to provide our customers with a unique beer tasting experience.  Craft beer drinkers are already seeking out an experience different (better) than what has been offered in the past.  We’re aiming to take that experience to the next level.  Fort Collins already has a strong beer culture.  Because of this, we feel there’s a market of beer drinkers eager to learn more about beer and brewing.  The size of our system, and lack of distribution, gives us the opportunity to change our lineup frequently and offer dispensing methods not commonly found.  The fact that craft beer drinkers are looking for differentiation is the entire basis of our strategy.

7. How do you plan to differentiate your products within Equinox brewing? Do you have any interesting internal product differentiation strategies aside from different styles of beer?

We will have a few different dispensing methods.  Primarily we will be serving beers as typically offered, force carbonated and dispensed through a faucet using compressed CO2.  We will also have a few beers available on beer engines, hand pumped from their vessel, displaced with CO2.  Once a week will be tapping a firkin, which will be gravity fed from the bar, utilizing no compressed CO2.  Sometimes the beers available on tap will be the same as the beers on the beer engine and the firkin.  We’re planning to use this as an opportunity to help our customers recognize how much the dispensing method can affect a beer’s overall presentation, flavor and experience.

8. How will you communicate your message of differentiation to your target consumers?

Our home brew shop has a newsletter that reaches most of the local brewing community, and this will be where we initially communicate with our target market.  Proximity to the home brew shop is extremely important to our marketing strategy.

In the brewery we will be providing menus with our beer offerings.  Each beer will have a full description, a brief history of the style, the beer recipe/brewing techniques broken down to a 5 gallon batch and tasting notes from local beer judges.

9. What unique value do you hope to provide to your consumers?

Our goal is that our customers gain a further appreciation and understanding of beer and brewing.  While that is not a particularly unique goal, I’m sure all craft brewers are aiming to increase awareness of good beer, we’re looking to take beer appreciation to an extreme.  Our average customer will be at least a little interested in the information we’re providing while they’re enjoying a beer and, hopefully, will leave with a better understanding of what it takes to make beer.  Perhaps, the next time they sit down for a pint, they’ll be better able to taste, analyze and consider the beer in front of them.