191: Nick Berger and Phil Camarano of Good Society on the Ups and Downs of Launching in 2020

We first met Good Society cofounder Phil Camarano in 2018 at our Brewery Workshop: New Brewery Accelerator event in San Diego as he and partner Nick Berger found a location for their brewery and started the hard work to get it open. That launch finally happened in February of 2020—just weeks before COVID restrictions forced breweries into entirely new and unexpected ways of doing business. It was a challenging time, figuring out how to run the business and respond to customers in this strangest of years. Then lightning struck—a beer they made on a whim, a Belgian-style grisette, won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival, and along with that they secured Small Brewpub of the Year honors.

In this episode, Camarano and Berger discuss:

The hard work of getting a brewery off the ground

Overcoming the numerous challenges in launching the new business

Dealing with the unsavory subject of wastewater

Designing a beer program for a non-geek audience

Keeping momentum going through the early days of the pandemic

The planning and design focus for their gold medal-winning grisette

The impact of the medal and small brewpub of the year honors on the growth of the brewery

Forecasting and planning through such an anomalous year

Rethinking the brewpub model after the events of this past year

and more.

*This episode is brought to you by: *

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