{"id":20474,"date":"2023-08-01T17:09:42","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T05:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=20474"},"modified":"2023-09-05T17:40:04","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T05:40:04","slug":"epic-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2023\/08\/01\/epic-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic fails \u2014 some thoughts on why"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Late last week, the story suddenly broke<\/a> that Epic<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> had gone into liquidation. As one of the best-known names of the early craft beer scene in New Zealand, and likely the “gateway beer” for a sizeable chunk of the subculture, the news was received with shock and sadness, labelled a tragedy, and many wondered what it foretold for the wider industry as they praised the legacy of founder Luke Nicholas. But a lot of the reaction has mistaken historical influence for current relevance or viability,<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0and overlooked some real problems that should have been more obvious to all concerned.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The failure must’ve been a long time coming, its apparent suddenness something of an illusion like a structure finally toppling after years of hidden rot. Epic were apparently on the brink of announcing plans to at last build their own brewery after sixteen years<\/em> as a contract-only brand with no production capacity of their own.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> But when the (as yet unnamed) investor behind that project pulled out, they went\u00a0within days<\/em> straight to outright liquidation instead. In Michael Donaldson’s article that broke the news, Luke is quoted saying that the contract brewing model “doesn’t work anymore” \u2014 but way back in 2017, with his company already a decade old, Luke had previously given Michael a quote cautioning others that starting a brewery wasn’t viable “unless you control the production and a big chunk of the supply chain”.<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Just\u00a0why<\/em> he was so slow to take his own advice (or admit to himself he wasn’t exempt from his own observation), I’m not sure. My point is just that Epic’s precarious position in 2023 was very much the result of Luke’s own choices over the years before. So \u2014 what else has been going on?<\/p>\n

The question of\u00a0beer quality<\/em> and its relevance here is slightly complicated by Epic’s existence as a contract-only brand. Their beers have always been brewed at Steam<\/a>, who have won the Brewers’ Guild award for Champion Manufacturer every year but one. So\u00a0that<\/em> side of things seems credibly reliable, but it\u00a0is<\/em> fair to say that Epic’s own performance at the awards hasn’t been much to boast about, lately.<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Maybe some of that is recipe design, or storage, or something else, but this is not a brand that is currently riding high in blind competitions against its peers. Consider also that Epic rather-predictably won the People’s Choice award at the Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge<\/a> last Friday (the day after the liquidation announcement), but wasn’t on the podium as ranked by the judges. And they’ve dropped off precipitously in the “best of” lists of popular beer-rating sites like Untappd and Ratebeer \u2014 which do, of course, measure hype<\/em> a lot more than quality as such, but ideally you want both, and it’s very hard to get by without either.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Instagram details included to show they chose to promote this photo…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The one thing Epic did make ‘in-house’ \u2014 and their sole concession to their founder’s own advice about controlling the supply chain \u2014 is their relatively new taproom<\/a>. And that looks like the kind of minimally-viable offering that a startup brewery could maybe<\/em> get away with ten years ago; a huge warehouse space, with pallet racking full of packing material and plastic picnic tables laid out each week once the work is shuffled away. I’ve never been, and I’m willing to believe anyone who tells me they had a nice time there, but the idea it’s any kind of homage to experiences at breweries in Los Angeles<\/a> seems extremely generous,<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> or simply outdated.<\/p>\n

And that sense of a timewarp, of a throwback to the days gone by of “craft beer”, is what struck me the hardest when I looked at Epic’s recent releases for the first time in ages.<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> They just launched a beer called Snakes On A Plane<\/a>, referencing a movie that came out in 2006. Last winter<\/a>, and again last month<\/a>, they put out collaborations with A.J. Hackett \u2014 the man \/ company known for commercialising bungy jumping in the 1980s and 1990s. Arguably worst and weirdest is Root Red<\/a>, pitched as the first in a probably-now-doomed series to be based on the seven chakras derived from Hindu tradition, popular in various yoga practices \u2014 and just really rather awkward<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> to see used, by a fifty year old white guy, to market a beer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
If a friend said these were the draft designs for their new brewery, you’d stop them<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It all hardly feels capable of appealing to a new cohort of beer drinkers; the originals are overfamiliar and in dire need of a refresh, the newer releases look cheap and shoddy.<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Both factors would make it extremely easy to pass them over when scanning the shelves. Epic may have been a gateway beer for an earlier demographic (mine), but how true is that lately? You might not like<\/em> the fact that branding is relevant to success, but it is. The public has come to expect a level of effort that Epic just aren’t providing \u2014 in a crowded market, they don’t seem to be doing anything much to earn<\/em> a continued share.<\/p>\n

Finally, you simply can’t discuss Epic without focusing on Luke himself. He was New Zealand’s version of Greg Koch from Stone in the U.S.; a loud, evangelizing presence, arguably a key catalyst in the fledgling subculture \u2014 but who became extremely tiresome as his schtick grew stale and the industry moved on. It’s striking that writers who are otherwise being very general and objective often take the time to point out how divisive he is, introducing him as “one of those outspoken, polarising, love-him-or-hate-him types”<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> or noting that “his personality is as big and brash as his beers, and he is both liked and loathed for his cheeky, mischievous nature”.<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> That just doesn’t happen with other prominent people in the beer business. He was infamous, in my days at The Malthouse, for being a real nuisance during busy events, to the point he had to be managed and monitored \u2014 and, honestly, he got away with the kind of behaviour that would’ve had anyone else barred and should’ve<\/em> seen him barred. Bar staff witnessing that side of him would easily become less inclined to stock his beer,<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and I have to assume (hope, even) that at least some customers would feel the same. Certainly, when your company’s brand and your own personality are so entwined, it’s probably bad business strategy to let yourself become known as a bit of a dick.<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In the end, liquidation is a weird process. Maybe someone will buy the company mostly intact and keep it running.<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span> They might even get Luke to keep running it. Personally, I would advise against both. Being sold for parts and consigned to history might be the kindest thing that could happen to Epic, at this point. I won’t mourn it.<\/p>\n

afterthoughts<\/strong>, 4 September<\/span>: Well, someone did<\/em> buy Epic, and kept Luke on.<\/a> I guess we’ll see how that goes. The new owner looks to be a joint venture\u00a0between some construction company and Hancock’s<\/a> \u2014 a liquor distributor who were listed as one of Epic’s creditors in the liquidation documents (but I’ve no idea to what extent they were owed money) and who had one amazingly<\/em> inept and hilarious<\/a> and ill-fated previous foray into contracting their own beer a decade ago<\/a> which is well worth revisiting. I’ll be curious to see how much effort goes in to addressing some of the problems outlined above. It still seems wrong that the sole director and majority shareholder can just get bailed out and given a new job doing (mostly) the same thing, while who knows how many tens of thousands of dollars of debts just get written off. Company law sucks in many, many ways but the lack of consequences for directors is particularly grim. I hope Epic’s other creditors put some pretty punitive terms into any dealings with the new entity; they should<\/em> be able to take a compensatory slice out of Luke’s salary directly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late last week, the story suddenly broke that Epic had gone into liquidation. As one of the best-known names of the early craft beer scene in New Zealand, and likely the “gateway beer” for a sizeable chunk of the subculture, the news was received with shock and sadness, labelled a tragedy, and many wondered what … Continue reading Epic fails \u2014 some thoughts on why<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1362,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/02\/19\/epic-mayhem\/","url_meta":{"origin":20474,"position":0},"title":"Epic ‘Mayhem’","author":"Phil","date":"February 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I've said some nasty things about Epic in the past, so in credit-where-due spirit, Mayhem is awesome. It's one of a few variant editions of the Epic Pale, and addresses all of that beer's shortcomings nicely. It's vastly maltier and 'beerier' in the body (and a bit boozier too, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Epic 'Mayhem'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Epic-Mayhem-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17965,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2016\/03\/16\/will-it-shandy\/","url_meta":{"origin":20474,"position":1},"title":"Will It Shandy..?","author":"Phil","date":"March 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"At Golding's, where I work with Dylan of The Bottleneck blog, it's not uncommon to see us indulging in a little game we call 'Will It Shandy?' when we're trying out new arrivals to the taps. A shandy \u2014 that's a beer mixed with lemonade, on the remote chance the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast episodes"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast episodes","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/podcast-episodes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Garage Project 'Beer' (My house, 6 September 2015)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Garage-Project-Beer-tall-226x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17208,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2015\/08\/21\/beer-writing-caution\/","url_meta":{"origin":20474,"position":2},"title":"Beer writing: a word of caution","author":"Phil","date":"August 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Most beer writing is crap. This should be unsurprising and uncontroversial for the simple reason that\u00a0most of everything is crap. Enshrined as\u00a0Sturgeon's law, this isn't a cynical or depressing conclusion; just a sound observation and call for better mental hygiene. But that strangely-comforting general cause shouldn't blind us to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mediawatch"","block_context":{"text":"Mediawatch","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/interesting-finds\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"'The Ultimate Book of Beers' (2014) \u2014 here under fair use for criticism \/ comment","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ultimate-Book-of-Beers-Cover-300x216.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1134,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/12\/15\/epic-dogfish-head-portamarillo\/","url_meta":{"origin":20474,"position":3},"title":"Epic \/ Dogfish Head ‘Portamarillo’","author":"Phil","date":"December 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I really have turned around on Epic's beers over the course of a few years. 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