THE GIST
North Carolina’s Wicked Weed Brewery entered the Colorado market last week. The Asheville brewery will kick things off in The Centennial State with a series of tap takeovers as it looks to take advantage of Colorado's highly developed beer market.
WHY IT MATTERS
North Carolina must be all set. When we chatted with Wicked Weed's Walt Dickinson back in April, he had this to say:
"We want to think of Asheville first. We’re going to give them the number one experience because, at any given moment, there’s 45 different Wicked Weed beers on tap in downtown Asheville. We’re going to give that to Asheville first. They’re going to get the first pick of anything rare we’re doing because it’s getting released here. Next, it’s North Carolina. North Carolina is our home state. We want to be the North Carolina brewery. There’s other great breweries in the state, but when other people think of North Carolina beer, we want Wicked Weed to be one of the things they’re thinking of. North Carolina will always be our focus. And then after that, we’ll look at those other states."
But Colorado isn't just any other state. In fact, it's one of the most difficult beer markets to move into. With its high volume and variety of breweries already making exceptional beer, plus a relatively low population, it takes a brewery with a serious pedigree to muscle in on any available shelf or tap space. And that’s if they can find that space to begin with.
Wicked Weed has accomplished a lot in its first four years. But the trick for the young brewery will be keeping that momentum going in a state that sees a lot of competition—both from within and externally.
—Matthew Curtis
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Wicked Weed Brewing to expand distribution to Colorado this week [Beerpulse]