Beer!!

A Quick Update on Our Beer

If you’ve noticed fewer Woodhouse beers on tap lately, we wanted to give you an honest update about what’s happening.

The short version is... we are still experiencing a beer shortage.

And strangely enough, one of the biggest reasons is that you are drinking the beer faster than we can currently replace it.

When Woodhouse first opened, this was never really a problem.

We started without a customer base. We brewed beer, people slowly discovered us, and demand grew alongside production. That slow build gave us time to establish a rhythm and eventually keep 18 taps filled with Woodhouse beer.

Once that machine was rolling, we could keep it rolling.

What we are experiencing now is very different.

Several months ago, we made the difficult decision to part ways with our brewer. Finding the right people to move forward with took longer than we expected, but we didn’t want to simply fill the position as quickly as possible.

We wanted brewers who fit our culture, cared deeply about the craft, worked well with our team, and could help us continue raising the level of everything we do.

That took time.

The good news is that we found them.

We now have two exceptional brewers who are meticulous, science-driven, collaborative, and deeply committed to quality and consistency. Instead of simply replacing what we had, we believe we have built a stronger brewing team.

But during that transition, production slowed dramatically.

So in a strange way, we are almost starting a brewery from scratch again... except this time we already have the customers.

We brew a hazy IPA... and you drink it before we can get the West Coast IPA into the tank.

We brew the West Coast... and by the time we get a light ale going and keg a sour, the hazy is gone.

Then we brew another hazy... and the West Coast is almost gone.

And around and around we go.

That is the cycle we are trying to break.

We are currently on what feels like the losing side of supply and demand... although technically, it might be the winning side.

The demand is there. The supply just hasn’t caught up yet.

Beer also requires money before it makes money. Grain, hops, yeast, labor, utilities, and tank time all have to be paid for before the finished beer reaches your glass.

That has created what is essentially a working-capital gap.

What we need right now is a relatively small financial boost into production that allows us to fill more tanks at the same time, buy ingredients ahead, rebuild inventory, and finally get back in front of demand.

Until then, you’ll continue to see some gaps in the Woodhouse lineup and more guest beers from breweries we genuinely admire. Those guest taps are helping us bridge the gap while our own tanks fill back up.

Woodhouse has always been an evolving organism. We learn. We adjust. We improve. We keep building.

And the funny part is that the fundamental problem isn’t that people stopped drinking Woodhouse beer.

It’s almost exactly the opposite.

You drank it faster than we could make it.

So thank you.

Thank you for every pint, every meal, every event, every friend you bring through our doors, and every time you choose to support a small independent brewery.

We are still behind right now...

but the brewing team is stronger.

The tanks are filling.

The beer is coming.

We started Woodhouse once with plenty of beer and almost nobody waiting to drink it.

Now we are essentially starting again...

with an entire community waiting at the taps.

That is a challenge we are incredibly grateful to have.

Thank you Santa Cruz!

Woodhouse Blending & Brewing