When Tofte of Melvin Brewing was asked about the competitive brewery market, he simply said the following:
That’s our whole model, is just to go to the most competitive markets and see where we fit in. Our whole business model is that we have to ship outside of our state. I think we’ve done enough flirting with those markets over the last four years that it’s working out. Even when we had the 3-barrel system, Kirk [McHale, co-founder and brewmaster] would fill one of the 7-barrel fermenters with six barrels. Every month, some lucky territory would get 30 six-barrels. It would usually be Bellingham or Portland or Boulder. It’s still fun, but it used to be really fun in those days when we were so excited a whole pallet would go wherever it went, and we’d read the internet to make sure people liked it. It was good times because we didn’t know what this would all turn into. At the time we just wanted people to taste the beer. That’s still what we want, but now it’s getting around.
Read the full interview here: http://allaboutbeer.com/article/jeremy-tofte-melvin-brewing/