We were lucky to catch up with Bri Burrows recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bri, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

Some of the biggest challenges to profitability and success in the beer industry have to do with distribution. In Missouri, we have a 3-tier system which requires breweries to sell to a wholesale distributor who then sell to retail accounts who then sell to customers. That means the price is increasing twice after it leaves our facility, before the customer buys it, so this forces many breweries to sell at such a low cost to the wholesaler that they make little to no money distributing product. Some even lose money in this process. Larger breweries receive a high-volume discount for ordering large quantities of supplies in bulk (grain, hops, yeast, fruit, cans, labels, etc.), whereas smaller breweries can only order a small amount of supplies at a time, so we aren’t receiving that bulk discount. Therefore, our margins are much much lower than the larger breweries. If small breweries try to raise their distribution prices to make even a few cents per case of profit, they get backlash from the distributor and the retail accounts. It falls solely on the brewery to lose money in order to sell product. Once breweries are selling product to the distributor, then we have to compete with (often illegal) shady practices (such as ‘pay-to-play’) that larger breweries and some distributors partake in. For example, a brewery will front the bill of a new draft system at a retail account in exchange for being the only brewery on tap in said account. Or breweries will pay for a cooler at a store in exchange for being the only product in said cooler. However, there are no state agents going around checking these things out, so even though these practices are not legal, nothing is ever done about it.

Bri, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Bri Burrows, my pronouns are she/her (normalize pronouns!), and I am the Head Brewer and a Partner at The Big Rip Brewing Company in North Kansas City, MO. I started brewing at home around 2015 with guidance from my dad and my brother, as well as our local homebrew club. I also started working at a craft beer bar shortly thereafter, and eventually started bartending one day a week at The Big Rip. After a few months, our assistant brewer left and I immediately let the ownership at the time know that I was interested in learning to brew in a professional environment. I started slowly leaving my bartending job and working more hours on the brew floor. By the beginning of 2019 I was officially the Head Brewer. The original owners/founders of The Big Rip decided to sell their shares in the middle of 2019, with one of them staying on until the end of the year. At the beginning of 2020, the new ownership approached me to become a partner since the other one was leaving and selling his shares. I was thrilled that after just six months, they appreciated my work ethic enough to consider bringing me on as a partner. Although it wasn’t the greatest timing, I am proud of all we have been able to accomplish in the past few years, including the reputation I have built for myself and the brewery. The Big Rip has a 4-barrel brewhouse with a taproom and event space open to the public. We also distribute a few of our brands around Kansas City (Missouri). At the end of 2021, we purchased a canning machine to help maintain quality and consistency of our canned beer. Toward the middle of 2022, we purchased two 10-barrel fermenters in order to increase our distribution footprint while continuing to maintain our lineup in the taproom. We are on track to having to scale up our brewhouse in the next year or two, which will mean much more distribution!
As far as the taproom, it has been open since May of 2013 (the oldest brewery in KC besides that one big one). We are beginning a taproom remodel in January of 2023 which will open up and brighten up the space quite a bit. During the pandemic shutdown, one of the partners built a cabin porch in the event space room, then we had a local artist paint the walls in a sci-fi woodscape with hidden creatures throughout. It is a very fun space that we have dubbed The Cabin in the Woods. Folks can rent this space for a private party, but we also have events like vendor pop-ups and musicians for the public to enjoy.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I have always been an awkward, quiet person so I had to come out of my shell quite a bit when I started brewing professionally. I truly feel like it’s important for businesses to showcase the people doing the work behind the scenes. In my industry, this means the folks creating recipes, the folks brewing the beer, and the rest of the folks you don’t often hear about or see when visiting a taproom (assistant brewers, cellar-workers, packagers, etc.). It seems like a lot of industries focus solely on the ownership of the business, not the people putting in the work. Yes, a lot of these owners do put in the work, but when they don’t, they should highlight the folks that do. At some point in my brewing career, I decided to take the reigns and become more of the “face” of the brewery. I had realized that I wanted The Big Rip to be more than just a taproom with good beer and some cocktails. I wanted the taproom to become a place where diverse folks could come feel safe and comfortable. I wanted folks with all sorts of drinking interests, from beer to wine to cocktails to non-alcoholic drinks, to feel welcome and comfortable in the taproom. I wanted, as a business, to start speaking out against injustices of all kinds and start supporting causes that I, as an individual, really cared about. I wanted people to know for certain that we believe black lives matter, that LGBTQ+ rights matter, that women’s rights matter, that everyone deserves access to period products and gender-neutral restrooms, and that folks could come in and talk to us about all these things and feel safe doing so. Yes, this did cause some customers to no longer be customers, and that’s okay. It causes some folks to be uncomfortable in the taproom because they have to see my LGBTQ+ pride flag hanging above the brewfloor or see tampons (oh no!) every time they use the restroom. That’s okay with us, there are plenty of other businesses, breweries included, to visit that either don’t care about these things or simply don’t share their thoughts on anything. As long as I am a partner at The Big Rip, we will continue to share our feelings and be a place that promotes diversity and inclusion.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We manufacture/produce beer, or malt beverages. I started out learning to brew beer at home, then started learning at The Big Rip in a more professional setting, being taught by brewers who also taught themselves at home. When I started brewing, the educational courses were few and far between, with requirements to travel to other cities and countries. This works for folks that have money to live off of while attending these schools, but obviously it does not work for a lot of folks (like me). Luckily I had some great people to help teach me and now there are many resources such as podcasts, conferences, and online groups to continue learning. Professional educational opportunities are more abundant now, though as someone brewing and running a business more than full-time, it is still hard to find the time to commit to classes. I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t learn something new about beer, brewing, or something else related to it. Whether this is from podcasts I’m constantly listening to or from working with an awesome assistant brewer that has knowledge and experience much different from mine, I enjoy learning from any source. This is also a big reason so many breweries do collaborations. We are able to work together and visit another brewery for a day and see how their process and brewhouse differs from ours. The conferences in the industry also help out a lot. The brewing industry is full of folks that want to help other folks be successful. This includes brewers, owners, sales reps, taproom managers, and more. We are able to visit trade shows and find the best equipment for our needs instead of just ordering large equipment online and hoping it works out.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://bigripbrewing.com/
• Instagram: @kcbeerqueer or @bigripbrewingco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigripbrewing
• Twitter: @kcbeerqueer or @bigripbeer

Image Credits
David Deitchman Joe Brynds