People in the office — OK, let’s be honest — guys in the office seem to like to talk a lot about beer.
A week or so ago we had a short piece in the Business section about a Seattle exporter sending 72 cases of Everett’s Scuttlebutt beer to Taipei, Taiwan, and all the guys on the newsdesk started talking about it even before they sent the page to the press.
It made me wonder how an Everett beer winds up in a foreign country. It turns out it was pretty easy, especially on Scuttlebutt’s part.
“There’s always a lot of serendipity and good luck,” Scuttlebutt co-owner Phil Bannan said of opportunities for business owners. “If you stay at it long enough, good things happen.”
Bannan said the exporter, Cascadia Distribution of Seattle, came up with the idea and approached the company. That was a good thing, he said, because Scuttlebutt continues to work hard to become better known in its own region and hasn’t had time to think of much else.
“It’s the first export for us,” Bannan said. “There’s a lot of complexity in crossing the border, and it can double the cost of your beer.”
Cascadian’s Arthur Schile said that the first pallet of Scuttlebutt landed in Taiwan last week and is likely still in the warehouse in Taipei. In mid-May, he shipped 1,728 12-ounce bottles of Scuttlebutt’s Porter, Amber Ale, Homeport Blonde Ale and Gale Force IPA.
Schile said it wasn’t until 2005 that Taiwan allowed anything more than domestic big-market beers. But he believes Taiwan’s a natural market for Northwest microbrews because of the area’s relationship with the Northwest.
“Taiwan has a special relationship with the U.S.,” he said. “They send their kids to the University of Washington and they have a sense of the culture. It was a natural fit that made sense.”
Schile said a friend “who likes a good beer” recommended that Cascadia send some Scuttlebutt to Taiwan.
The Scuttlebutt beer shipment, which also included half a pallet of Seattle’s Elsyian, is actually the company’s second offering. An initial shipment of Elysian Jasmine IPA and beers from Olympia and Leavenworth all sold out, Schile said.
Schile said he has a handful of restaurants and retail outlets selling his beer. One of them is an IKEAlike store called HOLA that has 28 outlets with specialty foods sections that sell the beer.
He hopes to do more to increase the market. Initially, he planned to promote the beer to businesses so that they would offer them for sale. He said he now believes he needs to promote the beer directly to consumers.
“We need a Web site with entertainment and excitement so that consumers demand the beer,” he said.
He plans to move slowly and not try to cut the price too much.
“We’re a premium product and we don’t want to be considered a middle of the road beer,” he said. “Retailers are always pushing you to lower your prices so they can sell more.”
Bannan said he’s excited to see how things go. “When they approached us, we said: ‘Sure, we’d love to do it. Let’s give it a try.’ ”
Schile says things should work well with the right marketing.
“We think Scuttlebutt will do really well,” he said. “We like working with the Scuttlebutt guys. We’re excited, and we’d like to make it work.”
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
