Our Upstate New York winters are a good time to be reflective and plan for the coming months. This past December our brewery celebrated its 10 Year Anniversary and for us it was certainly a time to celebrate, be reflective and to ask ourselves what’s next?
The reflective exercise was the easy part and while we certainly had our ups and downs as a business, in retrospect, we all felt especially fortunate to be where we are now. The fire in 2019 followed by the pandemic in 2020 could have been death blows to our company but, through it all and with the help of a lot of people, we were able to maintain our vision for growing a community around making beer. The uncertainties we faced back then seemed daunting and yet we felt confident that if we kept to our core principles, treat people well, make a delicious product, create a warm and welcoming environment…it should work out.
As we know now, so far, things have worked out! We rebuilt our brewery and taproom, survived the pandemic, added a special event space and cafe, started a foundation, expanded our company into Albany, and started a coffee company while adding hard cider to our list of delicious craft beverages we produce.
When we started Common Roots Brewing Company, we had a saying, “Expect good things to happen!” This simple phrase is our way of focusing our intentions on a vision of where we want to be as business. It still requires us to do the work, but it also allows for a positive vision of what that “good” looks like. Just saying we want to be a successful business would not be enough. In our case, we defined success in a different context. Our intentions were not just to make delicious beer but to create a community and an experience around brewing that would bring people together and create a sustainable business. Taking an abandoned warehouse and transforming it into a brewery and community hub was our vision then and, in many ways, it continues today. The new spaces we created in South Glens Falls and Albany were intentionally designed to encourage gatherings of all kinds. Bringing people together in welcoming and safe places is good for the collective soul and the economy of a community and hopefully, our bottom line.
What will the next ten years bring? The one sure thing we do know is that the market has changed and just making delicious beer is not enough. For the first time in our history, according to the Brewer’s Association, we’ve seen more brewery closures than openings. Fortunately, at Common Roots we’ve kept a close eye on the market trends and have made, what we believe are some strategic decisions to keep Common Roots relevant and true to our core beliefs. Critical to those core beliefs is our firm understanding that our success as a company is indelibly linked to the success of our community.
Supporting one another and our local businesses will be especially important in the coming months and years. We know that just expecting good things to happen is not enough; we all need to take actions that are measurable and meaningful. As a consumer, you have many choices where to spend your hard earned dollars and purposefully spending those dollars at local businesses makes a measurable and more meaningful impact in our communities.
In the coming years, we can safely predict that Common Roots will continue to invest in our community and work with our partners that helped bring us here. As you plan gatherings with friends or business colleagues, we hope you’ll continue to join us at Common Roots and help us grow a more sustainable and vibrant community!
Thank you.
