Alley Kat was a pipe dream of three beer aficio- nados and home brewers who wanted to pursue their passion for craft beer. Neil and one of the other visionaries turned their dream into reality and opened for business in 1994. In 1995, Neil’s wife bought out the other owner and Alley Kat became a family run operation. Up until a couple years ago, both Neil and Lavonne worked full time at the brewery. Lavonne has since stepped down from the full-time operation but continues to be heavily involved behind the scenes. When asked how Alley Kat was named, Herbst laughed and shared, “I wish there was a better story, but it can be summed up in too much beer late at night and too many cats in the back alley.” Over the 25 years that Alley Kat has been in the craft beer business, there has been significant change in the industry. When Alley Kat first started brewing “People were generally puzzled by the idea of local and couldn’t get their heads around embracing a different kind of beer drinking expe- rience. However, since then, there has been a 180-
degree flip and the industry is now hyper local.” Craft beer drinkers today are very interested in knowing where the beer is made and by whom. “People were generally puzzled by the idea of local and couldn’t get their heads around embracing a different kind of beer drinking experi- ence.” Herbst says that the company’s success and lon- gevity in the market is attributed to “The pursuit of quality and consistency as well as being innovative and doing a good job of pushing the envelope over the years.” Beer drinkers’ palates are always changing but being able to evolve is what keeps brands relevant.
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FEBRUARY 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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