Elk Grove's Second Brewery, Tilted Mash, Opens to Rave Reviews; Birth of a Local Business Cluster?

April 2, 2016 |

Even though they opened for business on April Fools Day, there was no joking about the huge crowd that came to sample pints of beer from Elk Grove's second brewer, Tilted Mash.

Tilted Mash joins Flatland Brewing in Elk Grove's nascent microbrewing industry by making high-quality drinks popular with an increasingly quality-conscious beer aficionados. Yesterday's crowd, which was estimated at over 200 customers between 5 and 6 p.m., serves as a testimony to the growing popularity of locally crafted beers.

The new operation, which is located on Union Parkway is owned and managed by Derrick Prasad and Jonathan Martinez with Prasad serving as the brewer. Along with a handful of employees, Martinez and Prasad drew pints of five varieties of beer for their customers.

One of those assisting was Prasad's brother, Jason McCoskey, who said they were all pleasantly surprised with the strong opening day crowd. McCoskey said the opening of the brewery was a culmination of his brother's start as a home brewer.

"He started brewing about 11 years ago, and he just continued perfecting things," he said.

People coming to the opening were greeted by a long line, but several patrons enjoying their drinks said the line moved quickly and shouted "it's worth it." Among the patrons were staff from Elk Grove's other brewery, Flatland Brewing.

In the lead up to Tilted Mash's opening, Flatland Brewing took to social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram to promote them. In one Instagram post, Flatland said "Our neighbors @tiltedmash are opening their tasting room today! Go Support these guys! They will be pouring 5 beers this weekend and all 5 are stellar. Be there or be square."

McCoskey said that Flatland's owner Andrew Mohsenzadegan and his crew had been supportive and helpful in Tilted Mash's lead-up to their grand opening. Flatland opened on Survey Road in February after taking over the former Hand Craft Brewing business.  

Birth of an Elk Grove business cluster?

Though they may not know the term, Tilted Mash and Flatland Brewing are singlehandedly developing what the Harvard Business Review (HBR) calls clustering, which they define as "geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field."

The HBR further says "Clusters promote both competition and cooperation. Rivals compete intensely to win and retain customers. Without vigorous competition, a cluster will fail. Yet there is also cooperation, much of it vertical, involving companies in related industries and local institutions. Competition can coexist with cooperation because they occur on different dimensions and among different players."

As an example see the cluster diagram of California's Wine Industry below.  

Click to enlarge.

As if to prove the clustering theory, at least from a customer's perspective, at least 30 patrons who visited Tilted Mash followed-up with a visit to nearby Flatland Brewing. All the customers we chatted with said they liked the beers from both establishments, that they will patronize each brewery, and that they hope more breweries open in Elk Grove.

Interestingly, both of these small business owners seemingly located in Elk Grove without any economic incentives or assistance from the city government. Perhaps there is something to the theory of certain economists that say markets function best without government interference.

From what we can see, the City of Elk Grove has had no active role in recruiting these businesses, nor helping the development of this fledgling business cluster. Given the city's spotty record, perhaps they should keep their hands off lest they kill the fledgling before it can leave the nest.