Product Differentiation & Craft Beer

The New York Times has a good article on how one craft beer producer is restricting output as their business model.  Craft beer is a niche beer market that survives on product differentiation, which as you read the article linked above you will find that Hill Farmstead Brewery has in abundance.  Thus, the decision to only sell locally will reduce the ability to make more profits, but continue to keep the perceived value of the product high.  This trade off between high quality and high output is a classic component of a firm in a monopolistically competitive market.  To be profitable the firm's output has to be very different (typically produce something that customers value different from others) or the firm has to produce enough of the product to make it slim margins on the product.