Failure: Bombing a big event

Cigar City Brewing's Joey Redner is the poster boy of craft beer in Florida. His brewery has grown from a startup brewery eight years ago to an expected sale of 1.37 million cases of beer this year across 10 states and Puerto Rico. Last year the company was bought by Colorado-based Oskar Blues Brewery, which in turn was bought by a private equity firm.  

But press hasn't always been stellar for the company that led the craft beer craze in Florida and has served as a mentor to a handful of other startup breweries in the state. In fact, just a few years ago, the company had a lot of angry customers and took a $300,000 hit in an attempt to win back loyalty.

It was Cigar City's third annual Hunahpu Festival — a beer event where the brewery debuts its most famous limited-release beer — Hunahpu's Imperial Stout. For $25, eventgoers received a bottle of the beer and a ticket to the daylong beer fest.