Kate Bernot

In Washington state, a new program is helping breweries and other beverage producers give reusable glass bottles a fresh look. Nationally, the cost and supply of new glass—and glaring weaknesses in recycling programs—could make such programs increasingly feasible.

• Packaging
• Recycling
• Glass

Whether farm breweries are out in the country or right downtown, state licenses for them depend on flexible benchmarks for local ingredients. There are lessons to be learned for any state considering similar privileges for breweries that aim to buy local.

• Farm Breweries
• Brewing Local
• Local Ingredients

It takes more than a skilled brewer to consistently make great beer. It takes a holistic approach that extends from the top to every employee—and even to the drinkers themselves.

• Quality
• QA/QC
• SOPs

The eight-year-old Kentucky brewery is recentering on core principles while diversifying its revenue streams, aiming to get back to growth.

• Case Study
• Garage Beer
• Kentucky

Three owners of very small breweries explain why running their businesses without investors—or even many employees—has helped keep them afloat.

• Nanobreweries
• Small Breweries
• Ownership

Whether higher-maintenance or on easy mode, in the remote countryside or an urban parking lot, offering spaces to camp can bring in more revenue for breweries.

• Camping
• Tourism
• Beer Tourism

Breaking up, as they say, is hard to do. When a brewery and its cofounder or head brewer part ways, planning ahead goes a long way toward helping to prevent acrimony.

• Management
• Partnerships
• Divorce

If you build it, they will come... Some breweries are discovering that investing in chargers for electric vehicles can attract more customers while serving wider company goals.

• Sustainability
• Electric Vehicles
• EV Chargers

While many brewers love a well-made, Belgian-inspired saison—dry, refreshing, and great with all kinds of food—it can be a tough sell to North American drinkers. Yet the style has broad potential when breweries highlight the liquid’s virtues.

• Saison
• Sales
• Marketing

This bucolic Catawba Island brewery lures visitors with 63 acres of orchards and farmland—then turns them into loyal fans of its impeccable beer. Its next act? Acquiring another, distinctly less agrarian, brewery.

• Case Study
• Ohio
• Beer Tourism

Whether using whole fruit or purees, breweries benefit by estimating their needs in advance.

• Fruit
• Forecasting
• Raw Materials

Walmart, the country’s largest retailer, says it will require unique UPCs for each seasonal and variety pack—and other stores may follow suit. From the potential for packaging headaches to changing sales data, here’s what breweries need to know.

• UPCs
• Retail
• Packaging