Kate Bernot

The pandemic streamlined the process of selling beer to accounts—and some of those changes are here to stay. While many embrace a return to in-person meetings, others prefer texts or online. To succeed today, sales reps need a more customized approach.

• Selling Beer
• Sales Calls
• Distribution

Even as the jobs outlook improves, breweries are still struggling to find qualified workers for all types of positions. To find and keep staff, brewery operators—and the industry more broadly—need to consider the bigger picture and think longer term.

• Hiring
• Human Resources
• Job Market

From a 19th-century former church in Cincinnati, Urban Artifact is building a national reputation driven by heavily fruited, tart (and shelf-stable) beers and direct-to-consumer sales.

• Case Study
• Fruit Beer
• Urban Artifact

Pulling double-duty in terms of revenue and marketing, merchandise can be a lucrative source of extra cash for small breweries. Here are five strategies to sell swag that drinkers can’t wait to buy.

• Merch
• Swag
• Marketing

Two years of pandemic have altered hospitality and the beer industry in meaningful ways. Here’s a look at how COVID has—and hasn’t—shifted taproom architecture and design.

• Taproom
• Architecture
• Design

You see them on TikTok and Instagram, posing or even lip-syncing while proudly showing off a can of another brewery’s beer. Who are these people? Should you engage or avoid? And what’s the ROI?

• Marketing
• Social Media
• Influencers

In demand and on trend, hop water is proving to be a low-effort, high-reward offering for many small breweries.

• Hop Water
• Trends
• Beyond Beer

Online alcohol marketplaces such as Drizly and Instacart aren’t just for big beer. Here’s how craft suppliers can work with retailers to boost sales on these platforms.

• Online
• E-Commerce
• Apps

North Carolina’s Fonta Flora Brewery now operates three taprooms and a farm, as the company learns how to bridge the gap not just between urban and rural, but also between idealism and reality.

• Case Study
• Fonta Flora
• Farmhouse

Expensive equipment and a steep technical learning curve make contract brewing nonalcoholic beers an attractive option for smaller breweries.

• Non-Alcoholic Beer
• NA Beer
• Contract Brewing

Sales of imperial IPAs are outpacing their standard-strength counterparts. Yet breweries need to find the right packaging mix, price point, recipe, and marketing to keep margins in line.

• ABV
• Sales
• High-ABV

Given the ongoing uncertainty in on-premise hospitality, there are fewer taps flowing than there were two years ago. Yet those open draft lines represent opportunities for breweries willing to adjust and build relationships.

• Draft Beer
• Taps
• Kegs