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Let me tell you a story about working in craft beer, a story all breweries will know all too well. You sell a beer to a place for the first time, you’re nervous, you know the beer’s good but you’re still nervous how it’s going to be received. You want to get in touch with the person you’ve been dealing with, you finally ask ‘how did the beer go down?’. The response - ‘amazing. Everybody loved it. We sold it all in one night, fastest selling beer we’ve ever had’. You think that’s awesome, I’m in here. We’re going to be supplying this place for years. So happy. You express a hint of this optimism ‘wow, I’m so glad to hear it. You never know how a beer’s going to go in a new place but glad it went as well as we hoped. Would you like some more?’ ‘Nah. We like to rotate. We might order again next year’ Thankfully not all venues are run like this, and one that absolutely isn’t is Against The Grain Bar who have been absolutely flying through the Tiger Club! recently and we dropped some more kegs off today freshly kegged literally 30 minutes earlier. We’ve been delivering this beer to them every week for a fair few months now and in part that’s due to the owners understanding the need of their customers and the business they run, and also the relationship we’ve built together and the understanding we’ve got of their needs as a bar - namely a quality product that we can replicate and deliver time and again. Winning a new customer is hard, finding good ones is harder and keeping those is the hardest skill of all. (The above is a true story btw and not an isolated incident 😂🤦♂️)

What's happening inside the beer industry these days? Three brewers weigh in with their perspectives. Hear from Goldfinger Brewing Company, Monday Night Brewing, and Everywhere Beer Co. on this episode of Drink Beer, Think Beer.

Stout popularity soars to make it Britain’s fastest growing beer! Stout has become so popular again that it is now the fastest growing beer variety in the UK. In the last year volume demand for the malty, full-bodied, dark beer with a creamy head has grown by 35% at Tesco. Historically, Irish stout, including Guinness, dominated the British beer market for well over a century, but towards the end of the 20th century it saw a decline in popularity because of the arrival, from Europe, of lager. It’s back in demand now with a wide variety of craft brewers bringing some interesting beers with real character and a whole variety of flavours to market. Brew Dog’s stout, Black Heart, is Tesco’s most popular after Guinness. In the UK, Guinness is becoming the best-selling beer in both the on-trade (bars and pubs) and off-trade (retail) markets. You can even enjoy the quality of a pub-drawn pint at home now with the Nitrosurge device launched by Guinness. The innovative technology allows you to pour the perfect pint at home when used with Nitrosurge cans. What’s next in this competitive market? #ukbeerindustry #craftbeer

Do you home brew in DC? Check out these essential tips for clarifying beer during production to make the tastiest, clearest beers possible.

Here are some marketing trends that the food industry needs to take from the beer industry: lean into heritage, Canada's environment (water, land, fresh air) and import food products that help Canadians remember those great times when outside of Canada. Also, health and sport are trending in young and old generations. This is something to consider in your future rebranding and marketing campaigns. Larry Dalton Jeff Ball Trudi-Ann Webster Tom Naested Maureen Keough Christina Crowley-Arklie Ted Fleming Dan Doherty CPA CMA ICD.D Gillian Rees Gary Hughes Kathryn Quanbeck Derrick Ash Chris Heier Tracy Borreson Bruce Derksen Shelley Seed Canadian Marketing Association Pearse Dolan Mike Kotelko Cory Van Groningen Kevin Van Groningen Wade Meunier #foodandbeverageindustry #beerindustry #agribusiness #foodandagriculture #foodmarketing #agrifood CAMA (Canadian Agri-food Marketers Alliance)

If you know anyone from Wisconsin, you’ve likely heard them talk about the New Glarus Brewing Company. Heck, if you know anyone from the Midwest, New Glarus beer has likely crossed their lips at some point. Is it really worth the hype, though? I get into all that and more in this guide to whether New Glarus beer is overrated, including thoughts from Brian, a local from these parts! https://lnkd.in/ggHcVKqF

NEW: The brewer of Spitfire is shifting its focus away from cask ales as drinkers and pubs turn their noses up at traditional beers. Shepherd Neame, based in Kent, said on Wednesday it was focusing more on kegged and craft beers as a result of “changes in the market”. “Keg volume is the largest element of our brewing operation and growing strongly. Cask and bottle beer sales are much reduced from their previous highs,” the company said. Real ale, as cask is known, is an unfiltered and unpasteurised tipple brewed in barrels. It is served at cellar temperature and once a cask is tapped, all of its contents must be poured within three days to stop it going stale. By contrast, kegged beer is stored in a pressurised system and remains fresh much longer. Real ale aficionados favour cask beers’ softer carbonation, fruitier flavours and the fact it is served at cellar temperature – around 11C to 13C. However, many younger drinkers now favour so-called world lagers and craft beers which are typically stored in kegs. Read more via The Telegraph... https://lnkd.in/eiSGMWKf

How one ad made Schlitz Beer a household name—and it wasn’t about the taste. In the early 1900s, Schlitz Beer was struggling to stand out in a crowded market. That’s when Claude Hopkins stepped in with a bold strategy: focus on the process. Hopkins discovered that all breweries used similar methods to purify their beer, but no one was talking about it. So, he made it Schlitz’s unique selling point. His ads emphasized the purity of the brewing process—how the beer was filtered through "white wood pulp" and sterilized to perfection. Even though every brewery did the same thing, Schlitz was the first to make it part of their story. And it worked. The campaign shot Schlitz to become the #1 beer in America. The takeaway? Sometimes, it’s not about what you do differently—it’s about what you communicate first. By highlighting something common in a new way, you can turn it into a powerful differentiator.

Budweiser’s commitment to water quality is a key factor in why it became so consistent and earned its reputation as the “King of Beers.” Anheuser-Busch has always placed a heavy emphasis on water purity and consistency, which plays a critical role in brewing. Since beer is mostly water, any variation in water quality can impact the taste. Budweiser employs a unique water filtration process to ensure the water used in their brewing is pure and has a consistent profile, regardless of the brewing location. This meticulous water control, along with their use of the same strain of yeast (a closely guarded company secret) and adherence to a uniform brewing process, ensures that Budweiser tastes the same whether you’re drinking it in New York, Los Angeles, or anywhere else in the world. This focus on consistency over the decades has helped Budweiser maintain its place as a reliable and iconic beer, contributing to the “King of Beers” moniker. It’s about mastering every aspect of the brewing process, including the water, to deliver the same experience every time. This is why you should use Halo water filters. Now as a home brewer I know the importance of starting with the best water you can obtain - especially if it comes out good. No matter how good your notes are - gotta start with that pure clean water. #halo #halowater #ludwigsmithandwalker

Yesterday, I was proud to be a part of the launch of SIBA, The Society of Independent Brewers and Associates Independent Beer Report. As a business, we have been supporting SIBA and independent breweries for many years, and I am glad to see overall beer numbers returning to pre-pandemic levels. Craft is back it seems, even if at a more granular level, there are changes in the mix of beer sold. As the report tells, there is still a lot of work to be done! The UK beer industry is a huge part of our culture in the UK, with the role of the local pub often mis-understood and valued. The role of independent brewers is also still undervalued - I wonder how much of our spend in a pub stays local when spent in a local pub, drinking local beer, rather than drinking in a large pub chain, drinking global brands. You can download the report here. Drink local, support your local economy, support your local independent brewer. https://lnkd.in/ecn-8c6M