Beer news can be pretty sad these days. But even though things seem dire, I know that there are people in the industry doing cool things that desire recognition. So, I’m introducing a new section of this newsletter called Reasons for Hoptimism! Each week, I’ll feature an endorphin-inducing story from the beer community. But I need your help! Send me your feel good stories at stephaniegrantonline@gmail.com or simply hit reply.
In January, Infinite Ingredient, a non-profit dedicated to supporting the mental and physical well-being of individuals in the craft beverage industry, launched its Workplace Wellbeing Portal. The portal is a “confidential, easy-to-access and easy-to-use digital hub where craft brewery employees exploring help for themselves or a loved one can learn about substance use disorder (SUD), take an assessment to determine if they are at risk, receive personalized recommendations, and connect to resources and services from Hazelden Betty Ford and elsewhere.” This exciting development benefits brewery employees, particularly those in smaller locations who may lack a comprehensive healthcare plan. To learn more, visit Infiniteingredient.org/wellbeingportal.
Today, we’re talking about programming. In a previous issue, we explored breweries as third places and breweries leaning into the idea of their taproom becoming community spaces. At the end of that piece, I asked what we could do to invite our community into the brewery? Just because you brewed the best beer ever doesn’t mean people will magically appear. They need to be invited in, sorta like a vampire.
One way to do that is through the events you host at your brewery. Having limited experience with programming during my time working in a brewery, I decided to consult two of my friends who own breweries—Sara Kazmer from Elsewhere Brewing and Amy Mycoskie from Round Trip Brewing Co.
Sara and her husband, Sam, have two locations, one in Grant Park and last year, they opened a second taproom in West Midtown. Amy and Craig’s brewery is located in West Midtown, and they’re opening their second location in East Cobb in a few months.
While Sara and Amy wouldn’t consider themselves experts on the subject, there are some great takeaways from our conversation I’d like to share:
You should strive to make your events interesting and different. Of course, there are some exceptions to this—trivia, yoga, and comedy nights are staples at many breweries across the country. But there are still opportunities to give standard programming its own twist like how Elsewhere hosts trivia around a different TV show every month.
Repeating events attract regulars. Throughout the week, Amy and Sara schedule repeating events 1) because it makes planning easier and 2) having that standing trivia or puzzle night encourages patrons to create routines around the brewery’s schedule. They did note that finding a cadence can be hard, so don’t be afraid to play around with it.
Save more complex events for the weekend. Sara and Amy emphasized the importance of planning events that their teams could easily execute during the week. The weekend is the best time for those interesting and different ideas that might require more hands and energy.
Share your events everywhere! Along with posting their events on social media, email newsletter, and website, Sara also uses Event Vesta. Once the event is posted on Vesta, the website distributes it to a number of local publications. Since using it, Sara noticed that it has attracted new people to her taproom.
Partner with hobby groups. Amy and Sara are starting to partner more with hobbyist and affinity groups, from knitters to runners. Amy has seen great success with showing Formula One races in her taproom and also opening their parking lot to car enthusiasts.
Test an event at least three times. Before Sara decides if an event is a hit or not, she will host it three times. You can have a good idea for an event, and the day of, it pours down rain. Or you can plan an event that doesn’t seem to have too much promise and end up packing the house out. There are so many factors that contribute to an event’s success that the more data you have about it, the better.
Ticket sales are hard. And I feel that even as a consumer. Sometimes the tickets go on sale so early, I am hesitant to commit. It really depends on the event and time of year. Amy says it's all about giving people a heads-up early on and then reminding them again closer to the event when they're ready to commit.
Partner with people who can bring in their audience. When booking bands and other talent, Sara and Amy look for people/groups who aren’t totally relying on their audience. But no matter who you book, you also have to consider if they’ll be interested in drinking your beer.
TL;DR programming is complicated. It involves a lot of trial and error, but overtime, you learn more about your community and how to better serve them. And that to me is a win, despite the uncertainty.
I’d love to hear some of your programming tips or about a unique beer event you’ve attended.
What’s Good
Master Cicerone Jen Blair dropped another great newsletter about craft beer stereotypes.
I also had the pleasure of chatting with Jen about her Cicerone journey for the Good Beer Hunting podcast.
Fellow writer Joshua M. Bernstein pondered if taproom chains could offset lagging beer sales. Very interesting read about a trend I’m starting to see more and more here in Atlanta.
Thank you for reading!
Until next time,
Stephanie
About me: I'm Stephanie Grant, a born-and-bred ATLien and the writer behind this newsletter. I’m also a content creator for the food and beverage industry and one of the hosts of the award-winning Good Beer Hunting podcast. In 2023, I launched The Share Community, a digital space for women and non-binary people of color who want to advance their career in the beer industry. You can also find more of my work on YouTube and Instagram.