MicroBrewr 029: Selling more beer through your local craft beer store, with 99 Bottles beer store.

MicroBrewr 029: Selling more beer through your local craft beer store

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Tiffany Adamowski and her husband have been operating 99 Bottles beer store in Federal Way, Washington for the past 7 years. She tells us how to work with a craft beer store like hers to sell more beer.

99 Bottles has over 1,200 labels of craft beer in stock from over 40 different countries. They also have ciders, meads, and a gigantic selection of beer kegs. They do growler refills and they offer tasting flights every day.

99 Bottles has won a bunch of local awards like “best beer selection,” “best beer store,” and “don’t miss” bottle shop.

This a long episode, but stay tuned through the whole thing because Tiffany gives tons of super detailed advice on how to sell more of your beer at retail outlets like her beer shop.

Some of her tips:

  • Email before you visit a store, don’t stop in unannounced.
  • Use customer relations management (CRM) software to keep track of your contacts and to pass the information on to the next sales person.
  • Drop off samples with a business card, and a flier about your brewery.
  • Provide basic information about each beer including: ABV, IBU, description, format, shelf life, storage temperature.
  • When you go to brewer’s night at the shop, be sure to mingle with the customers.
  • Be careful about thin beer bottles, especially for bottle-conditioned beer, you don’t want your product exploding on the store shelf.
  • Bring extra labels when you visit a store, sometimes bottles arrive unlabeled.

SPECIAL BONUS:

Ask Tiffany any question about working with retailers to sell more of your beer.

Leave your questions in the comments section below.

Tiffany will keep watching the comments for the next 30 days to answer as many of your questions as she can.

Be sure to connect with 99 Bottles beer store and thank Tiffany for being on the show and for helping us out with questions.

UPDATE: Thirty days is up, Tiffany is no longer monitoring the questions here. You can still reach her through the links below.

Listener question:

From Jon Tiffany: What is an upcoming brewery that we should our eye on?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Scottish ale

Other resources:

You can reach Tiffany Adamowski and 99 Bottles beer store at:

Tiffany’s blog:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

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MicroBrewr 028: Repaving the way for women in craft beer, with Scarlet lane Brewing Company.

MicroBrewr 028: Repaving the way for women in craft beer

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Eilise Lane drank a beer in Bend, Oregon that changed her life. After she found out that a woman made the beer, she opened Scarlet Lane Brewing Company in McCordsville, Indiana.

Scarlet Lane Brewing Company’s website:

It was at one time illegal for males to brew beer. We intend to respect that history with our beer designs, our marketing our branding, and our operations. Scarlet Lane is excited to be (re)paving the way for females in the industry…

And they certainly are repaving the way for women in craft beer. Scarlet Lane is the first woman-owned package brewery in Indiana. The investors are mostly women, and the president is also a woman. The 15-BBL system and 30-BBL fermenters at Scarlet Lane are a long way from the turkey fryer that Eilise used to cook wort in her backyard.

Eilise refers to her beers by proper name and she calls her stout her baby. She has lots of great advice such as:

  • Describe your beers in a way that will resonate with customers
  • Talk with a customer about her taste preferences to find a beer that she will like
  • Start talking early with hops growers and wholesalers to make sure you have access to the hops you want

Listener question:

From Orlando: How did you move from home brewing to a lager scale?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Brown ale

Other resources:

You can reach Eilise Lane and Scarlet Lane Brewing Company at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

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MicroBrewr 027: Family, church, and craft beer in a small valley town, with Dust Bowl Brewing Co.

MicroBrewr 027: Family, church, and craft beer in a small valley town

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Brett Tate wanted to tell his family’s story. So he did it with craft beer and Dust Bowl Brewing Company in his hometown, Turlock, California.

Brett’s family left the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma and made a new life in California. Dust Bowl Brewing’s entire brand is a tribute to that story.

Turlock is a small valley town where Ripley’s Believe It or Not once counted the most churches per capita in the US. Now Dust Bowl Brewing is helping to revitalize the community with their brewery and their restaurant, and soon an expanded brewery.

Brett has a lot of great advice about:

  • Working with distributors
  • Managing a “team” of employees
  • Hiring a star brewer who can do more than make great beer

I got to meet part of the Dust Bowl Brewing Company team at Smoke on the River in Sacramento, California. Here’s a photo of sales manager, Scott Chaffee and me.

Nathan Pierce and Scott Chaffee, Sales Manager from Dust Bowl Brewing Company (left), at Smoke on the River, Sacramento, California, September 6, 2014.

Nathan Pierce and Scott Chaffee, Sales Manager from Dust Bowl Brewing Company (left), at Smoke on the River, Sacramento, California, September 6, 2014.

Listener question:

From Peggy Pierce: Is your water purified?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Mega IPA

Other resources:

You can reach Brett Tate and Dust Bowl Brewing Company at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

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MicroBrewr 026: A microbrewery, a taproom, and a brewery incubator, with Platform Beer Co.

MicroBrewr 026: A microbrewery, a taproom, and a brewery incubator

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Paul Benner had been operating his homebrew shop for 2 years before he opened Platform Beer Co., in Cleveland Ohio. Platform is a microbrewery and taproom. It is also an innovative* brewery incubator. Although business incubators are popular across the world and in a variety of industries—especially in technology—none exist solely to assist brewery startups.

The program is free and, as you could imagine, there is already an extensive waitlist.

The 12-week brewery incubator program teaches and assists on every aspect of brewery startup including:

  • Apprenticing with a brewer
  • Guidance on financing
  • Sourcing equipment
  • Selecting a property
  • Designing the logo
  • Writing the business plan
  • Navigating regulatory issues
  • Connecting with investors

“You can’t just take your six pack of an imperial stout that everybody loves and sell it,” says Benner.

“You have to become incredibly leveraged, you have to open a brewery. And most people don’t have the business savvy, or the funds, or the resources, or even know where to start.

“We’re literally creating a platform for these people to have the public taste their beer, which is a dream come true for homebrewers! There’s no vehicle out there right now that allows for that.”

Paul’s advice to a homebrewer wanting to start a brewery:

  • Start making relationships with your local brewery
  • Volunteer, observe, haul kegs, clean stuff
  • Read like crazy
  • Go to a bunch of brewing trade shows
  • Be active in your local homebrew club
  • Perfect recipes, make sure each batch comes out similar to the last

* I wanted to say “first-of-its-kind,” but I found something online about The Brewery Incubator in Houston, Texas. Although it looks like it’s no longer operating. I was unable to confirm whether it ever got going at all.

Listener question:

From Cory Waller: What’s your favorite beer to drink?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Sour beer

Other resources:

You can reach Paul Benner and Platform Beer Co. at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

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MicroBrewr 025: A religious experience at the homebrew club, with Studio Brew.

MicroBrewr 025: A religious experience at the homebrew club

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In 2009 Erich Allen had a “religious experience” the first time he went to a homebrew club. He started brewing all-grain batches and made 7 beers in one week. Soon he had a dream to open a brewery. Then it became his passion, and then his obsession. So he and his wife visited 48 breweries around the nation to get advice before they converted a photography studio at their home into a 3-BBL nano brewery: Studio Brew in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Erich tells great stories. He takes us on the long journey through the many permitting agencies. At first it didn’t seem possible to have a brewery at his home. But by working with the staff at the permitting agencies, they found a way and did it all working with the system.

Erich is an eloquent speaker. There are many gems in this episode including:

“I respect the beer styles that were set forth centuries ago, but try to make something that people will say, ‘That was the best beer ever.’”

“That’s what it’s all about: Make craft beer to share with those who love beer.”

Listener question:

From Mel Troha: Is a nanobrewpub always easier to start and sustain than a production nanobrewery?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Session IPA

Other resources:

You can reach Erich Allen and Studio Brew at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

Subscribe on iTunes             Listen to Stitcher