This is a part of a monthly series of Q&As with members of the cider community from across the U.S. Brewer Magazine will share business and personal insights from decision makers in the cider industry to help you get to know each other better and learn more to better develop your own brand.
Annie Stubeck, Event & Brand Manager, Pennings Farm Cidery — Warwick, New York
BREWER: How do you feel your job has had to adapt in the beer market compared to a few years ago?
STUBECK: People were not as aware of cider at all, let alone all the varieties of ciders. The cider industry has had to be patient with educating people about the different options out there. While many people know about how many different types of beers there are, we have had to put a lot of effort into events and adapting our marketing strategies to teach people that there are just as many different types of ciders.
BREWER: Who is your mentor in the industry and why? What have you learned from them?
STUBECK: The Pennings Cidery production team are my go-to guys. They have always been happy to answer all my questions about the cider making process (and there are a lot of them!). Every day that I spend time with those guys I continue to learn.
BREWER Can you share a success story that you are proud of in your job or maybe a story of how you learned from a situation that has altered your thoughts on how you do your job now?
STUBECK: We were recently part of Cider Week NYC, which hosts events around NYC to help promote cider. We attended a tasting event at Brooklyn Cider House, where 30+ cideries all gathered together to pour samples and talk to consumers about their ciders. It’s cool that we are technically competitors, but when we are at these events everyone has a really good time together. It has taught me that instead of making it feel competitive, we need to try to learn from each other and figure out ways to push the entire industry forward rather than be in competition with each other.
BREWER: If you had one business strategy that you could implement to better the brewing industry, what would it be?
STUBECK: A way to share best practices on regulations and licensing requirements. Learning the requirements takes a lot of time and effort, so a way to share best practices or having a place that easily explains the processes and what is required would help people avoid many mistakes and get everything done more efficiently and correctly the first time.
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