The Most Read Stories of 2023

Here were the most read stories on BrewerMag.com this past year according to metrics compiled by the Brewer Magazine staff.

Should You Be Creating New, or Building Up Current, Customer Base?

It is definitely easier to keep a loyal crowd engaged than trying to attract a new audience. “Tapping into new avenues — no pun intended — to find new consumers can be difficult,” admits Misty Vandergriend of Empyrean Brewing. That doesn’t mean not trying to create those ways to attract a new consumer, but making sure your fanbase is sated can be important in this time of struggle for many breweries. “There is so much noise in the space currently that marketing to the people we know and the beer that we see they like to drink is definitely much easier,” said Oakshire’s Dan Russo.

Ways Your Website Still Plays a Role in a Social Media World

From time to time, Brewer Magazine receives announcements from breweries heralding the official relaunch of a website with new features and technology designed to help them better interface with customers. Fat Head’s Brewery is among those breweries that were gearing up to redesign their website when we reached out to businesses to learn more about the ways they use websites and social media for a story that will run in the May/June issue. It’s not a simple task, Sales and Marketing Director Bill Wetmore said, because of the prominent role social media plays in businesses’ digital footprints.

How Celis Has Optimized Its Use of Juice

Some fruit beers are certainly defined by fruit-forward flavor, and for some of these, working with juice is the method they’ve chosen. Celis Brewery’s Belgian White Ale — their flagship beer — has been around since the brewery opened in Austin in the early 1990s. The Belgian White style creates a good canvas for the fruit and their fruit beers, but it’s the way they use the juice and the order in which it’s added that gives their Celis Peche the peachy, yeasty character that’s apparent from the first sip.

How to Develop Your Taproom Staff’s SOPs

There are important SOPs to list for your brewery’s taproom staff in terms of tasks for employees to perform consistently and at a high level. These can include cleaning lists, daily tasks, dress code, and opening/closing procedures, along with beer education and knowledge of the brewery.

A Budget-Conscious Way To Guide Consumers

While there are slick, and completely automated beer finder tools out there that can help customers find their favorite beers at nearby locations, not every brewery wants to spend the money to implement them into their online platforms. That’s where Mad River Brewery found itself last year when it did a major overhaul of its website.