Leslie Kaceus feels fortunate that her brewery — Bootstrap Brewing in Longmont, Colorado — is in an area where craft beer enthusiasts are more than willing to try new products and then talk about it to everyone they know.
It means that working with local craft beer buyers in both on- and off-premise can result in a positive outlook to new releases in packaging.
”We’re very methodical about what we release and spend a great amount of time market testing a product way before we decide to package it,” Kaceus said. “Our customers love it because we’re not just throwing a product out to see how it does — they know it will sell well.”
This philosophy started from Day No. 1 for Bootstrap and its paid dividends.
”We make only what we like to drink, market test it in the taprooms, then festivals, then put kegs out to restaurants,” Kaceus said of the marketing progression and penetration.” Only after success in these areas do we decide to put it in a can.”
Let the beer speak for itself, said Hop & Sting brewer and co-owner Brian Burton.
”Then it is up to our salespeople to close the deal,” he said. ”It is a tough market, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone message that works.”
Burton noted that most places that purchase beer in retail and on-premise now know enough that they should have some sort of craft beer.
”The best thing for a not-so-crafty venues are giving a quality product at a competitive price point,” he said. That means having sales reps talk about how local the brewery is, which equates to the freshness of the product and that the beer simply tastes good.
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