A year-in-review for your brewery is more than a recap if created and used effectively. It becomes a storytelling vehicle that helps your company showcase a full arc of effort. According to Emily Hutto, founder of RadCraft, a year in review is “a recap of your metrics and your milestones from the previous year,” but what that looks like depends on your brand’s voice and audience.
Whether you build it as a blog post, an infographic, a social media series, or a deck for your stakeholders, the value lies in making it reflect who you are and how you want to be remembered.
Creating one doesn’t have to be a time-consuming endeavor, either, she said in a #CraftSocialMedia workshop Hutto ran with journalist Kate Bernot, entitled “Mastering The Brewery Year In Review,” in May.
Start with five key categories, they explained: Product, Production, People, Distribution, and Accolades.
Ask questions that you have already likely addressed in internal company meetings about your products and share with the public and media. Think of questions like, what were your top-selling beers, your most unique releases, and your collaborations?
“Even narrow wins that mattered to your specific company” are worth highlighting, Hutto said, particularly those with a story.
Production metrics should offer context, not just volume. That could mean noting if 12-packs of a flagship beer outpaced expectations, or if your draft-to-packaged ratio shifted significantly. Hutto pointed out that contract brewing or co-packing, once stigmatized, are now accepted as legitimate parts of modern brewing strategy and are worth calling out.
When it comes to People, both Hutto and Bernot emphasized how often breweries overlook their own teams.
“Don’t forget your people,” Hutto said. From Cicerone certifications to employee anniversaries or milestones (like a 10th year or more), this section is “an excellent resource for thanking and congratulating your team.”
Bernot added that such notes can also cue her as a writer to potential profile subjects. Beer Media is always looking for human angles, and breweries that document their internal growth stand out for future connections.
Distribution is often misunderstood as purely logistical. Bernot urged breweries to redefine this section creatively and instead include unique off-site events, new account milestones, or self-distribution achievements.
“Distribution can be any fun place where you sold your beer this year,” she said. Think zoo events, festivals, or farmers’ markets. It’s not just about where the beer went; it’s about the stories attached to it.
The accolades section can offer a chance to highlight more than medals.
As Bernot put it, “If it made you proud, it’s not too small to put there.”
Whether it’s earning a sustainability certification or training your staff to use Narcan, these accomplishments humanize your brand and differentiate you from others. In many cases, they resonate more with general media than a Great American Beer Fest medal.
Even if your overall numbers were flat or down, don’t skip this exercise.
Despite a downturn in openings versus closings for breweries in 2024, Bernot noted that 43% of craft breweries reported growth last year to the Brewers Association, but added that success can exist outside of expansion or growth of volume.
“There are plenty of ways that I’m sure you were successful,” she said, “and I want to see the good news.”
A well-constructed year in review becomes a living document that you can share with media, stakeholders, distributors, and your own team.
Once created, make the most of it as well.
READ MORE: Three Tips to Up Your Social Media Presence
Hutto recommends housing it on your website, turning it into a series of social media posts, and integrating it into your sales materials.
“Your board of directors would love to see a year in review like this,” she added.
So would the media, who often return to these documents months later when sourcing stories. “They stay in my inbox kind of forever,” Bernot added.
The key to building a year in review is intentionality. Take the time now, many months before the year ends, to outline what metrics and milestones you want to track. That way, when January arrives, you’re not building from scratch.
RadCraft will host “How To Use Pinterest To Sell More Craft Beer & Spirits” on Friday, August 22, at 2 p.m. Eastern in another workshop to help better breweries’ social media strategies. A link to sign up for the workshop is here.
The full workshop video on building a year in review from RadCraft is available here.
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