Ideas For Craft Breweries
Since summer is coming up… I have been wondering what kind of events are going to be popping up. I know there will be Beer Festivals. The inner Craft Beer geek inside of me wants more though. There is a really cool spot near me in Portland called Function. This venue rotates between different Craft Breweries on a monthly basis… year round! It is an awesome thing that I have never seen done before! This place really got me thinking… What can the Craft Beer Industry do to push the envelope even further? More rare beers? More rare glassware/swag opportunities? More readily available Craft Beer food pairings or dare I say… ticketed food pairing dinners? Small time limited Craft Beer events that happen weekly
These are just some of my musings about what breweries can do… now that they aren’t under the full crush of the Pandemic anymore.
Black & Tans
I know this may sound like heresy… but hear me out. For those rare birds that don’t know what a Black & Tan is… it's usually a half stout layered with half pale ale. Notoriously Guinness and Bass. But what if you take this concept and bring it into the Craft Beer world? I mean… create two beers that would in theory pair perfectly when layered together! For me… it just looks awesome but besides that… Who doesn’t love the appeal of a clear separation of two beers in the same glass just on the aesthetics alone? Here is a free idea that people can steal from me. I love Mikkeller SD’s Raspberry Blush. This beer is a 4% Berliner Weisse that has raspberries & coffee in it. The thing is… this beer is delicately balanced. Which means… if you don’t get a fresh and properly kept beer of this whether it be a keg or can… you will absolutely miss the hint of coffee that this thing holds. I often hunt for this beer and I can say that it's 50% hit/miss whenever I get it. So… let's expand this concept. Make a raspberry beer and then a thick enough coffee stout that when layered together is incredible and it takes the beer to the next level? You can even go a step further and mess with the ratios? Who says it has to be a 50/50 split on the layering? Maybe a 70/30 split with more raspberry than coffee? I am just throwing stuff out there. This is something you can mess with nearly infinitely. I would love it if someone did this.
Beer T-Shirts
So… you may be saying… Brandon… they already have these and this is nothing new. I will say though… let's talk about styling & graphic design for a hot second. Make them more a bit concept-y/art-ish that doesn't SCREAM beer shirt… but maybe is a tad bit mysterious. Then, you have to take a second look to really see it. Maybe just the logo on the front and then the name of the brewery on the back top-middle? The ‘70s aesthetic seems to be coming back into fashion… make it vintage-style! Also… extremely nice t-shirt material. No cotton.
Single-Hop Beer Tastings
This is exactly how it sounds. I would like to compare and contrast different hop varietals in a single flight. IPAs seem like they would be the best option for this. The quick turn around and all. I know what you might be thinking… This is a massive investment and it’s not worth doing. Let me break it down on how you can make sure it is a net positive! Maybe throw out a hypothetical event that is kind of like a kickstarter for this kind of thing. See how many people are willing to buy a ticket for either this event or just to show up at the brewery and get this flight? It might surprise you! I’ve mentioned this in passing to a good amount of people and I have yet to meet someone that is like.. naaaw bro. I think it would be awesome and educational for people! I think the average joe doesn’t know the difference between Mosaic, Citra, Nelson and Cascade. What if they did though? Breweries could use this as market research to refine what hops people gravitate to and maybe make more beers using that hop? I think it would be a win for everyone.
That concludes my musings and I really would love to see some of these things happen.
