Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/485350
68 Beverage Dynamics • March/April 2015 www.beveragedynamics.com Selling Local Beers aside space on the shelves and in coolers for Oregon beer, both cans and bottles, and is happy to give locals an opportunity. But it's simply not possible to promote them all. "We love to be an incubator for the little baby breweries," she laughs. "There are some who have really taken off and people love them. With some, it's 'You've got a lot of promise, but come back and see us when you've got things dialed in a little better.'" Living in a state with far fewer breweries (even though one is craft beer heavyweight Dogfi sh Head), Mulvihill makes it a point of pride to be comprehensive: "We represent every brewery in Delaware— granted, there are only nine—and we have almost every SKU from every brewery in the state. The more you stock, the more people buy; they're really into that local aspect." On the shelves at Cellar 70, Jeff Tewes organizes all the beers by state. Wisconsin breweries are displayed together, with the two biggest state craft breweries given a separate door each, because "it makes it easy when I run Wisconsin beer sales"—another im- portant element of his local beer program. Tewes has been espe- cially successful since 2011 in using targeted sales and print ads to promote craft beer from all sources, achieving craft sales dollars distribution of over 35%. With Wisconsin-only breweries like New Glarus on Cellar 70's shelves, a large part of that fi gure depends on the appeal of local. BOTTLED OR POURED? Where they are permitted, growler stations are an increasingly popular feature for top beer retailers. Philosophies differ on how to allocate scarce taps, but local breweries have the edge, since some smaller companies may initially package their beer, or their specialty beers, on draft only. This is the case for three of Delaware's brewer- ies, ample motivation for Mulvihill to allocate some of his 16 taps to locals. "That's what people respond to. And for us, saying 'Hey, you can only get this on draft'—that's the biggest selling point for the growler bar." The building that houses Belmont Station is divided into two: half bottle shop and half beer café. Patrons can buy a draft beer, then shop, or select a single bottle from any of the 1,300 brands in the bottle shop and have it opened to drink in the beer café. Morrison balances her support of local breweries with the shop's commitment to beer education, which sometimes means casting as wide of a net as possible when it comes to beer origins. Recently, ten of Belmont's 23 taps were devoted to local beer, although not all make the growler menu. "We don't do every single beer in growlers," Morrison explains, "because some of them are so rare and we want as many people as possible to enjoy them." The love of local has inspired some passionate debates among beer geeks. The fi rst issue concerns beer quality. Reluctantly, beer fans agree that local beer does not mean good beer. In fact, beer selections from the local side of the drinks menu are pretty much guaranteed to include more badly-brewed and off-fl avored beers than would be found among beers that have survived the step to wider distribution. However, as every retailer was eager to emphasize, the local category also includes the freshest and most innovative not-yet-discovered beers—and it's the category that most galvanizes beer lovers. Retailers take a risk boosting local beer, while also being mindful of quality concerns. The second issue involves that love of the local and obscure. Beer enthusiasts are the most faithful supporters of the newest, scrappiest brewery in their respective communities: without their zeal, most of these new businesses would never get off the ground. At the same time, there are few beers more prized than a rare beer from someone else's local brewery, and the pressure is on retailers to deliver beers that are exclusive, remote in origin and easily avail- able—an impossibility. In their support for local breweries, retailers must remember that, as Jeff Tewes puts it, "Every brewery is local somewhere." BD Portland's Belmont Station sells 1,300 brands. Belmont Station's Jeremie Landers at Puckerfest. JULIE JOHNSON has been writing about craft beer and the beer business for 20 years.