Howdy All,
As we are heading into another brewfest season, my inbox and mail box are getting jammed with "invitations" to participate in this brewfest or that one. It seems with the increasing number of breweries opening there is a proportional number of brewfests, all needed free beer, free equipment usage, and sometimes, free labor. When I started in this industry ("oh boy! here comes another 'Back in my day' rant!") in Colorado, our brewery was at a brewfest almost every weekend in the summer. These were viewed by the employees as employee treats and they really were! The fests would host a brewer's dinner, free tickets and schwag to the fest, comped lodging, etc. It seems to me in the last decade, breweries should feel lucky if there isn't a fee charged to them to be at some fests and give away their beers, never mind any of the above-mentioned perks!
I just received an "invite" and it wants all breweries to provide jockey boxes, CO2, regulators, tubs, servers ("preferably the brewer or owner"), oh and of course, several 1/2 bbls of beer. The benefit to the brewery is "public exposure for your beers!".
So, considering the average "local" brewfest can cost upwards of five to six hundred dollars (retail price of two 1/2 bbls, overnight lodging, gas, CO2, food, payroll/lost man hours) to attend, do you think brewfests provide any real, measurable marketing value to the brewery or have we all had the wool pulled over our eyes as the fest organizers cash out?
Or perhaps after 20+years I'm just cantankerous!
Thanks for your patience and I really would like to hear what everyone in Probrewer-land thinks about this.
Prost!
Dave
As we are heading into another brewfest season, my inbox and mail box are getting jammed with "invitations" to participate in this brewfest or that one. It seems with the increasing number of breweries opening there is a proportional number of brewfests, all needed free beer, free equipment usage, and sometimes, free labor. When I started in this industry ("oh boy! here comes another 'Back in my day' rant!") in Colorado, our brewery was at a brewfest almost every weekend in the summer. These were viewed by the employees as employee treats and they really were! The fests would host a brewer's dinner, free tickets and schwag to the fest, comped lodging, etc. It seems to me in the last decade, breweries should feel lucky if there isn't a fee charged to them to be at some fests and give away their beers, never mind any of the above-mentioned perks!
I just received an "invite" and it wants all breweries to provide jockey boxes, CO2, regulators, tubs, servers ("preferably the brewer or owner"), oh and of course, several 1/2 bbls of beer. The benefit to the brewery is "public exposure for your beers!".
So, considering the average "local" brewfest can cost upwards of five to six hundred dollars (retail price of two 1/2 bbls, overnight lodging, gas, CO2, food, payroll/lost man hours) to attend, do you think brewfests provide any real, measurable marketing value to the brewery or have we all had the wool pulled over our eyes as the fest organizers cash out?
Or perhaps after 20+years I'm just cantankerous!
Thanks for your patience and I really would like to hear what everyone in Probrewer-land thinks about this.
Prost!
Dave
Comment