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Value of brewfest......

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  • Value of brewfest......

    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
    Glacier Brewing Company
    406-883-2595
    info@glacierbrewing.com

    "who said what now?"

  • #2
    Dave,

    The first thing our Guild did was put out a Festival Standards letter, and the main item was that festivals had to purchase the beer, at listed wholesale prices, from the appropriate distributor for each brewery. If they refused, then no Tennessee guild member breweries would be at their festival.

    It caused a lot of controversy, but we have stuck to it going into the second year. Some festivals changed their business models, and either charged more per ticket, or cut out some of the other perks to brewers like free hotel rooms, etc. Some decided to stick with whatever beers the distributors were willing to donate and didn't have any Tennessee brewers represented. We approached the TN distributor's trade association to try to get them to back us by not donating ANY beer to festivals. They agreed in principle, but we haven' gotten a written commitment to stand with us, and some are still donating beer as part of a sponsorship.

    And I always reply, "hell, people die from exposure! Why would I want that?"
    Linus Hall
    Yazoo Brewing
    Nashville, TN
    www.yazoobrew.com

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    • #3
      Originally posted by lhall View Post

      And I always reply, "hell, people die from exposure! Why would I want that?"
      HEEE HEE HAA HAAAA HAAA!!!!!!!

      Just great!
      Glacier Brewing Company
      406-883-2595
      info@glacierbrewing.com

      "who said what now?"

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      • #4
        Re

        I would like to see empirical evidence that attending a brewfest or winning a paid for competition medal increases profit (statistically) for the participating brewery.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by mkunce View Post
          I would like to see empirical evidence that attending a brewfest or winning a paid for competition medal increases profit (statistically) for the participating brewery.
          Word. After the last couple years of WBC and GABF I found myself thinking: "Boy, I could've replaced some hoses, bought like a dozen kegs, a Zahm, kept a couple hundred extra in profit..." I do suspect there's a tangible benefit there, but I'd love to see some statistics...

          FWIW we're usually down to participate in our state's Guild and Commission Festivals. And we do a few others that A) are in our sales area, B) pay for beer and C) primarily benefit a non-profit.

          But my dance card is getting pretty darn full...
          Russell Everett
          Co-Founder / Head Brewer
          Bainbridge Island Brewing
          Bainbridge Island, WA

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          • #6
            Here in Wisconsin our guild also has reinforced the wholesale payment for beer at brew fests. For us we say - no dough, no go.

            As far as the value of the fests, we have tons of them here - I am sure over 100. Because this is just a 2 person operation we are very selective and get more selective all the time. Being only at a few select events actually gets you more notice because people see you as being somewhat more exclusive instead of one of the usual suspects.

            I also find that the fests that charge $40 or less get you people who are there to drink for 4 hours straight rather than try a variety of beers.

            I think there needs to be a change in direction to do more controlled events where you have panel discussions among brewers with questions from the audience or something like that. However now that I typed it out it looks pretty lame. I guess I should go back out to the brewery and do something constructive instead of tying up the internet.
            Tim Eichinger
            Visit our website blackhuskybrewing.com

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            • #7
              Beer Festivals

              I managed a Festival in Pennsylvania a few months ago. We had about 12 breweries attend. We paid $12 per case or case equivalent. We supplied plastic containers, ice, and glasses to sample the products. We gave all the volunteers/brewers who served product a meal. All the profits went to charity.

              We had about 600 people attend at $35 per person. Our problem was there were 3 other beer festivals the same day, and it was hard to get more breweries to attend. We were very thankful to the ones that did attend or provide product.

              I would like to get some feedback from breweries or wholesalers so I can improve our event and attendance for 2015.

              Thank you for your help!

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              • #8
                We started holding festivals 6 years ago and have done about a dozen large scale events so far. We have always paid full price for beers because I feel its disrespectful to ask a brewery to donate product just I feel its disrespectful of us when people ask us to donate product. Sure a brewery can get in front of some people but festivals aren't the most effective way to market.
                Owner
                Grind Modern Burger
                PostModern Brewers
                Boise, ID

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