How Brewers are Shifting Hospitality Practices

Gone are the days when a brewery could turn a wire spool on its side, buy some cheap chairs, install some taps and flip on the Taproom Open sign. Today's beer drinkers have become more choosy about where they spend their beer dollar and breweries are finding they have to actually provide an experience to draw customers in. That might mean trivia nights or live music.

Breweries have had to navigate the transition from serving the hospitality industry to being part of the hospitality industry. They have to thread the needle of drawing in their own customers, while not stealing customers from their hospitality accounts.

What does hospitality mean to today's craft breweries? Bill Eye of Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Amy Loebig of Dancing Gnome, and and Mark Babson of River Roost Brewery joined the panel to discuss brewery hospitality.

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This Episode is Sponsored by:

Berkeley Yeast
Our Tropics yeast is based on a London Ale strain, but we added a new gene to its genome that codes for a unique thiol-releasing enzyme. The enzyme converts the precursors in barley to free thiols that smell and taste like passionfruit and grapefruit. It’s super clean. No off-flavors like burnt rubber or other sulfurous notes. Just tropical aromatics. You don’t have to do anything unusual either, like mash hopping. Just pitch dry Tropics and supercharge your hazy IPA.

All About Beer
At All About Beer, we’re honored to share the stories that define the beer community, and we couldn’t do it without the generous support of our underwriting sponsors. Their commitment helps sustain independent beer journalism, allowing us to highlight the people, places, and passion behind every pint. Their partnership ensures these stories continue to inspire, connect, and celebrate the craft we all love. Join our underwriters today and help make an impact on independent journalism covering the beer industry.

Host: Don Tse

Guests: Bill Eye, Amy Loebig, Mark Babson

Sponsors: Berkeley Yeast, All About Beer

Tags: Hospitality
Photo: Matthew Arielly