benefits of festivals??

[beermistress]

Alright guys, I'm new to this thread thing, but here it goes. I am the asst brewer at a micro brewery in the OC, CA. My main question is what are the real benefits to my brewery participating in regional festivals? I realize its promotions and all, but we do not distribute at the moment, (though I would LOVE to, eventually). I am putting together a budget for this year and I personally would like attend a bunch of them, but I need to convince the corporate entities that it's in their best interest. Does anyone know why it would be?? How can I convince them?
Thanks to all that reply!!!!

[The Alchemist]

Welcome,
At least for me , I have found festivals to be places that expose me to different brewers and their beers that I may not have seen before. If I find them to my liking, I then make an effort to seek them out. This is particularly true if I can't buy them locally and have to travel a bit to get them. I'm sure you could list downsides to participating in them, but I would think that the upside would win out in the long run.

[chazwicke]

Most festivals have many breweries that participate. And they keep doing it so it must have some sort of benefit for them being there. I would use that arguement with the powers that be.

[Halgarmeister]

I agree with Alchemist, that you are opening yourself up to exposure that you probably wouldn't get in the long run, at least not without some serious advertizing. By attending something like this you should gain a pretty fair increase in patronage of your establishment, especially if you hand out vouchers/coupons to be redeemed at your establishment which will also get people in your door and the word out about you.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by Halgarmeister
, especially if you hand out vouchers/coupons to be redeemed at your establishment which will also get people in your door and the word out about you.

That is an excellent idea Halger. I'm not sure I've seen that done at festivals before.

[Halgarmeister]

My favorite pub has a regular that used to go stand at Costco handing out samples of thier bottled brew and vouchers for one beer of your choice at their establishment. He did it of his own accord, the pub provided the vouchers. That is partly where the idea comes from, and also, what better way to get people to come to your pub than to offer them free beer?

I've even offered the idea to the pub manager to have a "buy 10 get 1 free", since they sell all beer on tap in refillable 1/2 gallon jugs. At the time, I was purchasing 6 jugs at at time on a weekly basis. Now that I brew, I only buy it between batches of my own, though the pub is the last stop every Saturday which is our grocery/shopping day.

This is also the same pub from which I've crafted my ale recipe from.

[stronk]

That is an excellent idea Halger. I'm not sure I've seen that done at festivals before
They were doing it at the GBBF this year. 1 free pint of Fuller's Discovery in specified London pubs. I can't say I took them up on the offer (because I knew I would dislike the beer), but I'm sure many did.

[Goban]

Most people, present company excluded, will not go out of their way to find new breweries, even those who are avid beer drinkers. I’ve met many people who love beer and know so little. So I will introduce them to some fine local brews that they didn’t even know existed. And of course, they loved them.

My point is you can’t expect majority of non-locals to go to you. You must go to them. Show them what they’re missing. Also, word of mouth advertisement has the best power to weight ratio, and you should really take advantage of it.

[beermistress]

Dude, you guyz are the sh*t! Thanks to everyone so far. Awesome feedback...this thing really works, huh? Hal, I gotta say I'm luvin the coupon/voucher idea. I attended 6 festivals last year and I don't think I saw a single vender handing them out. The only prob is that in Cali we're not allowed to "give away" any free beer... I guess we could always pull the old "buy 1 get 1 for a quarter" or sumthin along those lines. Keep those replies coming my way. I think I might actually print out this page and use it in my presentation, if its cool w/ everybody. Again, thank you, from the bottom of my beer belly. ;op

[Richard English]

Quote "... My main question is what are the real benefits to my brewery participating in regional festivals?..."

Providing your beer is good, you will get huge benefits. Beer enthusiasts go to festivals to try different beers and it is beer enthusiasts you want to meet. Chemical-fizz drinkers will never bother to try anything but chemical fizz since most believe that all beers are much the same and they seek only the cheapest or the one that will get them drunk fastest.

Bear in mind, too, that the majority of bars will not be prepared even to try your beer unless they feel sure there's a demand. So create the demand by convincing a few enthusiasts and the will go back to their locals and ask for your beer - and the bar owner, if he or she has any sense, will get it in.

[SoxyinMO]

Trust me, if you attend festivals, word of it will get here and to the community at Beer Advocate and to the community at Pub Crawler, and all the other beer boards out there. As I'm sure you've noticed here, if someone likes a beer they are not shy about sharing their find with others.

Many of us also ask about local places when we are getting ready to travel and if someone has tried your beer at a festival, they are as likely to pipe up as a local about how great your beer was and that it's worth a stop if we're in your area.

Good luck!

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by beermistress
The only prob is that in Cali we're not allowed to "give away" any free beer... I guess we could always pull the old "buy 1 get 1 for a quarter"

Can you give a coupon for a Penny Pint?

[Halgarmeister]

Originally posted by beermistress
The only prob is that in Cali we're not allowed to "give away" any free beer...

I'm in northern Cali, and while it's been a couple years since the guy was passing out the coupons at Costco, I'm quite certain that it was for free beer. BTW, laws are only rough guidelines, and there are ways around all of them. Every year the pub I frequent has to post some stupid notice in public view, things like NOTICE!! Alcoholic beverages served here!!. My personal favorite is "Taxes on beer are calculated to the nearest mill. WTF does THAT mean... LOL You see the signs for maybe a week, before they are buried behind the tv or some other obscure place that the only way you'll see them is if your the tv repairman. Technically, the signs are visible to the public, but in reality, not very read-able.

Anyway, back to the point of the voucher, it is to get people INTO your establishment, so within the guidelines of the law, make the voucher attractive to the patrons, such as:

Half off your first pitcher/pint/glass
Purchase a pint and get a free sampler/pint/glass/food
"Pub Club" benefits, such as buy 5 pints/glasses/pitchers, get one free

You know what your production costs are and where you can "give" things away, so take a look at those items and be creative.

Also keep in mind that there will be a finite number of these vouchers floating around, and once they are redeemed, they are gone, so while it's a "lost leader" it's not something that is going to cut into your bottom line, certainly for any length of time. The benefits, IMHO far outweigh the negatives (Looking at this from the patrons point of view, anything free, cheap is a good thing! )

[L.H.H.H.Brown]

Ditto ALL of the above. I've been to too many festivals ( sorry, no such thing ) and what it does is get people to talking about good brews. As for free beer in Cali, I must go to the wrong places... it's always WHO you know. Best of luck and may your brews go far and wide.
P.S. when the guys on this board are trading for you, you know you've hit the big time. :D

[DecoJuicer]

After reading all of your posts, I have to say that the Detroit area really sucks for craft brews. We don't have any beer festivals that I know of, and very few brew pubs. If you want to enjoy good beer AND some good company and music, you are very limited by your choices.

As a beer consumer, I would jump at the chance to go to festivals and try out new beers. I would be even more excited if there were local places where I could go and enjoy them. I would be beside myself if somebody gave me a coupon to go to a new pub and enjoy some different beers.

We also don't have very good mass transit, so going to a pub and "tasting" a bunch of different beers can be problematic.

I don't know what the costs are for a brewery to get into one of these festivals and get their beers tasted, but it would seem-like everybody has said- that the benefits far outweigh the costs.

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by DecoJuicer
After reading all of your posts, I have to say that the Detroit area really sucks for craft brews. We don't have any beer festivals that I know of, and very few brew pubs. If you want to enjoy good beer AND some good company and music, you are very limited by your choices.


Looks like it could be worse for you. There might not be a plethora of beer in downtown Detriot, but the suburbs seem to have some.
http://www.michiganbrewersguild.org/findbeer.asp

And here's one summer fest in Ypsilanti - not that far:
http://beeradvocate.com/events/calendar.php?show=6626

[DecoJuicer]

Wow! I have to say that I did not even know that most of these were here. It seems that I have a new mission.

[L.H.H.H.Brown]

Don't feel too bad. L.A. is not far behind. One could almost miss all the good Calif beers here. As for mass transit..........HAHAHAHAHA...... oh sorry.