How To Support Your Local Brewery During A Pandemic Or Recession
We’ve recently moved into incredibly uncertain times with the COVID-19 / Coronavirus literally taking over the globe. In our lifetimes, we’ve never had to experience anything even remotely like this before so it’s new territory for the vast majority of living humans. Our precious craft beer industry will be one of the hardest hit due to the restrictions and closures of bars and restaurants, yet beer will be more necessary than ever. How can we continue to support our local craft breweries through all of this? We get into some ways below, but if you’d prefer to watch us talk about it, hit the video at the bottom of the post. Let’s go.
Order online: Many breweries have online stores where you’re able to order their beer to be shipped directly to you. Now, being that it’s alcohol, there’s always restrictions so check the regulations of your state or province. If your favourite brewery doesn’t offer online sales, hit them up to ask if they are able to. Perhaps there’s an easy, cost effective solution. If you’re in a province or state where online shipping for alcohol products isn’t legal or decriminalized (such as Quebec), email your local government or member of parliament to petition them to change the law quickly to provide a great revenue stream for your local craft beer industry.
Send a friend: Even with a lot of the closure orders, breweries are typically still open for packaged beer sales. You may not be able to get down there yourself, but if there’s a bunch of you who are practicing proper #SocialDistancing and are safe and clean, one person could go on a brewery run and represent a group of you to pick up all the beer. Whether you hit breweries or speciality beer stores - which are key to supporting contract breweries who don’t have physical locations - you could ensure that you get your stash by group buying. As long as you’re implementing the proper sanitary precautions and you all feel good and healthy, there should be limited risk as breweries are some of the cleanest and most sanitary establishments in society.
Buy merch: Even if a brewery doesn’t have an online store for beer sales, they almost always have an online store for merch sales. This even crosses international borders, so you can support not only your local breweries but breweries around the world. Grab a t-shirt, a hoodie, a sweater, a beanie, a cap, some stickers, a keyring - anything, just something to put some cash in their pockets to help them get by.
Buy gift cards: You already know you’re going to be back at your favourite breweries but the money means a LOT more to them right now, so we’d suggest you could purchase a gift card now that you can spend once all of this is over and done with. It also makes a great gift for any loved ones you’d like to surprise with a little something for when we can safely enjoy a beer in public again.
Show up: This is more of a touchy one. At the time of writing, there are restrictions in place in many cities and countries for gatherings of people, so check your local regulations before heading anywhere. If your city allows brewpubs to still serve in their taproom with proper precautions taken to protect patrons (social distancing, adequate sanitization etc), you’re healthy, you feel good and you haven’t been exposed, it might be worth popping by for a beer. Now, if this isn’t possible, you can always swing by to say hi and grab some beer to go, whether it be a freshly poured growler/crowler or some bottles or cans. If you do decide to go during the recommended social distancing period, don’t be stupid and follow the CDC guidelines to reduce your risk and the risk of spreading anything to others.
Just ask: If you’re not sure how you can help your local breweries - give them a shout! Shoot them a DM or comment on social, email them or even give them a call. Maybe you’re not able to order online, able to get merch, or pop into the taproom to buy some beer to go. See what they feel is helpful by reaching out. At the very least, it’d be extremely appreciated.
Buy Direct: While buying beer from a specialty beer store, the LCBO, Beer Store or any other non-brewery retailer is great and helpful, the money doesn’t go directly in the pockets of the breweries. Contract breweries aside, for which you’d need to visit a specialty store, we’d suggest to go direct to breweries whenever possible to ensure every penny ends up in the pockets of the breweries.
Promote them: Continue to engage with them on social and share any new products they’re offering. It costs you nothing to retweet something from a brewery, share to your Instagram Stories or feed or even post on your personal Facebook account. Even if you may be unable to monetarily support them, be their biggest cheerleaders online and that truly goes a long, long way.
Hopefully both the ideas above and the video can spur some motivation to support your local breweries. We’d love to hear what other ways you’ve found that you can support your breweries - let us know in the comments here or via any of our social networks. Stay safe, y’all. Cheers!
Cee
Host and Co-Founder of BAOS Podcast and @TeamLactose, Cee hails from Melbourne, Australia, has released a Top 10 Hip Hop album, recorded the world’s first craft beer anthem + BAOS theme song, has reviewed over 5.5k beers, and popularized the phrase “Get it in ya!”