Anti-Viral Money: Ten Tips for Brewery Funding During the Pandemic By Rick Wehner, Brewery Finance founder As craft beer wades through the COVID-19 crisis, the search for funds in all forms is more important than ever. But COVID-19 has made it harder than ever to get funding. And some seemingly helpful emergency steps can make […]
Anti-Viral Beer News
Before the COVID-19 crisis, Jason and Beth Lacny (owners of Four Fathers Brewing in Valparaiso, Indiana) were preparing to launch new beers to sell at their brewery’s 6th anniversary party in April. That bash got bashed, of course, along with the brewery’s taproom and off-premise sales. But the Lacnys and their team have weathered the […]

Packaging That Delivers
Okay, Covid-19 has knocked the craft beer trade off its feet. What to do as you get back up and wrestle with it? Check your package. Because in these surreal and much more difficult times, packaged beer is the only source of income for most brewers. And if your packaging is tired and off the […]

Virtual CBC Honkytonk Bash
Howdy folks, Just think…had the Craft Brewers Conference actually taken place in San Antonio, today we’d be glowing & grinning (and maybe a tad hoarse & hungover) from the dream-come-true night of live music we enjoyed at last night’s Brewery Finance CBC Honkytonk Bash. Nope, that didn’t happen. Yep, there are far bigger problems these […]

CBC Honkytonk Bash Postponed
Like everything else that was tied to the 2020 Craft Brewers Conference, our third annual Brewery Finance CBC Honkytonk Bash has been canceled. We’re especially bummed about it, since we had the mighty Lonesome Rose Saloon booked for the party and our favorite band, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, booked to headline it. Of course, […]

Brewery Finance CBC Honkytonk Bash Hits San Antonio
For this year’s Craft Brewers Conference in San Antonio, we’re bringing back our annual (and increasingly legendary) Brewery Finance CBC Honkytonk Bash. The big news for this year’s throwdown: Our favorite national act, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, will headline the show. No joke. Rolling Stone Magazine calls the band’s music “a sneering fusion of […]

How to Sell More Beer To-Go? Just Ask.
Want to dramatically boost your brewery’s to-go beer sales? Our pal Andrew Coplon, founder of beer-brained undercover shopping service Secret Hopper, knows how you can do it. What’s the key to making it happen? “Ask your customers if they’d like to buy some beer to-go,” he says. Through Secret Hopper research that looked at over […]

Treat Your Wastewater, Save Bucks and H2O
As money-saving, pro-environment brewing moves go, treating your own wastewater is an unsung no-brainer. “Instead of just paying for wastewater treatment,” Craig Hotchkies says, “you cut your wastewater treatment costs by more than 33%, you get a productive piece of brewery equipment, and you get water to use.” Hotchkies is with Enereau, which makes wastewater […]

Holiday Tradition: Beer-Minded Music, Round 2
This year we’re continuing a gift tradition we started last year: A no-charge batch of full-flavored drinking songs for our beloved Brewery Finance customers and allies. Packed with artists from our favorite record label — the mighty Bloodshot Records, in Chicago — this is a great gift that gives throughout the year. The artist list […]

A Secret Service for Bigger Sales
For Andrew Coplon, the key to boosting a brewery’s across-the-bar sales comes from an unlikely source: snow cones. “I sold them at baseball games as a kid,” says Coplon, whose Secret Hopper company provides an undercover shopper service for the beer trade. “It taught me a lot about how to create a fast and positive […]