We spoke with the queen of craft beer, Julia Herz, to get some helpful tips for bar owners who want to break into craft beer service or just improve their current program.
Julia Herz is a Certified Cicerone®, a Beer Judge Certification Program judge, and the publisher of CraftBeer.com. When it comes to beer knowledge, and specifically craft beer, few people in the country can educate more thoroughly than Herz. So of course, we turned to her this month for some insight into cultivating craft beer service on-premise in the new year. Here’s what she had to say:
CRAFT BEER IN 2013
“The beer world is expanding with interest and excitement and innovation because of what’s going on with the small brewers side of things. For 2013, you’ve got a continued sense of exploration on the beer-lovers side today. They don’t have to even be aficionados—I call them beer enthusiasts or even beer geeks. They expect to see selection and diversity at the retail level. And if they don’t—meaning if they don’t have different craft beers to choose from that are locally produced, regionally produced, nationally available—then they might go elsewhere. So an expanded selection is important, not only within that tier of super-small distributed or even broader distribution craft beers, but on top of that they want to see a variety of beer styles.”
GETTING CRAFTY ON-PREMISE
“Knowledgeable servers are key. Wine doesn’t sell itself, nor does craft beer. You have to have a proper selection, proper service, and the proper knowledge base behind the brands that you carry. The staff tastings that would be emphasized on the wine side of things and now even with spirits—the same should go for beer.
“Have an expanded draught beer selection. Thirty percent of craft beer is sold through draught, compare to around ten percent of the global mass domestics. With that, many craft beer lovers want to drink their craft beer on draught. So if you have an expanded draught system—two towers, four faucets or more, etc.—you need to ensure that those lines are cleaned properly. Draught lines have to be cleaned every two weeks. The Brewers Association has published a bible for small brewers and importers and all the breweries on the supply side that got together and said, ‘Let’s just write this thing the way it should be, as a document of 60-plus pages, for free on the Internet, that really shares how we feel draught system maintenance and service should be handled.’ And that draught quality manual is available at DraughtQuality.org.
“The best way to get started serving craft beer is by paying attention to your customer base as well as your servers. Your servers are often are young millenials. They’re the ones who are already drinking craft beers and they can tell you about the brewery down the street that they’ve already toured. So asking your staff, ‘What beers do you want us to serve?’ and then asking your staff to ask your customers, ‘What beers would you like us to serve?’ can all help shore up business, as well as loyalty.”
