To reference the old Lagunitas slogan: “Beer speaks,” and brewers are fluent in its language. It’s a language not only of flavor and sensory descriptors, but also of biochemistry and industrial process design.
To reference another old chestnut: A picture is worth a thousand words—but that adage is more than a century old. In today’s age of social media and the attention economy, the worth of a picture has inflated alongside the cost of doing business. In the business of making and selling beer, the humble photo is a valuable tool—it can spark the thirst, set expectations for flavor, and inspire conversation among customers both loyal and potential.
“Beer photos are a great way to celebrate your beer and communicate your passion for brewing,” says Kelly Erickson, a freelance graphic designer and digital strategist based in Los Angeles.
But what if you don’t speak the language of photography? Like brewing, photography blends technical skills with creative energy, and taking a picture that cuts through the noise on social media and draws drinkers into the tasting room requires fluency in both photography and social-media marketing.
While the ideal solution, of course, would be a talented and dedicated social-media team, the reality for most smaller breweries is that marketing duties fall to the same person handling, well, everything else, too. Thankfully, it doesn’t take a pro photographer’s gear to take great pics anymore—and, with just a few hours a week, even a harried brewer can be the one who levels up the brewery’s images.
"When you’re working 70-hour weeks,” deadpans Ryan Dunlap, founder of Argenta Brewing in Portland, Maine, “what’s another couple of hours?”
Brewers tend to be well-versed in blending the technical and the artful. As we’ve seen again and again when diving into the hows and whys of beermaking, it’s their keen attention to detail that separates the greats from the jobbers.
Photography can be every bit as detail-driven as brewing. Now that smartphones have democratized the tools of the photographer’s trade, to an extent, it just takes some skill-building and energy to capture engaging beer photos. Here are some practical tips for how to go about it.