Pandemic

As large-scale, destination beer festivals emerge from COVID hiatuses, they are encountering a different competitive and economic landscape from just a few years ago.

Two years of pandemic have altered hospitality and the beer industry in meaningful ways. Here’s a look at how COVID has—and hasn’t—shifted taproom architecture and design.

The new vaccination requirement includes all participants and attendees of the Craft Brewers Conference and Great American Beer Festival.

As vaccination rates lag and the Delta variant surges, some breweries are choosing to require proof of vaccination for staff or customers; in some places, it’s required by law. Here’s how some are implementing such policies while minimizing complications.

The more people who get vaccinated, the more hospitality can get back to full steam and do it as safely as possible. Breweries have been finding ways to get involved—including the obvious.

Ready to get back to holding beer fests and other special events? As more people get vaccinated and authorities relax some rules, there are ways to ensure a profitable event where people feel safe.

As bars and restaurants continue to reopen more fully and more Americans get vaccinated, we chart the welcome return of on-premise hospitality.

While Homebrew Con and GABF stay virtual for 2021, the CBC and its global brewing trade show will start accepting registration on May 4 for limited in-person attendance in Denver.

The pandemic dealt craft beer its toughest year in 2020. Production and market share dropped, but not as steeply as once feared—and there are plenty of reasons for optimism.

The pandemic hit urban, taproom-focused breweries such as Chicago’s Hopewell harder than most. Despite keeping its taproom closed, Hopewell has survived and thrived by leaning into to-go beer, widening its offerings, and widening its welcome.

Q: How do you increase sales despite stringent regulations for health and safety? A: Don’t think of your customers as monolithic. Instead, consider their different comfort levels, and what you can do to create compelling experiences for each.

Customers’ attitudes toward returning to on-premise consumption have been in motion throughout the pandemic. From our Winter 2020 issue, here is a pre-holidays glance at some factors in those decisions.

Breweries that altered their businesses to stay afloat during the pandemic are beginning to see that many of those changes will stick around. Here are several ways the industry will look different on the other side.

Among the myriad ways that taprooms and brewpubs are luring customers this winter—beyond blankets and space heaters—is one approach that appears counterintuitive during a pandemic: by organizing special events.

Julie Verratti has become a sage resource for brewery operators navigating their give-and-take relationships with government. Here, she talks about building trust with lawmakers and speaking out on the measures that can help get us through the pandemic.

State brewers’ guilds work for the common interest of independent breweries, but the pandemic dealt a severe blow to their ability to raise money and operate. Here’s how they’re getting by—and how breweries and suppliers can get involved.

Have a plan—but build it with a cushion that will allow your business to adapt to the unexpected and take the occasional risk. Here, the planners at North Carolina’s Highland Brewing share their evolving approach and best advice.

Winterizing our outdoor spaces is critical for our businesses—and for our mental well-being. Greg Engert, beer director and partner in the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, offers practical tips and important perspective.

The major spending package includes additional relief for small businesses—including a provision that indefinitely extends excise-tax cuts for breweries.

Thousands of small, taproom-focused breweries are keeping afloat during the pandemic by leaning into to-go sales. How can we encourage those customers to keep coming back? One small brewery in Vermont has developed tactics that are working already.