taproom

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.

North Carolina’s Fonta Flora Brewery now operates three taprooms and a farm, as the company learns how to bridge the gap not just between urban and rural, but also between idealism and reality.

New Orleans’ Urban South outpaced its own ambitious goals for Louisiana. Now it’s thinking big in Texas—and beyond.

A defunct brewery up for sale can be ideal for others looking to open or expand quickly—but this often comes with compromises on location, size, and space. Here, brewery operators who’ve recently been down that road share some lessons learned.

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.

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.

Knowing that business will slow as the weather gets frosty—especially amid fears that indoor areas are less safe—breweries are taking different tacks to keep attracting drinkers to their patios and beer gardens.

Gabe McKee, design principal at V Three Studios, explains how flexibility and reassuring design will help breweries prepare for the months to come and future events.

Taprooms and bars across the country began to seat patrons again in May and June. There was no one-size-fits-all plan for doing it safely, but there was—and still is—plenty of detailed advice. With fall and winter uncertain, that advice still applies.

When Lexington, Kentucky-based West Sixth Brewing bought 125 acres in rural Franklin County, it learned that agriculture is only one part of the equation.