With the illustrious Louisville Craft Beer Week looming on the horizon like some sort of boozy, unstoppable juggleknob, it seemed appropriate to address the meaning of these shenanigans to local brewers. I know I hinted that I may be looking at another science topic, but I actually had a request for this one. Given the choice between honoring 0% of all requests made and 100% of such requests, the latter seemed best. I’ll do some science next time. Scout’s honor. I wasn’t a Boy Scout by the way. Anywho . . .
There are lots of great things about citywide craft beer celebrations in general and Louisville Craft Beer Week in particular. These prolific benefits inure to pretty much everyone involved in the craft beer scene, including drinkers, writers, brewers, distributors, bar owners, and more. Primarily identifying myself as a brewer, though, I suppose I should filter my discussion through that particular lens. I count four reasons off the top of my head for local brewers to continue supporting Louisville Craft Beer Week.
The first, and perhaps most obvious, reason for local brewers to like LCBW is that it directly results in increased sales for the week. For brewers hosting one or more events at their brewery, the sales are obvious. Events bring people who tend to bring money and give it to you in exchange for beer. Behold the system in action. Even if you don’t host events at your establishment, there is a substantial bump in demand for Louisville beers at bars all around town during LCBW and that means increased keg sales for the week. Woohoo!
The second reason is that brand promotion is huge. The increased sales for the week are nice, but it isn’t a single week that really makes the difference for a brewery. The difference is made by sustained brand recognition. It’s made by people knowing who you are and that your beer is worth drinking. Most local breweries don’t dump money into traditional advertising, so we don’t really get out name out in any prominent way by those methods. The best advertising for us is having tap handles at good bars, having lots of people come into our place to experience what we offer, and by impressing people with the quality of the beers we make. LCBW gives brewers a great chance to highlight our names in-house and elsewhere and to make sure that local drinkers know that we can produce high quality liquid worthy of enduring support.
Thirdly, and probably most importantly, is the promotion of the Louisville craft beer culture. No matter how good local beers are, they are only going to thrive in a local market if there is a local culture that stands behind the importance of craft beer as a movement. If you are reading this article, I probably don’t need to tell you what makes a craft beer drinker. You kinda know one when you see one. The presence, or even prominence of that type of drinker is vital to the survival of local breweries as local institutions. Sure, we could still ship all our beer out somewhere that it will be appreciated, but it is far better to have an eager and receptive audience right here at home. The craft beer culture also ensures that beer buyers for bars and liquor stores will continue to inquire into and purchase interesting, innovative, and/or successful craft beers and to push that product to end-users. The thriving culture means more writing about quality beer, more talking about quality beer, and more interest in exploring all the facets of quality beer. The craft beer culture cannot function without quality brewers, but neither can quality brewers function without a craft beer culture. LCBW stands simultaneously as a product of that culture and a canvas on which that culture is smeared. Slathered. Slopped. Whatever.
Lastly, LCBW gives Louisville brewers a chance to Big Dick a little. You may not be familiar with that particular verb, so I’ll attempt to fill you in. To “Big Dick” is to gratuitously show off what you can do, what you have done, what you know, or what you have. There may have been a time that there wasn’t much to show, but the Louisville craft beer scene and, indeed, the Kentucky craft beer scene have, in my opinion, outpaced most of the rest of the country in growing both quantity and quality over the last two years. We have done some amazing things and have a great deal to be proud of. LCBW gives us all a chance to show off and swing it around a little bit. With so many people paying so much attention to Louisville craft beer during LCBW, we all get to Big Dick a little. Join us, won’t you?
Ok. For real. Probably science next time. Unless someone asks for something else. Then maybe not science. Or maybe still science. Until then, faithful readers, thanks for reading, and happy drinks!
P.S. Remember to let me know if you have some specific topic you would like me to babble about next time. You can tell me in person, by e-mail, or in the comments right down below.
