On April 7, National Beer Day, the Brewers Association (BA) released results from a survey focused on the effects of COVID-19. Out of about 8,150 breweries in the country, 455 breweries responded; 46.4% said they would not be able to sustain their business for longer than 1-3 months given current social distance measures, costs, revenues, and state and federal aid. The survey also covered sales trends, staffing, and what brewers say has helped/would be helpful.
The BA’s Craft Brewers Conference (CBC), which was supposed to take place in San Antonio, has moved online, and will now take place from April 13 to May 15. All seminars will be free, with recordings made available until May 31.
The beers sent in for the World Beer Cup competition, which concludes the CBC every other year, are being turned into hand sanitizer for first responders.
A recent Modern Times blog post outlines “some (hopefully) helpful information for our fellow small businesses,” including lender communication, pausing credit card activity, consolidating outgoing cash flow, making payment plans, and more.
The owners of Oceanside’s Bagby Beer made “The Impossible Choice” on March 16, closing completely until further notice. Here is an excerpt from their blog post:
“We had considered, and in fact were in the midst of forming plans, enacting an alternate service model, involving delivery and takeout. And then we were making selections about who, among us, would be here working, interacting with the public, exposed. Who would we put at risk? We knew that if we scheduled staff, they would be here. They would show up, and do their jobs, and do whatever they could, to keep the business and their income flowing. They would sacrifice their health. They would sacrifice the health of their families. They would do this if we asked them to. This felt wrong. And so it was at this point we decided to make the decision for them, to protect them and to do our part to protect the community. We wanted to take a stand, to stop in any way our contribution to the spread of this nasty thing. We were not mandated to close, but we decided anyway to do what we felt was the right thing.”
Fathom Bistro Bait & Tackle has set up a GoFundMe to help support their staff and re-stock when the dust settles.
Many breweries are resorting to deep discounts to get sales. For example, AleSmith has an online deal on three cases — one each of Juice Stand, Forgeberry, and .394 Pale Ale — for $100 (72 cans). And if you are planning a pick-up order at the brewery, you can snag some of their house-made cheese.
Mission Brewery still has some dried yeast available for your home baking needs, available in 4 TBSP baggies. They’re open Wednesday to Sunday 12 – 7 p.m. for to-go orders.
Eater recently rounded up which local distilleries are making hand sanitizer, including info on a give-away by Liberty Call this weekend.
O’Brien’s Pub launched a YouTube channel with videos that work as a guide to at-home beer pairing dinners. Either pick up the meals hot and ready to go, or the ingredients will be packaged for you to cook along.
In late March, Miramar distillery Cutwater Spirits — started by ex-Ballast Point executives and bought by AB InBev in 2019 — announced a donation of 50,000 meals plus hand sanitizer to the San Diego Food Bank. To help further support, Cutwater will match every dollar you contribute to the Food Bank’s virtual food drive until they reach the fundraising goal of 150,000 total meals.