Kate Bernot

Jan 20, 2025 | brewingindustryguide.com | Kate Bernot

For small breweries, landing your beer on shelves or in draft lines can feel like reaching the top of a steep, hazardous mountain. Unfortunately, it’s a false summit—the real work comes after your brewery has earned that placement. Businesses sometimes overlook sales velocity in favor of other metrics, such as points of distribution or sales growth.

Jan 6, 2025 | brewingindustryguide.com | Kate Bernot

Occupancy costs aren’t generally breweries’ largest expense by dollars. Lately, however, they’ve become what Chris Farmand calls “the silent killer.” A certified public accountant, Farmand also is the founder of brewery consulting firm and financial agency Small Batch Standard. As many breweries’ revenues decline or flatline, leases may come up for renewal at a higher rent than what breweries initially paid. It can bump the per-square-foot rent on an industrial space into near-retail territory.

Dec 23, 2024 | beerandbrewing.com | Kate Bernot

In their laudable quest to improve the quality and availability of craft lagers, American brewers extol certain virtues: Cleanliness. Refreshment. Neutrality. Drinkers respond with enthusiasm, to the point that “crispy” has become something close to a fetish. If the average beer fan knows anything about lager, it’s that it should be easy to drink, snappy, and—above all else—neutral. A successful lager fermentation often means that the fermentation itself is essentially imperceptible.

Dec 3, 2024 | vinepair.com | Kate Bernot

The effects of President-elect Trump’s proposed tariffs hinge on the same question that looms over his every policy proposal: Will he actually do it? The rates Trump has tossed about on imports — as high as 100 percent on goods from China and 25 percent on goods from the U.S.’s two largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada — are historically unheard of. There’s even a question of whether he has the unilateral legal authority to impose such high tariffs.

Nov 29, 2024 | spiritsanddistilling.com | Kate Bernot

Delta Dirt has a superfan known locally as Grandma Charlene. The matriarch, in her early 90s, has helped to spread the good word about this craft distillery far and wide. She proudly sports her Delta Dirt shirt almost everywhere she goes—including the doctor’s office, leading her physician to become a regular at the distillery’s tasting room. This organic affection is emblematic of what Delta Dirt has built since opening its doors in Helena, Arkansas, in the spring of 2020.