Getting a career in beer. Advice wanted.

For starters, stop shaving.

 

I'm just a beer fan and amateur brewer but from some the people I've met in the "industry" you will want to know what is happening on a local level with breweries and releases. My favorite beer bars and bottle shops have local and fresh product on hand and they have tasted it themselves and can provide an accurate description of the different types of beer that are available especially from up and coming breweries that aren't necessarily in high demand yet. I know I've stopped going to certain bars because the kegs they get don't interest me or I've had them many times before. Basically you need to be an alcoholic...Also helps to network everywhere.

 

Yea, make sure you have a boat load of money before you start, because you'll need every penny of it. Very few people actually make " real" money in the craft beer game for a long long time.

Cheers……….

 

Debbie Downer checking in.

 

Any job in the beer industry is tough to get your foot into. When I started, I had a college degree and was mercahndising for AB. It sucked, but it was a great way to jump into the industry. The real money is in the distributor networks, since there are a ton of jobs within the industry. The breweries are great places to work, but you have to understand that there is no sales side on their end (unless they are a small or start up brewery, which in that case, youre not really going to make money to begin with). If you want to get onto the brewing or production side, start apprenticing now and start earning your degree in biology. Kiss your life goodbye for 5-6 years as well.

I went to the distributor side after college since I wanted to get into operations. I am currently a purchasing coordinator and work with the breweries on managing inventory and getting it into our warehouse. Ive worked as a warehouse supervisor and an inventory coordinator, and both jobs were great, but what I wanted to do was work with the breweries. When you start a distributor, you can chose to go the way of sales or operations. Im not good at sales, so ops is the way to go.

I think in the Bay Area you have DBI and Bay Area Bev ... Also, Anchor is working on opening a new brewpub and production space next to AT&T Park, and plenty of new breweries in and around the Dogpatch area up there.

Good luck, and make as many connecitons in the industry as you can. Dont think any job is a bad starting point in the industry either.

 

if you want to get in on production side, really be ready to be the bitch work guy for a while. i work for ballast point and most people i know who are on production (who havent been around for 8+ years) have come in and basically washed kegs grave yard shift or worked a bottling line for two years. also be on the look out that 21st amendment brewing is building a massive new brewery in san leandro in the east bay. no idea when it will be to open, but 21st amendment would be a good place to go get on your knees and beg to do dirty work since im sure when the new place opens there will be plenty of oppurtunity.

 

Can you expand on that a bit? I'm neither in the industry nor looking to get into it, but that struck me since I've always been under the impression that breweries of all size have sales teams. Just glancing at Stone's company directory, they have dozens of sales people, and New Belgium has several open sales positions on their website right now. Am I misunderstanding when you say breweries don't have a sales side on their end?

 

Out of curiosity, does someone with a science degree (fermentation, food, or bio) have to go through this same path? Seems like an inefficient way to get the most out of someone who went through a year of general chem, a year of organic chem, biochem, microbiology, and physics.

 

Breweries generally have very few sales jobs within their region. Stone has a ton of sales people because they are a major distributor in Southern California. To my knowlege they only have one Stone Brewing Co. rep for the entire County and his posiition is relatively new. When breweries stay local, they tend to rely heavily on the distributor for representation. The brewery will have one, maybe two brand reps until they look to expand into other markets like Ballast Point and New Belgium are doing now. This is one of the reasons why some breweries switch distributors, Hess for example, because they feel like another distributor may represent their brand more efficiently or get them more exposure.

Cheers!

 

1) Why?

2) What skills, education or experience do you have that you can offer a brewery or a distribution house?

 

His intelligence, drive, can do spirit, and love of the industry. Makes a big difference assuming he has these things.

 

This is something that unfortunately not too many people have these days...if you do have it, you can do many things. Today's sense of entitlement with new, inexperienced workers is ridiculous.

 

You can either work for a brewery, or get a job that lets you enjoy the brewery. Your choice.

(I love you brewery employees.)

 

This ... The NB "Ranger" position is more of a "work with" position with the distributors that do them. They go on sales calls, do tastings, present to the sales team, etc. Lots of small breweries do not have the luxury of hiring someone on like this, and if a distributor doesn't back them, then they count on the locals.

Stone has their own distribution network, so working for them is like working for any other distributor (unless you work for the brewery side).

 

The millennium crowd (or at least thats what I heard them called) are coming into the industry right now. We interview a ton of people in our department since we are growing like crazy, but the guy we hired on has a huge passion for beer, which really does help out.