I had the opportunity to be in charge of beer selection for a corporate event which took place today. The restraints I had were that everything had to be in cans and while the budget wasn't specified I knew I couldn't just order a bunch of Surly. I asked to be in charge because I was disappointed with how previous events had been so heavily weighted towards light beer and I wanted a shot to get some craft beer in the mix. I proposed a ratio of 60 percent light beer, 25 percent craft beer and 15 percent lemonade/tea/margaritas. For the craft beer mix I ordered some crowd favorites that weren't necessarily beer advocate favorites like Blue Moon and Leinie's Honey Weiss but I also got New Belgium Ranger IPA and Fat Tire and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I anxiously watched to see if we'd gotten the proportions right. It wasn't too long in to the event before people were digging through a 100 gallon tub of ice looking for Rangers and SNPAs. When the event was over we had cases full of light beer that hadn't even been opened. Executives were making notes that for the next event we should split light beer and craft at least evenly. I was very encouraged to see how popular the craft options were today and I feel now that we have a foothold for future events to have better options. This is beer advocacy! When light beer is the only option everyone drinks it and no one questions it but when better options are available people will go for it.
Finally somebody with a passion for craft beer is in charge of an event and did an excellent job. There are so many golf courses, catering companies and most importantly on premise establishments who either don't care or are scared of dipping their foot in the craft beer movement.
the best thing you can do to help change selections at these types of places is to simply ask for specific things but not a laundry list the server or whoever will forget. Also, do it with a healthy dose of common courtesy. this is an awesome story!
Cool story, craft beer has grown leaps and bounds from just a few years ago. This reminds me of a friends bachelor party, which I brought two kegs of homebrew (Amber Ale and IPA). The best man insisted that they still get a keg of Miller somethingorother. Woke up Sunday morning to two killed homebrew corny kegs, and an almost full keg of BMC.
