Advice on getting into the beer industry

I got in by applying through careerbuilder, your mileage may vary.

The big question is, what do you want to do in the beer industry? The answer is very different if you want to work in sales, brewing, finance, legal, advertising, etc.

All I can really suggest without more details is to start networking and building relationships with people in the beer industry, this will be most easily done with sales reps because those are the public facing people for every company.

 

First, you've gotta figure out what it is in the industry you would like to do. Second, take any job you can get, even just washing dishes at a brewpub. That will give you an over view of what goes on, and the chance to make contacts. Offer to volunteer to pour at festival for one of your local breweries, that can lead to more contacts. I have friends in virtually every aspect of the brewing industry, here's a few things: A brewer I know has a side business installing and servicing draft systems. Another friend has a tap cleaning business. A welder friend pretty much specializes in welding up brew systems, and travels the country to do so. I have a friend who has his own graphic design business, and he's found a niche designing for breweries, distilleries, cideries, and wineries. Breweries need accountants and book keepers. Bigger places need secretarial and support staff. Brewing facilities need maintenance, mechanical skills are always useful. Brewpubs need cooks, servers, dishwashers and bussers. Some folks brew beer, some operate the packaging lines. Those pallets of beer don't load themselves onto the trucks, warehouse workers are needed. Oh, someone has to drive those trucks too. Delivery drivers and route sales people need to be out on the street.

It's a wide, varied industry, and there's a place for a lot of different skillsets, so have a focus, but also acquire a broad set of skills. An on-line media coordinator whose willing, and able, to go and crawl on the brewery floor to help replace a burnt out motor has double the value of someone who can only do either.

 

...Helpful. I'd suggest where you should start is picking an idea and getting your elevator pitch started. You're an entrepreneur looking to do what? Brewery? Distributor? Beer store? Find a place with no open container law and sell cans out of a mobile beer wagon? Hop broker? Hop farmer? Strip club brewpub? (seriously, it's a thing, google Pints and Pinups) What is your education in? Once you've figured out an idea, focus oyur networking appropriately. For example, if you want to be a hop farmer, don't waste your time in a distributor warehouse, go join local agriculture groups.

If I were going to open a business today that focused on the beer industry, I'd start manufacturing tanks and other brewery equipment and have a complementary business as a used equipment broker as craft breweries either expand and need to upgrade equipment or as smaller breweries go under and stuff starts getting sold off cheap.

 

You really gotta be more specific here. The beer industry is a broad and diverse market segment.

Cheers!

P.S. If you want to learn how to efficiently & effectively perform Marketing & Sales of beer I would suggest you get a job with AB as a Sales Representative.

 

Take any job you can get. I started my career at a retail outlet working one weekend a week & volunteering my time at a local brewery. I found out quickly I like the retail side of things so I went with selling/buying beer. 6 years later I have a "career" at two award winning restaurants (one has a bottle shop with 1k+ beers) as the beer buyer/director.

 

Harpoon and Sam Adams are usually hiring for different positions. Maybe try to get into a popular local brewery.

 

If you agree that starting in any position and are willing to relocate within reason, you can check out the Help Wanted forum for opportunities. I've glanced in there at times and it looks like experience is frequently desired for applicants, but check them out just in case an entry level position is there. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/forums/help-wanted.61/

 

Other online brewing industry Job Listing at:
http://www.brewbound.com/jobs
http://discussions.probrewer.com/forumdisplay.php?27-Help-Wanted

 

If you are opening a brewery, learn to brew beer free of defects, or hire an experienced Brewer.

 

To add, you'll need experience on an appropriately sized (NOT a homebrew setup) brewing system.

 

To be blunt, unless that education is from this list, then you should be hiring a brewer with proper education or experience.

"My friends say my homebrew is pretty good" is not an equal substitution.

 

This is very important. A brewery near me, a nanobrew pub that used homebrewing equipment to produce their beer, recently closed presumably because they couldn't keep up with the bigger, more 'professional' setup that opened down the road from them. The homebrew-style place was nice, had great heart, and wonderful people, so I was sad to see them go, but the difference in quality was very apparent.

 

I started as an avid beer lover. I was a bartender for several years, running a few nice places, all the while making contacts in the beer and wine distribution business. I traveled extensively as a young fellow, learning world beers, specifically from England, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I eventually went to work for a beer and wine wholesaler selling products that I already knew well. In succession, I worked for three wholesalers learning new products continually, traveling more and more stateside, moving up in the ranks to eventually running a small wholesale operation. Shortly thereafter my wife and I started up a small wholesale company, with wonderful financial support, acquiring brands and growing very nicely as beer exploded and North Carolina passed the Pop the Cap initiative (2005), which allowed beers above 6% to be sold. We retired in 2012. I spent almost 40 years in the business at many different levels. My advice is to meet as many people in the business as you can, and to learn the tiers of distribution. US beers are great, but go to England, Germany, and Belgium for an immersion....if you haven't already.

 

If you have zero commercial brewing experience, you may need to propose some type of unpaid internship if you want to get involved in the brewing part right away (as opposed to getting a job at a brewery that doesn't require experience, but isn't involved in the brewing).

A local brewpub is probably easiest to break into rather than established larger brewery.

 

I swear, ive had opportunities from reputable brewers, a brewing apprenticeship, just by going to the contact option on their website. I couldnt take it because i was already in college and couldnt work 2 jobs and do that plus an unpaid apprenticeship theres not even time in a day but all you have to do is ask, sekl your good qualities, and mop floors if itll get you in the door.

The worst thatll happen is theyll say no. So just go and ask. Nothing happens from waiting.

Good luck