How do you prefer beer be organized in a store?

Just keep the BMC product away from the real craft brews and ill be a happy camper... I actually like spending an hour in the store walking around looking..so women... I know how you feel...

 

State. Even though most of us might know exactly where a beer we're after was brewed, a lot of us, especially the noobs among us like me, won't know that. I'll just know that I'm looking for say, Left Hand or whatever. Just seems like that would make the most sense anyhow.

 

By type of beer.

 

I think I would like it to be broken down first by type i.e.. Ipa's, DIPA, Porter...etc.

Then put it down in alphabetical by the brewery i.e.. Two Brothers, Piepeworks, FFF.....etc

 

Actually, one of the stores I frequent, has their beers presented first, by region (West Coast, Midwest, East Coast), and then alphabetically by brewer.

 

The 'by style' seems to make sense but I never seem to see it arranged that way, and I would imagine that's because of business agreements or whatever.

 

By style of beer with alphabetical subcategory. It's also nice to have a section dedicated to local beer.

 

Regardless, all my local liquor stores have their beers categorized by B, M, and C, with a little shelf in the corner with some craft beer.

 

By style or brewery would be acceptable to me.

 

It pisses me off to no end to go into a store and see it arranged by brewery or state. Put them together by style. You don't go to a liquor store and walk over to the Banker's Club section.

 

Most preferred would be by state and then by brewery. Otherwise, by brewery is preferred.

 

Its because its an utter pain in the ass for the staff to keep it organized that way

 

Depends on how much beer you got. Any method can and does work, just make it work for what you want. It seems more logical to put all the beers by a brewer all together in a one stop method, and then by region and alpha. But with the so many breweries coming on line and many of them pushing the same or such similar styles. It might almost be worth it to organize them by region by "style" and then alpha just to begin to play the similarities of style off of one another and put more focus on how many varieties of style there are.

 

Domestic and international sections, each section subdivided by brewery.

By style would be fantastic, but I don't think that's likely. Too much discussion about styles, too many styles, and so much diversity within a style that some beers elude categorization.

 

If I am in a good craft beer store, it means I am traveling, because my local stores are pretty average. When I travel, I like to hit a good local store and create a mixed six for the week, so I seek out a single bottle section. I like to see a local section, because I am often interested in sampling fresh local beers, especially if I am seeking out hop-forward American styles. Beyond that, I guess sorting by brand makes it easy on me.

 

I prefer It to be organized by brewery. It is easier to find what you need.

 

That's how my go to shop does it. I'm happy with that organization method. Bombers are also separate from packaged offerings and organized by brewery as well. All is refrigerated.

 

I'd prefer a store be organized by "style", "country", and alphabetized.

 

Regionally, with all of any one brewery's beers together. Craft separate from macro.

 

makes sense. I work for a wholesaler and have actually stocked coolers. by brand is really the only way to go.

 

I agree. Organizing by style of beer: pils/lagers in one section, pale ales, IPAs, Stouts, Porters, etc. each having their own section. This is a generalization, but it seems that the American beer market puts too much emphasis on the branding/labeling of beer instead of the beer style.

 

Local store is organized like this, with each aisle grouped by brewery (look on top and left side for beer)

 

With limited fridge space, I'd prefer that the IPAs, pale ales and other "ephemeral" beers go in the fridge first, with stouts, strong ales and similar out on the shelves. After that, roughly by style.

 

American Beers...

1. keep all hop forward beer in the cooler, arranged by state
2. keep all local stuff in it's own section
3. keep all new stuff in its own section
4. keep all BMC and the like in it's own section
5. then arrange everything else by state and then alphabetically. I would try to keep six packs, 22oz. bombers and 750ml separate.

Everybody else...

1. arrange by country then alphabetically.
2. keep a section for new arrivals
3. barring a hop forward beer, most of these would be kept warm.

 

I would like to see a section for local beer organized by brewery (this would include a section of the cooler), and the rest of the stuff organized by style. Particularly the bomber racks. I understand that this is difficult to do, particularly beers that blur the style lines. But this is what I would prefer. I would settle for some kind of obvious organization scheme.

What I actually witness is beer thrown on shelves with little to no organization at all. The Stone stuff is usually close together, and the German stuff, but that's about it.

 

I'd really prefer alphabetical by brewery. When I'm out and about and finding new beers or reading about beers that I want to try, that's the one thing I'll usually remember, the name of the brewery.

 

Long, in-depth article on the topic on the Brewers Association website:

Shelf Sets: Why We Need to Keep Craft Beer Set by Brand in the Chains​

 

tbh I do not care. as long as its not redone every other month so I can find what I like I am cool. as long as everything you got is on the floor I am also cool with it. My total wine just did a nice redo, but while they did a good job by style its focus is singles and that bugs me. I want value and 6 packs are my go to's . Still I guess for the ticker its great setup.

they had a seasonal row and all that jazz. I really prefer by country and for the usa, by state.
if you know the brand you may know what state. or just by brand also works well for me.

 

thanks!

 

I prefer them organized by either style or brewery.

 

Definitely by country then brewery. Definitely not by style.

 

These are my preferences, in no specific order:

(1) Separated by country.
(2) By brewery.
(3) Please do not have the same beer in multiple locations. <-- I've been seeing this in the smaller stores... I think they spread the bottles around to make it look like they have a big selection(?). It's really lame. It just kinda shows me that they don't know the beers...
(4) Absolutely do NOT display bottles in the windows!

Alphabetical is not important to me; neither is organizing by state.

 

Stores that do this are the worst. I shouldn't have to hunt all over the store if I want Odell IPA and Odell Cutthroat Porter.

To answer the OP, other than keep brands together and separate by country, I don't care.


Edit: Wow, surprised to see several say by style/type.

 

I vastly prefer stores that organize by style as compared to by brewery. No name brewery that's at the bottom of the shelf with a label that doesn't catch my eye may make a kick ass Kolsch, but I could overlook it. If it were in the Kolsch section, which is where I would look because I love Kolsch, I would see it and try it.

 

Ha ha, different strokes for different folks I suppose. I love stores organized by style, as usually when I am shopping I am looking for a type of beer not a specific brewer. Two each their own!

 

As long as you don't arrange them by "style" then I'd be a happy shopper. That whole idea never made any sense to me.

If it were me... I'd arrange them alphabetically by brewery with the exception of special releases and maybe seasonals. I might would also have a separate space for sours/barrel-aged beers. Also keeping Belgians apart from american craft might be a good idea.. Then again if you ran with that you would need to arrange by country, then brewery respectfully.

My favorite bottle shop in town is actually very unorganized come to think of it and it works just fine for me. I could see it being a little confusing maybe for a newbie but the hunt if half the fun.. right?

 

my TW does this on singles. I think its ok they got the room for multiple locations and they do it allot. actually I still think ever after the redo beer is only 15-20% of the store. hard to say without a floor plan. what bugs me is the focus on singles, which they sell for more than the 4/6 pack price per bottle btw. can you say rip off, I can. lol. I wish they sold by the case.

 

I would love to see stores organized by style with all pale ales, IPA's, and other delicate styles in the fridge. I shop by the style/flavor that I desire to drink so it would be nice to see what all my options are for the particular style/flavor I am looking for all at once. But I also understand that most people don't shop for beer that way (yet) and the need to organize by brewery/country etc.

 

problem with that, it creates a lot more work for the store. Not all beer is labelled as the the "style", so now you have some beer that might end up in a different "style" section.