How to Tell a Story with Your Beer through Design, with Ben Butler of Top Hat

Today we sit down with Lamar Neagle and Sam Zisette, two of the co-founders of Ballard FC. Ballard FC is a USL 2 team based in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, and had its inaugural season in 2022.  USL 2 is the fourth tier of the US professional soccer system, MLS being the top tier, USL 2 being a semi-professional fourth tier.We talk about: Forming a brand new organization from scratch, taking an idea to reality and a team playing in from of a packed out Interbay Stadium in its inaugural season;How soccer builds community;Startup founders being the jack-of-all-trades!How to get the word out - social media, traditional media, events;Thoughts around how to build a squad.Cheers to the new USL 2 season, and "Up the Bridges!"Links:Ballard FC - https://www.goballardfc.com/USL2 - https://www.uslleaguetwo.com/Reuben's Brews - https://reubensbrews.com/

I first met Kyle Larsen in the UK when he was head brewer for Siren Craft Beer.  In quite a crazy coincidence, Kyle - originally from Seattle - was working at a brewery very close to where I was originally from in England. We kept in touch, and as he moved back to US he opened his own brewery Kings and Daughters. A wonderful brewer, with a wonderful brewery, we've brewed a couple of collaborations already and it's always fun sitting down and having a beer with him.In this podcast, we talked about:Goal settingCultural differences when working overseasBrewery nichesLow alcohol beers, versus non-alcSoft IPA - including recipe tipsAlternating proprietorshipsThe need for craft beer to adaptLinks:Kings and Daughters Brewery - https://kingsanddaughters.com/Siren Craft Brew - https://www.sirencraftbrew.com/Reuben's Brews - https://reubensbrews.com/

Having met co-founder Jeff at a Brewbound conference back in 2019, it was only time before Reuben's Brews and Monday Night Brewing brewed a collaboration beer together. Jeff Heck and Peter Kiley came to Seattle in December 2022 to brew, and so we couldn't resist the chance to sit down and talk beer.In this episode we talk about a number of things, including:Jeff and Peter's personal journeys into craft beerThat craft breweries should focus on areas they can prove they have discernible valueAre brewery taprooms - and maybe breweries themselves - on a path to become "alcoholories" who focus on more than just beer?The changing perception of authenticity in craft beerThis was great fun to record, and we hope you enjoy it.LinksReuben's Brews - www.reubensbrews.comMonday Night Brewing - https://mondaynightbrewing.com/ 

Adam sits down with Kendall Jones of The Washington Beer Blog to talk about the trends they saw in 2022, and then translate that into what they see coming in 2023 for craft beer. They talk about non-alcoholic beer, with some warnings for craft brewers. They talk the impact of inflation, and the economy's potential impact on beer in 2023 with the talk of a possible recession. They also talk about the pandemic's impact on beer festivals.Adam prefaces the conversation with an update on a project Adam and Kendall have also been working on - The Taster Tray. This is a weekly free, fun, and informative craft beer newsletter. Sign up at thetastertray.com !Links:The Taster Tray: http://thetastertray.com/Washington Beer Blog: http://washingtonbeerblog.com/Reuben's Brews: https://reubensbrews.com/  

This special episode of Reuben's Sightglass was recorded live at Reuben's Brews on March 8th, 2022 at the Seattle launch of Cri-Star IPA. Many thanks to John Harris of Ecliptic Brewing for making the drive up to Seattle and for the Reuben's and Ecliptic teams for making this delicious beer possible! Cri-Star is a mashup of Reuben’s Brews Crikey and Ecliptic Brewing’s Starbust IPA, which both feature a similar blend of hops. 6.8% of collaborative IPA glory, the result is a tropically floral IPA with notes of citrus and pine.

Our host for this episode, Kendall Jones, is a central figure in the Washington brewing community. He is the founder of the Washington Beer Blog , co-founder (alongside Adam Robbings) of the Hop Mob, and a perennial judge at Washington State beer competitions. He also visited Reuben's Brews on the very first weekend we were open, and was one of the first journalists to publish a story about our brewery.This episode was recorded live at Reuben's Brews in November 2021 to celebrate our annual Rye Fest, which is happening the week of November 29th, 2021. The panel tasted through our Roasted Rye IPA, Dark Munich Lager, and Three Ryes Men Barrel-Aged Barleywine. 

Siren Craft Brew was founded by Darren Anley in 2013, and has quickly grown to one of the best craft breweries in the UK and known worldwide for its collaborations. Located just outside of Reading, near in fact to where Adam used to live,  Siren is known widely for its innovative and daring beers, and has been recognized as one of the best breweries in the world by Ratebeer.Throughout this conversation  we circle around the similarities between our breweries, the stories of how we were founded, and both of our interest in pushing the breadth of our beer lineups. But we also explore the unique role that UK craft beer culture  and regulations play in to the beers that Siren brews.

Design is one of the least discussed but potentially most important things a brewery can do to tell their story. If you do it well you will  connect with your customer, helping to build a critical and lasting bond, or as Ben Butler of Top Hat puts it, a "gentle handshake." This is especially true for new breweries trying to make their mark in the crowded marketplace today: how will your customers know what you stand for and what you are trying to say? And how will you stand out on the shelf with packaging that communicates this same message?Ben Butler founded Pittsburgh's Top Hat design and marketing agency before he had even graduated from college. His energy, passion, and entrepreneurial spirit - along with partner Aaron Easler and the whole Top Hat team - have propelled his agency to the forefront of craft brewery design and branding. Beginning with their "Will Work for Beer" campaign that drew the attention of their first brewery client Lord Hobo Brewing, leading to an impressive (and award-winning) brand refresh of Pittsburgh's iconic Iron City Beer, and on to successful projects for the likes of us at Reuben's Brews, Top Hat has made a mark as an innovative partner for breweries and other small businesses to refine their storytelling through design.Adam and Matt at Reuben's Brews are equally passionate about the role that storytelling and design have with connecting the consumer to the true mission of a brewery. When we embarked on our brand refresh project in 2019, even before connecting with Ben and Top Hat, we spent considerable time delving in to the "Why" of Reuben's Brews: the reason we brew and the reason we push to be better. In the closing notes of this episode Adam brings up the seminal "Start with Why" TED Talk by Simon Sinek which is worth watching for anyone who is interested in branding.This episode concludes the fourth season of Reuben's Sightglass and hopefully provides a capstone to this overview of the Business of Beer.--The fourth season of Reuben’s Sightglass dives deep into the Business of Beer. Listeners will learn about the backend of the brewery businesses, the highs and lows, mistakes and wins, and what makes a good beer vs what makes a great beer. Let this season guide you through your personal beer story.It’s time to embark on your beer journey.

Sightglass Season 4, Episode 5: The Art of Running a World-Class Beer Bar: Nat and Vern from Brouwer’s CafeThe cornerstone of the craft beer industry are the retailers: bottleshops, grocery stores, and restaurants who all help consumers on their journey to discovering new beers and new breweries. For Adam and Matt, and a generation or more of the Seattle beer community, Brouwer's Cafe in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle has been a quintessential place to discover great new beer while eating delicious food, while making friends along the way.In this conversation recorded in August 2021 we catch up with two of the guys behind this legendary operation and hear more about how they conceive of Brouwer's relationship with their visitors, their ideas behind building the restaurant the way they did, and more about the history of how this institution came to be. And in the end, Adam and Matt both look back fondly on great memories they've had at Brouwer's over the years, a clear example of the indelible role retailers like this have in the lives of their customers.--The fourth season of Reuben’s Sightglass dives deep into the Business of Beer. Listeners will learn about the backend of the brewery businesses, the highs and lows, mistakes and wins, and what makes a good beer vs what makes a great beer. Let this season guide you through your personal beer story.It’s time to embark on your beer journey.

Sightglass Season 4, Episode 4: Understanding the Wholesaler Tier, with Scott Cook of NW BeveragesSince the end of prohibition the alcohol industry in the United States has been governed by the Three-Tier System for alcohol distribution. The first tier is something we've covered often on Reuben's Sightglass: the brewery (or winery, distillery, etc.), also known as the supplier. We soon will cover the third tier in next week's episode: the retailer (your local bottleshop, restaurant, or grocery store.) But probably the least understood of these entities, at least for the average consumer, is what a wholesaler or distributor does in our industry. Scott Cook, the General Manager of NW Beverages, is here to shed light on their essential, distinct, and at times complicated role in getting you your favorite beer.NW Beverages, including its earlier entity Click Wholesale, has been a trusted and crucial partner for our brewery for a number of years. Scott Cook leads NW Beverages as General Manager, helming an important organization in Western Washington that works closely with hundreds of suppliers (like us) and thousands of accounts (like your favorite bottleshop or local convenience store.)  The role of the wholesaler is to get our product, and dozens of others, to market efficiently and to ensure that retailers have what they need to give you, the consumer, exactly what they want, when they want it.And what is one of the main take-aways from this conversation? That you - yes, you! - have more power than you know in influencing how retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers like Reuben's Brews get you the beer that you want. Listen now to find out how exactly that happens.--The fourth season of Reuben’s Sightglass dives deep into the Business of Beer. Listeners will learn about the backend of the brewery businesses, the highs and lows, mistakes and wins, and what makes a good beer vs what makes a great beer. Let this season guide you through your personal beer story.It’s time to embark on your beer journey.