In a Perfect Beer World – Craft Breweries

“Craft Breweries” was by far the category I’d say my readers were happiest with. It was also, ironically enough, the one category that had the highest common requests of all categories (more on that later.) My readers had the most positive comments by far on our local breweries from Lion to Breaker Brewing, Berwick Brewing, Old Forge Brewing and many of our other less-local micros. It seems that ALL beer lovers seem to love ALL of our local breweries. This was wonderful news to read and I was even more excited to hear what they want…

Many readers wanted simply “more of the same.” Readers would like to see more bottles and kegs available for when we can’t get to the brewery, and overall more availability in the local market. There was an overwhelming theme of “taking care of the local market.” Keeping a sufficient supply of beers for the local market and releasing special beers ONLY into the local market was a common comment.

The most common theme for my readers relative to our local craft breweries was simply wanting to “belong” and wanting to be a friend of the brewery. People loved that feeling of going to their local brewery, having the staff know their name and simply feeling like they belong. This theme extended also into readers simply wanting to know what’s going on at the brewery…what’s in the tanks, what special beers may be coming up, what are the typical seasonals and when do they typically come out, and what brewery events are coming up. This wanting to have a “home” brewery and wanting to belong and feel welcome was a very popular theme and one I think merits some attention from our local breweries. Many readers remembered their fathers and grandfathers being “Stegmaier Guys” and being a part of that brewing culture, and this sense of belonging is important for them to continue on in their generation.

As I mentioned above, the number one request across all categories came in the local Breweries category. As promised, the number one request of all categories is…..(drum roll and pay attention to this one)…by far THE MOST mentioned request I received was the desire for us to have a Wilkes-Barre area craft brewery and brew-pub. This has been a fight I’ve been fighting for years, but to see close to 90% of all respondents mention they want a local brew-pub in Wilkes-Barre was even a surprise to me. So is anyone listening….I guess we’ll see…

In conclusion it’s safe to say people love our local breweries, so much so that they want more. Local beer lovers want to belong and find a home in our local breweries like their fathers and grandfathers did, and I’m excited to see that maybe we can help make this happen. Cheers to everyone for their ideas and observations. Stay tuned for Part 2…coming soon.