Marketing & Getting Clients

How to Get Clients for Your Craft Beer Brewing Business

Getting clients for a craft beer brewing business means building relationships with people who will buy your beer regularly—whether that’s restaurants, bars, bottle shops, breweries looking to co-brand, or direct consumers at your taproom. Unlike many businesses, craft beer success depends heavily on product quality, but marketing determines how many people actually taste it. Your goal is to get your beer in front of decision-makers and beer drinkers who value what you’re making.

The challenge is that bars and restaurants receive pitches constantly, and consumers have thousands of beer options. You need a clear marketing strategy that positions your beer as worth stocking and worth buying. This page covers the specific channels, tactics, and systems that work for craft breweries at different stages.

Who Your Ideal Clients Are

Your primary clients fall into two categories: wholesale buyers (bar managers, restaurant owners, bottle shop owners) and direct consumers (brewery taproom visitors, beer enthusiasts, event attendees). Wholesale buyers care about margin, consistency, and whether your beer fits their customer base. A craft cocktail bar has different needs than a neighborhood dive or a sports bar. Direct consumers are typically craft beer drinkers aged 25–55 with disposable income, active in their local food and beverage scene, and willing to pay $6–$12 per pint or $10–$18 per six-pack for quality beer.

Your secondary clients include event organizers (who book breweries for beer festivals), corporate buyers (offices, catering), and other breweries interested in collaboration brews. Niche segments like fitness-focused or non-alcoholic beer communities can be valuable depending on your product line. The more specific you are about who you’re targeting, the more efficient your marketing spend becomes. A regional IPA brewery targeting craft beer enthusiasts in dense urban areas will market very differently than a sour or fruit beer brewery targeting broader casual drinkers.

Your Best Marketing Channels

Direct Outreach to Bars, Restaurants, and Bottle Shops

This is your highest-ROI channel for wholesale accounts. Identify 30–50 venues that match your brand (right style, customer demographic, existing craft beer selection). Contact the owner or bar manager directly with a pitch that includes your story, what makes your beer different, margin information, and delivery details. A face-to-face tasting is far more effective than an email. Your close rate on direct outreach should be 10–20% if you’re targeting venues that genuinely fit. Budget for samples (cheap beer to give away) and your time—this channel works but requires hustle.

Taproom Events and Tastings

If you have a physical location, this is your customer acquisition engine. Host weekly or bi-weekly events: live music, food pairings, brewery tours, meet-the-brewer sessions, or themed tastings. Events should be low-cost to run but high-value for building community. A Friday night event can bring in 50–150 people, and 20–30% become repeat customers. Promote events on your social media and email list. Track which events drive the most foot traffic and repeat sales.

Beer Festivals and Local Events

Craft beer festivals in your region typically charge $500–$2,000 for a booth and draw hundreds of serious craft beer drinkers in one location. A good festival can result in 5–15 new wholesale leads and 100+ consumer touchpoints. Start with 2–3 festivals per year in your immediate region. Beyond beer festivals, sponsor or participate in farmers markets, food truck rallies, and community events where your target audience gathers. Budget $200–$1,000 per event after entry fees.

Local Media and Press

Local business publications, lifestyle magazines, food blogs, and community news outlets regularly cover new breweries and brewing stories. Build relationships with local journalists and food writers. Pitch them stories: your origin story, special releases, community initiatives, or collaborations. A feature story in a local magazine or newspaper can drive 50–200 brewery visitors and significant word-of-mouth. This channel takes time but costs nearly nothing except your effort. Send a press release when you launch, reach milestones, or release limited beers.

Email Marketing to Your Customer List

Capture email addresses from everyone who visits your taproom or buys direct. Send a monthly or bi-weekly email about new releases, events, and special offers. A 30% open rate is typical for brewery emails. Email drives repeat purchases and loyalty at very low cost. Tools like Mailchimp or ConvertKit start free and cost $20–$50/month at 500–1,000 subscribers. This is one of your most profitable channels long-term.

Partnerships with Food Trucks, Restaurants, and Other Local Businesses

Partner with food trucks to co-locate at events, collaborate with restaurants on beer dinner events, or trade with other breweries for co-branded releases. These partnerships extend your reach to each other’s audiences. A joint event with a popular food truck can bring 100+ new people to your taproom. Partnerships also reduce your marketing cost and build community relationships that pay off over time.

Getting Your First 3 Clients

1. Start with venues you already know or frequent. Ask the owner or manager if they’d be interested in tasting your beer. Personal connection matters more than a polished pitch at this stage.
2. Prepare 10–15 samples in branded bottles or cans (even hand-labeled is fine early on) and a one-page sheet with your story, beer style, ABV, and pricing. Practice your pitch so you can explain your beer in 2–3 minutes.
3. Set a goal to pitch 5 venues per week. Track which ones show interest and follow up within a week with samples if they’re interested. Expect 3–5 rejections for every yes.
4. For your first three accounts, be flexible on margin. You may need to offer 30–35% margin to venues instead of your target 40% to get them to stock you. Once you have traction, you can raise margins.
5. Launch a taproom event or pop-up tasting once you have a location. Promote it via social media, email, and local Facebook groups. Even 30 attendees is a win for a first event.
6. Reach out to 10 local food bloggers or lifestyle journalists with a sample and a brief story about your brewery. Ask them to visit your taproom or feature you in an article.

Building Referrals and Word of Mouth

Referrals and word-of-mouth are your most reliable long-term channel. People trust recommendations from friends more than ads. Build this by making your taproom a place people want to return to and tell their friends about. Train your staff to remember regulars’ names and preferences. Create loyalty through consistent quality, friendly service, and a welcoming atmosphere. A taproom regular who visits twice a month and brings a friend along is worth far more than someone who comes once and never returns.

Make referrals easy by rewarding them: offer $5 off the next visit for a friend who becomes a regular, or run a “bring a friend free” promotion quarterly. Ask satisfied wholesale customers for introductions to other venue owners. Most of your best accounts after your first year will come from referrals and reputation, not cold outreach. Invest in being good to people, and they’ll market your beer for you.

Your Online Presence

You need a simple website (not just a Facebook page) that includes your story, beer styles with descriptions and ABV, hours and location, upcoming events, and contact information for wholesale inquiries. The site doesn’t need to be fancy—clean and mobile-friendly is enough. Venues and consumers should be able to answer basic questions without calling you. Include high-quality photos of your beer, taproom, and brewing process if possible. A website also helps you appear in local search results when people search “craft brewery near me” or “beer delivery in [your city].”

Set up a Google Business Profile so you appear in Google Maps and local search results. Encourage customers to leave reviews on Google and other platforms—social proof matters. Respond to all reviews, positive and negative. This takes 30 minutes per week and significantly improves your credibility with both consumers and wholesale buyers who research you before saying yes.

Social Media Strategy

Focus on Instagram and Facebook—these are where craft beer drinkers and venue owners are. Post 3–4 times per week on Instagram showing new releases, behind-the-scenes brewing content, taproom events, and user photos of people enjoying your beer. Instagram is the platform where breweries excel because beer is visual. Facebook is where you drive event attendance and reach slightly older demographics. TikTok can work if you’re willing to invest time, but it’s lower priority than Instagram and Facebook for most breweries.

Don’t aim for viral content—aim for engagement with your actual customers and local community. Respond to comments and messages. Tag customers who post your beer. Use location tags so locals can discover you. Consistency matters more than production quality; a phone photo posted three times weekly beats a professional photo posted once a month. Your social media should drive people to your taproom, events, and email list, not just accumulate followers.

Paid Advertising

Most craft breweries don’t need paid advertising until they’re six months in and have established a solid tap list and customer base. Facebook and Instagram ads can work to drive event attendance or promote new releases, with budgets of $200–$500 per campaign. Start by testing a $5/day ad promoting your taproom or an upcoming event to people within 10 miles of your location. Track how many people visit and convert to paying customers. If your cost per acquisition is under $20, scale up. Many breweries find that organic social media, events, and partnerships return more per dollar than paid ads, especially early on.

Client Retention

• Maintain consistent product quality and delivery schedule for wholesale accounts—this is non-negotiable.
• Check in quarterly with bar and restaurant managers; ask how sales are going and if they need anything from you.
• Create new and seasonal releases to give venues reasons to restock and update their tap lists.
• Reward repeat taproom customers with a loyalty program (digital or physical punch card) offering discounts or free pints.
• Host monthly or seasonal events that give existing customers a reason to bring friends and return.
• Send email updates about new releases, events, and special offers to your customer list monthly.
• Offer exclusive or limited beers to your most loyal customers—make them feel like insiders.
• Ask for feedback on new recipes and involve your customers in product decisions when possible.
• Monitor wholesale accounts’ inventory levels and be proactive about restocking before they run out.

For more specific tactics, explore the fastest ways to get your first 10 craft beer brewing business customers, review the best marketing tools for your craft brewery, and learn proven local marketing strategies for craft breweries.