Beer Industry should look to Partnerships to Expand and Survive

As the craft beer industry market slows, some are hunkering down to wait things out while others are exploring partnerships to unlocked untapped customer bases and keep their brands relevant. The craft beer market isn’t oversaturated, it’s just not reaching. Partnerships are not something to wait on, partnerships can keep us in business.

In the chain food and beverage world, partnerships are endless. Subway has sandwiches designed by famous athletes, Cinnabon coffee is served at Taco Bell and The Mint Mobile shake was available at Jack in the Box in March. In some areas Chase bank leases the inner aisle of their drive thru branches to Starbucks. New Belgium makes the house beer for Red Robin, while Goose Island does it for Buffalo Wild Wings. 

Increasing sales by gaining new customers through partnerships is continuing to grow. Partnering doesn’t always lead to an immediate increase in sales, but playing the long game works. Everyone benefits when collaborating including the breweries, taprooms, non beverage businesses and consumers. 

After GABF last year, we featured a few partnerships premiering in Denver, CO. Athletic Brewing was mentioned and will get more attention here. We also featured the Bevana Hype House, a creative partnership between a beer production company and Social Media Influencers. Since then, not only have beer partnerships increased, some even made mainstream news. This isn’t a commentary or historic documentation of Dylan Mulvaney’s partnership with Bud Light, but the national news coverage can’t be denied. 

Celebrity Partners:

Partnering with celebrities is as old as media. Besides actors, athletes and recording artists, social media influencers have become a standard paid partnership. Partnering with celebrities has significantly increased over the last few years. We will continue to see more local and regional, “celebrities,” partnering with breweries. 

El Segundo Brewing launched Broken Skull IPA with wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin a few years ago and it is now a year around beer with grocery store space and expanded beer styles. The marketing campaign that launched the beer showed craft breweries that celebrities aren’t just for the large scale breweries. 

Gigantic Brewing partners with Weird Portland United for local celebrity collaborations. The Weirdstastic series launched by collaborating with the Unipiper and has a follow up beer. Shortly before Darcelle XV passed, Gigantic brewed a Blonde IPA with her. 

Ninkasi Brewing partnered with Jeffrey Morgenthaler on their first canned cocktail line. As breweries continue to move into the RTD market, using a known name in the cocktail world seems like an obvious choice. There is a little more to the story than just a marketing partnership. Jamie Floyd, founding brewer of Ninkasi has known Jeffrey for half his life. 

They go so far back that, “Jeffrey did some web design as a side hustle and did Ninkasi’s first website,” said Jamie. He continues, “Even when we decided years ago to make Hard Seltzer Nikos (Ninkasi co-founder) and I also discussed canned cocktails. We waited some years to do the canned cocktails but we reached out to Jeffrey and he was thrilled to work with us. With his international clout he could have worked with many different companies but he wanted to work with us and keep it Oregon!”

The Ninkasi partnership expands cocktail fans to the beer brand and vice versa with beer drinkers getting access to the cocktail world. “We do feel like there are new connections made between Ninkasi beer lovers and those who follow Jeffrey’s cocktails. Our combined efforts are out there on the shelves with customers that are new to beer and classic cocktails. Curious beverage drinkers explore flavors and find us from a different channel then at Jeffrey’s bars or at our Better Living Room space. Having two solidly known brands like Ninkasi and Jeffrey also help reach groups outside of Oregon and the Pac NW.”

Partnering for a Cause:

Partnerships with nonprofit organizations not only raise money for specific causes, they potentially open a new audience. Marrying a cause with a marketing campaign increases awareness for all partners involved. Raising money for a good cause changes the world forever and a lot of breweries want to make sure they have an impact. 

Cloudburst Brewing released Beautiful Distraction IPA, a collaboration with artist Joey Veltcamp. 100% of the proceeds go to the Lavender Rights Project supporting the Black and Indigenous Intersex and Gender Diverse community. Due to popularity of the beer and need for continued fundraising, the beer is being released again in Seattle, WA. 

Centered around the annual Earth Day celebration, Oregon Brewshed Alliance rounded up breweries to brew a beer using their respective watersheds, then got hops donated. A multi-layered partnership raising money for awareness of river protection involving breweries, congress, hop growers and Oregon Wild has plans to continue to enhance their partnerships. 

Cheers to the Land  is another nature based, multi brewery partnership by Oregon Agricultural Trust (OAT). A portion of the collaboration beers raise money to protect farm and ranch land in Oregon. After a successful campaign in 2022, the partnership returned in 2023.

Black is Beautiful Volume 2 is launching now, with the commitment that each participating brewery will donate $1 per beer to the newly formed National Black Brewers Association. Black is Beautiful Volume 1 raised $5 million dollars and had over 1600 participating breweries from 28 countries join in.  

Native Land, a series created by Bow & Arrow Brewing in Albuquerque, NM to enhance awareness and support of non profit Native population causes returned for a second year. Several Oregon breweries committed to brew the Native Land beer this year and donate proceeds. Ruse Brewing and Bierly Brewing in their second year and Block 15 Brewing joined in this year. 

Brews for New Avenues just held their twelfth annual festival, raising money for New Avenues for Youth. Over three hundred breweries have donated beer, but some are long term partners that brew or blend one off beers that fetch a higher price to raise even more money. Partners also donate space and beer throughout the year. AltBrau, deGarde Brewing, Block 15 Brewing, Nebuleus Beer, Ruse Brewing and Upright Brewing regularly contribute special beers, co-branded with New Avenues for Youth that raise money to end youth homelessness in Portland, OR. In 2023 the official Guest Brewers were Ruse Brewing in Portland, OR and Drie Fonteinen from Belgium. 

Private Label Partners:

Zupans Markets launched their Farm to Market beer series in 2015 to celebrate 40 years in business. With 20 collaborations under their belt, the series continues. Every few months a new brewery and now cideries create a beverage and label exclusive to Zupan’s Market. Recent collabs include Wayfinder Beer, Fort George Brewery and Cascade Brewing. Seattle Cider Company is in on the action now. 

Promotion Partners:

On 420 (April 20th, the annual celebration of cannabis) John’s Marketplace and Oregon’s Own Dispensary teamed up to move product and create new customers. Customers take their John’s receipt to the dispensary for a $1 pre-roll and they can take their Oregon’s Own receipt to the pub for a $4.20 pint.

Breakside Brewing partnered with Portland Gear on Portland IPA. Described as two home grown brands coming together to make a truly Portland beer, the collaboration beer became available year around due to its popularity. 

Athletic Brewing, a non alcoholic beverage company made an N/A beer for the Netflix original show, The Witcher. Geralt’s Gold, a hoppy helles launched as a promotion for the last season. 

Kraken Stash IPA from Hop Valley Brewing is the official beer of the Seattle Kraken professional hockey team. Sports partnerships are not limited to giant breweries. The Portland Pickles baseball team has teamed up with several breweries including Deschutes, Away Days, Breakside and more for limited edition beers. Stormbreaker Brewing had the Official Portland Pickles beer of 2023 named Chair Raiser IPA. The beer is served at every bar in the stadium, available in Stormbreaker’s two pubs and retail locations. Dan Malech, co-founder of Stormbreaker Brewing says, “We’ve been looking to partner with a local sports team and the Portland Pickles seemed like a perfect fit. They know how to have a good time, don’t take themselves too seriously, and care about the fans as much as we care about our customers. They’ve been a great collaborator and we look forward to many more years as a partner.” 

Brewery Partners:

Collaborations between breweries have been around for what seems like forever. Some people credit Russian River Brewing and Avery Brewing with the first collaboration release in 2006. While this got some national media attention, it’s safe to say there were collaborations in smaller markets prior to 2006. Several of those collaborations start out with people saying, “I was at a party in XXX’s hotel room during GABF in 19XX and then we made a beer.” 

Historically, two breweries did collaborations, but then one coastal Oregon brewery changed the game. Fort George Brewing founded 3-Way IPA, which started as a single release in 2013. Fort George Brewing invited two other regional breweries to make a beer that truly tasted like each partner involved. The 3-Way beer has grown into a full brand and has multiple style releases each year.  Inspired by the 3-Way success, Fort George turned Fanzine IPA into a spring seasonal collab series. Pizza Pals IPA was a collaboration with Ruse Brewing Crust Collective and more pizza company collabs are coming as winter seasonals. 

Stone Brewing did some three way collaborations and while they may have some pioneering influence, no brewery stands up to how well Fort George has harnessed the power of the 3-Way. 

Partnering with another brewery beyond a collaboration beer is starting to show up. While Kona Brewing and Golden Road are owned by the same parent company, AB-INBEV, someone had the idea to blend their two current flagship beers together and market it. 

We could soon see this in the craft market, especially if supported by a shared distributor. 

Two different breweries beers were mashed up into one promo by their wholesale distributor: Golden Road Mango Cart and Kona Big Wave..

Food Partners:

One of the fastest growing partnerships with breweries are contract kitchens. Instead of the traditional brewpub with full restaurant service, breweries are opting to have a restaurant partner. Whether it’s a full time food cart on site or an in-house kitchen with a separate operator, you can still have a food and beverage experience without skimping. Businesses get the benefit of doubled marketing efforts and increased audience. 

Here is a very small sample of food partnerships in Oregon and SW Washington.

Lawless BBQ at Little Beast Brewing

Portland Area

Great Notion -  Matt's BBQ Tacos

Labyrinth Forge with Sweet Lorraine's and La Tia Juana

Little Beast - Lawless BBQ 

Level Beer - Level 1 Food Carts 

Gigantic Robot Room - Taproom inside Rocket Empire Machine Food Hall

Oregon City Brewing  - Food Cart Pod 

Upright Brewing with both Junior's Roasted Coffee and Chaat Wallah

Zoiglhaus Brewing -  The Zed Food Hall

Southern OR

Chetco Brewing - Off the Wagon Food Truck 

SW Washington

Vice Brewing - El Viejon Taqueria y Mariscos Food Truck 

Central OR

Van Henion Brewing - That Guy’s Bistro Food Truck 

Partnership, collaboration, co-branding, and cross promotional opportunities are continuing to grow. Consumers benefit by increased knowledge and access to beer when breweries develop partnerships.  

We are looking forward to creative partnerships that a few years ago nobody could have imagined.

Ask a local celebrity for a collaboration. Every community, no matter how big or small, has a musician, artist, politician or other type of leader that wants to partner with breweries, especially now that craft beer is mainstream. There is an official week for something in your area. Even Portland has Portland Fashion Week. Do an official beer for Portland Fashion Week.

The need for non profit fundraising is not only important, but urgent. Join forces for awareness through a non profit partnership. Expand the audience while improving society. 

Do a private label with a hotel, the local tourism board or Chamber of Commerce. There is no limit to promotional partners. Rogue has been using existing beer and giving it a new name for years for the purpose of cross marketing. Their Portland State Ale was not a one off or special release beer, it was an existing beer with a new label. 

Colleges, sporting events, or anything that has a tap handle has the potential to be a cross promotional partner. For companies with a significant amount of employees, offer them a kegerator and name a beer for them (within local laws). Partnership doesn’t have to be big, grassroots exist.  A few hundred people hearing your name several times a week can send them to your pub or get them to recognize package at the store.

Make a collaboration plan with other breweries. Make categories like, collab with every brewing within a 100 mile radius, or every brewing in your state or every brewery that has an H in their name. The reason doesn’t matter, just plan it out. Collaborate with specialty breweries, for example, Gluten Free breweries, N/A breweries, farmhouse breweries, anything that isn’t typically your brand.  

El Viejon Taqueria at Vice Beer in east Vancouver, Washington

Partner with specific food vendors. Do a collab beer with, or inspiration of a food vendor. Grand Fir Brewing made a beer with Grasslands BBQ and Vice Beer did a beer in honor of El Viejon Taqueria y Mariscos Food Truck 

If you have an idea for how your favorite brewery can partner with a business or individual, tell them. Many current collaborations come from loyal customers. Remember, the easiest way to start a partnership is to ask.