Business Blog. A guide to craft beer promotion, sales, and education.

We're excited to announce a brand new product: Beer Recommendations!

Starting January 25, your BeerMenus menu on mobile web, iPhone, and Android will lead off with an all new "Recommendations" section for all users!

We're still working out some kinks (hence the "BETA" tag), so please let us know if something looks off.

We'll get into the algorithm-y weeds below (grab some popcorn!) but here's the bare bones story: beers land in the "Recommendations" section based on how well they score in 5 categories:

• Is the beer local?
• Is the beer rare?
• Is the beer sought-after?
• Is the beer new to the menu?
• Is it rated well?

As you can see, we also provide an option for your more educated customers: Recommendations by Beer Style. For example, if someone knows they want a hoppy beer but they don't know where to start because you have a ton of IPAs, they can navigate to "Recommended Hoppy Beers."

Like I said, we'll get into specifics below, but before we get any further let's address the most important question:

It's a good time to be a beer lover. There are now more than 5,000 breweries in the United States alone—that's twice as many as there were just four years ago.

But there's another trend—a more subtle change—that's influencing the way restaurants, bars and taprooms sell beer. Brewers Association economist Bart Watson calls it “premiumization.”

This year's list provided few surprises—8 of the 10 beers were on last year's most popular beer list. Also unsurprising: IPAs and bourbon barrel stouts made up almost the entire list.

Indeed, the biggest surprise was what shook out as the year's most popular beer: a category bender from one of the most well known breweries in the country.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the 10 most popular beers of the year—enjoy!

Just like every year, we drank a lot of beer in 2017, so it was a little tough for each of us to choose our our single favorites. We did, it though. [Pat on the back.]

Check 'em out below and let us know on social media if you agree with one of us, applaud another, or think one of us has the unrefined an undiscriminating taste of an ape.

Cheers!

From liquor stores to beer bars, San Jose to Wichita to the East Village of Manhattan, here are the 10 most popular businesses on BeerMenus in 2017. Enjoy!

Digital beer boards are attention-grabbing, easy to read, easy to update, and always display your accurate drink menu. This makes the ordering process more efficient, leading to a significant increase in beverage sales.

But how difficult is it to make the switch to digital?

The answer: It's not difficult at all—it's simple! Read on to see just how easy it is to get your own digital beer board up and running at your business.

Want to skip the read and talk to a Beer Board expert instead?

Schedule a free Digital Beer Board Consultation. We'll discuss how the beer board works and walk through the setup process.

This article will outline

Offering an organized, easy-to-read print beer menu is a great way to provide customers a quality beer drinking experience—it makes choosing beers easier, meaning your customers will spend time drinking beer instead of struggling to decide which to order.

_{Example print menu—see more examples below.}

Jump Start—I'm ready to make my menu now!

Beer Information

Print menus from BeerMenus automatically fill in all the necessary info about each of your beers, including:

Customizations

We know your menus are your menus, so there is a ton of flexibility built into the print menus. Customizations include:

Below you'll find step-by-step setup instructions as well as a few example menus.

Want us to take care of setup and design?

Schedule a print menu consultation. We'll walk through what you're looking for and have you printing the same day.

Big news! On Monday, August 14, we launched Custom Menu Sections. They're a huge step forward in providing you the flexibility you need to create the menu you want.

Every spring we like to take a look back at the previous year.

I'll be the first to admit, part of this process is self reflective/indulgent:

Were our collaboration beers this past year better than the year prior?

But, rest assured, we also ask—and answer—other questions.

Namely: how many people used BeerMenus in the last year? How many times? For what?

We want to make these stats available to the great businesses who use BeerMenus. By doing so, you'll be able to see and feel the effect of the BeerMenus community, and also understand the integral role you play in that community.

With that goal in mind, we put together the slides below.

A scaled down (5.1%) tropical pale ale brewed with opinions and aptness, Integrity is Rare is the perfect summer crusher. Follow it here to get notified when it arrives at a bar near you.