Festivals and chocolate: Event tips for pubs

Anyone who is passionate about beer knows that it’s much more than just a drink that comes in a pint glass. The fact that beer is a sophisticated, subtle drink with hundreds of styles, that it is a perfect partner for all kinds of foods and that it can even be used in your beauty regime are just three of the reasons to love beer – and at BitterSweet Partnership, we’ve been spreading the word about them for almost a year now. Given how many things beer has going for it, it’s a shame that not all the pubs you go in broadcast how great it really is – wine often gets all the glory, with wine lists on every table and wine tasting events a regular feature in some pubs. We’d love to see beer getting the attention it deserves – so here are some ideas we’ve seen that could be implemented in any pub:

• Beer and food matching with a difference: It may be that most punters enjoy their pint with a packet of peanuts – but have you ever thought of suggesting something sweeter? You may think that beer and chocolate is an unlikely combination, but last week at a BitterSweet Partnership event we demonstrated to journalists and bloggers that it is a perfect pairing. We can see this sort of thing working really well in pubs as an alternative to wine tasting – it’s more striking and unusual, and guaranteed to be a talking point! If you’d like to know more about beer and chocolate, check our website shortly for some more information– if you own a pub, soon you could be surprising and delighting your customers!

• Showcase beer with a festival in the pub: Some pubs, such as The Old Bookbinders in Oxford, hold regular beer festivals, where their customers can try a wide range of ales in the comfort of their local. For the Old Bookbinders, the event brings them a lot of custom, with customers spilling out of the doors. I think that this is a great way to attract customers who’d like to branch out in the beers they try but who may not have the inclination to travel to a beer festival (yet!). Even better, it allows your customers who are passionate about beer to share it with friends in an informal setting – and will hopefully create advocates that’ll be back another time!

At the moment, it feels like the good qualities of beer are a well-kept secret – as nearly a quarter of women associate beer drinking with “chavviness” or binge-drinking, as opposed to wine which is associated with sophistication and success (as found in a survey for BitterSweet Partnership), it is clear that the beer and pub industries have work to do in letting them know what beer has to offer. Do you have any ideas about how pubs can celebrate beer in the manner it deserves? If so, please let us know!