Focused distribution: Blackberry Farm Brewery expands through high-end restaurant channel

The craft brewing industry has its share of distribution strategies for those enterprising breweries looking to share their wares with a wider audience. As mentioned in stories on this site, it pays for a brewery to know who it wants drinking its beer and why, and for that to be a main driver in how/where to bring beers to market. A nice example of this is Blackberry Farm Brewery’s latest distribution news.

The Walland, Tenn.-based Blackberry Farm is going to leverage the relationships it has with high-end restaurants throughout the country and start shipping small-batch beers from its brewery their way.

From Yahoo!:

“They’ll be best able to explain to their guests what they’re drinking,” said Blackberry Farm proprietor Sam Beall, as he showed off some of the brewery’s new equipment and sipped its latest saison. “They’re able to tell our story.”

An ability to fully describe the brew is an important part of Beall’s effort to increase the pairing of beer with different dishes in his own and other restaurants, something he said that is difficult to do with many beers on the market.

“I personally find a lot of craft beers and micro brews to be very hoppy, high in alcohol, high gravity; there’s a lot, a lot, a lot,” Beall said, adding that beer and food pairings should be approached in the same way a steward chooses wine for a particular dish. “A sommelier is not looking for the biggest and boldest. They’re looking for balance, and that’s what we’re striving for.”

Need help figuring out who your core audience is? Some of these handy branding features could help.