Episode 009: Mug Club

Episode 009 - Mug Club

Tanner Brethorst is the Brewery Chief of the Port Huron Brewing Company.

He has a degree in Agricultural Business Management at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and while in school he landed a summer intern position at Tyranena Brewing Company in Lake Mills, WI.

After finishing his degree, Tanner furthered his brewing education at the Siebel Institute in Chicago. He studied in both Chicago and in Munich, Germany.

Tanner has worked with Lake Louie Brewing in Arena, WI, and Capital Brewery in Middleton, WI.

On January 2nd, 2011, at the behest of his family, Port Huron Brewing Company began renovation in Wisconsin Dells. Beer for sale in kegs went out the door in mid-April 2012.

Port Huron Beers are distributed by:

Frank Beverage Group

LaCrosse Beverage

Marketing The Brew Case History

Mug Club

“It builds this whole kind of like beehive of activity around the brewery because you got this thing that draws everybody together.”

Port Huron’s offer:

A beautiful handcrafted stoneware mug
20 oz’s of beer for the price of 16 ozs.
20% off of t-shirts, hats, and other branded merchandise
$2.00 off of growler fills
Mug Club nights to try new beers

The Port Huron Mug Club is promoted:

By word of mouth
On their website
On their Facebook page

Participation figures:

2015 = 174 mugs

2016 = 200+ mugs (as of July 4)

Port Huron’s mug supplier:

Sunset Hill Stoneware

“I got a lot of my (marketing) chops…from being out there on the street seeing it first hand. When I started in 2004 at Lake Louie, part of my job, a couple of days a week, I was the delivery kid. We’d load up the truck in the morning and I would deliver beer out to stores and bars and all this stuff. So I think I got a ton of exposure just to what everyone else was doing by being in the market. You know you really had your finger on the pulse of what was happening by being out there 2 or 3 times a week.”

“We booked the state’s best polka band, the Jerry Schneider Band to come up and play our Octoberfest Party.”

Promoting Your Mug Club

I recently visited The Fermentorium in Cedarburg, Wisconsin and discovered they are doing some interesting things to promote their Mug Club. According to founder Kris Volkman, they recognize accumulated visits with:

25 visits = A custom Mug Club hat

50 visits = A 18-20oz glass

150 visits = The red Mug Club mug

250 visits = You get to brew a beer