This is our first Market the Brew profile of a Brewery In Planning. Our two guests, Christian Layke and Brett Robinson, are the cofounders of a brewery that will be opening in the DC area in the next 6 months.
We’ll be diving into their marketing strategy to build up excitement and visibility around their opening.
What’s unique about their approach is that they are making a series of collaborative beers with other local breweries to gain some pre-opening traction in what they are calling the Convergent Worlds Collaboration Series.
CHRISTIAN LAYKE
Co-founder and Head Brewer
Beer has been a part of Christian’s fondest memories—travel to far-flung locations with family and friends, toasting his engagement at Ankor Wat, chatting around many a campfire, and so many more. Drinking beer in Europe, Africa, Asia and, of course, America, got him hooked on enjoying quaffable beer served from beautiful glassware in cozy settings. So much so he was compelled to leave his job at an environmental non-profit 10 years ago to become a commercial brewer. Christian is excited to now be realizing his dream of creating a spot like that in his home community.
BRETT ROBISON
Co-founder and General Manager
It was a revelation when Brett realized beer wasn’t just a flavorless yellow beverage. He told his friends he’d open his own brewery someday. Ten years later the dream is about the become a reality. Brett has toured Europe drinking beer, quit his job in finance and did a brief stint as an assistant brewer. He followed that with managing multiple restaurants and most recently was General Manager of Republic in Takoma Park.
This episode is a two-parter and it’s about podcasting as a medium to promote your brew. Have you noticed that podcasting, like craft beer, has blown up in the past few years? When it comes to beer podcasts, I find that they fall into one of three categories: beer tasting and beer drinking podcasts; beer making and brewing podcasts; and podcasts that cover the business side of craft beer. This episode explores the idea of appearing on podcasts as a way to tell your brewery’s story and promote your brand. Our guests are Matthew Muncy, founder of the Hopped Up Podcast Network and host of the Barrel Chat podcast PLUS Jessica Rhodes, founder and CEO of Interview Connections and the host of Rock the Podcast.
This episode is about driving traffic – butts in barstools. Specifically, the use of events in creating a compelling reason to come and visit.
We are getting the perspective on this from two different breweries.
Amanda Zivkovic is the Associate Brand Manager at Heavy Seas in Baltimore, MD. She assists in consumer promotion, tap room events and charity initiatives among other things.
Our other guest is Amanda Martin with Walking Tree Brewery in Vero Beach, FL. Amanda is the Event Coordinator & Tasting Room Manager and one of the original team members of the Walking Tree Crew. She has been an integral part of developing the brewery as a highly sought-after event venue.
Ray Goodrich has bounced around from dream job to dream job—starting his post college life as a marine mammal trainer at Sea World. Then he decided to pick up a few Emmys by producing SCC football for Fox Sports. And now? Well now he talks beer for a living. He is the Director of Marketing at Foothill Brewing in Winston Salem, North Carolina and on the show to talk about Foothill Brewing’s unique community-focused promotions.
This is a special compilation episode. We pull the origin stories and behind the brand stories from previous Market The Brew episodes. Here we review 6 special breweries: D.L Geary Brewing Co.; Jester King Brewery; Lakefront Brewery; Our Mutual Friend Brewing Co.; Station 26 Brewing Co.; and MobCraft Beer.