Local Breweries Boost Their Brand with Activities, Events

Beyond the Beer

 

In the early days of White Lion Brewing Co., exposure was critical, Ray Berry said — and it still is.

“When the White Lion brand was created, the ultimate goal was to have a brick-and-mortar location in downtown Springfield. We thought that we would be able to accomplish that in a couple of years, but it took longer than that. And because we were contract brewing in another location, it was hard for consumers to identify us because there was no bricks and mortar,” he recalled.

“So it was important for us to engage the community by doing special events, pop-ups, beer gardens, collaborations, partnerships with other community organizations. And that allowed us to really start to have the brand resonate in the Greater Springfield area.”

Almost a decade ago, Berry started having conversations with the Springfield Business Improvement District about bringing the first beer garden to downtown Springfield.

“We rotated in two or three different locations every week for several summers. And that excitement, that engagement, that new option for professionals — and folks just coming to town after work on Wednesday — was incredible. The crowds grew week over week. It really took on a life of its own.”

“There are over 9,000 craft breweries in the United States. There are towns in Western Mass. that have three or four different breweries, and there are only so many consumers. So it’s important for a brand like White Lion to be very proactive and engage as much as it can to keep the consumer aware of what we’re offering.”

COVID put a damper on those events for a while, but after the pandemic, White Lion not only roared back with events, but continues to expand them in neighboring cities (more on that later).

“I guess the gist of it is, it’s important in this hyper-competitive environment,” Berry went on. “There are over 9,000 craft breweries in the United States. There are towns in Western Mass. that have three or four different breweries, and there are only so many consumers. So it’s important for a brand like White Lion to be very proactive and engage as much as it can to keep the consumer aware of what we’re offering. You have to make a strong marketing effort just because of all of the things that have changed since COVID.”

Progression Brewing Co. sells beer in hundreds of locations from the Berkshires to Cape Cod, but still relies on business at its downtown Northampton headquarters. Which is why the brewery runs a very busy calendar of events every week, from live music to trivia nights to … bonsai workshops.

“You can find our beer anywhere, but when it comes to getting people in this space, they need specific reasons to go,” said Chris McKenney, taproom manager. “It’s not just about giving a pint to them, but who they’re having a pint with and what they’re doing. It’s all about community engagement. I don’t think any brewery is turnkey anymore — just open the doors, and people will come and drink. I think you need to keep giving people reasons to come, in order to keep the taproom full.

“I can’t believe how busy trivia is week after week,” he went on. “And the live music is great. We’ve got so much talent here in the Valley, so many inquiries from bands who want to play. I don’t charge a cover at the door when we’re trying to get people in; I want people to come and enjoy the place. So maybe you’re losing a little up front, but maybe you get a repeat customer who says, ‘hey, this seems like a cool spot; I want to come back.’”

“It’s all about community engagement. I don’t think any brewery is turnkey anymore — just open the doors, and people will come and drink. I think you need to keep giving people reasons to come, in order to keep the taproom full.”

Eric Berzins, general manager and head brewer at Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton, called taproom events a critical part of the operation.

“It’s another way to interact and bond with the community,” he said. “Usually, beer drinking has a social dynamic, but adding events, adding music, just facilitates it a little bit more in this age where we’re constantly sort of individualized. So this is just a lubricant to socialization. I guess that’s the best I can describe it in an odd way.

“In terms of music, it’s very eclectic,” Berzins added. “We have big bands, small bands, we’ve got rock and roll, we’ve got folk, we’ve got vocals, we’ve got no vocals. We cover a fairly broad spectrum.”

Then there are annual events like a fundraising 5K and the popular Barks & Brews night, which is what is sounds like — a way for people and their dogs to mingle, eat, drink, and have a good time.

“That’s a very interesting day because everyone’s very rush-rush out on the street, but when everyone’s with their dog on the property, they seem to relax and bring it down a notch. It just doesn’t seem like people are as agitated,” he told BusinessWest, adding that the long-term impact of all this activity is positive for the business. “We’ve got a few people that are here almost every single day.”

 

Food, Folks, and Fun

This summer, White Lion has a beer-garden presence — featuring live music, food vendors, and, of course, beer — in three cities: at rotating spots in downtown Springfield, in Holyoke’s Armour Yard at the Cubit, and at the new Elm Street Plaza in Westfield.

“That beautiful plaza is right in the heart of downtown,” Berry said of the Westfield park, “so we’re lucky and very happy to be part of that. The last four weeks, the number of people out there has been incredible. I think there’s definite buy-in and appreciation for that new venue in Westfield.

“We try to cater to multiple palates,” he said of White Lion’s events in general. “There’s always food available and different variations of beverages. Then there’s music, so there’s the entertainment piece. People want to just come out and enjoy the music, or they may want to have a beverage and a bite to eat, but they want to be part of this ecosystem of energy. It’s incredible — you see little kids running around, young families, grandparents with their grandkids, and people riding through on skateboards and bikes and grabbing a bite to eat. It really does create a sense of community.”

Speaking of community, area breweries find many other ways to connect with locals. In addition to live music, Fort Hill regularly features food trucks, cruise nights, and events that benefit area organizations, from schools to the Pioneer Valley Ballet. It also supported the development of the Fort Hill mountain bike trail at Berkshire East in Charlemont — one that features 40-foot jumps — and Berzins, a mountain-biking enthusiast, is looking to convert some of his Easthampton property to a BMX track.

These efforts are carefully crafted to attract a broad age range, he noted, while generating on-site energy — and revenues — to complement a distribution business that places Fort Hill brews in liquor stores and taps across Western Mass.

“The cruise nights bring in a slightly older crowd because they’re the ones that can afford the 1962 muscle cars,” he said. “But it’s all about socializing. I try to establish an environment where people socialize and talk to their neighbor.”

Progression also runs activities that benefit local schools and nonprofits, McKenney said. “It’s a way to give back. It’s really easy to cut a check, but when you open the doors, you might be getting whole groups who have never been here before, and you might get a repeat customer or two.”

He’s also leaned heavily into renting out the space, either the whole taproom or semi-private events in a smaller space for up to 50 people. Progression has also hosted more than 200 wedding parties in the last three years — in fact, it had three scheduled the week McKenney spoke with BusinessWest — along with after-hours events held after 10 p.m., when most breweries are closed.

“Just like there’s so much musical talent around here, we’re also surrounded by incredible wedding venues left and right,” he said of a wedding-adjacent business that has surprised him in its robustness. “I don’t want to say I spent the first two years throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick, but there I some truth to that.

“At the end of the day, most of us in the area are not running ourselves as a destination brewery model, but as a hub for the community.”

“At the end of the day, most of us in the area are not running ourselves as a destination brewery model, but as a hub for the community,” he added. “Any given night, there might be three to five meetups using our space. It could be a shared interest, young entrepreneurs, a group of tabletop gamers; a local running club is here every Thursday. I look around my space, and I see a birthday party or an after-hours office event. The important thing is that everyone is enjoying the space and enjoying a pint or two.”

 

Community Focus

Berry is proud of the community collaborations White Lion has done over the years, from a celebration of Eastern States Exposition’s 100th anniversary to partnerships with the Springfield Museums, the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Springfield Thunderbirds, as well as some upcoming events with the Springfield Puerto Rican Parade committee and a new partnership with Ride to Remember, an initiative that supports local law-enforcement families.

“My background has always been the nonprofit, quasi-public space. So, when building White Lion, it was easy for me to take all those relationships and all that experience that I had built up to incorporate it into the fabric of White Lion,” he told BusinessWest. “It’s important for us to be part of those community conversations.”

Events will continue to be important in another, more sobering way, which has to do with the brewery’s location in Tower Square, and downtown Springfield more generally.

“I remember the pre-COVID days, the number of people in the towers. MassDevelopment has statistics that said there were upwards of 7,000 to 8,000 people downtown in these three or four towers. And we built our business model on those pre-COVID numbers. That was part of our business plan.”

After COVID, those numbers have fallen off dramatically as remote work has taken hold.

“Like any other business, you have to pivot,” Berry said. “So we’ve put a stronger emphasis on these different lanes of operation.”