We’ve talked about poor beer serving etiquette in the past. But we want to make sure you have the definitive guide on how to serve a beer. Serving beer isn’t just about the pour. It’s about understanding the beer and the customer. The Brewers Association’s Brewpubs Committee released it’s Beer Server Training Guide for Brewpubs.
This guide is a 54 page fully immersive guide to serving beer in a brewpub. Notice it’s written for brewpubs, not tasting rooms. There are more variables that go into a brewpub than a tasting room, namely a kitchen. This is perfect for brewpubs like Aslan, Boundary, Chuckanut and North Fork.
Much of the content in this manual will cross over to a tasting room server training program. That said, the kitchen and kitchen staff are key components of a brewpub environment and team, where the food from the kitchen compliments the beer, and the beer becomes an important culinary ingredient and inspiration.
The manual stresses the importance of training to give the customer a peak craft experience. With so much competition in the brewery world every thing matters. And it starts with the service! If you brew worldclass beer, but your servers don’t understand it, it won’t matter too much! Servers are the nexus through which the customer is first introduced to your beer! Train them right!
I love the manual’s section on “hiring for attitude, train for skill.” Essentially, it says that you should hire good people and make them great servers.
Here’s their Top 10 traits of a Good Server:
1. Genuinely friendly
2. Passionate about providing great service.
3. Has a really great smile and is not afraid to use it.
4. Good listener.
5. Energetic.
6. Dauntless/Fearless.
7. Positive outlook on life and happy to be alive.
8. Attentive.
9. Organized.
10. Did I say really, really, really friendly?
Notice it doesn’t say “knowledgeable” because you can train for that! The rest of the guide takes you through the hiring process, how to develop a training team and then, finally, how to train. I’ve read through the guide and it’s exhaustive and complete. It should be because they have an entire team dedicated to this subject.
Anyway, take a look at the guide yourself and tell us what you think! Does your brewery have the culture that supports this type of hiring and training? Do you think this guide is useful for all breweries, including tasting rooms? Seems like it should be! Download the full guide, here.
