CO-OP CATALOGUE 2024 CO-OP CATALOGUE 2024
Howdy Co-Op Members,
It was a big, fast, bold year in lots of ways. It was marked by change.
Our 2024 Catalogue is no different.
Behold, a refreshed and enlarged chronicle of our, and your, activities and milestones in this vibrant year of our co-op! Read some of the highlights from the year on page 8.
You’ll find the boldest changes in our Vendor Directory on page 16. This year we’ve switched up the format, refining it to the topic we do best: sales and marketing. Moving forward, we’re calling this section Vendors Who Speak Beer to designate some of the best in the biz.
One of our better read resources in our Craft Marketing newsletter is Festival Glow Up, so we thought we’d share it here too. It’s on page 12.
As always, we have special offers for you from featured vendors on page 20. These vendors are our trusted partners who are eager to discuss and customize your projects. Please reach out to them before the end of the year to take advantage of these member benefits.
In March I traveled to Davis, California where the 2024 MaltCon took place on the University of California campus. One of my biggest takeaways from the conference, and the small grains community in general, is the notion that our industry wouldn’t exist without farmers. I encourage you to consider who’s farming your beer! All of the 2024 co-op members are located in Colorado, which we took as an excuse to zoom in on ingredients grown in this agriculturally rich state we get to call home. Read it on page 14.
Later in the spring, I gathered with Riverbend Malt House and several of their brewery customers from across the Southeast to learn more about small grains agriculture from the experts managing the land, which include the barley fields, at Biltmore Estate in Asheville. It was thrilling to see brewers gathered ‘round, entranced by the grain stalks in the wind, asking thoughtful questions while they connected the dots to their brewhouses.
As I type this update, much of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee are in disaster response mode, reacting to the catastrophic destruction of Hurricane Helene. The North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild has enacted several flood relief initiatives, including the Pouring For Neighbors campaign. If you have the capacity to support from afar with a beer for your neighbors, a relief donation, or even a social media share about how others can help— I encourage you to do so. We’re stronger in numbers, right?!
The ‘one plus one equals five’ ethos of the co-op concept has always resonated with me. I can get really romantic about the collective consciousness of a co-op, and why it’s a vessel for member advocacy… But I won’t right now because you’ve got a catalogue to read.
I will say, though, that I’m thrilled you’ve been a part of this sixth year of the RadCraft Co-Op.
Thank you, and cheers!
2024 Co-Op News
SKA BREWING
Ska Brewing released Southwest Coast IPA in February. This groundbreaking New-World IPA is brewed with a mission—to bring together the bold, adventurous spirit of the West Coast IPA with the innovative hopping techniques of the East Coast, all while paying homage to the vibrant cultures and landscapes of the Southwest.
The characters at Ska Brewing have been brewing Mexican Logger for 25 years now— perfect timing for the OG Mexican Lager to hit the market year round! A pioneer brewer in many capacities, the now 29-year-old Ska is committed to environmental responsibility and innovative brewery practices— and they encourage breweries everywhere to join the movement.
Ska also continues innovating in the beverage space, this year exploring new territory with Swing Easy, a peach hard tea that hit shelves in August. Swing Easy is the latest in Ska’s gluten-free beyond-beer lineup, which also includes Skagua bubbly water and multiple hard seltzer flavors.
BOOTSTRAP BREWING
Just before Bootstrap Brewing turned 12 this summer, they announced distribution overseas. They joined the Brewers Association’s Export Development Program earlier this year and attended its first Import Festival in February at the Beer + Food Attraction in Rimini Italy. At the show, owners Steve and Leslie Kaczeus were able to meet with importers and distributors to sample beer which directly resulted in partnerships formed with Beer Republic, a BrouwUnie Company based in the Netherlands and Great Brands of Sweden. Bootstrap plans to attend more international shows to continue to develop relationships with more importers and distributors on other continents.
At the 2024 USA Beer Ratings event, which took place in San Francisco this July, Boot Strap Brewing’s Boat Snack Hazy IPA and Medal AF Mosaic IPA won Gold medals and Insane Rush IPA and Lush Puppy Juicy IPA won Silver medals in the competition.
RADCRAFT NEWS
After nearly four years in the making, we published the RadCraft Industry Relief podcast at the beginning of 2024. This zoom gathering turned podcast captures the evolution of the craft beer industry over the past few years through the lenses of some present and past co-op members Ska Brewing and Dolores River Brewery, and other industry figureheads Julia Herz, Laura Lodge, and Kate Bernot. We’re proud to report that this podcast received an honorable mention in the 2024 North American Guild of Beer Writers awards! Tune in at radcraftbeer.com/industryrelief.
Throughout the year, RadCraft was proud to sponsor the Craft Maltsters Guild’s annual trade conference MaltCon, the hoppy non-IPA category of the 2024 San Diego Beer News Awards, the second annual Southern Lager Invitational, and the third annual Southwest Fresh Festival at Billy Goat Hop Farm.
#CRAFTSOCIALMEDIA IN 2024
Our virtual workshops for brewery marketing professionals get more and more niche as the years go by. We’ve found the more specialized the topic, the more engagement we get from participants. The topics for these workshops are chosen based on suggestions from current and past co-op members.
This year we dove into social media marketing of recurring events, and for breweries with multiple locations. To celebrate the inaugural Craft Malt Month in September, we threw in a bonus workshop about our favorite topic: marketing your ingredients.
The last of our 2024 workshops, Social Media Automation That Sells More Beer, is slated for Friday, November 15. Returning #CraftSocialMedia speaker and one of this catalogue’s featured vendors (turn to page X), Julie Rhodes of Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions, will lead this discussion about how social media can support your sales funnel. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
In the last quarter of the year, we sit down over beers to brainstorm workshop topics for the coming year. If you have a suggestion for a topic in 2025, we welcome an email to coop@radcraftbeer.com.
Five Ways To Give Your Beer Festival Tent A Glow Up
Uplevel the design of your beer festival setup on a budget
There are more than 9,700 operating craft breweries in the United States, and hundreds of beer festivals. With that much competition, the need to stand out is real. So is the struggle that goes into planning and executing beer festivals right now.
In his 2024 beer industry forecasting piece on SevenFifty Daily, Joshua Bernstein explains that “enticing drinkers to abandon couches for beer festivals remains difficult” after 2020. He emphasizes a need for breweries to take more creative approaches to the events that they host.
We say breweries can also uplevel their creativity at events they participate in by updating their festival booth design. These inexpensive DIY tactics are sure to make an impression:
Accessorize and Customize
Beer festivals can be great marketing opportunities, so why not do some marketing at them? Here are some ideas to refresh your festival tent design:
• Add a simple backdrop to your tent. It elevates your space and separates you from any neighbors behind you.
• Add a ‘standing sign’ or marketing collateral that has height to draw the eyes of the crowd.
• Don’t forget to decorate! Whether for specific holidays, seasons, or event themes, find decor, flowers, lights, bubbles, and more at the dollar store.
• Your staff should stand out, too! Make sure they’re sporting branded brewery shirts and hats.
Important Note: Check with the event organizers before planning your festival tent decor! You’ll need to know beforehand what you’re allowed to bring.
Do the DIY Thing
In a sea of boring booths, why not upgrade to a tantalizing truck? Or, go big with a refrigerated mobile cooler. They’re actually pretty easy to DIY. And they’ll attract attention, give you ample space to display your logo, and keep your beer cold without you having to spend half of the festival hauling ice!
If there’s a will to install taps, there’s a way! We’ve seen movable bars, golf carts with taps on the side, and all sorts of other creative, mobile ways to transport kegs of fresh beer to serve on tap at events. Branded, festival-specific displays (and vehicles) might even land you collaboration, sponsorship, and philanthropic opportunities too
Find even more DIY beer festival tent ideas here – 24 of them, to be exact.
Regulate (Beer Temperature, that is)
One of the biggest mistakes you can make at a festival is skimping on the beer storage, followed closely by failing to plan for temperature control. There’s never a second chance for a first impression. If your brewery is festival-bound, the last thing you want is half-foam fills Fresh, easy pours are what it takes to show off quality and enhance the experience. If beer can display matters, consider using buckets, bowls, or troughs— whichever fits your brand best!
SWAG and Engage
Brand everything. Now is the time to open the floodgates for things like branded hats, beer koozies, coasters, stickers, and t-shirts. Attracting people to your booth is half the battle. How can you create a memorable experience once they come over? Play games, ask trivia questions, and offer swag or prizes. You might even print some kind of redeemable coupon to entice festival-goers to visit your taproom.
BONUS TIP: Get Social
Stay Organized
A smooth festival experience is a well-planned festival experience, meaning you’ll need to think beyond your image and display. Here are some suggestions:
• Bring short, wide bins to stack under your tables for backpacks and jackets.
• Make sure you have all the necessary equipment and supplies with you by creating a festival SOP checklist with best practices. Some companies create an event recap log to show return on investment and inform decisions about future participation.
• Don’t forget to incorporate ways for your audience to learn more – sell sheets/catalogs/ sales materials – and have them laminated so they can be wiped down in case of a party foul.
• Get a QR code with a signup to your newsletter and place it on your flyers, signage, and banners, or frame it on the table.
• Bring (extra) business cards!
• Create unique signage with descriptions of your beer offerings, your location, the history of your brand, or even fun facts about your team Another signage option is to think about your top FAQs and provide answers in a creative way.
• If your signs, banners, and tents have been in storage since the last festival season, don’t forget to clean them up, wipe them down, and launder your tablecloths between uses.
Boosting your booth should start by creating buzz before the festival begins. As soon as your attendance is confirmed, start sharing updates on your social media channels. Don’t forget to use the festival hashtag in all of your posts to help reach a wider audience. At the festival, encourage booth visitors to tag you in their social posts with branded hashtags or a photo contest. Further your reach with these last few suggestions.
• Add the festival to the events calendar on your website.
• Write a blog post about the festival and what beersvyou’ll be pouring.
• Reach out to local media and bloggers to invite them.
Know Your Farmer, and Maltsters Too
This year, all of our co-op members are located in Colorado. We took your close proximity to each other as an excuse to shine the spotlight on some of the independently owned, family farms producing small grains and craft hops in our home state.
Craft breweries and distilleries have an abundance of options for purchasing local ingredients, and an educated consumer base that’s excited about HOPS and ready to learn more about the soul of beer— MALT.
Colorado’s deep history growing malting barley undoubtedly influenced the development of our state as a hub for craft maltsters. We’re home to the first craft maltster in North America, Colorado Malting Company, that’s now an estate brewery malting and brewing with the barley, wheat, and rye grown on the farm. This year, Colorado Malting Company is among the farmers in the Rye Resurgence project producing rye with minimal water usage, which dramatically reduces reliance on groundwater and preserve the Rio Grande.
Let it be celebrated that Northern Colorado has a thriving craft malt community, with industry leading maltsters, an array of Craft Malt Certified™ breweries and distilleries, and a consumer base that’s eager to learn more about the soul of beers and spirits.
Root Shoot Malting in Loveland was born from a fifth generation farm that once grew barley for Coors, and now harvests small grains for craft brewers and distilleries– including their own onsite distilling project— across the state. Root Shoot is the first North American maltster to employ Kaspar Shulz malting equipment, and the only craft malthouse to ever win an award all every year in the international malt quality competition, the Malt Cup.
Troubadour Maltings in Fort Collins offers a quality of lineup of specialty and roasted malts, and they’re also winners of the prestigious Malt Cup competition.
On the hop side, the largest hop farm in the Four Corners is also winning quality awards for their hops and hosting one of the Southwest’s coolest gatherings for fresh hop beers in Montrose on the state’s Western Slope. Billy Goat Hop Farm is a 32-acre farm dedicated to growing their crops as sustainably as possible Two time running Cascade Cup champions, Billy Goat Hop Farm is producing world-class hops in a challenging, high altitude environment. Read more about their experience and findings growing high altitude hops here
Colorado breweries are lucky to call The Centennial State home for so many reasons, including shopping options for high quality, sustainable sourced, value add ingredients that impart their beers with unique flavors and a sense of place.
Vendors Who Speak Beer
Our membership thrives on the network surrounding us. That’s why every year we recommend what we call ‘vendors who speak beer’ to our co-op members.
This directory has previously included vendors in manufacturing, accounting, and other business services, among other spaces, too. These weren’t necessarily comprehensive, though, but instead a reflection of who we knew and liked doing business with. (We’d still love to make referrals, so please reach out any time if you’re looking for a specific product or service.)
This year we’ve switched up the format of our vendor directory, refining it to the topic we do best: sales and marketing.
AND we’ve changed the format to be more story driven. We’re endorsing these companies, after all; so versus a simple list of who we like, we shared glowing recommendations. This year’s Vendors Who Speak Beer designations go to the following 10 craft companies. Keep doin’ whatcha do, y’all. We dig it.
CODO Design
Brewery marketers everywhere, listen in to the CODO Design’s Beer Branding Trends podcast! These beer branding pros are some of the OG’s; they’ve been in business since 2009. No wonder they’re some of the savviest folks in the beer marketing space. We’ve proudly boasted CODO in all six years of our catalogue, with 2024 being no exception. cododesign.com
Crafting A Brand
Another returning catalogue vendor who speaks beer is Glenn Clark at Crafting A Brand in New York State. Glenn gets his trusty weekly 3 Things newsletter out religiously. Every Thursday, he sends timely, relevant links out to three stories about beverage branding, marketing, and interesting creative content. craftingabrandco.com
Forest Green
Portland, Oregon based Forest Green nailed it on the Earth To Beer campaign this year. We’re biased because it was an initiative in support of local ingredients, and we want to compliment Eric on his achievement of a Holy Grail-sized feat around here: getting influencers to talk about craft malt. Bravo! weareforestgreen.com
Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions
You’ve probably heard of Julie Rhodess because she keynote-d the most recent craft brewers conference you attended, and crushed it. Julie’s a long time friend of RadCraft and a regular contributor to our #CraftSocialMedia workshops. We compliment her affordable, approachable group coaching platform. notyourhobbymarketing.com
Iron City Social
Another return contributor at RadCraft’s #CraftSocialMedia workshops is Kayla Stinnett of Iron City Social, a food & beverage savvy consulting, social media, and digital marketing company based in Burningham, Alabama. Her Instagram feed alone is full of valuable, digestible marketing tips. ironcitysocial.com
Go West T-Shirts
Go West has been printing our t-shirts in Fort Collins for 12 years, and in the biz business since 1986! Thanks to them for making us and so many other brewers, distillers, and maltsters look good. justgowest.com
Beer To Bags
Beer to Bags is the answer to a large source of waste in the brewing industry: single use malt bags. This polished, stylish company is breathing new life into what used to be a supply chain dead end— and making cool, usable merchandise out of the logos of maltsters across the globe. beertobags.com
Boelter
Boelter is fast to act charitably and collaboratively with companies and for causes across the craft beer and malt industries. We appreciate their glassware contributions to the last two years of the Southern Lager Invitational, and their sound ordering and shipping experience. myboelter.com
Moxie Sozo
Boulder’s Moxie Sozo branding agency scored a home run on the Craft Maltsters Guild’s inaugural Craft Malt Month campaign, complete with a malthouse tour and a deep dive on barley kernel structure. Plus they’re fun to correspond with via email. moxiesozo.com
Beerspoke
This popup beer cocktail experience is a vibe, and they’re vibing at Lone Tree Brewing and other Denver area breweries right now. This on-trend concept is life-giving in a year marked by lower event attendance.
The Goods: Vendor Offerings
Co-Op Members get access to these sweet deals that are redeemable until December 31, 2024. You only need to reach out to these vendors by the end of the year to activate these deals. They’re excited to connect with you!
Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions
notyourhobbymarketing.com
2024 RadCraft co-op members get $30 off every month of the Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions stellar group coaching program, Strategic Profitability Accelerator Group. The RadCraft member price is $59.99 per month per team. Contact Julie Rhodes at julie@notyourhobbymarketing.com to register.
With more than two decades of experience on the business side - supplier sales, digital marketing, and distribution management - of the craft beverage industry, Julie Rhodes of Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions provides strategic sales and marketing advice to small to medium-sized beverage alcohol brands through webinars, whitepapers, digital courses, one on one consulting, and group coaching programs.
www.ironcitysocial.com
2024 RadCraft co-op members get 75% off a quarterly marketing plan from Iron City Social. Email Kayla Stinnett at kayla@ironcitysocial.com to jumpstart your strategy.
Think of your marketing plan and strategy as your roadmap to craft beer (& fermentation) success! It’s essentially a foundation for your marketing that details the steps you’ll take over the next 90 days in terms of promoting your business. Iron City Social will create a marketing plan and strategy for one quarter, including setting marketing goals with trackable KPIs, defining buyer personas, selecting marketing mediums, setting a marketing budget, actionable tactics, and more
Classic City Creatives
2024 co-op members get 15% off their first order. Contact Kelsi Schell at kelsischell1@yahoo.com to discuss your custom project.
Classic City Creatives is a versatile vinyl printing, design, and embroidery shop ready to make your custom merchandise dreams come true. Kelsi’s small-scale, low minimum approach makes custom projects possible for small businesses.
RadCraft radcraftbeer.com
2024 co-op members get $50 to shop the RadCraft web shop. Use the code COOPSHOP24 to redeem.
