Small bar gives Oskar Blues Brewery a big boost

The craft beer brands of this world have many establishments to thank for helping them reach their potential customers. In Charleston, West Virginia, one of those establishments is Sam’s Uptown Cafe and Bar.

Sam’s just celebrated its 20th birthday last Sunday—that’s got to be 100 in bar years. To survive that long, you have to offer more than just alcohol, good food, music and big screen TVs. You need to throw in a few special events for fun. Sam’s does that.

In many ways it was a normal late summer Tuesday afternoon at Sam’s. Baseball is on the TV. Regulars fill a couple of tables in the back. Mike, the bar manager, is behind the bar, ready to dispense anything from a Budweiser to Bourbon-barrel-aged strong ale.

But Bud and Bourbon barrel ale are not the stars of this day. No, that honor goes to the beers of Oskar Blues Brewery, for which Sam’s is holding a Welcome to West Virginia Happy Hour promotion.

Event takes shape for the new beer in town

As happy hour nears, the brewery rep and distributor reps arrive and meet with the bar owner. They take over a centrally located table and lay out some promotional materials.

It’s now 4:00 o’clock and as happy hour arrives so does an assemblage of members of the local craft beer club, a bunch of Sam’s regulars, and even a stranger or two. Most are here to try the new beer in town.

It’s West Virginia’s first week with Oskar Blues, a brewery that resonates well with the state’s outdoorsy culture. They’re the popularizer, if not originator, of canned craft beer with their Pack it in, Pack it out tag line. It’s a mantra that appeals strongly to mountain bikers, backpackers, campers, kayakers, hikers, rafters, four wheelers, hunters, anglers, and allied outdoors enthusiasts. West Virginia has plenty of those.

Oskar Blues, the irreverent brewery that built its success on selling high quality craft beer in cans—and doing it over the objections of the craft beer establishment. The brewery that broke the “good beer only comes in bottles” paradigm and shoved a beer can in its face.  That rebel-with-a-cause attitude has worked well in all the other states it’s entered, so there’s no reason to think it won’t work well in WV too.

Roll out the Oskar Blues beer

At Sam’s, the beers roll out—Dale’s, Pinner, Mama’s Little Yella Pils, and Old Chub. Yes, they are as good as advertised. Each one a solid example of its style. OB can koozies and brewery stickers are passed around.  Looking across the room, you see most customers drinking their beer from cans. And as planned, the conversation centers around Oskar Blues.

Asked why he was hosting an Oskar Blues launch event at his bar, Sam’s owner Paul “PG” Greco offers a quick response.

“I’ve had it before, and it’s a very fine product,” Greco quips. “Craft beer is on the rise here, and I was real happy to hear we got Oskar Blues in the state.”

West Virginia craft beer fans are happy about that too. OB is the largest craft brewery to launch in WV in a long while.

West Virginia still doesn’t have many of the popular craft breweries that are broadly distributed in surrounding states. Bells, Lagunitas, New Belgium, Brooklyn, Victory, Stone, Deschutes, Founders, Bear Republic, Dogfish Head, Boulevard, Left Hand, Odell, Ballast Point — it’s crazy that none of these will sell to West Virginia.

So when Oskar Blues, the 24-ranked craft brewery by 2014 sales volume, enters the state, West Virginians celebrate.

Customers find many things to like

Charleston area residents Chris Godwin and Lynette Stewart are kayaking enthusiasts who also enjoy their craft beer. At the Sam’s bar, Lynette is savoring a Pinner Throwback IPA, while Chris is drinking a Dale’s.

“All of their beers are very solid, good clean beers,” says Godwin. “I like it that they support taking your craft beer outdoors with you, and then making sure you bring your trash out  with you.”

Stewart says she likes the lighter weight and convenience of cans versus bottles for kayaking and camping, saying, “It’s easy to crush the cans and take them out with you.”

Long-distance runner and local university professor Brad Deel had another reason to be excited about the brewery’s arrival.

“I am a fan of true Pilsners, and it’s hard to find a good Pilsner,” says Deel. “In the craft market, it’s an ignored style of beer. When I saw Oskar Blues was coming in, and Mama’s Little Yella Pils was coming in, I was excited. That’s a really quality Pilsner. Clean and crisp, just a marvelous beer you can enjoy all year round. I love it.”

Word is that Oskar Blues Brewery owner Dave Katechis selected Brevard, North Carolina, as the site for his brewery’s eastern U.S. facility because he had fallen in love with the area while mountain biking there. Other mountain bikers have taken notice.

Sitting at a Sam’s table sipping on a Dale’s, Charleston resident  Dave McCormick said he identifies with the brand. As an avid mountain biker, he’s visited the Brevard area several times for his own biking outings, and says he’s been anxiously awaiting the beer’s arrival in West Virginia.

Libby Rojas, another Charleston craft beer fan, also stopped by to try the brand. She said before today she had only had the Pils, but was anxious to sample some of the other offerings. Her first beer, a Dale’s Pale Ale, must have been to her liking.

“This Dale’s has given me a taste for hops, so now I think I’ll try a Pinner next,” says Rojas.

Sam’s customers find many reasons to like the new beers.

Social media extends the promo

From a review of social media, you discover that little promotions like this have long tentacles reaching out to many more folks than just those who were physically there. The Sam’s event was relatively small, but attendees’ Facebook posts took it out to thousands more. This is good for both Oskar Blues and Sam’s Uptown Cafe.

Sure they’re a good bit of work to schedule and pull off, but never underestimate the importance of these little beer events as a business building tools. They’re usually a Win-Win-Win for customers, brand, and bar.

Links

Sam’s Uptown Cafe

Oskar Blues Brewery