Morgan Stemple reviews her brewery marketing career

Not many folks in West Virginia have more experience in local brewery marketing than does Morgan Stemple. The Morgantown resident spent the past five years working for her city’s namesake brewery, Morgantown Brewing Company, much of that as marketing director. 

Too often, the marketing discipline at local breweries doesn’t get the emphasis it deserves, and the people who work in the beer marketing trenches don’t get the credit they deserve for the success of the craft beer industry. Not so at Morgantown. Stemple put in her time, loved her job, and contributed greatly to her brewery’s business.

Now, she is off to begin a new chapter in her life, but before she leaves town, she took the time to complete an interview with Brilliant Stream. We thought her observations and insights on working in the West Virginia brewing industry were worth sharing.

Brilliant Stream:  Walk us through your career at Morgantown Brewing and your responsibilities.
Stemple:  Over the years I wore a number of hats at MBC. That’s just the kind of company it is. Most of my time was spent doing marketing, sales, and events. Some of my responsibilities included working with the brewers to maintain beer distribution and sales including keeping up with account relationships and product inventory. I also coordinated and attended offsite beer events including festivals, pairing dinners, and tap takeovers. In addition to that I organized and executed on-site events including private parties, major holiday celebrations, and high grossing themed sales days. I was also responsible for cultivating customer relations which included social media, community outreach, and promotional merchandise. One of my favorite tasks was organizing team building activities, and helping train the brew pub staff about our beer and company history.

Brilliant Stream:  What were the favorite parts of your job?
Stemple:  The best part about my job was without a doubt knowing that I was working in an industry that brings people together. I love interacting with people and beer has this special super power to make people closer. The alcohol may have a little to do with that, but it feels so good to be apart of something that makes people happy and is something that they look forward to.

Additionally I loved all the traveling that came with the job, getting to meet so many great people who have worked not only at MBC, but in the WV beer community. Also I can not lie, tasting new and special beers and the occasional free brew is something I will never complain about.

Brilliant Stream:  What were the most challenging parts of your job?
Stemple:  The thing I found most challenging was the difficulty of balancing what became a large number of responsibilities. At one point I realized I was doing a mediocre job at all the tasks I had my hands in, rather than knocking a job or two out of the park. I sometimes got down on myself because of that.
Another tough part was trying to make sure everyone was happy. Part of my job was collaborating with what felt like everyone: the brewers, the chef, the bar manager, the front of house manager, the owner, the distributors, our accounts,  the customers, the list goes on and on. Don’t get me wrong this kept the job fun and interesting but when you’re trying to please so many people who all have different priorities, wants and needs things can get tricky and overwhelming at times.

Brilliant Stream:  Talk about some accomplishments you are most proud of.
Stemple:  I’m very proud of the way events took off, both on and off site. We were participating in more offsite events then ever which was always fun, but I can’t tell you how many times I met someone who had never heard of MBC or anything that we did. I strongly believe that it is important to  have someone who works for brewery and knows their stuff at all of these events rather than just sending a distributor. People like meeting and talking to these types of people, and while we have awesome distributors, people tend to want to ask questions and talk with the people who work for the company. Sometimes we even become friends and they travel all around the state to these events to support us and have a good time. Customers value these relationships so much and I do as well.

On-site events really took off in the past two years. Rob Porter (kitchen manager) and I have worked together on these and we’ve sold out quickly every time we put on one. These events consist of charcuterie and beer pairing dinners, fundraisers for Friends of Deckers Creek, and our very popular murder mystery beer pairing dinners. Most of these events take place in the downstairs speakeasy.

Our annual Oktoberfest celebration is another accomplishment. Everyone who worked with me knows that it was my favorite day of the year. Consistently every year, it has been the best sales day in the history of the company.

Brilliant Stream:  Looking back over the five years, what were a couple of MBC beers that  stood out to you and why. Which ones were your personal favorites?
Stemple:  My old faithful is the Zack Morgan. It was the only IPA produced year round and it also is a well-rounded one. One time Brian made a small batch called Cloud Forest IPA, which we brought to the 1st ever Sound Waves and IPAs festival in Bridgeport. It was amazing and we ran out so quickly, partly because I couldn’t get enough! I believe is was made with galaxy hops, which I find super yummy. Another memorable one was the red wine barrel-aged blonde that Mike made a few years back. I’m not much for blonde ales, but holy crap this one was delicious. I’ve come to learn that I really enjoy most barrel-aged beers.

Brilliant Stream:  Who at Morgantown Brewing did you most enjoy working with and why?
Stemple:  This is such a hard question to answer because truly there were so many great people. Brian Crowe would definitely be on my list as would Ross Williams. Both of these guys are the ones who hired me, and supported me when I wanted to increase my responsibilities. Many people thought I was too young, which I may have been, but that just fueled my fire to prove them wrong. Crowe taught me so much about food, and how to run a brew pub in my earlier years and I genuinely looked forward to coming to work.

All of the brewers, Brian Anderson, Mike Vance, Jesse Sedlock, and again Ross, taught me most everything I know about beer. I eagerly looked forward to the days I got to spend working with them as I felt they had so much to teach me. Listening to their foolish yet witty banter was always a plus.

Lastly, I met some of my best gal friends at the pub. Sam Stickley, Kim Crowe, Maura Lee, Bri Smalls and Brit Scully. I never thought I would develop such meaningful friendships. Even on bad days at work, at least you’re stuck there with your best friends.

Brilliant Stream:  Thinking of the overall business at Morgantown Brewing, how did it change over the five years you worked there?
Stemple:  When I first started working there in 2013, the brewery consisted of a 10-barrel system and three 20-barrel fermentors. Maybe a year or so in, we added two 30-barrel and one 10-barrel fermentor which really helped us not only be able to make more beer and increase our distribution but also make a wider variety of styles.

Shortly before I started, Brian Crowe started the well-known bi-weekly changing feature menu that is still available at the brewpub. I believe that the menu took the pub kitchen to another level. What was basic bar food on the menu, eventually became innovative, original, and sometimes crazy options which keeps people coming back to see whats new.

Another cool project that we worked on was the speakeasy in the basement of the pub.  I highly recommend getting there because it legitimately is one of the most distinguished yet off beat bars in town. The space really allowed us to host large private events without losing regular business which was great for sales but also was a lot of fun at the same time.

Brilliant Stream:  From your own observations, what are the most difficult things to do well in a small local brewery business?
Stemple:  Well, more specifically in a small WV local brewery business, you are dealing with a different market than majority of the rest of the nation. As most things in WV, the beer scene is arguably about ten years behind. Sometimes it can be challenging for certain styles other than blonde ales and pilsners to appeal to certain crowds that may not be as hip or adventurous as others.

One of the reasons that we are behind is because the WV beer laws haven’t always been on our side. Over the past 25 years there have been improvements and changes to these laws which has helped out all the breweries across the state. The West Virginia Brewers Guild is working on progressing these laws even more and I can’t wait to see what else they have in store for the state.

Another thing may be adjusting to the ever-growing  beer market. More and more breweries are opening up as well as more well-known breweries are entering the state. While we’re all on the same team, it’s more competition. You must find what makes you stand out and realize that there is very little room for error.

Brilliant Stream:  What advice would you give brewery owners on the marketing issues they should pay most attention to and that are critical to improving/growing their businesses?
Stemple:  Back to the more competition issue. Getting continuous shelf space and tap lines can be hard but if you are present and build relationships with store owners I’m willing to bet that space will be yours. Also never ever put a product you are not proud of on the shelf.

I also believe that no matter how far you are distributing to, you should stay focused on your regional market. Most of the people in your local market have had your back since day one and in addition to that, people travel from all over the world to all over the world to encounter an authentic local experience.

I once read in an article on opening breweries that Murphy’s Law will rule your life and let me tell you that is so true. No matter how much time you put in or how well you thought you planned a project, things will not go exactly how you expect them to. Things break, you forget stuff, and time goes by so much faster than it appears. You need to get good at fixing things the right way, the first time, in a punctual manner. Being a brewery owner is basically the equivalent of being a maintenance man but with way better perks.

Brilliant Stream:  Any final comments you want to make looking back over your career at Morgantown Brewing Company?
Stemple:  I absolutely loved the time I spent there, and it will always be home to me.

We wish Morgan well and are confident she will find success in her professional career, whatever direction that takes her.