Drafting Fresh Plans: How the Brewing Industry Is Navigating the Pandemic | Imbibe Magazine

Photo: Clay Williams

This has been quite the year, huh? A global pandemic, societal upheaval, nationwide protests, and a divisive political climate have upended everyday life, the brewing industry included. To prevent COVID-19’s spread, government officials shuttered brewpubs and taprooms across the country, equally community hubs and economic spigots. Overnight, breweries stopped making money by pouring pints, and retail keg sales evaporated. Breweries dumped drinkable beer or turned it into hand sanitizer, then began navigating the new abnormal.

“Whatever your business model was before COVID, you probably should just throw it out the window,” says Adam Milne, owner of Old Town Brewing, in Portland, Oregon. “To survive, we can’t expect that everything will work out.”

Breweries are pivoting like weather vanes, fast adjusting to a swirling regulatory and economic windstorm.  For Imbibe, I look at how breweries are navigating these uncertain times with ingenuity and adaptation.