| What You Can Do by Ron. Jastremski Hello Bob - I know there are a lot of people like me who really miss going to the local pub and brewery to enjoy good beer. But I think there's more to it than just that. Breweries, liquor outlets and bars are definitely part of the social fabric so as the nation is being asked to responsibly socially distance from one another amid the global spread of COVID-19, it's time for all of us to work together to keep these places alive. A lot of places in my area are offering in-brewery pick-up, delivery, food and beer combo specials and are encouraging the purchase of gift cards and merchandise including glassware, barware and T- shirts to keep business flowing. For the time being, some of the breweries I've gone to are only accepting credit cards and not handling cash. They're also only offering new growler or crowler fills instead of patrons bringing in their own for refills. It’s so crazy out there right now and things are changing almost daily, I've noticed that breweries than never canned before are doing that now. As for growlers the brewery closest to me recently ran out of them. Fortunately they just got more in which makes a lot of we loyal followesr quite happy. Be it cans, crowlers, or growlers, have beer ready to go is the key to getting us all through this shutdown. I've noticed that more than a few breweries are even banding together to split shipments of many items and recommending each other to patrons who stop in looking for something different to drink at home. To me this proves that some good can come from this terrible virus and shutdown. As a long time supporter of local craft beer and I realize how hard it is to be a craft brewery competing against the big guys. Now with the closings of their draft accounts it'smuch harder for the small brewer to survive. Things of course are much worse for newcomers and those that have already been struggling for their space and place.. It's all stressful but I think that the craft beer community is resilient and we the drinkers will continue to do our best to support it, Having said that I nonetheless think there is definitely going to be a few casualties. That is not a happy thought. If there is a plus side to all of this it’s that I've noticed a lot of new people stopping by my local breweries to pick-up beer. It’s weird how it took a pandemic for that to happen. Maybe people have finally realized how important it is to support their local business community.. When I go to pick up beer I often talk to as many people as possible which sometimes is not that easy because of social distancing and wearing a mask. I've found that a lot of people are buying more beer than they ever did before. Many also said they've significantly increased the amount they tip when they get beer delivered. It would be nice if both of those continued when things get back to normal. I hope everyone realizes that the only way for breweries, pubs, restaurants, bars and other small business to make it though all this is for all of us to try as many of them as possible from old favorites to new ones . I hope all the fans of Bob's column do just that. That's it, Bob. Stay safe and keep drinking good craft beer! ------ As expected I've received a lot of mail on this general topic. It's one that many beer drinkers obviously care about. Ron's letter was a nice summation of them.. Thanks Ron! I'd like to invite everyone to send me their own columns about anything related to beer in any way just as Ron did. I select the best and publish them here. So join in and get writing! Cheers! Bob |
| BeerNexus proudly presents Bob Montemurro "the ombudsman of beer" Bob and Friends Speak of Beer...... |
 |
| |
 |
| Want to be a "friend of Bob" and write a guest column? Just e-mail your article to Bob HERE. |
 | |  | |  |
| Bob does not verify authorship of articles. All articles are assumed to be written by the sender. |
--