Few topics generate as much intrigue and confusion in the spirits’ world as the distinction between whiskey and bourbon. As bastions of beverage innovation, it’s paramount to understand these libations’ intricacies effectively to cater to your patrons’ discerning tastes. This educational guide will unveil the difference between whiskey and bourbon, delving into their origins, production methods, flavor profiles, and cultural significance. By the end, you’ll possess the expertise needed to curate a refined spirits selection and elevate the dining experience for your clientele at your restaurant, bar, or taproom.

Known for its cinnamon flavor and smooth finish, Fireball Cinnamon Whisky is a versatile spirit that can elevate any mixed drink.

With its rise in popularity, restaurants and bars looking to capitalize on the famous brand should explore offering Fireball mixed drinks to their beverage menus to elevate their guests’ experiences and deliver an impact on their bottom line.

From classic sours to innovative fizzes, Fireball mixed drinks offer a unique flavor twist to their more traditional cocktail counterparts. Let’s explore some of the top Fireball mixed drink recipes that will undoubtedly add some spice to your beverage menu.

With its rich history and diverse flavors, enthusiasts worldwide have long cherished whiskey. From the smoky depths of Scottish single malts to the smooth sweetness of Kentucky bourbons, whiskey offers a spectrum of tastes to explore and savor. Yet, beyond enjoying whiskey neat or on the rocks, a realm of creativity exists where this beloved spirit becomes the star of some of the most iconic and delightful whiskey cocktails.

In this article, we’ll explore five timeless whiskey cocktail concoctions. From the classic elegance of the Old Fashioned to the refreshing zest of the Whiskey Smash, each cocktail tells a story of craftsmanship, innovation, and whiskey’s timeless allure.

Curating the perfect wine list is an art; pricing those wines is a science.

The delicate dance between offering diverse and appealing wine varieties while ensuring profitability requires a strategic approach. This comprehensive guide will unravel the intricacies of pricing wine for your restaurant, bar, or business.

Whether you are a brand-new restaurant owner or an expert sommelier, understanding the factors that influence wine pricing is crucial for both customer satisfaction and the financial health of your establishment.

From integrating wine prices seamlessly into your menu strategy to deciphering the impact of production costs, this article will provide you with actionable insights and proven strategies. We’ll explore how to strike the perfect balance between providing value to your patrons and optimizing your profit margins.

Let’s uncork the secrets of effective wine pricing.

Crafting an exceptional wine list for your restaurant menu requires a delicate blend of sophistication, strategic thinking, and storytelling. Whether you’re a seasoned sommelier, a skillful bartender, or an accomplished restaurateur eager to elevate your establishment’s offerings, this guide will show you how to create a memorable and enticing wine list.

Not merely a logistical task, building a wine list creates an opportunity to curate an experience for your guests.

Each wine variety holds a story, and each sip should be a journey for the palate. In this exploration, we’ll jump into understanding wine list basics, categorizing wine, crafting evocative descriptions, implementing strategic pricing, suggesting harmonious food pairings, and setting the visual stage for a delightful dining experience.

Whether you’re aiming to refresh an existing wine list or starting from scratch, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and inspiration to create a wine list that complements your establishment’s identity and leaves a lasting impression on your patrons.

Proper wine storage is crucial for maintaining the quality and taste of every wine variety in your collection.

Whether you own a restaurant, run a taproom with a liquor license, or operate a bar, understanding the fundamentals of wine storage can enhance your customer experience and protect your investment.

In this guide, we’ll explore the key aspects of wine storage, from temperature and humidity to the right storage equipment.

Elevating your guests’ dining experience goes hand-in-hand with offering a thoughtful selection of wine varieties.

In this guide, we’ll delve into the world of wines, helping you understand how different wine varieties can enhance your menu and leave a lasting impression on your customers.

Think of wine varieties as the artistic brushstrokes that can paint a memorable dining experience for your guests. From robust reds to crisp whites, each bottle tells a unique story. Join us in exploring the best wine varieties.

Ollie: Built By Brewers For Brewers

An affordable, easy-to-use brewery management software that scales with your business

Tune in on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, at 1pm EST for a free webinar from Next Glass and Craft Brewing Business showing how brewers nationwide are streamlining their business operations from brewing to logistics with Ollie.

Ollie is part of Next Glass Brewery Solutions, a purpose-built, all-in-one solutions platform, offering streamlined software to manage brewery operations, order fulfillment and inventory, reporting, and ecommerce. It’s affordable, easy to use, and built by brewers for brewers.

The webinar will be hosted by Next Glass Brewery Sales Manager Kyle Kensrue and Solutions Consultant Dustin Jeffers. With their years of industry experience, they’ll share how Ollie Ops helps brewers take control over their operations with affordable software solutions to help save time, money, and energy.

The Ollie Ops team will also demonstrate tools for:
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• Proactive COGS analysis
• Quick and easy TTB reporting
• Yeast management
• and more!

Kensrue and Jeffers will address common pain points as well as the specific features Ollie Ops offers to help brewers gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their operations.

If you’re looking to learn about a revolutionary technology allowing brewers to effortlessly manage every aspect of their business activities from grain to glass, sign up for this webinar now.

An annual gathering of innovators, business leaders, and industry professionals across all three tires of the beverage supply chain, Connect Conference is the perfect event to attend to take your craft beverage acumen to the next level. Don’t miss out!

The Connect Conference promotes best industry practices, inspires innovative solutions with a digitally connected supply chain, and empowers problem solving to some of the top challenges our industry faces with the three tiered system.

Join Encompass, along with Next Glass CEO, Trace Smith, who will be presenting at the event, for unique networking opportunities, groundbreaking speaker sessions, and a chance to get a first-hand look at why we’re working to digitally connect the supply chain.

There are both in-person and virtual opportunities to attend this incredible conference.

SAVE YOUR SPOT NOW!

As Next Glass returns to hosting in-person beer festivals around the world, our all-women events team is continually reviewing our process as part of our commitment to providing the best experience to all festival attendees. In 2021, we introduced an updated Festival Code of Conduct governing all Next Glass festivals, and we made further updates to that Code following feedback from the industry and community. We expect that our Code of Conduct and other processes will continue to evolve as we produce more festivals in 2022.

But we also recognize that having a code of conduct is only one piece of the puzzle. In an effort to contribute further to a truly safe and inclusive environment, the festival and marketing team recently completed bystander and de-escalation training administered by Safe Bars.

Founded in 2013, Safe Bars is a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit, whose mission is to prevent sexual harassment and assault in nightlife by teaching active bystander skills. Safe Bar brings together decades of work against and research on gender-based violence with the knowledge of industry professionals. In 2021 alone, they provided 40+ brewery training sessions, part of their ultimate goal of bringing real change to the industry.

The Next Glass team participated in all three available training opportunities: active bystander, de-escalation skills, and empowerment and self-defense. Next Glass’s goal in participating in these trainings is to educate, empower and equip our team to effectively assess situations and determine the best course of action to prevent and/or mitigate potentially dangerous situations that could lead to sexual harassment and assault. “We take the safety of our festival attendees very seriously,” said Talia Spera, Vice President, Festivals and Live Events. “We felt that providing additional training to the team could play an important role in our producing a safe and inclusive event and were very happy to work with Safe Bars on a customized training experience.”

Safe Bars promised that the training delivered would be “tailored to the life situations and needs of the participants, survivor-centered, trauma-informed, evidence-based, and experiential and participatory.”

And they more than delivered on that promise. Each session was interactive and tailored to suit our specific needs as festival producers. Our instructors brought extensive experience to the training, and I was deeply impressed by how truly practical it was.

Across our team we have decades of experience in producing live events. In my experience, when potentially dangerous situations arise, there is often little time to think through a response. Being prepared with a course of action ahead of time can help the team act with confidence and decisiveness in difficult situations, which are key to maintaining safe environments. I personally feel even better prepared, having gone through role play with real life situations, to be an active force for good at our next festival, the Fifth Annual Beers With(out) Beards, to be held in April in Portland, ME. The fifth annual Beers With(out) Beards takes pride in representing women and femme-identifying folks in the beer industry.

In 2018, Grace Weitz, Managing Editor, conceptualized the first Beers With(out) Beards as part of her graduate school thesis capstone project at NYU. Over the past four years, this celebration of women in beer has grown to attract thousands of attendees and showcase over sixty women-led breweries.

Grace started BW(O)B to create a space where everyone felt welcome to show up, taste amazing beers, and cultivate conversations around how to break through barriers. Creating safe spaces requires a good plan.

“I found the Safe Bars training invaluable. Our workshop leaders showed us specific skills we could use in any situation to be an impactful and active bystander,” said Grace. “As someone who considers themselves more introverted, I find certain social situations very stressful. In the past, I’ve doubted I had the tools to step in and change the discourse. But after taking part in Safe Bars training, I learned simple strategies that even I can deploy to make a difference. Any organization, brewery, bar, or restaurant dedicated to creating more inclusive and safer spaces should consider Safe Bars.”

The addition of Safe Bars training complements Next Glass activation of #NotMe, a digital, resolution-seeking reporting platform for those who’ve experienced or witnessed racism, harassment or any type of discrimination or misconduct. Along with the code of conduct, signage throughout the festival provides visibility into this tool as an important resource for festival participants.

“As an experienced live events executive who has received formal training in emergency planning, active shooter, and sexual harassment, I am keenly aware of the need to be prepared,” said Talia. “Safe Bars training was a very unique and effective solution for me. It not only reinforced some of these same tools, it also equipped me with more practical measures to mitigate and manage misconduct, harassment and discrimination.”

In an effort to share the techniques and best practices we learned during our sessions, Next Glass and Safe Bars have partnered to deliver a specially designed training program to teams from our participating brewers who will be serving at the festival. The training will be provided on-site in Portland on April 8th, and we expect a very good turnout.

We look forward to producing our first live festival of 2022 in the coming weeks, raising a glass to celebrate women and femme-identifying folks in the beer industry. Throughout 2022 we’ll continue to work with others in the industry and our community to productively explore ways to put our values into action both in our day-to-day work and in the festivals and events we produce.