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.

Over the past few years, Untappd has witnessed the relentless strength of our community as brewers and app users have repeatedly banded together to support those hit hardest during difficult times. Whether it has been to navigate COVID-19, to raise funds to assist natural disaster victims, to push for a more diverse and inclusive industry, or to increase awareness of ALS and its research, we are proud to have partnered with this community on these important efforts.

Once again, we are truly heartened by the outpouring of support in this industry for the people of Ukraine. Several breweries have shared that they are releasing specially-brewed beers with the purpose of donating proceeds to benefit various charities.

In an effort to help amplify their message, Untappd is releasing a special badge – earned by checking in any beer released as part of this community effort.

See a list of participating breweries and eligible beers.

If you are brewing a special beer in support of Ukrainians, please submit your beer using this form to be included with this special badge, “Support for Ukraine.”

In addition, Untappd is making a donation to the International Committee of the Red Cross to support their Ukrainian relief efforts.

At Untappd, we are committed to being a partner to the breweries, bars, restaurants, and retail locations where beer drinkers come together not only to enjoy the craft, but to offer their support to those in need in this global community.

As 2021 nears its end, the team here at Next Glass, which includes our Untappd, Hop Culture, BeerAdvocate, Oznr, Ollie and FermentAble brands, are reflecting on some of the achievements and milestones we are most proud of this year.

This year saw Untappd reach its one billionth check-in, just a few months after celebrating its 10th anniversary in late-2020. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Untappd users supported their local breweries by purchasing beer to-go and checking-in through the Untappd at Home venue. Throughout the year, Untappd partnered with the Brewers Association to promote craft beer, including November’s Small Brewery Sunday, issuing a call to action to support local breweries alongside other local businesses. More than one million impressions were generated across the entire Next Glass ecosystem, helping spread the word about this important campaign.

We welcomed Angela Cearns, CEO of TrueTwins, a blockchain-based authentication platform, to our Board of Directors. Angela brings deep e-commerce experience across several verticals, including the food and beverage industry. Read more about Angela’s appointment to the Next Glass Board here.

During 2021, our LIVE! team had the opportunity to partner with some incredible sponsors to produce festivals and events. While we had to shift many events from in-person to virtual, we still produced several exciting festivals, including Beer Advocate’s Extreme Beer Fest presented by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, and Hop Culture’s fourth annual Beers With(out) Beards presented by Yeti. 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. We were honored to listen to the keynote conversation delivered by Mariah Calagione, and if you missed it, no worries! You can still check it out on our YouTube channel – you’ll be glad you did!

And while COVID-19 interfered with our original plans, we were still thrilled to hold Hop Culture’s inaugural Queer Beer Festival, presented by Sam Adams, virtually.

Queer Beer aims to capture the unique, vibrant, diverse, and thriving voices of the queer community in the industry. There were so many highlights during this festival, it’s hard to recount them all. Panels included “How to be an LGBTQ+ Leader in Craft Beer” and “Authenticity in Queer Spaces in Craft Beer.” If you didn’t get a chance to check out the programming, you can catch the entire event here. Please don’t miss the keynote delivered by Ren Navarro, Founder of Beer Diversity, we invite you to check it out and promise you will be inspired.

For Untappd, an important Untappd milestone was holding the community’s first in-person beer festival since the pandemic paused live events. Held at San Diego’s Petco Park, the Untappd Beer Festival saw more than 7,000 attendees enjoy conversations, connections, and incredible beer from around the country.

The amount of work that goes into putting together an event of this size and scale is tremendous, especially as attendee safety takes center stage. In addition to COVID-19 precautions, the Next Glass family of brands recently introduced enhanced safety measures built around an improved Next Glass Festival Code of Conduct, which was inspired by discussions of the many reports of sexual harassment and misconduct in the industry. This Code of Conduct will be an important staple of all future BeerAdvocate, Hop Culture, and Untappd festivals and will help ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all attendees and participating brewery staff members.

The implementation of Next Glass’s new Code of Conduct included #NotMe, a resolution-seeking reporting platform for those who’ve experienced or witnessed racism, harassment, or any type of discrimination or misconduct.

Working with input from industry stakeholders, the Next Glass events team researched best practices, vetted reporting vendors, identified gaps, built reporting infrastructure, trained staff, and integrated with venue security. This Code of Conduct is a natural extension of the work that has been done — and continues to be done — on inclusion and safety by employees of all Next Glass brands.

“As an all female identifying team who has been affected by sexism and misogyny ourselves, influencing change is something we take very seriously,” said Talia Spera, Vice President of Festivals & Live Events. “Every day we continue to prioritize ensuring a safe and inclusive festival experience. Sadly, misogyny, bias, discrimination, racism and harassment is still found in our industry, so there’s more to do. The team at Next Glass will continue to work together with industry and community stakeholders in 2022 to do our part in positively impacting the industry culture.”

Looking forward to 2022, the team continues to expand upon the Code of Conduct ahead of what is turning out to be an incredible festival lineup. These improvements include festival staff training as well as an enhanced vetting process and participation criteria.

The Next Glass commitment to diversity, inclusion and community service extends beyond festivals and events. Throughout 2021 we were able to work with and support some truly incredible organizations.

“At Hop Culture, it’s important to us that we’re creating the type of beer community in which we want to participate,” says Hop Culture founder and Next Glass Creative Director Kenny Gould. “Last year, we worked with Brewers Association Equity and Inclusion Partner Dr. J Jackson-Beckham to help codify our mission and values, and those are things we continue to discuss internally.”

As part of our 2021 festivals, Next Glass companies made donations supporting ALES for ALS, the Pink Boots Society, the Transgender Law Center, Wildlife Waystation, the pediatric abdominal transplant unit at the UPMC Children’s Hospital, and the Last Prisoner Project, among others. Additionally, our CEO, Trace Smith, personally matched all employee donations to 100 Black Men of America, Black Girls Code, and the It Gets Better Project, continuing financial commitments he and Next Glass made in 2020 to those organizations.

“Our team at Next Glass has prided itself on our philanthropic commitments and corporate social responsibility efforts,” said Trace Smith, CEO of Next Glass. “Our brands each have a long history of rallying their respective audiences to support causes committed to bettering both the bev-alc and tech industries. We will continue to commit resources – both time and money – to driving continued change.”

That work includes working on a local level. In the past, Next Glass has supported workplace training initiatives in the Wilmington area, home to one of Next Glass’s offices, including the TRU Colors training program. This program was designed to give gang members an opportunity to develop professional workforce skills. This year, we were also happy to have sponsored an intern in collaboration with Beer Kulture — our inaugural intern spent eight weeks with the Next Glass team getting hands-on experience and mentorship. This past summer, Untappd provided a full tuition scholarship to Appalachian State’s Summer Brewing Short Course to an individual who otherwise might not have had the opportunity to attend. Hop Culture’s Grace Weitz asked 20 questions of the recipient of the scholarship and wrote about it here!

And, lastly, Next Glass’s Marketing department is helping to provide opportunities in partnership with COOP Careers, a program designed to overcome underemployment amongst the BIPOC community by providing career and networking opportunities in marketing. If you are a business looking to hire marketing staff, please check out the link below in our resources section.

As 2021 comes to a close, we know we’re not done. We recognize that effecting real change is an ongoing journey, and in 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.

For those interested in learning more about the magnificent organizations Next Glass has partnered with and/or supported philanthropically, please check out the following resources:

• #NotMe
• 100 Black Men of America
• Beers With(out) Beards 2021
• BlackGirlsCode
• Queer Beer 2021
• It Gets Better Project
• Ales for ALS
• Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream
• TRU Colors
• Beer Kulture
• Appalachian State Brewing Short Course Scholarship
• COOP Careers