The Upside Of Beer Sales
Respecting the Brew at House of Guinness

Attracting an upscale crowd to a venue and realizing higher profit margins for every pour once meant stocking the backbar with high-end spirits and making sure that bartenders knew how to make all the latest and trendiest cocktails. For the most part, beer not only took a back seat to premium and superpremium spirits such as vodka, rum, tequila, bourbon and scotch, it also lost sales ground to wine. With top-shelf spirits posting double-digit growth rates year after year, and wine sales enjoying healthy single-digit success, only import and craft beer revenues have prevented the beer category from sliding into flat or even negativegrowth territory. Spirits sales remain strong today, and domestic beer sales still are struggling to keep up with the competition being driven by highly sophisticated marketing and advertising campaigns on the part of savvy spirits companies. So, what’s an enterprising purveyor of beer to do in order to profit from this spirits category that still commands better than 50 percent of all U.S. on-premise alcohols sales?

Turning the Tables
At the House of Guinness, a popular, upscale beer pub located in Waukesha, Wisc., proprietors Curt and Jennifer Andrews have turned the tables in terms of the beer versus spirits equation, with beer sales enjoying the upper hand over top flights of spirits such as bourbons and Irish whiskies. Guests can come in and enjoy 15 import and craft beers on tap, including Guinness Stout, Harp Lager, Smithwick’s Ale, Bass Ale, Strongbow Cider, Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout, Belhaven Scottish Ale, Murphy’s Irish Amber, Peroni Italian Lager, Stella Artois, Boddington’s Pub Ale, New Glarus Spotted Cow, Franziskaner Weiss and New Castle Brown Ale. suit a thirsty patron’s fancy on a given day, then there’s an equally impressive list of specialty bottles available, including Guinness Extra Stout, McEwan’s Scotch Ale, Murphy’s Irish Stout, Heineken, Heineken Light, Carlsberg, Pilsner Urquell, Magners Cider, Kronenbourg 1664, New Castle Brown Ale, Woodchuck Pear Cider, Woodchuck Dark & Dry, Leinie’s Honey Weiss, St. Pauli Girl Special Dark, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, Beamish Stout, Staropramen Czech Lager, McEwan’s Scotch Ale, Summit India Pale Ale, Duvel Belgian Ale, Peroni Italian Lager ,Grolsch Lager, Dinkel Acker CD Pils, Amstel Light, Beck’s Lager, Beck’s Dark, South Shore Nut Brown Ale, Sprecher Winter Brew, Sprecher Special Amber and Kaliber (non-alcoholic). With live Irish music featured each weekend, and only Miller High Life, Lite, MGD, MGD Light, Budweiser and Bud Light to represent the domestic brew category, upscale beer meets upscale setting and clientele at House of Guinness. “We strive to present a comfortable atmosphere that encourages good conversation and good fun,” Curt Andrews says. “We do not have a television, as that is a distraction to conversation. Without that crutch, people are left to converse amongst themselves, with the bartender, or with the customer sitting next to them.” The average price points for beer at House of Guinness definitely place the venue in the company of better spirits purveyors, with the ratio of beer, spirits and wine sales running at 75 percent beer to 20 percent spirits and five percent wine, Andrews says. Generally, the house gets $5.50 per pint (on tap) and $4.50 for specialty bottled beers. And higher priced barrels call for an even higher $6-$8 price point per pint. “While a number of people go by their standby of typical domestics, the majority of our clientele drink our tap beers, which are composed of imports and micro-brews and craft beers,” Andrews says. “In fact, while it is common for a person to order a Bud Light out of habit, when they find we do not have either on tap, they will oftentimes defer to a draught recommendation from their bartender.”

If You Pour It …
Just as the spirits category won over the palates of patrons with innovation as to taste, quality and variety in the past two decades, so, too, is the beer segment reaping the rewards of catering to customer desires for better and different beer-drinking experiences. “In general, imports and craft beers each have unique and distinctive taste differences, which is part of what drives their success,” Curt Andrews says. “Most of our clientele feel that domestics have little flavor/taste, potentially bland, and little difference between them. The imports and crafted beer companies know this and use the details behind their recipes to market them and help them stand above the mass produced domestics.” Rather than going for the newest or latest import beer they may have seen advertised on television, Andrews says his clientele is more interested in a specific beer they may have had when they were visiting another country. “The ability to enjoy the beer here at home allows people to revisit the memories of their trip,” Andrews says. “For instance, we see many people who have pre-Ireland trip celebrations at the pub. Likewise, we also see many people visiting us immediately after their return from Ireland.” At the House of Guinness, the sophisticated selection of beer also lends itself to the selling of an array of luxury spirits, albeit in reverse order to the sales scenario that is typical of many venues that offer spirits, beer and wine. “While there are some drinkers that will sit with a high-end spirit, most of our high-end spirit drinkers like to have it as a sophisticated treat alongside their favorite draught,” Andrews says. “We have a weekly special that allows a customer to pair up any of our Irish tap beers with an Irish whiskey — obviously keeping in line with our Irish theme! For us and our clientele, beer and whiskey go together. The Irish are known for their stout and their whiskey, and so we celebrate!” In lieu of proprietary cocktail recipes and garnishes that draw guests’ attention to spirits sales, Andrews says the bartenders at House of Guinness use the drawing power of iconic brands such as Guinness and other brews to enhance the beerdrinking experience for customers who range from college age to age 60 and up. “We try to focus on proper pour and presentation,” Andrews says. “Obviously, Guinness has standards as far as the proper pour. Many drinkers appreciate and expect being served a certain beer in a proper glass, although most don’t care. Even still, those drinkers enjoy the unique aspect or added touch of their beer being served in the brand’s designated glass. “Through written descriptions, the staff gets up to speed on specific beers,” he says. “Many of our patrons like to discuss beer, so conversations between customers and staff tend to leave both with added understanding and appreciation for specific beers. “These extra details go a long way in providing a positive and memorable experience at the pub.”