Beyond the First Order: What Builds a Craft Beer Brand in Washington

As we begin planning for 2027 with our brand partners, there’s one question I want to keep at the center of the conversation: what will make the growth we’re working toward last?

New accounts matter. So do new placements, new releases, and opportunities to introduce a brand to more buyers. We want to earn those opportunities. But a plan built around the first order leaves too much unanswered. Did the product sell through? Was it the right fit for the account? Did we follow up? And does the buyer want to order from that brand again?

A growth plan should explain more than where we want to place a beer. It should explain why that beer belongs there, how we’ll support it, and what would make the buyer come back.

For River Barrel Distributing, that is an important part of planning our next year of craft beverage distribution in Western Washington. We’re looking for new opportunities while asking how we can do more with the trust our buyers and brand partners have already placed in us.

The right account matters as much as the next account

“More accounts” is an understandable goal. The next question is which accounts - and why. Take the same IPA into a neighborhood restaurant, a specialty bottle shop, and a grocery store, and you have three different sales conversations.

At the restaurant, the recommendation should account for the existing tap list, the intended selling price, and a keg size that makes sense for the expected demand. At the bottle shop, it should reflect what customers are buying and how the beer fits into the buyer’s selection. At the grocery store, the conversation needs to address package format, shelf space, and replenishment.

“This is a great beer” may open the conversation. It doesn’t finish the job. A thoughtful recommendation connects the product to the account. Sometimes that means a smaller opening order or leading with one strong product instead of several. Sometimes it means putting more support behind a promising opportunity rather than immediately moving on to the next prospect.

That isn’t an argument for being less ambitious. It’s an argument for giving each placement a better chance of working. New placements and repeat business are not competing priorities. The follow-through is what makes expansion worth pursuing.

The next conversation should tell us something

After the first delivery, the next conversation shouldn’t automatically become a pitch for the next release. We should find out how the previous recommendation worked. If a beer moved more slowly than expected, “it didn’t sell” is the beginning of a discussion. Was the opening quantity too large? Did it reach the shelf or tap when expected? Was the price appropriate? Did customers try it and decide against it, or did it struggle to get their attention?

Those are different problems. They deserve different responses. A successful placement deserves attention, too. Understanding why something worked gives the brewery and distributor a better basis for deciding where to go next. The buyer’s feedback may help us refine the opening quantity, identify another suitable account, or recognize an opportunity to build a more consistent presence. Order history is useful, but it doesn’t explain everything. An account that hasn’t reordered may still be working through its first purchase. A fast reorder may reflect strong demand - or simply an opening order that was too small.

The numbers help us know what to ask. The conversation helps us understand what to do.

And when a buyer is ready to order again, the process should be straightforward. Accurate availability, clear pricing, responsive communication, and accessible ordering are part of supporting the placement. A buyer shouldn’t have to chase down information to keep a beer they want in stock.

Brand building is shared work

A useful annual brand plan should make clear what the brewery and distributor will each contribute. A brewery should be able to expect its distributor to understand the portfolio, make informed recommendations, follow up with buyers, and communicate what is happening in the market. That includes sharing feedback that may be uncomfortable, rather than reporting only the wins. The distributor needs dependable availability updates, clear product information, realistic release timing, and a brewery partner willing to work through what the sales team is hearing.

Neither side benefits from a plan that assigns all the responsibility to the other.

If we agree to pursue more placements for a core beer, we should also agree on the account types we’re targeting, the supply needed to support them, and how we’ll evaluate the results. If a release needs a concentrated selling effort, the timing and responsibilities should be understood before it arrives.

We also need room to adjust. A product may find a stronger audience in a different type of account than we expected. Buyer feedback may point toward a better format or a more focused assortment. The value of the partnership is partly in how well we respond to that information together.

A year-round beer and a limited release need different measures

Repeat business matters, but not every successful placement leads to another order for the same beer. A year-round pilsner intended to hold a regular place in an account should be evaluated differently from a one-time fresh hop release. For the pilsner, we should look at whether customers are buying it consistently, whether the account is reordering, and whether we can support dependable replenishment.

For the fresh hop beer, the questions are different. Did we place an appropriate quantity? Did it arrive within the intended selling window? Did the account sell through it while it was relevant? Does the buyer want the brewery’s next release? If the batch is gone, the absence of another order for that exact beer tells us very little.

The same distinction applies to breweries built around rotating releases. Repeat business may mean an account consistently buying from the brewery, even as the individual products change. That is especially relevant during October’s seasonal selling and next-year planning conversations. A rotating tap handle, a seasonal shelf placement, and a permanent grocery item are different opportunities. We should define a good result before judging the outcome. Otherwise, we risk measuring what is easiest to count instead of what we actually set out to accomplish.

A bigger number is a goal. The decisions behind it make a plan.

Before we agree on next year’s sales target, we should be able to answer a few practical questions. Which products are we leading with? Which accounts are the best fit? What will the brewery and distributor each do to support those placements? When will we review the results, and what would tell us to change course?

Those answers turn an annual planning meeting into something the sales team can act on.

“Grow grocery” is a direction. Choosing the products, identifying suitable accounts, aligning on availability, and setting a review point gives that direction substance. The same goes for existing business. A plan should address the accounts that have already given a brand a chance: where there is room to build, where a follow-up is overdue, and where we need to reconsider a recommendation that hasn’t worked. Sales goals still matter. They give us something to pursue and a way to hold ourselves accountable. But the forecast should reflect an agreed approach, not substitute for one.

What we want to build in 2027

At River Barrel, we want to introduce more buyers to the producers we’re proud to represent. We also want to get better at supporting the opportunities we’ve already earned.

That means listening when a buyer says something isn’t working, being direct with a brewery about what we’re seeing, and staying involved when there is a chance to build on a good start. It also means holding ourselves to a standard that extends beyond making the sale. A buyer who takes our recommendation should feel that we remain invested in the outcome. As we plan for 2027, that is the business I want us to keep building: more opportunities for our brewery partners, stronger relationships with our accounts, and a clear understanding of the work required from all of us. The first order is worth celebrating. Earning the buyer’s confidence in the next recommendation is worth planning for.