The 2019 Holiday Season is fast approaching and it is time to start thinking about those unique gift ideas. The crew here at Mashing In is well aware that it is often difficult to find that perfect gift, so we have decided to compile a gift guide for anyone in your life that enjoys a well-crafted adult beverage from time to time. This installment of the gift guide is for the craft beer lover in your life who dreams of one day opening his/her own brewery: The Microbrewery Handbook – Craft, Brew & Build Your Own Microbrewery Success by DC Reeves.

Published by Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Hoboken, New Jersey), The Microbrewery Handbook is an “indispensable, first-of-its-kind book” written by DC Reeves, author and founder of Perfect Plain Brewing Company in Pensacola, Florida. Meant to be a useful “guide to the business of craft beer,” this new book “explains that while great tasting beer is important, there are many elements beyond the beer itself that go into creating, growing, and sustaining a successful microbrewery in today’s saturated market.”

“Gone are the days when opening a microbrewery and calling it ‘local’ equaled unrivaled success,” Reeves said. “What will define success in this new era of craft beer is how well a brewery does the other things besides beer: Hiring, customer experience, employee engagement, operations, cash flow. Our industry has graduated past the simple importance of merely making great beer and into a new fiercely competitive world.”

Synopsis (sourced directly from the publisher’s press release):

The Microbrewery Handbook offers real-world advice and proven strategies to help brewers thrive in the competitive micro and craft brewing industry. Based on his own experience as the founder of Perfect Plain Brewing Company in Pensacola, Florida, Reeves offers practical guidance for brewers covering everything from the basics of brewing and the financial and business side of opening a brewery to creating a company culture, getting the word out, and helping a brewery thrive in local communities. The book also includes interviews and insight with industry experts as well as owners of some of the nation’s elite craft breweries including Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, Jeffrey Stuffings of Jester King and Doug Resier of Burial Brewing.

Broken down into five sections, Reeves dives into the business of beer and explains:

• The Basics – Understand the industry, focus and differentiate your taproom.
• Build Your Microbrewery – Create a business plan and figure out the financials
• Leadership & Company Culture – The keys to strong leadership, hiring well, and how to keep happy and engaged employees.
• Creating an Incredible Customer Experience – How to build a taproom that both pleases customers and garners revenue.
• Get The Word Out – Tips for branding, social media and public relations.
• Love Your Local Community – Turn a taproom into a community anchor and attract and hold on to loyal customers.

The Microbrewery Handbook is available for pre-order now ($25) and will officially hit shelves on November 26.  Look for this new book to be available wherever books are sold (in stores and on online).  Prost!