How beer bars can get new regulars: wine drinkers

Zach Mack owns a beer-centric store in Manhattan—at Alphabet City Beer Co. he sells 450 SKUs of beer to go and his 11 taps are reliably the best 11 taps you're gonna find in NYC.

So you wouldn't know it (I definitely didn't), but he's got a sneaky-awesome wine program that's simple, makes him some great incremental profits, and actually has gotten him a fair amount of wine-drinking regulars at his beer bar.

Here's how he thinks about having a simple, profitable wine program at a beer-centric place:

• A little bit of effort can go such a long way with wine: if you're not a wine focused place, wine people are absolutely thrilled when even a short list of great wines shows up at a a beer bar. And yes: you're definitely going to have wine people come into your beer bar.
• You don't have to blow out your budget on wines: Some of the best wine out there is available for between $8 and $15 wholesale.
• The math on those prices works really well for the bottom line: most people who come in for a glass of wine have two of them. And given how you can price wines, that means you're already getting double your money back by the time the bottle's half gone.

It's such a great tactical move because it's lightweight but makes you appealing to more people at more times:

• You can gain new regulars: If you're a beer-focused place, you're no doubt seeing a significant number of people coming in with beer drinkers who [think they] don't like beer themselves. If you have an awesome wine list to show these people, then they'll be coming back on their own for your wine.
• Even beer drinkers want wine sometimes, and now they don't have to go somewhere else to get it.
• Wine makes you a safe choice for large groups: they may not want to come in if they think you're only a beer place. But if you have great wine too? Then everybody can be happy.

Check out the interview clips for more from Zach on selling wine at a beer-focused bar:

The Yuengling Quiz

As covered in the Industry News section, Yuengling is expanding into 3 more states in 2023 and beer drinkers in those states are so eager for it they're buying it presale.

Try out the 5-question Yuengling quiz below and scroll to the bottom of the newsletter for the answers!

1. 100 years before the beginning of the Great Depression, a German immigrant surnamed Yuengling started the Eagle Brewery, which went on to become Yuengling proper. This year is now given as the date Yuengling was founded—what year was it?

2. In what state was Yuengling founded? (Give yourself a bonus point if you can name the city.)

3. The brewery's founder shared a first name with an English musician who once wondered whether there was life on a certain red planet. What was Herr Yuengling's first name?

4. In what state did Yuengling open it's first out-of-state brewery? And is it served in Margaritaville?

5. Yee-haw! What is the westernmost state where you can currently purchase Yuengling?

Reader-submitted palindrome

Reader Sam from Brooklyn recently sat down with the goal of creating a beer-based palindrome and came up with the following:

Xanax?! No set ale elates on Xanax.

Pretty darn good—thanks Sam!

If you've got something beer-, booze-, or bar/restaurant-related (palindrome or otherwise) that you'd like to share with the audience, just reply to this email!

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• Yuengling, that not-really-special-but-still-the-beer-people-ask-you-to-bring-back-from-your-FL-vacation beer, is expanding into Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma this year. At least in Missouri, customers and liquor stores are eagerly awaiting its arrival.
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• Malt liquor is breaking into the craft beer world, and brewers say it deserves respect. That's especially true if the last time you drank it was when you played Edward 40 Hands in high school.

1. 1829
2. Pennsylvania (Bonus: Pottsville)
3. David
4. Florida. Unsure about Margaritaville since they'll prefer you drink Landshark.
5. Texas