Beer bottling
The Flower Pots Brewery is known around Hampshire for producing award-winning cask ales and beers. Our experienced brewers have enhanced the traditional method of brewing, so customers can consistently enjoy the delicious taste and complex flavours of our beers. Our cask beers are distributed to a network of pubs throughout Hampshire and the surrounding counties, who then share the great taste with their customers.
For decades, we saw definite benefits in selling cask and boxed beer over bottled beer. However, that changed with the Covid-19 lockdown.
We were one of the first pubs in the country to shut down, ensuring the safety of our staff and customers. Since customers could not visit the Inn to enjoy their favourite brew, we had to find another way to get it to them.
Additionally, we had to demonstrate our ability to be creative; to try and find a way of generating revenue to secure the future of the business, for the Inn and the village.
Why did we bottle our beer?
The reason we needed to sell bottled beer instead of boxed beer was simple. Instead of supplying to trade customers, who would then sell the beer to their consumers, we now had to get it directly to the customers.
Trade customers, by definition, required larger quantities. This meant that our boxed product, available in 5, 10 and 20 litres was perfect for them, but not so much for people drinking at home. This is why we needed to explore the previously untested option of bottling.
Problems we faced and solutions we found
As we mentioned earlier, bottling beer is something we had never done before, but looking into the process we realised that setting up a beer bottling setup would take us six months.
We did some further research and pushed ahead. As a result of our perseverance, we managed to get our beer bottling setup ready in four weeks! That meant finding a bottler who we could work with closely and who would care for our beer as much as we do. It also meant designing a several labels and choosing the right bottle shape to reflect the traditional nature of our business.
Another problem we faced was distribution. How would we take orders from customers?
For taking orders, the best method was an online store where people could select the beer they wanted and pay for it online to minimise contact. Again, this was something that would have taken many months, but we forged ahead with our web and marketing company and got it done in four weeks, to coincide with the production of our bottled beer.
With our online shop, we also arranged for home delivery for all mainland Hampshire postcodes in addition to click-and-collect. This way, we ensured that our customers could enjoy their favourite ales and beer even if they couldn’t visit The “Pots”.
If you would like a taste of one of our classic ales or one of our specials, but do not know which one to try, here is a resource that could help you. Otherwise, pay us a visit or head over to the Shop!
New Arrivals
Let’s see some of our new products
