Brown Distributing Named 2012 Craft Beer Distributor Of The Year By NBWA, Brewers Association
October 15, 2012West Palm Beach, Florida-based Brown Distributing Company has won the 2012 Craft Beer Distributor of the Year award presented by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Brewers Association. The award, now in its sixth year, was presented Saturday at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. It recognizes the beer distributor who did “the most to market, promote and sell craft beer,” over the past year.
Brown Distributing has operated as a family-run business in Florida for more than nine decades. In recent years the company has taken a lead role in developing the Sunshine State’s craft beer scene. Brown currently counts 64 craft breweries among its suppliers, whose beers it distributes to nearly 4,000 retail accounts across Florida. The company’s aggressive move into craft beer has paid off—over the past 12 months Brown Distributing’s craft beer volume has surged 76%.
Speaking to Shanken News Daily today, Brown Distributing co-presidents Jason and Reid Brown said, “We’d like to thank our supplier and retailer partners and the staff of Brown Distributing for helping to achieve this honor. The combination of many new craft brewers setting up shop in Florida, along with more national craft breweries expanding into the state, has created excitement around the whole category. More and more retailers and restaurateurs are taking part.”
Brown’s strategy in promoting the craft segment includes social media engagement, an interactive distribution map, brewer profiles, an events calendar, frequent blog posts by staff and a client and customer newsletter. It has also launched a “Drink like a local” campaign urging retailers and consumers to support local Florida craft brewers and recognizing all of the breweries that are helping to grow craft beer’s presence in the state.
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Tagged : craft beer, distributors, Florida
