This Is Not Your Hobby

Most small craft beverage brands are either paying for too much software, paying for the wrong software, or paying for software they signed up for once and never actually used. The comment section on Facebook is great for vibes, terrible for tech advice. The tool that works for the brand triple your size is almost never the right tool for you. In this follow-up to last week's AI episode, Julie...

The whole industry is suddenly talking about AI, and everyone has an opinion. The brands using it well are getting hours back every week and making smarter decisions with less effort. The brands using it badly are generating embarrassing POS materials, asking ChatGPT to write distribution contracts, and feeding sensitive business data into free LLMs that are using it to train their next model. The...

Julie just got back from the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia, and she's got a lot to say. The vibe was different this year — less hand-wringing, more let's-actually-do-something energy — and the programming reflected a real shift in what the industry is prioritizing. In this episode, Julie breaks down the keynote from Will Guidara, the sessions worth knowing about even if you were...

Good vibes don't scale. If your guest experience depends entirely on who's working that day, you don't have a hospitality culture — you have a lottery. In this episode, Julie gets into the actual mechanics: how to write service standards for your taproom, what effective hospitality training looks like for a small team, how to turn guest inquiries into revenue opportunities, which staff...

Everyone says they have great hospitality. Most taprooms have friendly staff. However, those are not the same thing. In this episode, Julie breaks down what hospitality actually means, why it's not the same as customer service, and how industries like fine dining, theme parks, and luxury hotels have been engineering it into profit for decades— and, what craft beverage brands can steal from all...

The last two episodes covered chain sales and scan data: what they are, how they work, and why they matter for brands trying to compete on shelf. This episode brings in the person who makes sense of what the numbers are actually saying. Kate Bernot is a journalist and analyst covering the craft beverage industry for FeelGoods Insights, and she has a rare ability to translate complex data trends in...

Scan data gets thrown around in beverage like everyone’s supposed to already know what it is. In this episode, Julie breaks it down in plain English for beginners: what scan data actually measures, why it matters for chain business (and beyond), and how to use big-picture consumer trends without blindly copying what the “national data” says. The point isn’t to become a data analyst— it’s to make s...

Chain sales can be huge volume for craft beverage brands— but, it’s not a knee-jerk decision and it’s definitely not a band-aid for lagging sales. In this episode, Julie breaks down why early March is the start of “submission season” for Fall Refresh requests, what chains actually care about right now, and how to approach big box retail like the system it is. This one works as a primer for brands...

This week on This Is Not Your Hobby, stop winging it on sales, margins, and expenses— and focus on profits. Chris Farmand, Founder and CEO of Small Batch Standard, joins Julie for this interview episode to share his no-fluff approach to increasing product sales. What you'll learn in this episode: How to grow profitability not just chase vanity metrics Advice for estimating your (marketing) bud...

In part two of this two-part profitability series, Julie flips the script from cutting costs to growing sales— and, breaks down the real, sustainable ways to bring in more revenue without burning out your team, wrecking your margins, or handing out constant discounts like Halloween candy. This episode is a tactical dive into how to drive more dollars from your taproom and your wholesale accounts u...

Margins are tight, shelves are crowded, and being “busy” isn’t the same thing as being profitable. In this episode of This Is Not Your Hobby, Julie kicks off a two‑part series on profitability by tackling the first — and often most uncomfortable — lever: cutting expenses. This isn’t about panic cuts or slashing things that actually drive revenue. It’s about identifying the expensive habits that ha...

Branding isn’t “make it pretty and pray.” It’s how consumers decide what to grab in a 3-second cooler scan— and how buyers decide if you’re worth the shelf space. In this episode of This Is Not Your Hobby, Julie sits down with Amanda DeVries, Creative Director + Founder of Eye Candy Design, to talk about branding from a bigger-than-your-local-market perspective: what works globally, what drives co...

Shelf space is brutal. Your branding has to work overtime. In Episode 8 of This Is Not Your Hobby, Julie shifts the differentiation lens to wholesale. You don’t get a taproom vibe to tell your story anymore— you get three seconds in a walk-in cooler. This episode breaks down how to stand out in the minds of retail buyers and customers alike. Julie unpacks why “great beer” isn’t a brand, why your s...

Differentiation isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s survival. In Episode 7 of This Is Not Your Hobby, Julie tackles one of the most common bottlenecks in craft beverage: brands that blend in. You say you’re local, high quality, community-focused, and approachable— guess what? So does everyone else. This episode is your taproom reality check. If your physical space doesn’t feel meaningfully differen...

This is Julie's second interview episode, and it's a must-listen for any beverage alcohol brand working with wholesalers. Her guest is Michelle Forster, Director of Sales at Black Tooth Brewing. As per usual in This Is Not Your Hobby, guests glean insight in this episode on how to do more with less— in this case widen your sales reach and boost profit, without expanding your sales team. Wh...

Your website is not a brochure. It is not a digital placeholder. It is not a project to annoy you. It is a 24-7 salesperson for your brand, and it is one of your best tools to generate revenue for your business. If you're neglecting it, you're literally leaving money on the table. In episode 5 of THis Is Not Your Hobby, Julie personifies your business website and convincingly explains why...

Sales down? That’s not your wholesaler’s problem. Julie tackles this episode’s bottlenecks with two specific scenarios in mind: an owner-driven sales approach scrappy— but not in a good way— and, having a sales representative but not a sales plan. Both lack strategy, and you can’t sell anything without strategy. Tune in for a dose of Julie’s tough love and sound advice on training your sales team,...

Beverage marketers increasingly need to do more with less. Not to mention every department in the company relies on the materials they create. In this first interview episode of This Is Not Your Hobby , Reuben’s Brews Marketing Director Hunter Oetinger schools Julie’s listeners with digestible, easy to implement marketing strategies for small teams to make bigger impacts.  What you’ll learn in thi...

If you’ve been ghosting your email list (or haven’t even started one), it’s time for a wake-up call. Welcome back to This Is Not Your Hobby , the podcast for beverage business owners who are done guessing and ready to grow. In this second episode, host Julie Rhodes gets into another massively underutilized— but wildly effective— sales tool: email marketing. Julie breaks down how to use her 3 R’s o...

If you're a small beverage brand stuck in a love-hate cycle with social media, you’re not alone, and you’re in the right place. Welcome to the first episode of This Is Not Your Hobby , the podcast for beverage business owners who are done guessing and ready to grow. In this kickoff episode, host Julie Rhodes tackles one of the most common marketing bottlenecks: building a social media content...