Father's Day: What BREWING gifts are we wanting?

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Amarillo
OK,
It's nearly father's day, and to us, that seems like a great time to get that long wanted beer gear.

What items would you request of your family, and (pretend for a moment) if you were a new brewer, or someone just thinking about starting, what items would you ask for?

Kits? grains? ingredient kits? chillers? tuns? pots? cappers? gift cards? glassware? bottles? hops? specialty sugars?

We just opened a brew shop and are trying to prepare for what we hope to be a very strong father's day run. what should we stock up on? We are only one month in business, and know what we like, but are still working on what the consumer likes.

Please take a moment to make your suggestions. our little HBS is our pride and joy, and we are counting on the father's day sales to carry us into the black.

Thanks!
Shiloh Baker,
Amarillo Brewing Supply
Amarillo, Texas

:mug:
 
Books. I really want Brewing Lager Beer, Radical Brewing, Water, Hops, and Principles of Brewing Science.

Good luck on the shop! I worked in a local bicycle shop, and very much appreciate the local service vibe vs. anonymous internet or catalogs, even if local costs a little more. Our local Homebrewer's night is one of the highlights of my month.
 
#1 gift cards. Unless someone asks for specific equipment, a family member is unlikely to have any clue what is needed.

#2 starter kit. Make sure you have (and clearly advertised/marked in the store) a full kit. Many of your buyers will probably be looking at the start of the hobby. And IMHO a starter kit should be a break even/minimal profit deal. The goal is to build customers and make up the profit on later purchases.
 
Funny this would come up. I got my first beer kit for Father's day either 3 or 4 years ago. Since then it has turned into a 2 keg rims setup and I'm looking to improve upon that. Makes me nostalgic for the days of boil-overs on the stove. Wait. No it doesn't. Those sucked.
 
Decent priced brew pots would be my choice. 10+ gallons.
A fathers day brew kit would probably be nice for wives/significant others to buy dad.
 
I just got a full kegging system, temperature controller, oxygenation system, and new better bottles for my birthday, so I don't need anything else for a while. Although, a March pump would be nice.
 
Not a father, but here's my input:


Definitely beginners kits, also offering upgrades to the kit (extra fernentor, carboy, etc)

Ingredient kits. Takes the guesswork out of it and makes the process less intimidating for novices.

Pots are good, but I would also stock some affordable 5 gal pots. Much cheaper, and I know lots of people who didn't have a large stock pot to start. Turns out you don't like brewing? Bam, pot for chili or other uses.

Hydrometers, nuff said.

Best of luck! I wouldn't have gotten into the hobby without my LHBS, thanks for helping other brewers get into the hobby!
 
How about a free brewing class for the day? For those newbies like myself just getting in but got pretty much all the equipment we need but afraid to actually do it lol. All grain for me that is. He'll I even got all the grain, hops, and yeast for the next year for my fav clone but just haven't done it yet for fear of screwing it up, FYI it two hearted ale clone:eek:
 
Id like a 10g kettle and a igloo 10g cooler to make a mash tun!!! But anything beer making related will do!
 
I think any kind of discount geared towards Father's day could only be good. 5, 10,15, 20% off of just about anything purchased FOR a father would work. Buy a (whatever) and get blah% off of a whatever works too. To me there are sooooo many different thinks you could do.

I always end up thinking about how Xbox and others sell some things. The actual Xbox doesn't make hardly anybody any money, it's the games etc that bring that in. Or FREE. Something FREE always works if it's a woman shopping(jk, but alot of times it's true). Throw something useful in on certain purchases for free.
 
How about a free brewing class for the day? For those newbies like myself just getting in but got pretty much all the equipment we need but afraid to actually do it lol. All grain for me that is. He'll I even got all the grain, hops, and yeast for the next year for my fav clone but just haven't done it yet for fear of screwing it up, FYI it two hearted ale clone:eek:

Great Idea!

Free to the gift receiver, but I would think a small fee for the class (maybe 10 bucks) limit class size to where you can have individual interaction. I don't think a few dollars would turn many people away. ...and the original poster did imply that he needed to make some money.

Its a win/win, get new brewers in the store, show then how easy it is to brew/boost their confidence, generate sales.
 
Most people dislike all of the washing/sanitation involved with brewing. Something like a bottle tree with the sanitation attachment that would speed up/simplify the cleaning/sanitation process would probably be popular.

I am a big fan of in-store demonstrations, if you have the space, have some equipment set up that customers can see in use.
 
Gift vouchers and/or a wish list registry, like a wedding gift registry.

After all friends and family have NFI what we really want half the time, or the items have a greater value than one person is able to or wants to spend by them selves.

This can system can also included birthdays and Christmas as well. One of my LHBS has a system of offering an extra $1 per $10 spent on gift cards as a promotion leading up to Father's Day and Christmas
 
Put together a starter kit something like midwest sells for $65. but add in a beer kit for a bit more. That'd be great for beginners. For the rest,gadgets on sale might be good. Bottle washers,bottle trees,vinators,& all the little things that make cleaning & sanitizing faster & easier might work. Maybe have some simple kits on sale. You could even put to gether a cleaning kit with some PBW,bottle brush,Carboy cleaner (the kind that goes in a drill),some aquarium lift tube brushes (great for cleaning spigots & the like)...that sort of thing for a decent price.
Or maybe put together a kit of your favorite house beer recipe & put a sale price on it.
 
Put together a starter kit something like midwest sells for $65. but add in a beer kit for a bit more. That'd be great for beginners. For the rest,gadgets on sale might be good. Bottle washers,bottle trees,vinators,& all the little things that make cleaning & sanitizing faster & easier might work. Maybe have some simple kits on sale. You could even put to gether a cleaning kit with some PBW,bottle brush,Carboy cleaner (the kind that goes in a drill),some aquarium lift tube brushes (great for cleaning spigots & the like)...that sort of thing for a decent price.
Or maybe put together a kit of your favorite house beer recipe & put a sale price on it.

Buy a kit future coupon for buying more stuff if you like brewing. Brewing is like being a shopaholic for me. :)
 
Custom in shop recipes. One of my favorite things from a brew shop near me. House recipes, clones, etc. But they do a board with a few listed up for the month and price them at a set price. So much better than the kits since they use fresh hops, yeast and grain or extract straight from the shop floor.

I've received a couple as gifts and love it. My last IPA was a hand written recipe from a shop near my sisters place. So much fun to get a recipe with everything to make a batch of beer.
 
Good call on bottle tree, fiancé got me one and it makes bottling super easy and fun. I still enjoy bottling even though we keg now
 
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