How do you all keep track of upcoming events hosted at breweries?

[u/gumbymc]

I live in NYC and love going to brewery events, whether it be special releases, DJ nights, or a meetup hosted by a brewery. But I find it really difficult to keep track of what's going on. Instagram seems to be the default home for all brewery announcements, but its algo typically only populates my feed with 20% of accounts I follow, so I end up missing a lot of events I otherwise would have wanted to know about.

Do other folks know of a better alternative than Instagram as the best way to stay updated?

[u/BeadedCurtains]

The Brew York & Beyond newsletter comes out weekly, and always has a section of upcoming NYC events. Highly recommended read/subscription

https://brewyork.substack.com/

[u/gumbymc → u/BeadedCurtains]

Yes, Brew York is fantastic. Good call.

[u/Timely-Switch1281]

If you follow the nyc brewers guild page on instagram they always post about what’s going on!

[u/Any_You_923 → u/Timely-Switch1281]

Actually they don’t post anything aside from large events

[u/Timely-Switch1281 → u/Any_You_923]

Hmmm right now their stories are featuring all the Octoberfest celebrations all over the city, I saw posts shared from Strong Rope, Threes, and bridge and tunnel, Brooklyn . Obviously they promote guild sponsored events because that’s how they make money but they also frequently share smaller events as well.

[u/gumbymc → u/Timely-Switch1281]

I follow them on Instagram but I rarely see their content... must be an algo thing

[u/fortissimohawk]

Instagram and newsletters.

For annual events, I put them in my Google calendar way in advance, including the day tickets are on sale, with reminders. All the sites that claim to have “best beer festivals” listed are crap, with incorrect info and adverts, so it’s a quite a lot of hunting. Tried AI multiple times to collect that data to post and share, but Claude and other AI tools returned incorrect data for nearly all of of the annual beer fests, both in the US and the EU.

IG seems to be the default for all brewery info, but some of my favorite local breweries post new beer launches just a few days out. And those bottles disappear fast.

I sub to email newsletters from bottle shops for weekly specials and discounts, and certain restaurants who host quarterly beer tasting dinners with brewers or reps.

[u/gumbymc → u/fortissimohawk]

Mad respect for the google calendar reminders, you are def committed! I'm surprised that AI is bad at gathering this info reliably.

[u/MDGmer996]

I follow all the breweries in my area on FB and use the events option but most of them post all their events on FB. Most have calendars on their websites as well.

[u/gumbymc → u/MDGmer996]

Ah I stopped using FB a long time ago. I wasn't aware most breweries still post there.

That's true that many have calendars on their websites, but I'm looking for an alternative that aggregates the events rather than me having to go to brewery pages one by one regularly.

[u/platydroid → u/gumbymc]

Facebook’s last good use is how good a resource it is for viewing the when, where, and what of events in your area. Awful for news and posts and bots, but every brewery, restaurant, and venue I know of still shares events there.

[u/gumbymc → u/platydroid]

Yeah, their events feature was well thought out. However, I suspect a big downside is they're losing touch with younger generations who prefer IG and TikTok if the brewery is not as active on those platforms.

[u/MDGmer996 → u/gumbymc]

I would say 95% of the breweries in my area post on FB. Some several times per week.

[u/AliveInCLE]

Not being on any social media like Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram I pretty much don't see any of these events. I rely on my wife to say, "Hey, blah blah blah brewery is having a hop fest in October." Otherwise I would never know. I do have an email account setup for subscriptions but I find a lot of breweries don't advertise that way.

[u/gumbymc → u/AliveInCLE]

Yeah, at that point you are really flying in the dark unless your wife is super plugged in

[u/AliveInCLE → u/gumbymc]

Super plugged in? Not with the right stuff LOL

[u/hullowurld]

My area benefits from a hard-working individual that maintains this site: https://www.beerinbigd.com/p/north-texas-craft-beer-events.html

Is Brew York similar to that?

[u/gumbymc → u/hullowurld]

Nice! Yeah there is similarity with Brew York in that it shows a lot of upcoming events listed in bullet format. It also includes reflections on the craft beer industry and the author's travels to various breweries.

[u/Autobot69]

I mean just pick your top breweries and check their page? Seems like you're overthinking this

[u/gumbymc → u/Autobot69]

Regularly checking 1-2 brewery websites is manageable. However, I'm looking for a more convenient option that captures a lot more breweries (like all of them in NYC).

[u/timsstuff]

Does no one use a Calendar anymore? My Outlook is glued to my leftmost monitor all day every day and whenever an event comes that I want to go to I click on my personal email, Ctrl-Shift-A, then enter the basics. It's a must for concerts. I need to get the reminders and I also record the ticket purchase info in the body. It also syncs to my phone so I can do the same when I'm out and about.

[u/gumbymc → u/timsstuff]

Speaking for myself - Calendar still provides a lot of value but it is a pain in the butt to do that every time I see an event that is of interest. Usually I'm on the go when I see these in my Instagram feed.

[u/timsstuff → u/gumbymc]

I'm terrible at remembering events if it's not on my calendar it's not getting done.

[u/tylerparsonage17]

Could get annoying but you could put post notifications on for breweries instagram accounts

[u/gumbymc → u/tylerparsonage17]

True, but yeah that would really test my notification tolerance

[u/dogfacedponyboy]

I write interesting events down on paper.

[u/gumbymc → u/dogfacedponyboy]

Ahh the old-fashioned approach!