Building A Great Beer List A Simple Guide on creating a good beer list for bars and restaurants and other ideas to increase beer sales and profits.

M.E. Fox & Company, Inc. Local, family owned and operated since 1965 Smallest distributor in the Bay Area – your business is important to us. Serving you is our only business! We Employ over 105 local team members paying good wages with health, welfare and retirement benefits. Our money stays here! Our vendors include trucking, washing, repair, insurance, fuel, printing, accounting, legal and much more are all from local industries and companies doing our part to contribute to the local economy. Commitment to Philanthropy and community – over 1.5 Million Dollars has been given by our company and the Fox Family Foundation supporting local schools, churches, hospitals and non-profits. Green – most of our trucks run on bio diesel. We now recycle 80% of our waste, (cardboard and plastic shrink wrap) and before the implementation of the CRV law, we ran our own recycling center before it was cool to recycle. Switching all of our lighting in our facility reducing energy use by over 75%.

Characteristics of A Good List Variety – offer lagers, ales, dark beers and light beers, malty beers and hoppy beers. Value – be sure to offer something for everyone no matter how thick or thin their wallet or purse may be. Try to offer different price points across your offerings. Pairing – create a selection that pairs well with different menu options. Approachable – beer is a beverage that is enjoyed by everyone. Find a good balance between popular favorites and unique styles or brands. Profit – at the end of the day, a good beer list should provide steady inventory turns and not have you sitting on expensive kegs or cases. Balance your pour costs with variety. Similar to how you build your wine list.

Ales Top Fermenting, short fermentation at warm temperatures. Esters – Ale Yeasts produce lots of esters during fermentation which produce fruity flavors like clove, banana, citrus, peach, apricot, pear & apple. First type of beers produced were ales. (no refrigeration existed) Most craft brewers produce only ales. Hops are often celebrated. Types of Ales include: Wheat, Wit and Weizen beers,Belgian White Ales like Hoegaarden and Shock Top or Hefeweizens like Widmer and G.B. Hefeweizen. Pale Ales and Amber Ales -Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Widmer Drifter Pale Ale, Bass Pale Ale, Smithwicks Irish Ale, Kilkenny Irish Ale. I.P.A.s heavily hopped top fermenting ales high in I.B.U.s (International Bittering Units) Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Widmer Deadlift, Samuel Adams Latitude 48 I.P.A., Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Ale. Porters and Stout – Guinness, Kona Pipeline Porter, Samuel Adams Cream Stout, S.N. Porter, S.N. Stout Golden, Cream or Blonde Ale – Red Hook Blonde Ale, Boddingtons, Leffe Belgian Abbey Blonde Ale

Lagers Bottom Fermenting at cooler temperatures for longer durations. Clean – Lagers are low in esters so malt and hops have a more direct taste. November 11, 1842 – Louis Pasteur isolates the lager yeast strain. Czech brewers were the first to brew lagers. Lagers are more complex, harder to hide flaws. Malt tends to be the star of the show in lagers. Types of Lagers Include: Pilsner, Helles, Golden Lager or Kolsch (Czechvar / Budweiser Budvar, Gordon Biersch Czech Pilsner, Kona Longboard, S.A. Noble Pils, Stella Artois, Heineken, Amstel, Modelo,Pacifico, Becks) Amber Lagers, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Harp Lager Vienna, Marzen (G.B. Marzen, Negra Modelo, S.A. Oktoberfest) Bocks (G.B. Blonde Bock, S.A. Bock, Michelob Amber Bock) Budweiser, Bud Light are examples of American Light Lagers

Other Things To Know Color – Both Ales and Lagers can be dark or light. Color is determined by the malt. Hops – Ales tend to use more hops for flavor. Pilsner is an example of a lager with a higher hop flavor. Malt- Lagers tend to be more malty than ales. Malt is the grains used in the brew kettle. 80% of the weight of the grain goes into the beer. Yeast – Ales use a top fermenting yeast that rises to the top during short / warm fermentation. Lagers use a bottom fermenting yeast during longer / cooler fermentation. Alcohol – beer is the alcoholic beverage of moderation compared to wine or liquor. Light beers are between 3.5% and 4.2 % alcohol ABV. Craft and Imports have between 5% and 6.5% ABV. I.P.A.s and strong beers are between 7% and 12% ABV. Wine is between 12% and 14% ABV. Liquor is 40% to 45% ABV. Be sure to offer a Non-Alcoholic Beer on your menu!

Pairing With over 91 recognized beer styles, beer has many options to pair with food. The natural carbonation in beer cleanses your tongue enabling diners to taste their food better than wine. Find Appealing Contrasts and Compliments. Compliments = resonance or similarity of flavor Contrast = opposing or opposite flavors All of these websites offer great resources to learn how to pair beer with food.

Serving Be sure your beer glasses are beer clean or beer conditioned. Water should sheet off the glass and not create rivers or deltas. Glasses should be free of grime,silt or soap. Wash beer glasses seperately from food dishes. Wash with a non- petroleum based detergent, low in suds. Salt Test Dont use mixing glasses!! These are not beer glasses. Only beer should be served in your beer glasses, no cocktails, sodas or juices. More and more restaurants and bars are stocking 3-4 types of beer glasses as different styles deserve a different glass. In England, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic, each beer is served in its own proprietary glass. Always pour beer with a good 1 collar of foam to release the natural carbonation and flavor of beer. This is not apple juice! Beer should be presented to the consumer with a 1 collar of foam. More appealing, fresh and flavorful. Keep your kegs stored cold and away from food if possible. Rotate your bottled / can beer at all times. Freshness Matters!

Thank You! We are a local family business with strong roots embedded into our local community. When you do business with us, you are supporting an enduring 45 year tradition of giving back to our area, helping to make our area a better place to live for all of us. Let us know how we are doing! Our business depends on your business being successful. Let us know when we are doing something good or how we can improve. provides a contact list of who you can call at our company. Reach out to the owners. We are a small, family owned and operated company. Terence, Dennis and Catherine Fox can often times assist your directly.