Craft breweries have been one of the biggest consumer trends of the last decade. Last year there were 8,275 craft breweries in operation – nearly double the number from five years prior, according to stats from the Brewers Association. Standing out in a crowded marketplace has been a challenge for these small upstarts.

Of course, as with any industry, a savvy and strategic deployment of unique promotional products can help build brand awareness. For the craft brewing industry, tap handles are the “first and most important branding item,” according to Tony Azar, regional vice president of The Alison Group (asi/34048).

“The tap handle is a brewery’s calling card,” Azar adds. “It should be special enough to stand out in a dark room so the client sitting in the back things, ‘Hey, that’s a cool-looking tap. I have to try that beer.’”

North Miami Beach, FL-based The Alison Group has worked with countless craft beverage companies on creative merchandising and branding, and has made some memorable custom tap handles out of a diverse set of materials – from wood and metal to resin and acrylic. The supplier even helped a national brand create lighted tap handles to promote its beer last Christmas.

Another success story is the supplier’s collaboration with Steel Bender Brewyard, a young craft brewery based in New Mexico. Steel Bender looked to the past for a series of unique tap handles that complement the graphics on its beer cans. The vintage-inspired tap handle designs are all based on historic Route 66 business roadside signs.

“Albuquerque is part of historic Route 66, which used to be the artery through America. Along the southwest part of 66, gas station signs, hotel signs, restaurants would all have gaudy neon signs trying to grab travelers’ attention,” says Ethan Chant, whose family founded Steel Bender. “The towering signs would evoke bright colors and (neo) Art Deco sensibilities and were basically an abstract version of the vehicles of that time.”

Chant adds that the custom tap handles The Alison Group created for Steel Bender are basically a “modern highway sign.”

The Route 66 tap handles will be a key component of the craft brewer’s long-term marketing plans and have been distributed to draught accounts throughout New Mexico. The handles promote Steel Bender’s core offerings, along with specialty/seasonal flavors. The custom tap handles are “getting a lot of notoriety at the bar that’s working for them,” Azar says.

Still, demand for items like custom tap handles took a hit during the coronavirus pandemic and temporary closures of restaurants, bars and retail to try to slow the spread of the virus. Back in May, the Brewers Association estimated that 3,600 breweries across the country could go out of business as a result of COVID, according to the Daily Beast. “It’s put a huge dent in our business,” Azar says, though he noted that The Alison Group has a well-blended business mix that stretches beyond the beverage market to help them get through. Many breweries were able to pivot to making hand sanitizer during the pandemic, and The Alison Group also pivoted, sourcing things like masks and sanitizer bottles for its clients.

As states have begun to reopen, the craft beer market is also rebounding. “A lot of breweries are relaunching, reenergizing and creating new brands,” Azar says.

He points to Boulevard, a brewery in Kansas that launched Quirk, a line of spiked seltzers, during the pandemic. The initial marketing focused on items like corrugated signage for off-premise locations like grocery stores. “When things come back,” he adds, “they’ll relaunch with a tap handle.”