Handling a brand crisis at a brewery, from a bad batch to a viral post
Every brewery will face a crisis sooner or later: a contaminated batch, a staff incident, a viral complaint. Here is how to prepare and what to do in the first hours and days so the brand comes through intact.
What counts as a brand crisis
A brand crisis is anything that could seriously damage trust in your brewery if handled badly. For breweries, the common ones are:
- A bad or contaminated batch, from off flavours to gushing cans or foreign objects.
- A product recall, voluntary or ordered by a regulator.
- A safety incident at the brewery or taproom.
- A viral complaint or video about service, staff behaviour or the beer.
- An old post, comment or campaign that suddenly looks offensive.
- Trouble with a regulator, such as an excise or licensing issue that becomes public.
Some are product problems, some are people problems and some are both. The response follows the same steps.
Prepare before anything happens
The best crisis plan is written on a calm day. It needs:
- A crisis team: usually the founder, head brewer, taproom manager and whoever runs social media, with phone numbers in one place.
- A single spokesperson. One person speaks for the brewery. Everyone else refers questions to them.
- A recall plan with batch codes and a record of where each batch went. Our guide to a beer recall plan covers this in detail.
- Holding statements drafted in advance for likely scenarios, ready to adapt.
- Advisers' contacts: a lawyer, a licensing consultant and, if you have one, a PR adviser.
The first hour
Act on facts, not panic. In the first hour:
- Find out what happened. Which beer, which batch, where, how many people affected, is anyone hurt?
- Stop the harm. If a batch is suspect, pull it from taps and hold stock. If a staff member is involved, take them off shift while you investigate.
- Brief the team. Tell staff what to say, what not to say and who to refer questions to.
- Post a holding statement if the issue is public. Say you know about it, you are looking into it and when you will update.
A real floor detail: for a quality issue, keep retained samples of every batch, labelled with batch codes, in cold storage. When a complaint arrives, tasting and testing the retained sample from the same batch tells you within hours whether the problem is in the beer or in the trade.
What to say and how
Good crisis statements are short, honest and human. Say what you know, what you are doing and when you will update. Apologise for the impact on people without admitting legal liability you have not established; a lawyer can help with wording. Avoid jargon, blaming suppliers or customers and "no comment".
Match the tone to your brand voice, but drop the jokes. A brewery known for cheeky captions needs to sound serious for a few days. Our guide to brewery brand voice covers how a voice flexes for situations like this.
Bad batches and recalls
For product problems, safety and the law come first. FSSAI has recall requirements. Excise authorities may need to be informed about stock movements. Work with your licensing consultant and follow the regulator's process. Tell retailers and distributors quickly and clearly which batches are affected and what to do with them.
A voluntary recall handled openly often builds trust. Drinkers remember a brewery that said "we got this wrong, here is what we did" far longer than they remember the bad beer.
Viral posts and online storms
For a viral complaint, reply publicly once, calmly and quickly, then move the conversation to private messages or a call. Do not delete critical comments unless they break platform rules or include abuse, because deleting tends to make things worse. If the complaint is fair, say so and explain what you are changing. If it is false, correct the facts politely, once.
Monitor mentions for a few days. Most online storms fade within a week if the brewery responds well and does not feed them.
After the crisis
Once things calm down, hold a short review: what happened, what worked, what did not and what to change. Update the crisis plan and holding statements. If the root cause was a process failure, fix it and, where appropriate, tell your drinkers what you changed. That final step turns a crisis into proof that the brewery takes quality and people seriously.
Common questions
Who should speak for a brewery in a crisis?
One designated spokesperson, usually the founder or a senior manager. Everyone else should refer questions to them.
Should a brewery delete negative comments during a crisis?
Usually not. Deleting criticism tends to make things worse. Reply once and calmly, then move the conversation to a private channel.
Does a brewery need a written crisis plan?
Yes. A short plan with contacts, a spokesperson, recall steps and holding statements makes the first hour far calmer.
