RateBeer makes a clear distinction between Brewers (moral entity) and Places (physical locations opened to public). Brewer pages are meant for product listing purposes only. If a Place is associated to a brewer, it must be added separately (but don’t forget to Associate the Place to its Brewer page)
BREWERS
COMMERCIAL BREWERY - A Commercial Brewery is a brewery or multiple breweries owned by the same company with a large national, possibly international, distribution. Commonly known as MACROBREWERIES. Brews over 30,000 barrels (35,000 hectoliters)
MICROBREWERY / BREWERY - A Brewery is a production brewery / microbrewery / nanobrewery that makes beer for distribution, possibly also for onsite consumption via an onsite taproom, and for all intents and purposes, is the sole business at that location. A Microbrewery is normally a brewery that brews 30,000 barrels (35,000 hectoliters) or less.
BREWPUB - A Brewpub is a microbrewery that makes beer to be consumed onsite, possibly also for a limited distribution (growlers or on-site bottle/can release). It usually has a restaurant attached to it and predominantly brews for onsite consumption.
BREWPUB/BREWERY - A Brewpub/Brewery is a term used to describe a Brewery who is a production brewery / microbrewery that makes beer for distribution AND also have Brewpub(s) that makes beer to be consumed onsite.
CONTRACT BREWERY - A Contract Brewery is a production brewery whose main activity is to brew beers for Clients and Commissioners. Note that they can however have their own beer lineup.
Important Notice: As part of a Contract Brewing business, they must be the physical brewer, not the client.
CLIENT BREWER - A Client Brewer is business entity that does not own its own brewing equipment but instead arranges to use existing brewing facilities to produce their owned-recipe beers. They can sometime also have a physical location (waiting for their brewing licenses for example).
Important Notice: As part a of Contract Brewing business, they must be the Client, not the physical brewer.
COMMISSIONER - A Commissioner is a Client Brewer who pays a brewery to brew and package its beers for sale under its own label but they do not have their own recipes (compared to Client Brewers). Commissioners are essentially a Trademarked Brand but they can sometime also have physical locations where their products are exclusive. Examples are restaurant and grocery/Supermarket chains.
CIDERY - A Cidery produces cider, a fermented beverage mad from apples or pears
Note that Client cideries and commissioned ciders are included as Cideries.
MEADERY - A Meadery produces mead, a beverage made with fermented honey.
Note that Client meaderies and commissioned meads are included as Meaderies.
SAKE PRODUCER - A Sake Producer makes sake, a beverage fermented from rice.
Note that Client sake producers and commissioned sakes are included as Sake Producers.
PLACES
Only add Places which sell alcoholic beverages allowed on this website (see Beverage Guidelines for details)
Generally, we don’t add places which sell only a few macrobrewers beers, since almost all Restaurants or other businesses (such as theatres, beach clubs, etc…) have such an offer and don’t stand out compared to more beverage-dedicated places.
GROCERY STORES
(mainly sell food or other goods, but also sell alcohol)
Supermarkets / Grocery Store
Gas Stations
Convenient Stores
Butcher shops
Sausages shops
Fruit & Vegetable market
Cheese shops
BEER STORES
(mainly sell alcohol)
Dedicated Beer Stores
Liquor Stores / Bottle Shop (as long as they sell Beers, Cider, Sake or Meads along other Spirits)
Dedicated Growler Station
BREWPUB
On-site Brewpub
BREWERY
On-site Brewery Retail Store and/or Tours Available
On-site Brewery Tap/Growler Room (generally very limited menu / seating compared to brewpub)
BAR
Dedicated Tap Bar
Resto-Pub (more tap-oriented than Restaurant, limited food menu)
Off-Site Tap Room
Client Brewer / Commissioner “Brewpub” (no brewing equipment on-site)
RESTAURANT
(food oriented and often more bottle-orientated)
Restaurant
Inn / Hotel with a few taps
Note: Bottle Shops with Taps / Bar can go either in Bar or Bottle Shop, depending their main activity (user/admin discretion)**
IN THE CASE WHERE A BREWER BREWS DIFFERENT KINDS OF BEVERAGES
If a brewer brews different kinds of beverages, enter it using its main vocation, not as separate entities.
BREWERS WITH MORE THAN ONE LOCATIONS
If a brewer have multiple brewing locations, for example multinational brewers or a brewpub chain, the Brewer is generally treated as a single entity with multiple Associated Places.
In some cases, where each specific places brew only their own specific recipes, separate entries may be best suited. Please request admin attention.
When a brewer is located in multiple countries, enter a separate entry for each country (with the country name in parentheses), with the exception of multinational breweries, which often have multiple plants or brewing partnership for the same product in many countries.
IN THE CASE OF A BREWER / PLACE MOVING TO NEW LOCATION
When a Brewer moves to a new location, the Brewer infos need to be updated accordingly, the old Associated Place should be closed and a new Associated place should be created.
When a Place moves a new location, close the old place and create a new one (since the overall experience will differ from the old place)
IN THE CASE OF A BREWER / PLACE CHANGING VOCATION AT THE SAME PHYSICAL LOCATION
If the changes to the place are substantial (ie. no food to full menu, major building expansion), the old place can be closed and a new place created
please ask your local admin about it before doing any change.
IN THE CASE OF A BREWER / PLACE CHANGING NAME
If the Brewer and/or Place is a totally new administration and have no link with the old brewer and/or Place, the current entries should be closed and new entries created, otherwise only the name should be updated, with a mention of the older name somewhere.
If the brewer changes its commercial name only, then only the new products will need to be updated (for example retiring old products and/or alias them to new entries).
In both case, please ask your local admin about it before doing any change.
BREWER and PLACE SYNTAX CONVENTION
Always enter the COMPLETE Brewer or Place name, as commercially displayed (for example on their logo).
for example, HILL FARMSTEAD BREWERY, not just HILL FARMSTEAD
For Brewer with multiple locations, enter the location in the Associated Place names (generally the location specific feature, the city name, or the street name if there’s multiple locations within a same city).
For example:
Trillium Brewing Co. - Canton Brewery
Trillium Brewing Co. - Greenway Garden
For Places with multiple locations (for example a supermarket or restaurant chain), enter the location in the Place names (generally the location specific feature, the city name, or the street name if there’s multiple locations within a same city).
For example:
SAQ Classique - Place d’Armes (#23329)
SAQ Classique - Complexe Desjardins (#23174)
For Brewers (or Places) which have the exact same name, or a very similar names (for example XXX Brewing Co. vs XXX Brewery), but are in no-way associated to each other, enter extra info in the name in parentheses in this order depending which one can apply first:
- (Country)
- (City)
- (Street)
When a Brewer or Place moves a new location, close the old place and create a new one. Add some extra infos to the closed place name so the name differs from the current one (generally the location specific feature, the city name, or the street name if there’s multiple locations within a same city).
When a brewer uses a shortcut name commercially on its labels, you can include it in addition of its complete commercial name.
For example BFM - Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes
Or in brackets at the end of the name if the shortcut name isn’t always used on labels but often used commercially by the brewer.
For example Brasserie Générale - Brasserie Urbaine [BG / BG18]
When a Brewer is a SUBSIDIARY of a larger company AND this company owns multiple brewers, we at RateBeer also add the mother company in parentheses to clearly distinguish independent craft brewers from conglomerates.
For example: Goose Island Beer Company (AB-InBev)
BREWER and PLACE ADDRESSES CONVENTION
The CITY field must only contain the main City name, not the Suburbs / Metros / Neighbourhoods / Quartiers name.
Suburbs / Metros / Neighbourhoods / Quartiers can be added in the ADDRESS field (inside brackets) after the street address, to make a clear distinction between it and the street address.
Generally, the english name is the one used for cities.
