Brewpub mug clubs

When Susi Lyon was in charge of the mug club at McGuire's Irish Pub & Brewery in Pensacola, Fla., she had a dream -- or was it a nightmare? -- that reveals something any brewpub owner should consider before starting a mug club.

"I dreamed they'd run out of room for the mugs at the pub and hung the rest on my back porch," she said. "When people wanted a mug they'd call me, and I'd come to the back door in my nightgown to get their mug for them."

Lyon laughed when she told the story -- perhaps because she's no longer directly responsible for running McGuire's mug club, which the pub will continue to call the largest in the nation until somebody proves otherwise. McGuire's club has 2,000 active mugs, 2,000 mugs set aside in the "retired" room and thousands of other mugs sitting in members' homes.

There are several reasons to start a mug club:
- They create a sense of belonging.
- They encourage customers to become regulars.
- They may give a new pub a quick infusion of cash.
- As much as anything, they help sell beer.

Even at brewpubs where food sales outweigh beer sales, the profit margin on beer reminds owners why they installed a brewhouse in the first place. Pubs walk a fine line when it comes to promoting beer sales without appearing to promote drinking, but mug clubs put a a positive face on the effort.

However, the more successful a club becomes, the more work it creates. "It's a headache, a major headache," said Lyon, who is promotions director at McGuire's. "But it's a customer service, a McGuire's tradition."

The mug club at McGuire's began shortly after the pub opened in 1977, long before a brewhouse was added. A neighbor from a local ceramics shop brought in mugs as welcoming gifts

Cedar Brewing Co. had 700 customers sign up in six weeks and 1,200 in the first eight months the brewpub was open.

for owners McGuire and Molly Martin. Soon regulars also had their own mugs, and McGuire's hung them from oars on the ceiling. Not long after that, the restaurant had to begin numbering the mugs.

During the St. Patrick's Day celebration of 1978, regulars with mugs drank free. That practice didn't last long. Today, it costs $19.95 for a personalized and numbered mug that hangs in the pub. The mug holds two ounces more beer than a glass, so members always get more beer for the same price. On Wednesdays the mugs are filled for $1.

Twenty years later, the rate at which customers will flock to a mug club can still overwhelm a pub owner.

Rob Copenhaver, co-owner of Cedar Brewing Co. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had hoped to have 200 mug club members after a year. Instead, he saw 700 customers sign up in six weeks and 1,200 in the first eight months the brewpub was open.

Cedar Brewing club members pay $25 to receive their choice of a hat or T-shirt, 23-ounce mugs of beer for the price of 16-ounce beers, and their name on a brass plate on the wall.

"It was a good marketing idea that got out of control," Copenhaver said. "I figured I could make the (membership) cards and handle the whole thing out of my home ... so I'm there going crazy."

He also took in $30,000 in membership fees. "It was great," he said, laughing. "It did kind of help with the upfront costs. But the biggest thing to me wasn't the money. You ask people what's their bar, and they'll tell you Cedar Brewing. They think, 'It must be my bar. My name is up on the wall.' "

Cedar Brewing uses a "swipe card" for members, so they automatically become members of the frequent buyer program. Each time they spend $100, they get a free appetizer. Club members also receive a quarterly newsletter and a monthly mailing containing a coupon.

What they don't get is their own, personalized mug. "I wanted to do that," Copenhaver said, "but we're packed on a Friday night, and how do you make sure that they actually get their mug? Then you have to take it and wash it ..." As a result he saved himself the headache of figuring out where to store 1,200 mugs.

At Gritty McDuff's in Portland, Maine, a waitress might tell you there's a waiting list for

"They are the backbone of our clientele," Ed Stebbins said. "Especially in a place like Portland, where the population drops in half come November."

membership in the mug club because there's no more room to hang mugs over the bar. Owner Ed Stebbins said that's not the real reason membership was cut off at 300 for the Portland pub (Gritty's in Freeport has 500 members). "We thought the mug club shouldn't be that much more than the posted capacity," he said.

Unlike in Pensacola, where McGuire's has many members who are tourists and others who move on, Gritty's mug club members are true regulars.

"They are the backbone of our clientele," Stebbins said. "Especially in a place like Portland, where the population drops in half come November."

Members pay $50 to join, $40 to renew, and drink from personal 22-ounce mugs all the time -- with special drink prices several times during the week. They get a free lunch on their birthdays and invitations to special mug club events. The club grew from 30 members in the first year to 100, then to 200 and finally 300 before a waiting list was added.

About 50 members a year are added when others drop out. "Essentially they die," Stebbins said, only half kidding. "If they haven't willed their mug, then a new member gets in." The wait is about two years. "In Maine, you learn to be patient," Stebbins said.

"We could have more (members), but then it would become a monster," Stebbins said. He likes membership to be special, and thinks his members are. "Those guys are serious ambassadors for our beer all over the state of Maine."

Bandersnatch Brewpub doesn't have a storage problem. Customers take care of their own mugs, and bring them in for $2 beers (as opposed to the regular price of $3). It's possible just to buy a mug and receive discount beers, but the real attraction isn't the mug, the T-shirt or even the name plate on the wall.

Nope, in Tempe, Ariz., customers pay $20 to join the Beer in Your Face Club, which is just what it sounds like. Members pick out a waitress they want to have toss beer in their face, grab a seat in an old-fashioned barbershop chair and listen while "the whole place" counts down to beer-tossing time.

"We were looking for a fun thing, something different, and my husband had read somewhere about a beer-in-your-face club," said owner Addie Mocca. They decided to put a whole package together -- the mug, T-shirt, name plate and moment of glory -- and charge $20.

"We started with a plaque that holds 49 names. We were just hoping to fill that," Mocca said. The club began when the pub opened in 1988, and now has more than 1,000 members. Of course, some people have actually joined more than once.

"It's like a kid playing in mud," Mocca said. "We host parties for companies like Motorola and Hyatt Regency, and by the end of the night, the president of the company will be in that chair."

On a Friday last fall, a local television station did its 10 o'clock news live from Bandersnatch. When the news was over, the anchor asked for a beer in his face.

Bandersnatch doesn't have to worry about providing or caring for personalized mugs, but Mocca has learned it's important to keep the name plates up to date. "People come in and look for their name all the time," she said. After all, it's their bar when their name is on the wall -- and they are members of a unique club.

That may be the greatest attraction of any mug club. "You're special," said Lyon. "It gives you that 'Cheers' feeling."

Heavenly Daze head brewer Andy Stern has seen the same thing at the Steamboat Springs, Colo., brewpub. "Those guys (mug club members) are the regulars," he said. "I get to know them, sit down and have a beer with them. Of course, we get a lot of regulars who aren't locals. They join, then use their membership every time they come back to ski."

About 900 regulars at McGuire's are given special status by having their mugs hang directly above the bar.

McGuire's often gets returnees who have been long absent, so even dusty mugs must be cared for. Last fall, staff members were particularly busy retrieving mugs during the Blue Angels' 50th anniversary celebration in Pensacola.

About 900 regulars are given special status by having their mugs hang directly above the bar. Lesser-used mugs are constantly weeded out and replaced by mugs belonging to customers who visit often. "The bartenders know who they are," Lyon said. As a result, regulars can count on slightly faster service, and bartenders don't have to spend as much time retrieving those mugs.

The personalized steins -- with McGuire's logo on one side and a slogan on the other -- provide a constant source of income for the pub, since they are popular presents. They cost $16.95 for those who choose not to leave them at the pub, and it usually takes less than two weeks for a new member to receive his or her mug.

Many are ordered for birthdays, Lyon said, "and they are popular as presents for groomsmen. Those they usually take with them."

But the other 4,000 ... well, Susi Lyon hasn't had that nightmare in a while. If you plan well before you start your mug club, you won't either.

Tips for setting up a successful mug club.

This story originally appeared in BrewPub magazine in February 1997. It was a first place winner in the 1997 writing competition conducted by the North American Guild of Beer Writers.