Craft Beer Connect is a brand new monthly craft beer club, based right here in Americas Finest City. Their main goal – Connect the beer they love with the people who love craft beer. We invite you to come to know Craft Beer Connect in our interview with Co-Founder Ted Kelly.

 
Craft Beer Connect is a brand new online based craft beer club located right here in San Diego. But it is so much more than just your run of the mill beer membership program. Where some beer of the month clubs send you a random box of 12 ounce bottles each month and you don’t always know what you might end up with in your hands, Craft Beer Connect lets YOU choose the beers that will arrive at your doorstep. CBC breaks down their membership plans in four separate tiers. Tier 1 – 22oz classic brews. Tier 2 – 22oz premium brews. Tier 3 – 22oz and 750ml specialties beers, and Tier 4 – 12oz premium brews. Once you choose the package that fits you best, you will make three beer selections and 6 22oz bottles (2 of each) will show up to you for 25$(Price for Tier 1+shipping.) CBC deals in most of your favorite California and San Diego based craft breweries. Including Green Flash, Ale Smith, Ballast Point, New English Brewing Co, Mission Brewery, and Stone. Other California breweries include Hangar 24, Bear Republic, Firestone Walker and even Russian River. An unbeatable deal as we see it. One low monthly price to have some of the worlds best bottles delivered right to your own doorstep. One of Craft Beer Connects main goals is to make craft beer easier to acquire for beer lovers. “While we love Craft Beer for its local roots, its that that also prohibits it from reaching all of its fans,” says Ted Kelly. “We thought if we could help beer lovers and brewers connect via the web we could allow out of market beer lovers to get beer from brewers they want to try and also give brewers a new outlet to get their beers in the hands of people that want it.” Another goal was to create an online experience for its members that matches the energy and comfort of your favorite local bar. A place you feel not only welcomed, but at home. In an effort to do this Craft Beer Connect has created a website that not only lets you join their beer club and make your beer selections but gives you full break downs of each choice and the ability to connect through your choices with other beer lovers. They also update their site with upcoming beer events and incredible beer and food pairing options that sample some of the craft beer they offer.

Craft Beer Connect all started out of the desire to deliver the best craft beer to beer lovers, no matter where they happen to live. Currently showcasing over 200 craft beers from over 25 Southern California breweries. Brothers Ted and PJ Kelly and Bill Bergeron had a dream of entering the craft beer industry and started brewing at home. After seeing the large amount of money needed to open a brewery they turned to the online beer market. Moving from the East Coast to the craft beer capital of America they quickly fell in love with everything San Diego and Southern California had to offer and wanted to share every part of it with beer lovers world wide.

Please enjoy our interview with Ted Kelly. One of the founders of Craft Beer Connect.
 

 
How did Craft Beer Connect come to be? What was the motivation behind starting Craft Beer Connect?

Craft Beer Connect grew out of our love of great beer and desire to work in the Craft Beer Industry. We began home brewing a few years ago when we initially began to dream about working in the Industry and after some time looked into requirements to start a brewery. Truth be told, its expensive and takes a very skilled, devoted brewer who has spent time honing their skills. Cost being our greatest hurdle but also skill set we began to look for alternatives to enter. Lots of brainstorming lead us to the idea of an online market place. While we love Craft Beer for its local roots its that that also prohibits it from reaching all of its fans. We thought if we could help beer lovers and brewers connect via the web we could allow out of market beer lovers to get beer from brewers they want to try and also give brewers a new outlet to get their beers in the hands of people that want it.

What is the process that Craft Beer Connect goes through when choosing the beer that will be available for members?

We pay attention first to what is requested from us. In our short time open we’ve found, obviously, that what we may think is the best beer in the world may not be what a customer is looking for. Its also important to present beers people haven’t heard of, to be a venue for beers to be seen and beer lovers to discover them. So for this piece we keep an eye out for what might not be in front of beer drinkers every day. New Releases, Collaborations, New Breweries. Being a new brewery its not always easy or possible to get everything, but we have a nice collection now and its growing!

How do you decide on which beer makes it into which tier?

This part really comes down to our good old calculator. We found a range we try to stay in for each tier.

How often does your craft beer choices change? Do you get new selections frequently for members?

I wouldn’t say change as much as they grow. As members request beers we buy them and add them to our inventory. We also buy seasonal and limited releases as much as possible. Of course some sell out. Also, some we set aside to age in hopes of offering them out at a later date, or maybe we’ll just drink them…just kidding.

Is there a specific package you would say is the better value for a craft beer fan?

If I had to pick one for me it would be Tier 3. Tier 3 gives you full run of the site, which means you have access to Tier 1 and Tier 2 beers as well. I would choose it over Tier 4 because, well I love the feel of a 12oz bottle in my hand, its often hard to get the limited and harder to get beers in a 12oz size.

What are some of the Craft Beer Connect team members favorite Southern California Beers and Breweries?

Oh man, you’re going to make me chose! We all love Alpine, even though we can’t get it to sell, but who doesn’t love their beers. We frequent Cali Kabob in PB and are looking forward to their in house brewery Amplified opening soon. Since Rayon Vert has been released by Green Flash its been in steady rotation at all our houses. My wife and I are naming our next dog Mongo after the Port Beer. Honestly, we really make the rounds and all feel very lucky that San Diego has so many great choices. I feel like I should list every beer every brewed in San Diego as an honest answer.

What are some of the things we can look forward to from Craft Beer Connect in the future?

Keep checking our Food Pairings as they are updated pretty frequently. We really love to cook as much as drink beer and our constantly thinking about or creating pairings.

We will be offering a two pack of beers in the next couple months to offer members and gift givers a lower cost option.

And of course, we’ll be adding more beers as much as possible.

In the long term, look for us to expand our offerings beyond just Southern California Beers. In the long long term, look for us on the moon. I strongly believe its primed to have the next Craft Beer boom.

Finish this sentence… We love beer because…

We love Craft Beer because it pulls people together, supports the local community. taste amazing, and is an awesome way to spend some hard earned free time.
 

 
Huge Thank You to Ted Kelly, Bill Bergeron and Craft Beer Connect. Please visit their website and check them out on facebook.