If you’re on social media, trying to keep tabs on your local breweries, bottle shops, and beer events can make your head spin. There are countless new releases every day, promoted across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram … the list goes on. So we decided to ask The Fervent Few: what actually gets them to sit up and take notice when a new beer hits shelves? What makes one beer on their feed stand out from the rest? Read on to discover how The Fervent Few tunes out the white noise—and scouts out their preferred cans and bottles.

For Jason Berg, it all comes down to storytelling. “Social media is often a cacophony of unsorted shouting, so seeing a new-release announcement that is clean and straightforward will make me more interested. A photo of the brew day, flavor inspiration, or glass of the finished beer will attract my attention—and a description of what makes it a great beer will pull me in. Using fuzzy buzzwords like ‘crushable’ or ‘juicy’ is a definite distraction. If something is worthy of an announcement, I want to get a hint at that story.”

Jason Kelly agrees that avoiding typical, tired descriptors is for the best—and having the message come from the person who made the beer makes a difference. “If a brewery is posting a new beer release, I want to know about the ex‘beer’ience. Yes, I know what a Vienna Lager, Kölsch, or New England IPA is like. However, if the brewer is explaining why this is THE beer I should be drinking, I'm much more likely to try and get it.”

One advantage of being plugged in is that you can see what’s new at your local bottle shop. For Ian McMahon, that means he knows he can get those beers set aside. “I’ve had at least one bottle shop hold things for me in the past because I saw something on Instagram while I was at work.” Now that’s how you social media!

Once he’s scrolling though his feeds, Ian particularly looks out for collabs. “Personally, the thing that excites me more than any specific style, ingredients, name, can art, gimmick, etc. is a collaboration. When I see two of the best breweries join forces on a new beer, I have to try it regardless of any of the aforementioned details. To me, collaboration is an expression of what the craft beer community is about in the simplest way possible.”

From the brewery side, Lana Svitankova finds that customers respond well to images taken on a respective release’s brew day. “Funny pictures from brew days work well because people remember them, remember new beer is coming and ask, ‘So when will this beer be released?’”

For Manny Gumina, it's less about new releases and more about using social media to find unique experiences and events. “The experiences that breweries create are more important to me than the release of a new beer. I enjoy flagship beers. There's a reason they became flagships—the brewery is really good at making them. Some experiences I've enjoyed are beer dinners, block parties with music, and brewery tours. Pretty basic stuff—but they always draw me in.”

All of these opportunities to scope out new releases are great—but what happens after you’ve picked up a bunch of beers you’re excited about? Josh Mills has a soft spot for a certain Stout but, after waiting endlessly for the right time to drink through his stockpile, eventually had to clear the bottles out of his beer storage. “When I lived in San Diego, I’d get super excited for the new w00tstout to drop from Stone Brewing. I’d pick it up within a day of release and then wait for an occasion worthy of the bottle to open it. I wound up drinking all of them myself over the course of a week to clean out my beer stash just before I moved.” Rob Steuart also struggles to find the right occasion to enjoy those coveted releases. “I buy special beers then put off drinking them. Then I'll have a few too many one night and decide to crack a special beer on a whim. I never regret it but probably don't fully appreciate them.”

What gets you excited to buy a new beer? Join The Fervent Few and share your thoughts!