What a Brewery Website Needs

The facts quoted here come from primary sources: the Beer Institute's Advertising & Marketing Code (updated January 1, 2026), the NIAAA's underage drinking fact sheet, USPS Publication 52, section 424, Google's alcohol advertising policy, Google Business Profile help on posts and special hours, Google Search Central's event and local business structured data docs, and schema.org's Brewery type, all checked on 14 November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; alcohol rules differ by state. The rest is our view from building websites for small businesses.

The short answer

A brewery website needs a light age gate, a current tap list written as text, taproom hours and address at the top of every page, a plain house-rules section (kids, dogs, food), an events calendar that includes food trucks, clear facts on cans to go and any online sales, real photos of your beer and space, and Brewery schema. The basics that every food and drink business shares, such as menus, mobile layout and accessibility, are in our restaurant website guide; this page covers what is different for a brewery or taproom.

The age gate

The U.S. minimum legal drinking age is 21; the NIAAA lists "keeping the U.S. Minimum Legal Drinking Age at 21" among the measures that make alcohol harder for young people to get. No federal rule we found tells every brewery's website to check age, but the Beer Institute's voluntary code, which its member brewers commit to, does ask for one: "On all Brewer-owned or controlled websites, branded social media channels, and where available in placements in Digital Media," a brewer "will also take reasonable steps to utilize or employ available technology to restrict access to those users who have confirmed they are of legal drinking age." The code says that confirmation includes "disclosure of a user's full birth date or other method of active confirmation (e.g., age-gating)" or restricting content "to users of legal drinking age through registration."

Whether or not you are a member, an age gate is a reasonable default for a brewery website. Our view on doing it well:

• Overlay, don't redirect. Show the question on top of the page the visitor asked for, and remember the answer so they are not asked on every page. Google treats age verification as an allowed interstitial; our popups and interstitials guide covers how to build one that does not hurt search.
• Make it keyboard and screen reader friendly. Real buttons, a visible focus, and focus moved into the dialog.
• Keep the facts you need found reachable. Hours, address, phone and the events page should still be indexable behind the overlay; do not hide the whole site behind a separate "enter" page.
• Check your state. If your state alcohol regulator has its own rule on online advertising or sales, that rule wins over anything here.

The beer list as text

The tap list is the page people check most, and it changes every week, so it has to be easy to edit. Write it as real text, not a photo of the chalkboard or a PDF: text reads well on a small screen, can be found by search engines and takes a minute to update. For each beer we suggest:

• Name, style and ABV. Add IBU or a one-line tasting note if you like; keep it short.
• Where it is available: on tap, cans or bottles to go, growler fills, or at local stores.
• A "Tap list updated" date, so people trust what they see.
• A short "coming soon" and "just kicked" line for the beers people ask about.

If you use a tap list app, pick one that can publish to your own site as text rather than an image, and link the beer list from the main menu on every page. Food menus follow the same rules as any restaurant: see the restaurant menu section.

Taproom hours and house rules

Put your hours, address and phone in the header or footer of every page, and keep them identical to your Google Business Profile. Breweries change hours often for releases, private events and holidays, and Google's special hours feature is made for that: "When your hours of operation change for a brief period of time, like for a special event, you can set special hours so that your regular hours don't change." Google also suggests confirming holiday hours "even if they're the same as your regular hours." Set the same dates on your website.

Then answer the questions your staff hear every day in one short "Visit" section:

• Are kids welcome, and until what time? Are dogs welcome inside or on the patio?
• Is there food on site, a food truck, or can people bring their own?
• Parking, transit, bike racks and step-free access.
• Large groups, reservations and private hire, with a short inquiry form.
• Tours, if you offer them, with times and how to book.

Events and food trucks

Trivia nights, live music, releases and the food truck schedule are why many people come back, so give events their own page with one entry per event: title, date, start and end time, cost if any, and a line on whether it is ticketed. List upcoming events first and move past ones off the main list. A weekly food truck calendar as text answers the question "who is cooking tonight?" better than a monthly graphic posted on social media.

Add the same events to your Business Profile. Google's post types include an event, where you "add a title, start and end dates, and times," and Google notes that "If you don't provide a start or end time, the event shows as lasting 24 hours on the event dates," so always set the times. On your site, Event structured data can describe each event; Google's event docs show eventStatus values such as EventCancelled and EventRescheduled, so update the status rather than deleting a canceled event. Ticket sales and RSVP flows are covered in our online booking guide.

Selling beer online and shipping

Many breweries sell cans, merchandise and gift cards online. Merchandise and gift cards are ordinary online sales, and our ecommerce launch checklist applies. Beer is different, and the rules depend on your state licenses, not on your website.

• Not through the mail. USPS Publication 52 says "Intoxicating liquors and taxable liquors, including those obtained under a prescription or as a collector's item, are nonmailable," and that sales materials "that encourage or solicit the mailing of intoxicating liquors are nonmailable." Do not offer USPS shipping for beer.
• Shipping to consumers by other carriers depends on the laws of both your state and the customer's state, and on the carrier's own alcohol rules. Confirm with your state alcohol regulator before you build a shipping option, and limit checkout to the states you are licensed for.
• Online order, in-person pickup is the simplest setup in many places: the customer pays online and shows ID at the taproom. Say clearly on the product page that ID is checked at pickup.

Whatever you sell, show the full price, pickup window and any deposit or fees before checkout, and keep your can release rules (limits per person, preorder times) on the product page itself.

Photos, copy and ads

Use real photos of your beer, your taproom and your team; stock photos of generic pints tell visitors nothing. If people appear in photos, get their permission and, in our view, use only people who are clearly adults. Our photo and image licensing guide covers releases and rights.

The Beer Institute code also gives sensible content limits. It says marketing "should not depict situations where beer is being consumed rapidly, excessively, involuntarily, as part of a drinking game, or because of a dare," and should "avoid elements that appeal primarily to people below the legal drinking age." That is worth following on your website and social posts whether or not you are a member.

If you advertise on Google, the alcohol policy applies to your ads and landing pages. Ads "must not target or be designed to appeal primarily to those under the legal purchase age for alcohol," and "Themes, icons, music, games, or characters that appeal primarily to minors should be avoided." Ads must also follow "all applicable local laws, industry codes, guidelines, licenses, and approvals in every country where they are displayed."

Google Business Profile and schema

Your Business Profile is often seen before your website. Keep the hours, special hours, photos and events there in step with the site, and link the profile's menu or website button to your tap list page. Our Business Profile posts guide covers event and update posts in more detail.

For markup, schema.org has a specific type: Brewery, listed under "Thing > Organization > LocalBusiness > FoodEstablishment > Brewery." Because it is a FoodEstablishment, you can use hasMenu ("Either the actual menu as a structured representation, as text, or a URL of the menu"), acceptsReservations and servesCuisine if you serve food, plus the usual address, phone and opening hours. Google's local business docs show menu and openingHoursSpecification in their examples. Our local business schema guide walks through the fields and testing.

A short checklist (our view)

1. An age gate as an overlay, remembered across pages, that works with a keyboard.
2. Hours, address and phone on every page, matching your Business Profile, with special hours set for releases and holidays.
3. A tap list as text with style, ABV, availability and an "updated" date.
4. A "Visit" section: kids, dogs, food, parking, groups, tours.
5. An events page with times, plus the food truck schedule, mirrored as Business Profile event posts.
6. Online sales only as your licenses allow; no beer by mail; ID at pickup stated plainly.
7. Real photos, adults only, nothing that appeals mainly to people under 21.
8. Brewery schema with hours and a menu link.

If you are running a full restaurant alongside the brewery, our SEO for restaurants guide covers the search side. Wineries have their own extra questions, from wine club terms to state-by-state shipping, covered in our winery website guide. If you want help building or rebuilding a brewery site, see our website development service or the full list of services.

Frequently asked questions

Does a brewery website legally need an age gate?

We found no federal rule that requires one on every brewery website. The Beer Institute's voluntary code asks member brewers to restrict their websites to users who confirm they are of legal drinking age, for example with an age gate, and some states have their own advertising rules. An overlay age gate is a sensible default either way.

Can a brewery ship beer to customers from its website?

Not through USPS: its Publication 52 lists intoxicating liquors as nonmailable. Shipping by other carriers depends on your state licenses and the destination state's rules, so check with your state alcohol regulator before adding a shipping option.

Should the tap list be a photo of our chalkboard?

No. A text tap list reads better on phones, can be found in search and is quicker to update. Add style, ABV, where each beer is available and the date you last updated it.

What schema type should a brewery use?

Schema.org's Brewery type, which sits under FoodEstablishment and LocalBusiness. It supports address, phone, opening hours, hasMenu and acceptsReservations. Mark up events separately with Event structured data.