Where beer and oysters meet: Introducing The Boathouse Oyster Ale

Remember when we told you about the work we do with Virginia Distillery Company and with other food and beverage clients? Add another one to the list, because we’ve recently started working with the HOUSEpitality Family, a local Richmond restaurant group that operates The Boathouse, Casa del Barco and Dinner in the Field. Our work includes media relations, community relations, social media, ongoing strategic counsel and more.

As we work with all of our clients here at Hodges, one thing always comes to the surface: storytelling. How can we tell our clients unique stories through different platforms to reach the audiences they care about most? Sometimes the stories we hear about from clients are more routine – a new location, new research to announce, a new hire. Sometimes, though, those stories are intentionally created – something we had the chance to see firsthand on a recent media relations assignment for HOUSEpitality Family.

What was the story? The Boathouse recently partnered with Trapezium Brewing Co. to create a house beer for all three locations of The Boathouse, an ale that was developed by steeping The Boathouse Oyster shells in the beer, the signature oyster available at The Boathouse. The Boathouse Oyster Ale that was featured for the first time at a recent pop-up Trapezium Beer Dinner at The Boathouse at Sunday Park.

We were charged with introducing this special new menu item to the Richmond community – and telling this story – through a targeted local media relations campaign. Here’s a look at some of the results from our media relations efforts on this project:

Why did this resonate with media and local influencers? Well, most restaurants have a beer menu. But, not all restaurants take it upon themselves to work with a local brewery to create a house beer made with their very own oyster shells.

The next time you’re thinking about opportunities for a brand that you work with, think about how they can take something ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary. They might just end up on TV!

Megan Irvin

Megan spends her days doing media relations, community relations, content creation and events for clients like Kroger Mid-Atlantic, Federal Realty and Mercy Chefs. Her favorite part of her job is working with clients and providing strategic counsel — and garnering media attention for clients in outlets like TODAY, Esquire, USA Today and Bon Appetit.

Read more by Megan

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up to receive our blog posts by email