Brewery sites that pour the beer first.
Websites for craft breweries, built in Calgary. The work shown is a non-commercial redesign concept for Big Rock Brewery, built without a commission to show what a brewery site can do.
02 · THE STANCE
People open a brewery site for the beer list.
Not the founding story, not a video of the brewhouse. They want to know what is pouring, what it tastes like and where to get a can tonight. Plenty of brewery sites bury that under a slider and an events calendar. The site should open on the beers, give each one a page, and end every page at a store, the taproom or a shop.
What a craft brewery website has to do
It puts the beers first and makes each one easy to find again. The core range leads the homepage, then every beer gets a page of its own with the style, the strength, the formats it comes in and where it is sold, so a search for one beer lands on that beer. A finder answers the question every page raises, where to buy it, and an age check that asks once keeps the whole site inside the rules without getting in the way.
The Big Rock concept shows each of these working. It is a non-commercial redesign concept for Calgary’s original craft brewery, built and published by Meridian15, not commissioned by or affiliated with the brewery. The homepage is one pour, five core beers filling their colour fields down the page. Ten beer pages each render the can live in WebGL from the real label art, with the formats and a map of the provinces that stock it. The beer index ends on a finder that maps Alberta postal areas and hands off to the brewery’s own store finder, and the gate asks for a birth year. Every product detail is as the brewery publishes it.
Meridian15 takes on brewery sites from Calgary for breweries anywhere in Canada. The nearest client work is Sipp, a vodka and ready-to-drink brand whose site pairs a canned range with a store locator and a launch page for four flavours. Every build is quoted to its scope in writing before work starts, and the brewery owns the site outright. View the concept.
03 · THE WORK
A brewery site, built as a concept.
The first four frames are from the non-commercial Big Rock concept, labelled a concept on every page of it. View the concept, or read its case on the portfolio. The last frame is client work, the Sipp N'Soda launch page.
A beer pageFrom the concept, Grasshopper’s page with the can rendered live from the label art
Ten beersFrom the concept, Unwinder’s page with its style, ingredients and characteristics
The finderFrom the concept, a store search under a pile of tags you can throw
The storyFrom the concept, the rock the brewery is named for, set as a field note
Sipp N'SodaClient work, a launch page for four canned flavours with a route to a retailer
04 · WHAT GETS BUILT
Four things a brewery site needs.
Scoped as one build. Each one runs on the concept and can be checked there.
The beers first
The core range on the homepage, in the brewery’s own colours, ahead of the history and the events. The concept pours its five core beers down the homepage before anything else.
A page per beer
Style, strength, ingredients, formats and where it is sold, on a page search can find and a bar can link from its tap list. The concept gives ten beers the same page, each with the can rendered live.
A finder that answers where
Where to get it, from the beer’s own page, without a phone call. The concept’s finder maps Alberta postal areas and hands off to the brewery’s store finder, and each beer shows the provinces that stock it.
A gate that gets out of the way
One question, asked once and remembered on that browser. The concept asks for a birth year, keeps the answer, and lets a regular straight through on the next visit.
Relatedthe Big Rock concept case, websites for spirits brands, alcohol brand marketing, web design and development.
05 · ANTI-PATTERNS
What keeps a brewery site from selling beer.
Five mistakes that show up on brewery sites. Each one leaves a thirsty visitor without a beer to buy or a place to buy it.
The beer list behind a menu
A homepage that opens on a slider, the founding year and an events calendar makes a visitor hunt for the one thing they came for. Put the range on the first screen.
Every beer on one page
A single beer list leaves no page for any one beer to rank on, share or link from a menu. A page per beer fixes both.
Taproom hours and no stores
A drinker across the province is never getting to the taproom. If the site never says which stores carry the cans, they buy whatever is in the fridge when they get there.
A seasonal that vanishes
When a seasonal sells out and its page is deleted, the links and the search results go with it. Keep the page, mark it out of season, and point to what is pouring now.
A gate on every visit
A gate that forgets the visitor makes a regular prove their age each time they check what is new. Ask once and remember it on that browser.
You don’t need another brewhouse video.
You need the beer and the store on one page.
Get a site auditHow a brewery site build actually runs.
Four phases with named deliverables. The beer list and where each beer is sold come first, because every page is built from them.
Audit Wk 1
The range, the seasonals, where each beer is sold, the taproom and the current site. Out: a written gap report and the scope, quoted as one number.
Beers and copy Wk 1-2
A page per beer with style, strength, formats and where it is sold, and the brewery’s story. Out: the beer details and every page’s copy.
Design and build Wk 2-6
The homepage, the beer pages, the finder, the gate, and a build that is quick on a phone. Out: a live site the brewery owns outright.
Launch and search Wk 6+
Schema that matches each beer page, the Google Business Profile pointed at the taproom, and a count of finder searches by beer. Out: numbers you can check.
07 · FAQ
Questions, answered.
Who builds websites for craft breweries in Canada?
Meridian15 does, from Calgary. Its brewery work is a non-commercial redesign concept for Big Rock Brewery, built and published without a commission and labelled as a concept on every page. It pours the five core beers down the homepage, gives ten beers a page each with the can rendered live, and ends in a beer finder. The nearest client work is the site for Sipp, a vodka and ready-to-drink brand with a canned range and a store locator.
Is the Big Rock Brewery site a client project?
No. It is a non-commercial redesign concept, built and published by Meridian15 to show what a brewery site could be. Big Rock Brewery did not commission it, is not affiliated with it and has not endorsed it. Every product detail on it is as the brewery publishes it.
What should a brewery website include?
The core range on the first screen, a page for each beer with its style, strength, formats and where it is sold, a finder or store list that answers where to buy it, the taproom’s hours and location, and an age check that asks once. It should be quick on a phone.
Should every beer have its own page?
Yes. A page per beer gives each one something to rank for, share and link from a tap list or a menu, and it gives a seasonal a page that can stay up between releases, marked out of season.
Can a brewery website show which stores carry each beer?
Yes, from the brewery’s own records. The Big Rock concept maps Alberta postal areas and hands off to the brewery’s own store finder, and each beer page shows the provinces that stock it on a map of Canada.
Do you build websites for cideries, seltzer and RTD brands?
Yes. Sipp’s site covers a vodka and ready-to-drink range with a store locator and a launch page for the four Sipp N'Soda flavours, and the same structure fits a cidery or a seltzer brand. For packaging, launch creative and paid media, see the alcohol brand marketing page.
How long does a brewery website take?
A simple site launches in 2 to 4 weeks from kickoff, and a full redesign of an existing site ships in 4 to 6 weeks. A build with a finder, live 3D cans or a shop runs 4 to 8 weeks or longer.
What does a brewery website cost?
Every build is quoted to its scope after a short audit, one fixed number in writing before work starts. The number of beers, a finder or a shop, and any 3D or motion move it. There is no rate card.
Do you work with breweries outside Alberta?
Yes. The studio is in Calgary, and the site, the copy and the search setup ship anywhere in Canada. Where each beer can be sold is mapped province by province at the audit.
[ 08 · SITE AUDIT ]
Brewery site audit
Free brewery site audit.
Your site read the way a drinker reads it, on a phone, the beer list, the beer pages and where to buy checked, and a written plan. Reply within one business day. Yours to keep.