Our take on custom headwear in Breweries/wineries/distilleries

Why Experience Matters More Than the Pour

You don’t have to drink alcohol to understand why people return to great breweries, wineries, and distilleries. What brings people back isn’t just the product — it’s the experience around it. The space, the atmosphere, the people, the music, the conversations, and the feeling of being somewhere worth sharing. For many, these places become a “third space” — a part of how they identify themselves and where they choose to spend their time.

For beverage brands, the taproom or tasting room is often where first impressions are made. It’s where customers connect the product to a moment — a weekend trip, a night out with friends, a live music set, or a release they were excited about. When people buy merchandise in those spaces, they’re not just buying a hat or a hoodie — they’re taking a piece of that moment with them.

I see this firsthand anytime my girlfriend and I travel. Without fail, she wants to buy a T-shirt or sweatshirt from somewhere we visited. In her words, it helps her remember the experience every time she digs through her already overstuffed closet. It’s the same idea here — merchandise becomes a physical reminder of a great memory.

That’s why branded headwear and apparel works so well in this industry. When done right, it becomes a lifestyle extension of the brand, not a promotional item. People wear it outside the taproom, in their own communities, and in doing so, they naturally carry the brand forward.

This is especially powerful in a tourist-driven town like Traverse City. Our year-round population sits under 16,000 people, but during peak weeks like the Fourth of July, that number swells dramatically. Visitors flood into local breweries, wineries, and distilleries, discover places they love, and often take a piece of merch home with them. That hat or sweatshirt doesn’t stay here — it travels back with them and quietly tells others, “You should check this place out.”

This is where TapCap fits. Not as a novelty or a hard sales tool, but as a way to extend the experience beyond the visit. When someone chooses to wear your gear, TapCap gives them — and the people around them — an easy, natural way to reconnect with the brand: upcoming events, seasonal releases, menus, or simply the story behind the place they enjoyed. Brand recognition plays a major role in where people choose to spend their time, and TapCap helps keep that connection alive.

In an industry built on atmosphere and community, the brands that win long-term are the ones that don’t treat the experience as something that ends when the glass is empty.

Common Mistakes Beverage Brands Make

One of the biggest mistakes we see in breweries, wineries, and distilleries is treating merchandise primarily as a profit center, rather than what it’s best suited to be: a brand distribution tool.

It’s easy to look at a hat priced at $30 and focus on the margin — “we’re making $15 per piece.” On paper, that feels like a win. But when pricing pushes merch into the nice-to-have category instead of the easy yes, fewer hats leave the wall, fewer people wear them regularly, and the brand’s reach stays limited to the taproom.

Contrast that with a $20 hat that makes a smaller margin but gets worn everywhere. That hat leaves the building. It shows up at the grocery store, on vacations, at backyard gatherings, and in entirely new communities. Over time, it does far more to promote the brand than a higher-margin item that never leaves someone’s closet.

We often see merch designed and priced for a single moment — the visit — instead of for the life the product will have afterward. When brands optimize too heavily for immediate profit, they unintentionally cap long-term exposure. The irony is that the most effective merchandise programs usually aren’t the ones squeezing every dollar out of each piece; they’re the ones focused on volume, wearability, and visibility.

The brands that get this right understand a simple truth: the real return on merchandise isn’t just what it earns at the register — it’s what it earns every time someone wears it out into the world.

How TapCap Fits Into Beverage Brands

When merchandise is viewed as a tool to extend a brand — not just generate margin — TapCap fits naturally into the equation. It doesn’t ask beverage brands to change how they operate; it simply helps them get more out of the merch that’s already leaving the building.

Every hat or piece of apparel worn outside the taproom is already doing work. It’s sparking conversations, triggering curiosity, and quietly advertising where someone spent a good afternoon or evening. TapCap builds on that existing behavior by creating a simple, intentional bridge back to the brand — without adding friction or asking the wearer to do anything differently.

With a single tap, someone seeing that hat can be guided to what matters most at that moment: upcoming events, live music schedules, seasonal releases, menus, or the brand’s story. The interaction feels natural because it’s tied to something the wearer already chose to represent. There’s no need for QR codes, awkward explanations, or “scan me” moments — the connection happens organically.

This becomes especially powerful when you consider out-of-town customers. Many people discover breweries, wineries, and distilleries while traveling, have a great experience, and then leave town wishing they could take a little more of it home with them. TapCap keeps that door open. With one tap, customers are brought directly to the products they enjoyed — whether that’s beer, wine, spirits, or branded merchandise — making it easy to re-engage long after the visit has ended.

For beverage brands that sell products online, this creates a direct line between experience and repeat business. A hat purchased on vacation doesn’t just remind someone of a great place they visited — it becomes a standing invitation to reorder, explore new releases, or stay connected from wherever they live.

TapCap also allows brands to evolve without replacing inventory. Links can be updated as seasons change, new releases drop, or events are announced. The same hat that helped promote a summer concert series can later point to a fall release or holiday offering, extending its usefulness far beyond the day it was purchased.

At its best, TapCap doesn’t feel like technology at all. It feels like a continuation of the experience — a way for beverage brands to stay connected to the people who already want to wear their name, without asking for more attention than the moment deserves.

When TapCap and merchandise are planned with intention, the next step is thinking about how those pieces scale over time — not just at launch, but across seasons.

Check out our sample landing page for breweries/wineries/distilleries here!

Quantity, Reorders & Long-Term Planning

For breweries, wineries, and distilleries, merchandise planning works best when it’s treated as an ongoing program rather than a one-time order. Seasonality, tourism, events, and staff turnover all drive demand, which makes flexibility just as important as margin.

One of the most effective ways to protect margins while staying adaptable is by purchasing patches in bulk. Ordering higher patch quantities upfront typically unlocks better pricing, which helps keep per-unit costs down as merchandise expenses continue to rise. Instead of tying that bulk order to a single product or season, the same patch can be applied across a variety of headwear and apparel styles throughout the year.

This approach allows brands to create variety without constantly redesigning logos or ordering new decorations. A single patch might live on a lightweight hat in the summer, a structured cap in the fall, and a beanie or heavier piece in the winter. The branding stays consistent, while the product it’s attached to evolves with the season.

Using bulk patches this way also makes reorders faster and more predictable. When demand spikes — whether from tourism, an event, or a new release — inventory can be replenished quickly without revisiting artwork or absorbing higher per-unit costs. It keeps shelves stocked, margins healthier, and the merch program responsive to real-world demand.

The goal isn’t to offer endless designs, but to offer the right products at the right time, using a system that supports both brand consistency and operational efficiency. When planned thoughtfully, bulk patch ordering becomes less about saving money on day one and more about maintaining flexibility and profitability over the long term.

Final Thoughts

For breweries, wineries, and distilleries, success has always been about more than what’s poured in the glass. It’s about the moments created around it — the places people return to, the brands they’re proud to wear, and the experiences they want to share with others.

When headwear and apparel are treated as part of that experience — not just a line item on a merch wall — they become powerful tools for growth. They carry stories into new communities, spark conversations long after the visit ends, and keep brands top of mind for customers who may be hundreds of miles away.

TapCap fits into this ecosystem naturally. It doesn’t ask brands to shout louder or sell harder. It simply gives their most loyal supporters an easier way to reconnect — whether that’s discovering upcoming events, revisiting products they enjoyed, or sharing a great experience with someone new.

When merchandise, TapCap, and long-term planning are aligned, the result isn’t just better margins or cleaner reorders. It’s a merch program that works quietly and consistently in the background, extending the experience well beyond the taproom and helping great brands grow in a way that feels authentic and earned.

The brands that win long-term aren’t the ones chasing attention — they’re the ones that understand how to stay connected.

-Your hat caddies