Evey Fisher: Jackrabbit Brewing Company’s taproom manager

With so many locally brewed beer options, it’s important for contenders to stand out. It’s an issue of marketing—how to introduce customers to your product, how to keep them coming back. Evey Fisher does that at Jackrabbit Brewing Company. She’s the taproom manager, and has been working with the West Sacramento brewery for a few years now. With a background in marketing and a sixth sense for a good taproom draw, Fisher plans yoga events, trivia nights, collaborations with local food makers and beer pairings, including a cupcake and beer tasting. She also organizes the taproom’s monthly film night, which has been slowly working its way through the Harry Potter film franchise. Simply put, this means that Fisher’s job is more fun than yours. SN&R chatted with her to see what life is like in the taproom event industry, including navigating the riveting world of Alcoholic Beverage Control laws.

Are you a Harry Potter fan?

(Laughs.) Yeah. That’s why I pushed for that. I was like, “OK. We’re doing a movie series—it’s going to be Harry Potter.” I’m trying to get Star Wars for after this, but licensing is a little difficult.

How do you make a beer-food pairing?

I look for companies who are rockin’ it, basically, and have a really good product, and I usually just reach out to them … inviting them here, saying, “Hey, bring some of your things, we’ll go through our tap list, we’ll taste and come up with a pairing.” So a lot of these are very collaborative events. They try our beer, or I try their product, and we tailor something that suits both of us.

How do you consume a beer pairing? Which do you taste first?

Yeah, so you get them at the same time, and then you get a card that says which one you should pair with which, and I kind of walk people through. So you take a bite, take a sip, take a bite, take a sip—notice the different flavors and how the pairing reacts with each different beer. So I try to walk them through it so they sort of understand what they’re tasting, they’re not just eating something and drinking something.

Is that a way to set yourselves apart from other brewers?

I think so. I mean, I would say most taprooms do pairings in some form or another, but I think what we have done a very good job at is making sure the quality is really there … There’s the easy pairings, like Girl Scout Cookies and beer—which is good, it’s fine—but I feel like that’s kind of an easy route. I’d rather take it to the next level, really work one-on-one with the chef. … It’s very difficult because you’re not allowed to promote a business if they sell your product. Flaming Grill is down the street, if we wanted to do a pairing with them, I wouldn’t be able to say Flaming Grill on social media because that would be promoting a retail location of ours.

What’s the thinking behind that?

So you can do it. I think you have to mention two other retail locations … because it would be showing favoritism. This law was actually passed by Big Beer because they want to make it, honestly, I think, harder for the smaller guys. Because otherwise, we could just say, “Hey, we just tapped a new keg at X bar, go give it a try,” which would be awesome, because they’re supporting you, and we want to support them too, but we’re not allowed to. … That’s why we chose Temple [Coffee] and Devil May Care [Ice Cream] to do our can release with, because neither of them have alcohol in their locations.