Boston Beer Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Boston Beer full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great culture starting with the founder. People, brand, training programs, free beer, work/life balance are all pros.

Cons – Pay is below other companies but there is free beer

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Boston Beer part-time for more than a year

Pros – Great enthusiasm and energy, company has a great origin story, founder very involved with business and brand, fans of the company are some of the best!

Cons – poor management and communication between departments, constantly battling a hush hush environment surrounding new products which makes it very difficult to feel connected to the brand, can be clique-y, policies seem to change every week without notice or explanation.

Advice to Senior Management – Communicate to your employees more about the mission and current goals of the organization. More transparency where transitions or changes involved.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Boston Beer full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Working for a beer company is definitely "cool", you'll get to try new styles and go to all sorts of events.

Cons – Low salaries, lots of middle-management, very hard to get anything done. The company tends to have a very short memory and lets mistakes happen over and over again. People get promoted because they have been there a lot time, and not necessarily because they are good (or even passable) at their jobs. Little upward mobility in some departments, so people will take on managerial roles even though they have no business managing people. The "doers" very rarely get listened to, even though they generally have the best knowledge about what is going on.

Advice to Senior Management – Clean house. Look VERY closely at what people that have been there for a long time actually get done and how their employees perceive them. Continued inaction is going to make you lose a lot of talent (which management seems to think is replaceable, since BBC is a "cool" company to work at). Learn to value the institutional knowledge you lose every time someone gets fed up and leaves.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Boston Beer

Pros – The people are super friendly and nice. The bosses are really easy going and great to work for.

Cons – The lack of communication that exists sometimes is awful. Some people are told one thing and other people are told something completely different.

Advice to Senior Management – Better communication through email in getting the correct info out to the employees. The PR department can help make certain details more readily available and accurate to the entire company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Boston Beer

Pros – - Management great to its employee
- Management very open to suggestion
- Great work environment

Cons – - Alot of hours (easily 50+/week)
- High expectations for all employees
- Very analytical of employees' actions

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Boston Beer

Pros – The working environment is very friendly. Your supervisor will mentor you and give you advice on your career within the company.

Cons – Not much downsides. The only thing that is not so good is the communication with clients. Often you might deal with difficult clients.

Advice to Senior Management – Management should encourage employees to be more motivated and more passionate about the job they do. Everyone should be more focused on their career goal within the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Boston Beer

Pros – Its a good job for people coming out of school. The company does a great job of teaching you how to sell in a professional manner

Cons – You have no work to life balance.You will work every weekend in the fall and winter. They will dangle a promotion in front of you for years to get you to work 70hr weeks.Many employees are not paid business expenses when they leave the company. Overall, I wouldnt plan on staying with the company for more than a couple of years.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Boston Beer

Pros – leadership, vision, products, fun, great co-workers

Cons – Salary needs to be in line with region

Advice to Senior Management – Increase salaries about 10%

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Boston Beer

Pros – Independence - be your own boss
Meeting people if you are young
if you like a party atmosphere
like being in the city
every participates in national sales meeting even if out of state

Cons – "work hard play hard" motto means exactly that. You are expected to put in a ton of overtime: nights, weekends, holidays and even 99% of your lunches
No managerial support
No management communications even when it pertains to your job function
high turnover rate
you are expendable at any moment in time
benefits could be a lot better

Advice to Senior Management – curb turnover rate
reach down to the low man on the totem pole

Former Employee – worked at Boston Beer

Pros – -Wonderful people. Some of the most interesting people I've ever met work for Boston Beer.
-Jim Koch's passion is contagious.
-Free beer!
-Getting to work with an exciting product.
-A bad day at the brewery is still better than a good day at the office.

Cons – -No benefits for anyone other than salaried positions.
-HR places far more emphasis on one's resume and experience than their fit with the company in terms of shared culture and values. Not a great strategy in the long term, and is frustrating to many part-timers that would like to be considered for advancement. The company is not very interested in promoting from within (unless you've been with the company for 10+ years) because they can demand the best talent from elsewhere.

Advice to Senior Management – Give more consideration to culture and values when hiring. Do not recruit simply based on resume. Passion and fit are just as important (if not more so) than competence. The most effective managers and staff I met during my time at the company were eclectic characters with degrees in Irish History, Creative Writing and American Studies. Remember the formula that made you successful - find unique talent in unusual places, and hire those that truly share the passion!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend