Microbreweries are widely regarded as part of the modern alcoholic beverages industry, and many have their own selection of bar furniture installed so that visitors can sample their products in an authentic pub atmosphere.
But choosing the right bar furniture for on-site serving is a challenge in itself, as you want to create a pub setting that is both familiar, yet distinctive enough to remind the customer that they are drinking a beverage that is simply not available elsewhere.
A Mintel report looks at people's perceptions of craft beer - a term which does not have a technical definition in the overall marketplace - and what might leave people feeling cheated if they found out the true nature of how their drink was produced.
For instance, 41% of people surveyed said craft beer should be produced in smaller volumes than mass-market lagers are - with the same proportion wanting extra time and care to go into the production.
This makes artisan beers from microbreweries a crowd-pleasing option, compared with beers from the big brands that are simply marketed as 'craft' without any clear justification of why they deserve this label.
Quality matters too, with 42% of people wanting high-quality ingredients to go into the craft beer brewing process, but individuality stands ahead of all other factors, as 47% of Mintel's respondents said they expect craft beers to offer unique flavour.
Conveying these same sentiments in your bar furniture is not as hard as you might imagine, especially if you choose a classic dark wood but with the addition of bespoke upholstery.
You get the best of both worlds - traditional pub furniture with iconic designs like fiddleback and wheelback seats, but with unique upholstery in a colour or fabric of your choosing.
The 'flavour' of your pub furniture is therefore familiar yet unique, like a good artisan beer, but still delivers the quality that your customers need in order to be seated comfortably while sampling your products on-site.
You can show that you have put considerable care into choosing your bar furniture - just as you do when creating a new recipe - while creating a strong identity for your microbrewery that will help it to remain memorable even after customers leave.