Updated: Buying craft beer online (2019)

Buy your craft beer online: A year in the online world is like a decade in the normal calendar and so it was about time to make an update to this post. New craft beer online stores have emerged in the what feels like infinity since the first post. And the hint from Dunia was most welcome, thank you. I also integrated all inputs to the last post, thank you for your feedback.

We love drinking different craft beers because it’s great fun to enjoy all the distinctive flavours a beer can offer. To get your hands on different stuff is the real challenge here. Going to the local craft brewery to buy their newest experiment is one of the top options. However, many small bottleshops as well as Manor and Coop also offer a decent selection of craft beers from several different breweries.

Order craft beer to your door step

The real challenge only starts, once you have tried all the breweries’ core range and are still looking for something new to taste. Now you’re either in luck and live in one of the Swiss cities that have a craft beer shop such as Ontap (Bern), Hako (Winterthur), Craftbiercenter (Solothurn), Bierbienne (Biel), Bierrevier or Bierlager Bottle Shop (Basel), Beers’n’more or Intercomestibles (Zurich) or a Drinks of the World at the trainstation (this list is not exhaustive). If you’re not that lucky, well, then you are in need of other sources for your brew.

Ordering them online and right to your doorstep is the laziest and most comfortable way to do it. For those who like surprises, I would recommend a beer subscriptions. Each month you get a new box of beer selected by the supplier. If you hate surprises and have a very clear opinion about what craft-beer you like, it makes more sense to order at an online beer shop or from a brewery. Nevertheless, only a few Swiss breweries already have online shops and with some of the beer shops shipping adds up to a big part of the total costs. High time to try to make an overview. So, let’s go.

Buy craft beer online: craft beer subscriptions

Vendor	Description
Beer2me.ch	Choose betweet 2, 3 or 4 months, 12 or 6 beers from different Swiss and international craft breweries
Bierarena.com	You get 6 beers per month, for 3, 6 or 12 months. If you live in and around Bern the delivery is a bit cheaper. The website also contains a normal online shop.
Bierliebe.ch	Each month you get 6 or 12 bottles, each time it’s 3 different beers. You can also have it giftwrapped.
Exqui.ch	Three times a year you get 12, 24 or even 48 bottles of craft beer. They promise that there are 6 new beers each time.
Mysixpack.ch	Six different craft beers each month, selected by the Beer’n’Moore crew. You can also order beer style specific one-off boxes with 6 or 12 beers. Beer styles to choose are: British, dark, hoppy, IPA, mixed and Nordic.
Smartbeer.ch	Mothly shipment of 6 bottles, 3 different beers each time. Each month it’s a different craft brewery. Choose if you want to get the beers for 2, 3, 6 or 12 months.
swiss-beer-abo.ch	This service is run by the Beerfactory Rapperswil and each shipment consists of 6 bottles (or 4 if the bottles contain 5 dl) from different Swiss craft breweries.

Buy craft beer online: online shops

Vendor	Description
Amstein	As one of the biggest importers of beer in Switzerland, Amstein also offers an online shop for consumers. They list a lot of Belgian beers but also a good selection of Swiss craft beers. More than 500 different products in total.
Beer4You	This online shop is run by Feldschlösschen. It manly offers beers belonging to the Carlsberg group so handly any craft beer or – depending on the definition – no craft beer at all.
Beerhub	This site lists a couple of Swiss craft breweries and offers free shipping from a purchase value of CHF 69.-.
Beermyguest	Shop specialized on Belgian beer (styles) and sour beers (with some exceptions). Also has a couple of Swiss breweries such as A Tue Tête and Chien Bleu. Filter by color, style or country.
Beerworld.ch	Recently redesigned online store run by Drinks of the World. Sadly, the filters offered are still very poor. However, the selection is huge, listing more than 1000 products. With each beer style, country, ABV and bottle content are easy to spot.
Craftbrew	This online shop exclusively lists Swiss craft breweries. You can individually select 6 to 24 bottles. Beers can be filtered by style, taste and brewery.
Craftbier-Shop	Craft beer from different breweries, can be filtered by style and country. Many products that are listed are sold out though.
Dr. Mousse	A online shop from the west of Switzerland with a long list of craft beers. However, most of them are not in stock.
Drink-Shop	Around 600 chaotically listed products. Illogic sub-categories, no real filters. Also offers a beer subscription.
Mise en Bière	E-shop from the identically named craft beer shop out of Lausanne. Has a lot of exclusives and a broad selection. Continuously adds new products, in total more than 800 right now.
Micro Bière	Offers beers from small Swiss craft-breweries out of western Switzerland like 7Peaks, Côte West, Totally Beer.
Pepillo	Has a lot of Swiss beers listed as well as the usual macro lagers from other countries.
Thecrafts	From the shop in Kloten, ZH, that offers a really great selection. Ships in quantities of 6, 12 and 18 bottles/cans. Frequently restocks with new craft beers and also offers various beer subscriptions. Browsing is a bit inconvenient.
Wittich	Single bottles or boxes of the same beer from all around the world. Can be sorted according to country of origin. A lot of beers from Belgium. More than 900 products in total, many of them form the usual macro breweries.
Qbeer	Qbeer from Qoqa has three different craft beer packages on offer each week. Most of the time it’s 12 bottles or cans from Swiss or international craft breweries. There’s only a limited quantity of each offer. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Since recently shipping is included.

Furthermore LeShop.ch, Manor.ch and Galaxus offer a good selection of beers.

Buy craft beer online: straight from the brewery

The online sale of beer actually also makes sense for small craft breweries. Like this they can avoid the problem of limited shelf space and their own beers become available nationwide. But naturally this doesn’t come without quite some work. The online shop has to be maintained, stocks updated and the packages shipped.

To avoid being completely random in this list I selected the Swiss breweries that participate at the two biggest craft-beer festivals of Switzerland in Zurich and Solothurn, or which already did so last year. Only those are listed who sell their craft beers online and also ship them. I have also added the breweries, which were in your feedback to us. If your Craft brewery also offers an online shop with shipping, please contact me and I’ll add you to the list. See below for details.

Brewery	Description
Barfuss Brauerei	Has all their products listed, also some six packs as well as beer abonnments.
Bierfactory Rapperswil	Ships in boxes of 12 beers that can be put togetter according to your wishes.
Biera Engiadinaisa	Appart from their craft beers they also sell single malt, hop schnapps and beer schnapps.
Biffificio Sottobisio	All their craft beers have a description in English. Something not many brewery run online shops offer.
Blackwell Brewery	Bestellung im 6er Pack, oder 24er Pack möglich. Individuelle Zusammenstellung. Bieten auch ein Abo, 90 CHF für 3 Packete à 6 Flaschen.
Braukunst	They sell their beer through the shop “frisches.ch”.
Brausyndikat	You can order all their craft beers in boxes of 6 as well as some pretty cool merchandise products.
Brasserie Celestial	Offers tasting boxes, mix and match as well as boxes of 12 of theirs beers.
Davoser Craft Beer	Not really an online shop but you order through sending a form. Shipping in Switzerland is possible but with a high mark-up.
Degen Bier	Offers the flagship beer Kobra and whatever one-off beer they have at the moment in boxes of 24. Can also be ordered as a mixed box.
Dr. Brauwolf	Sells all available craft beers from Dr. Brauwolf in boxes of 6 or 12.
Dr. Gab’s	Still has this confusing preselection of 5 items per craft beer but that can be reduced to one. Then you can mix and match.
Hoppy People	Choose the beers you like or select one of the gift boxes with 4 different beers in it.
Lägere Bräu	Mix and match, boxes of 6 or 8 of the same beers available as well as the big bottles of their barrel aged series. You can also get merchandise, books, giftboxes an much more.
Mükon Brauerei	Apart from their craft beer they offer malt-muesli, hop-tea and the like.
Pilgrim.ch	Sells 4, 8, 12 or 24 packs, depending on the craft beer you choose. If you shop for a certain amount, you get a discount.
Simmenthaler	Next to their different craft beers they sell merchandise, beer fondue and beer gel. They even have a watch on offer.
Sudwerk	Sold over the beerhub.ch shop (see above).
Thun Bier	They sell their craft beer in six packs or a multiple of six.
Valaissane	Is being sold over the beer4you shop by Feldschlösschen (see above).
White Frontier	You either buy a box of 12 of the same beers or you create your own box. Unfortunately, the specials and collabs often sell out rather quick.
Soorser Bier	You have to oder a quantity of 12 but you can mix and match.

Now it’s your turn. Where do your buy your craft beer online? Did you buy at any of the above shops and you want to share your experiences? Do you know a craft-brewery that has its own online shop? Then please share your knowledge and drop me an e-mail (jan at bierversuche.ch) or use the comment function and I’ll add it to the list.