13 Jolly Ways to Get Paid to Drink Beer In 2024 [#4 Pays $50k/yr]

Voila, you can now get paid to drink beer either as a hobby or as a professional beer taster. It may sound strange, but true!

At a professional level, beer drinkers are employed for their impeccable taste buds. To a lesser extent, occasional drinkers can also tell the flavor, taste, and other qualities that go into describing the quality of beer.

Art has become more mainstream with the advent of craft beer. Manufacturing of your favorite drink is no longer a preserve of huge plants but rather local and independent breweries around the neighborhood.

Simply put, if you happen to like talking about your favorite brew, enjoy sampling new ones, or just have some brewing/fermentation experience under your belt, and are looking for a paying beer-drinking position, there are more than enough opportunities out there.

This post directs you to the top platforms for beer lovers looking to earn full-time or part-time drinking brews from around the world.

1. Be an Instagram Beer Influencer

(Average pay: $500 – $5,000 per post)

Becoming an Instagram beer influencer simply means rooting for a specific beer drink in your posts for money, products, as well as experiences. Typically, beer brands prefer to work with influencers mainly to help them increase brand awareness and build trust.

Today, top beer brands use influencer marketing platforms such as Grin, and InfluencerBay to connect with trendsetters. So, if you are keen on becoming a beer influencer make sure you sign up on such platforms.

As an Instagram influencer, your earning potential is mainly based on your following base and an engaged audience too. That means growing your account is key to becoming a successful influencer.

Basically, this is achieved by finding a niche that fits your personality, posting consistently, proper use of hashtags, and ensuring meaningful engagements.

If you’re passionate about beer and it fits your personality, tag beer brands in your posts to help you be on their radar. This makes it easier to land an influencer’s contract.

Also Read: How to Get Paid to Watch Movies

2. Become a Professional Beer Taster

As a professional beer taster, you’ll mostly be identifying specific characteristics of an alcoholic beverage and handing in reports. Generally, people in this profession work in breweries and pubs.

Meaning that, besides having good taste buds, having extensive knowledge about various types of beers is equally important. In fact, there are certification programs such as the Cicerone Certification Program you might want to consider. 

However, finding such job opportunities can be challenging but I’d recommend you start by joining platforms that offer paid product tester jobs pertaining to different products in the market; from clothes and food to alcoholic beverages. The aim is to improve brands, beer products, and services.

For frequent and high-paying research jobs, visit Respondent.io

Most product research studies take only a few minutes to an hour to complete, and you can expect to earn at least $50 to $500 per study. That said, a formal beer testing gig in an in-house capacity can make you thousands of dollars every year. 

Professional Food taster is another job you might want to consider if you’re a food enthusiast!

How Much Money Do Beer Tasters Make?

According to ZipRecruiter, the national average annual Beer Tasting Job salary in the United States is $35,365. With experience and more time, you can expect to earn $60,000 or more.

Also Read: How to Get Paid to Drink Coffee

3. Vlog About Beer

(Average salary: $52,806 /year)

Another way to get paid to drink beer is through vlogging. Let me explain.

Vlogging entails creating content in the form of video. It can be about any subject that interests you including reporting or reviewing alcoholic drinks.

Brands actually prefer working with vloggers as a strategy of helping drive up sales. For this to work in your favor, it is very important to have marketing and sales experiences. 

Building a successful vlog isn’t an overnight success, it requires patience, commitment, and discipline.

Additionally, ensuring that your videos and audios are of high quality makes a big difference. And nowadays thanks to technology, shooting high-quality video can be done from your mobile devices. This means that you can share your beer experience on the go.

In addition to branding your vlog, utilizing search engine optimization, and not forgetting to use interesting catchphrases is also vital to building a successful following.

Last, but most important, your earning potential comes through Ads, affiliate partnerships, as well as sponsored videos. A perfect platform to kickstart your vlogging business is YouTube.

Interested? Here is a craft beer channel to draw inspiration from:

Source: The Craft Beer Channel

This is a YouTube channel dedicated to craft beer talk and adventures. It has over 129k subscribers. Here, Johnny and Brad discuss craft beer from around the world.

The duo travels across the globe looking for a new beer, collaborations of different brews, and ways to cook with beer.

What the viewers get is a geeky and cheeky take on the art of making craft beer, packaging, and its distribution. The channel boasts of 3.5M+ views and has been featured on BBC Radio 4 and Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube.

Apart from earning through YouTube views, the channel runs a subscription membership program. For a mere £2 monthly fee, your names get mentioned in every video plus notices on new events and merchandise. 

Currently, the channel is raking in £1,683 per month from 412 subscribers, with the goal of hitting £2,000 every month ($2,600/month).

How To Set Up A Craft Beer YouTube Channel

4. Become a Technical Brewer

(Annual salary as per Glassdoor: $54,069/year)

A technical brewer works in a beer production company overseeing the overall brewing process. The job involves everything from purchasing raw materials and managing equipment to testing new beers. But depending on the production capacity, your tasks may vary.

To qualify as a technical brewer, a bachelor’s degree in chemistry is necessary. Besides the degree, engineering knowledge is important for such a diverse position. Additionally, work experience is vital when applying for this job.

So, start by approaching your local brewery and gaining work experience. On the other hand, you can enroll at prestigious schools such as the Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD) and take their qualification training. Afterward, look for job vacancies at IBD Jobs and Indeed.com.

Again, similar to your duties, a technical brewer’s salary varies depending on the production capacity.

Working for a larger brewery may have additional benefits and that may not be the case for a craft brewery. 

5. Apply as Beer Secret Shopper

A secret shopper is mainly hired by a brand or retail chain to give a detailed report regarding their overall experience after visiting their store. This can be anything from you are treated by the staff to the cleanliness of a store.

Also known as mystery shopping, this is an effective way used by retailers to make sure the company’s reputation is strictly maintained by their staff. With that in mind, below are companies that will pay you to do certain assignments including drinking beer in exchange for your feedback. 

a. BestMark

BestMark is a mystery shopping company that helps brands improve both their employee and customer experiences.

According to their website, besides mystery shopping, they also offer employee satisfaction programs, compliance audits, as well as customer satisfaction studies.

The company is very clear that they hire independent contractors only to work as mystery shoppers for their clients. 

Your beer tasting job salary as a secret shopper for BestMark depends on the task assigned. However, Glassdoor says, the average amount a secret shopper working under BestMark is about $14 per hour. You receive payment after completing your assigned tasks on time and adhering to every specification given.

There are other additional benefits like free services and meals, and getting to try new products before they get to the market. In addition, if you refer a friend/family to this A+ BBB-rated website you’ll get a $5 bonus.

Payment is done via PayPal, direct bank deposit, or gift cards.

Become a BestMark Mystery Shopper

b. Market Force

Founded 17 years ago, Market Force offers a wide range of services to its clients such as consulting services, analytics, and data capture just to name a few.

Currently, they have partnered with over 200 brands and offer services to not only alcohol and tobacco, but also to the hospitality, travel, and gaming industries.

The company is rated A+ on BBB and allows mystery shoppers to earn after providing a detailed and clear report on their assigned duty.

According to some of its users, the firm has a decent pay rate. Even better, they have offices in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe; meaning, if you are within those locations you can apply as a mystery shopper.

Additionally, they have an easy-to-use browser extension plus a mobile app that is available on both Google and Apple Stores.

Apply for To Be a Beer Mystery Shopper

c. IntelliShop

Another leading mystery shopping firm on our list today is Intellishop. It has an exceptional reputation for helping top brands improve overall customer experience, reputation, and revenue. To join their team as a mystery shopper, you have to submit an online application form.

When IntelliShop approves your request, you can apply for jobs via email or an online job board and start earning in the different mystery shopping roles. 

To make the most out of IntelliShop, ensure that you get a good rating after accomplishing each assignment. This helps you rank amongst the rest and when an opportunity comes calling, you’ll be given first priority.

Rating is mostly based on how much time you took and whether you followed the given instructions. Payment is done via PayPal.

Click here to join IntelliShop as a secret shopper.

6. Participate in Beer Challenges

Did you know that you can win fabulous prizes by signing up for beer challenges? Typically, you are required to complete a task such as sharing a promotional message on your social media.

Most challenges also involve sharing photos or short videos of you enjoying a beer in a social setting.

Compensation is in the form of cash and beer-related gifts such as branded drinking glasses and a bottle opener.  There are also beer games such as beer pong that can see you compete for cash prizes.

Download the Shore Craft Beer App available in the Apple Store and Google Play to participate and win prizes. 

 7. Apply for Beer Intern Jobs

Beer interns get to polish their love for brewing by working inside a brewery.

Most of the offers are paid positions that see your work under supervisors and managers. The pay rate is around $20 per hour or more with the promise of getting a full-time job after you complete the training.

Depending on the company, you may also get stipends towards travel and housing expenses. You’ll typically work on shifts that may include weekends and holidays.

Apart from the brewing process, you also learn supply management and leadership. Look out for Beer Intern Jobs right here

8. Become a Beer Brand Ambassador

(Annual salary: $49,645)

Are you looking to get paid to drink beer and travel?

Consider working as a brand ambassador for a liquor company. Typically, this was perceived as a “celebrity job” but it has expanded to more of an individual who can strengthen a brand’s needs.

Basically, brand ambassadors help increase brand awareness and improve sales on a larger scale. Oftentimes, you’ll be subjected to crucial questions from consumers, so having knowledge about the brand you represent is necessary. 

That said, it can be challenging to land such gigs, especially with top beer brands. Nevertheless, you can start out as a brand representative as you build your ‘personal brand’.

More so, looking at job search sites like LinkedIn or Indeed is one way to look for such a job listing.

Approaching a beer marketing agency is also another way to go about it. Last but not least, becoming a brand ambassador helps improve your overall marketing skills.

Also Read: How You Can Get Paid to Wear Clothes

9. Blog About Beer

(Annual salary: $43,878)

Blogs contain information about products, services, and even personal experiences in the form of writing.

Brands search for bloggers to increase their sales and brand awareness. The reason is that blogs tend to make brands look even more credible.

Bloggers make money through affiliate links, sponsored posts, and embedded advertisements. Keeping in mind that most of your earnings will come through affiliate links, it’s important that your audience find value in your beer reviews.

For instance, if you are going to review alcoholic drinks, ensure that you cover everything from the overall characteristics of the drink to the cost. This means writing about a drink’s flavor, smell, color, alcohol content, and taste.

Also, give an honest opinion on what potential customers should expect. Additionally, giving your own customer experiences is useful since it builds trust between you and your audience.

Once you begin making strides, reach out to potential sponsors and convince them that through your reviews you can add value to their brand.

To showcase what a beer blog is all about, visit Beervana

This is a beer blog with the majority readership concentrated in the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast.

The blog gets over 1,000 readers daily and 0.5M+ page views to date. Among its leading followers include avid beer lovers, homebrewers, casual beer fans, and the media.

Mostly, its content targets 36 to 45-year-olds. From an in-house survey, most readers are interested in the culture of beer, beer business, and brewery profiles. Among other topics that attract traffic easily include the brewing process and reviews.

The site makes money from ad space, podcasting, and selling merchandise such as books.

Additionally, Beervana has high-profile sponsors including Guinness, one of the world’s most recognized alcohol brands.

How To Set Up A Worthy Beer Blog

Also Read: Blog Vs Vlog: Which Is More Profitable?

10. Sell Beer-themed Crafts & Accessories

As a beer enthusiast, you can earn money from the fad by coming up with custom crafts designs and selling your creations over the internet.

T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs sell for their unique designs and the message printed on them. Most beer lovers have no problem wearing witty and funny quotes during drinking sprees.

Other accessories you can consider include mobile phones, pins, stickers, wall art, masks, hats, postcards, notebooks, greeting cards, and a lot more!

Etsy and Redbubble are some of the best platforms to kick start your selling business from home for free. You can also promote designs from renowned fashion designers and make a commission from the sales.

Also Read: 6 Ways to Get Paid to Drink Water

11. Sell Specialty and Craft Beer

Most adults think about owning a bar, at least during the fun phase of their lives.

Well, not many of these dreams come to fruition, but there is a new trend that can make your money much more easily – selling your own beer brand. This is where craft beer comes into play. You can set up a small brewery and get retailers to stock your beer.

Admittedly, a running brewery is a huge undertaking, which is why I recommend contracting a brewery to make the beer for you. This of this as a space for hire brewery where you get technical brewers to make the beer, seasoned packers to package it, and expert shipping agents to take it to the shops.

The fact that you don’t own the brewery or pay for the workers means that the production cost is reduced.

So, just come up with a catchy brand name, contract a brewery, and earn friends and family to drink your beer. Some of the popular contract brewers include Full Sail and Robinsons. 

12. Work as a Brewery Representative

As a brewery representative, your work mainly involves sales. It is your duty to drive up the sales of all company products within a given territory.

Common tasks include meeting retailers and distributors regularly to chart new ways of brand awareness and customer satisfaction.

Clients who want to sell your brand or partner in logistics look upon you for guidance.

Marketing materials also pass through your desk for distribution to the right people. Further, you attend promotional events such as beer challenges, marketing fairs, and tasting.

A B2B sales experience plus excellent communication skills are necessary for this position.

According to ZipRecruiter, a brewery rep makes $21/hour, on average, or $48,892/year.

13. Work as a Sensory Lab Technician

The quality of a beer has everything to do with its taste, smell, and color. As a sensory lab tech, you are concerned with the first two qualities; smell and taste. The job requires a good palate and a sense of smell. 

It falls on you to conduct tasting tests and coordinate with R&D to ensure only great beer gets to the consumer.

Naturally, the job required total love for beer and experience in beer tasting. Yes, you will be tasting beer constantly and in an official capacity nonetheless!

Glassdoor has hundreds of listings for the position, with annual salaries ranging from $26k to $76k. 

Is Getting Paid to Drink Beer Real? 

Getting paid to drink beer may sound like an erratic gig but it is indeed a legit way of making money. It is one of the fun gigs that most people have no idea about.

For example, you can work as an independent secret shopper, sell beer crafts, become a professional beer tester or start a beer reviewing blog or vlog. You can also consider working as a technical brewer for a brewery.

Professional beer tasting jobs may be hard to find, but there are still a few ways you can get them. 

Ready to Get Paid to Drink Beer?

The beer industry brings in billions of dollars every year and you can earn your share from the above ways.

Reviewing and contrasting different brands on beer websites is another way of getting noticed by brands as beer enthusiasts worth a paid gig. 

Lastly, I recommend thinking out of the box for genius ways of creating a job out of your love for beer. For example, you can go for passive money-making ideas such as taking beer photos and listing them on stock photography sites or creating unique crafts to sell on Etsy. 

You can also try joyous tasks like watching movies, TV Shows or even taking a nap to generate income.

As I pen off, I welcome your thoughts on how home-based freelancers can make money from drinking beer. The comments section is open!