Services · three campaigns + extra pours

Five weeks from now, a writer is quoting your head brewer.

A launch-day media kit laid out on a dark oak table: tech sheet, a can, a spirits bottle and an envelope stamped embargoed
Fig. 02 — A kit, the night before it shipsEmbargoed

Three campaigns, each priced once per launch: the words, the outreach, the whole launch. Pick the one your release date needs, add a pour or two from the add-on list, and we take it from tasting brief to coverage log.

Send us your release date Compare all three

On tap this season

Campaign tech sheets

Read the label before you pour

You hand writers a tech sheet with every release — ABV, IBU, mash bill, barrel history. Fair’s fair, so here’s ours: what each campaign is, what it needs from you, and what lands back on your side of the bar.

The words

The Release

$450per release · first draft in 5 business days

Book The Release

For the seven-barrel brewhouse with a new seasonal, the distillery announcing a second expression, the cidery opening a tasting room. One sharp release you send yourself — to local press, your distributor’s reps and your own mailing list.

Format
AP-style release
Length
450–600 words
First draft
5 business days
Revisions
Two rounds
Delivered as
Email + wire versions
Who sends it
You do

You hand us

  • Your tech sheet and release date
  • A 30-minute brief call with whoever made it
  • Two or three photos, even phone shots

You get back

  • The release, approved by you line by line
  • Headline + two subject-line options
  • Quotes that sound like your brewer, not a brochure
  • A boilerplate paragraph you’ll reuse all year

A subject line we’d write for itOur first perry: 40 bushels of Seckel pears, 6.2%, pouring Nov 7.

The outreach

The Pitch Run

$865per campaign · 3-week pitch window

Start a Pitch Run

Most launches land right here.

For a release that deserves more than your own inbox — a flagship relaunch, a collab, your first barrel program. We build the list around your beat, write to every writer by name, and keep at it for three weeks.

List size
40–60 named writers
Pitch window
Three weeks
Follow-ups
Two rounds
Writer replies
Routed to you same day
Samples
Requests tracked
At close
Coverage log

You hand us

  • Everything The Release needs
  • How many cans or bottles you can spare for samples
  • The markets where it actually pours or ships

You get back

  • Everything in The Release
  • A list matched to your style: lager people, barrel people, cider people
  • Every pitch written to one person — no BCC blasts
  • A coverage log with every link, mention and reply

The opening line of a pitch, to one columnistYou wrote in March that nobody’s doing decoction lagers anymore — this one spent three hours on the burner. Want a sample before it hits shelves?

The full launch

The Launch Kit

$1,400per launch · book 6 weeks out

Plan the Launch Kit

For the big one: a new distillery’s first whiskey, an anniversary release, a cidery crossing into a new state. A fixed six-week rail, an embargo timed to the minute, and a media kit that goes live the second it lifts.

Book ahead
6 weeks
Embargo lift
Release day, 6:00am ET
Media kit
Hosted digital kit + tech sheet
Samples out
10 days ahead
Founder prep
Interview sheet
Afterwards
30-day follow-up push

You hand us

  • Everything The Pitch Run needs
  • Hi-res images, or a budget for a shoot
  • Founder or head distiller free for calls in launch week

You get back

  • Everything in The Pitch Run
  • Launch-day kit: images, tech sheet, quotes, boilerplate
  • An embargo sheet every writer gets in advance
  • A founder prep sheet with the questions you’ll actually get
  • Thirty days of follow-up, then the final coverage log

The flight

Pour all three side by side

Each campaign contains the one before it. The only real question is how far past your own inbox this release needs to travel.

What’s included in The Release, The Pitch Run and The Launch Kit
What’s in the glass The ReleaseThe words The Pitch RunMost launches The Launch KitThe big one
Price, per campaign$450$865$1,400
AP-style release, 450–600 words Included Included Included
Revision roundsTwoTwoTwo
Named media list—Not included40–60 writers40–60 writers
Pitches written to one person each—Not included Included Included
Follow-up rounds—Not includedTwoTwo + 30-day push
Sample-request tracking—Not included Included Included
Embargo set and managed—Not included—Not included Included
Hosted digital media kit—Not included—Not included Included
Founder interview prep sheetAdd for $185Add for $185 Included
Coverage log at close—Not included Included Included
Book ahead1–2 weeks4 weeks6 weeks
Book a campaign Book it Book it Book it

Swipe the table to see all three

Add-ons · bolt onto any campaign

Extra pours

Add any of these at booking or mid-run. Same invoice, same desk, priced before we start — never discovered on the final bill.

  • Canning date moved?

    Rush draft

    +$175

    Release drafted in 48 business hours instead of five days, for when the canning line freed up a week early.

  • Extra revision round

    $95

    A third pass on the release or the pitch angle — for when the head brewer and the owner disagree about the hop descriptors.

  • Second-market list

    $240

    Distributing into a new state? We add 15–20 writers in that market: regional food desks, local newsletters, trade.

  • Distributor sell sheet

    $210

    One page of the same story for reps and buyers — tasting notes, pack formats, shelf-talker copy.

  • Founder interview prep

    $185

    Already in the Launch Kit. On its own: the questions you’ll likely get, three stories worth telling, the numbers to have ready.

  • Coverage recap one-pager

    $120

    The coverage log turned into a designed PDF your sales team can slide across the table at a distributor meeting.

Not sure you need any of them? Most campaigns don’t. Ask on the brief call.

Call the desk

Off the tap list

What we don’t pour

Knowing what isn’t in a campaign matters as much as the price on it. These are the things people ask about that we either send elsewhere or skip on purpose.

Keeping the menu short is how one desk on Staten Island stays fluent in beer, spirits and cider writers specifically.

Paid placements

We don’t buy sponsored posts and call them press. Everything in your coverage log was earned by a pitch.

Instead: book ads directly with the outlet’s sales team.

Running your socials

Launch-week captions go in the kit. Posting, replying and the grid after that stay with you.

Instead: hand the kit to whoever runs your feed.

Influencer gifting

Creator sends run on different lists and different rules. We stick to writers, editors, newsletters and podcasters.

Instead: pair our release with a creator program.

A monthly invoice

One campaign, one launch, one bill. Nothing auto-renews, and quiet months cost you nothing.

Instead: book the next campaign when you’ve got the next release.

Your next release

Book this week, lift the embargo in December.

A Launch Kit runs six weeks. Booked by Friday, October 23, yours can go live the first week of December — right as the barrel-aged and holiday drops get written up. Shorter campaigns can start sooner.

Call (860) 508-5198 info@kettlelantern.com
A desk at dusk with a hand-drawn launch timeline in a notebook, a glass of amber stout and kraft envelopes under a brass lantern
The rail, drawn up on the brief call

Which campaign fits?

Pick what this launch needs most. We’ll tell you where we’d start you.

We’d start you on

The Release $450

A release you can send to local press, your distributor and your own list. Add a Pitch Run later if a writer bites.

Book The Release
We’d start you on

The Pitch Run $865

Forty to sixty named writers on your beat, pitched one at a time over three weeks, with a coverage log when it closes.

Start a Pitch Run
We’d start you on

The Launch Kit $1,400

The full six-week rail: embargo, hosted media kit, founder prep and a thirty-day push after the lift.

Plan the Launch Kit