This is the downloadable sample spreadsheet in ODS, XLSX and CSV file formats. When using this please remember that it must be saved in CSV (comma separated values) format before uploading your data into Beer Monitor.
Notes
Required Columns
The following columns are required, and must be headed by a row of column headings, spelt exactly as shown here. The order of columns is not important however.
Ref
This is a simple incrementing numeric value, uniquely identifying every row in your beer list.
Note: Many organisers print their brochures directly from spreadsheets such as these and do not necessarily want a Ref column, but it is possible to set this column as "hidden when printing" in this case. Excel and other spreadsheet packages all have this feature.
In the days leading up to your event your beer list often changes and you may upload it several times. As beer names and brewery names are sometimes not unique, the Ref column helps us keep track of which items have been removed or added or changed. Please follow these guidelines:
- When adding items to your list every row must have a unique, ascending, number, starting at "1".
- Additional items must be added at the end of the list.
- Removed items can simply be deleted but the original row number must not be re-used.
Brewery
The short name of the brewery, e.g. Twickenham (Not "Twickenham Brewing Company").
Beer
The name of the beer, e.g. Shere Drop
ABV
A numeric value, with or without the percentage character, e.g. 4.2%
Category
This is your own definition of the category or type of beer, specific to your own event. e.g. Porter
Note: CAMRA has their own recommended categories but not all brewers have yet adopted them. Beer Monitor displays both yours and CAMRA's classifications if available, but the primary display format will use your own categories.
Notes
The tasting notes, usually as prepared by the brewers themselves. Please do not include any formatting, fonts, colours or HTML tags in this text.
Optional Columns
Bar
This value, defaulted to blank if not provided, allows you to define the bar location that a specific beer is being served at. Note: This column may also be set as "hidden when printing" if necessary in your XLSX file. This column populates the Bar filter on the main beer list page.
Barrel type
Coming Soon: This value is not used at this time.
Barrel capacity
Coming soon: This value is not used at this time.
Barrels
Defaults to 1 if not provided. Not displayed to end-users, this value is for admin users only to help improve the accuracy of dipstick measurements. Note: This column may also be set as "hidden when printing" if necessary in your XLSX file.
Bay
Indicates the racking location of the barrel. Useful when entering dip measurements.
Brewery Est
The year the brewery was established, numeric, 4 digits, e.g. "2001"
Brochure Ref
This can be used to match an item in the beer list to a published brochure or leaflet number.
Dietary
A comma-separated list of terms related to dietary information such as "Vegan,Vegetarian,Glucose,Wheat,Contains Lactose" etc.
Extra Notes
Additional notes that you can use to display information specific to this beer in your event, e.g. "Last year's festival winner!" You can also leave this blank if not needed. Note: This column may also be set as "hidden when printing" if necessary in your XLSX file.
Location
The general location of the brewery, usually just the county or regional area.
Prices
Enter your price, or a series of prices (for example, if you have Pint, Half, Third prices, or for Small, Medium, Large wine glass servings. Separate multiple prices in the same cell with a slash character and no spaces. See the example downloadable files for how this can be automated: You can have prices in separate columns for your own printing purposes and then combine them into this column for upload. There can be zero, one or more prices.
Price codes
Enter your price code, or a series of price codes (for example, if you have Pint, Half, Third price codes, or for Small, Medium, Large wine glass servings. Separate multiple price codes in the same cell with a slash character and no spaces. See the example downloadable files for how this can be automated: You can have price codes in separate columns for your own printing purposes and then combine them into this column for upload. There can be zero, one or more price codes.
Price labels
These are the labels the system will use for displaying your prices (for example, Pint, Half, Third, or Small, Medium, Large wine glass servings). See the example downloadable files for how this can be used. Separate multiple price codes in the same cell with a slash character and no spaces. There can be zero, one or more price labels.
Print Code
When generating beer plates for printing, this value can be used to filter the printout produced. For example, if you need to print certain items on coloured paper, perhaps enter "Yellow" or "Green", etc., in each row, and then use the "Print code" filter on the Generate Plates admin page to select only the required items.
Web
An external link to the product or brewery website. All links should start with http:// or https:// (preferred).
Additional Columns
Any other columns may be included in the file for your own purposes. They will be ignored by the upload process. Additional columns may be inserted before or between or after other required columns.
Saving as CSV before uploading
The file must be re-saved in CSV format (comma separated values) before uploading to Beer Monitor. Please ensure a comma is used between values on each row, and all items are delimited by speech marks (double). Note: These are the default settings used in most software packages when saving in CSV format.
Please also scan your data for unnecessary spaces at the end of items or unusual quote characters, or line breaks. We deal with most things automatically but sometimes unusual characters creep in, usually when data has been copied/pasted from various different sources.
Uploading
To upload your beer list CSV file for your event, go to the List Upload page.
The power of the system becomes apparent when you need to make last-minute or late-breaking changes to your list. There is no need to edit all affected items one by one. Simply edit your spreadsheet and re-process the whole file again. BeerMonitor will handle the changes.
Troubleshooting
Watch for the following things (and remove or edit if possible) that may interrupt the upload process:
- Unexpected quote or double-quote symbols;
- "Curly" quotes;
- Apostrophes and commas and other punctuation within beer or brewery names;
- New line characters in descriptive text;
- Spelling mistakes in beer and brewery names, or common variants - these may still work but the system may not be able to match up previous and existing data about known products and suppliers and events;
- Missing data for required columns;