Brand families are nothing new in the beer business. Within craft beer, they’re spreading like a zombie outbreak, which is fitting given the abundance of news about a few dead guys and a certain skeleton this week.
The Dead Guy multiplying is Rogue Ales & Spirits’ flagship offering. Rogue president Dharma Tamm filled us in on the transformation of Dead Guy into a brand family, with the addition of a West Coast IPA. Also, the original Dead Guy isn’t going anywhere. Read about it here.
Meanwhile, New Belgium is preaching consistency with its skeleton-fronted Voodoo Ranger brand, while also turning Voodoo Ranger Juice Force hazy imperial IPA into its own brand fam with the addition of Fruit Force fruit punch IPA. Get the lowdown here.
Not to be outdone, Bell’s Brewery is continuing to build out its big fish, Two Hearted IPA, into a brand family with the introduction of Hazy Hearted IPA and a few other Hearted IPAs filling out a variety pack.
For more on creating brand families, watch Jess’ Brewbound Live conversation with Firestone Walker, Sierra Nevada and Constellation Brands (Modelo).
In other news … it was numbers week at Brewbound.
Our friends at 3 Tier Beverages broke down the year in beer 2022 on the latest edition of Data Club.
Craft scans, not so great last year. Price increases helped the overall category eke out some growth (+0.8%) in IRI tracked channels but the volume number (-4.8%) was lacking.
U.S. brewers shipped an estimated 161,586,015 barrels of beer in 2022, a -4.6% decline versus 2021, according to domestic tax paid estimates from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau shared by the Beer Institute.
The National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) Beer Purchasers’ Index improved slightly in January to 38, after the record low reading reported in December.
Speaking of numbers, the Brewbound Podcast hit a milestone episode 100. Listen to just how little Jess, Zoe and I know about each other after hitting the century mark.
Single-serve cans and 12-pack cans gained the most share among package formats for beer from Brewers Association-defined craft breweries, per chief economist Bart Watson’s annual packaging trends report.
ReserveBar is poking the bear. The company launched Get Stocked, a website focused on craft beer, hard seltzers, canned wine and ready-to-drink cocktails, that will offer more than 600 SKUs ranging from limited releases and regional brands to category mainstays.
Sierra Nevada has a new VP of marketing to tell “the greatest story never told in the world of beer.” No need to be so modest, Sierra Nevada.
Hops and Grain founder Josh Hare has launched a lifestyle non-alcoholic beer brand, Rick’s Near Beer. I recommend the Pils.
And that’s the week. Thanks to all of you for reading, watching and listening to our work. If you’re not a Brewbound Insider and you’d like to support us, follow this link. Again, we appreciate you all. We’ll be back next week.