Eight Brewing, the producer of Eight Elite Light Lager, has added another pro to its roster – this time, a beer veteran.
The nearly two-year-old company, co-founded by retired NFL player Troy Aikman, has hired former Yuengling regional sales director David Reny as the company’s new chief commercial officer (CCO).
Reny joins a team that includes co-founders and co-CEOs Doug Campbell (former Brewery Ommegang president) and Ruchi Desai, and co-founder and partner Jake Duneier.
Reny has more than three decades of experience in bev-alc, including stints leading sales teams at E. & J. Gallo, Molson Coors and Mast-Jägermeister. At Yuengling, Reny helped the brand grow its Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, sales to more than 1 million cases in its first year in the region as part of its joint venture with Molson Coors, as well as expand into Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, according to a press release.
“Throughout my career, I’ve learned time and time again that the single greatest predictor of success – on the field, in the booth, and now in bars and on retail shelves – is to build a first- class team,” Aikman said in the release. “At Eight, we aspire to build nothing short of the next great American beer.
“Despite driving a strong second summer as a new challenger across Texas, we know that it will take the leadership of an industry heavyweight to lift the brand to the next level,” he continued. “After getting to know David over the last six weeks, with his track record, his relentless drive to win, and his ability to inspire and lead teams in the field, I believe we’ve found that leader.”
Launched in early 2022, Eight was the “fastest independent beer launch in Texas history” and was the eighth largest growth brand of the year nationally, despite distributing in only one state, according to the release.
In the last 52 weeks (ending August 12), the brand has increased dollar sales +45.9% and volume +47.4% versus the previous 52-week period in NIQ-tracked off-premise channels, according to data shared by 3 Tier Beverages. However, in the last four weeks, Eight dollar sales and volume in NIQ-tracked channels were down -16% year-over-year (YoY), and in the last 12 weeks, dollar sales were down -32.5% YoY and volume was down -31.4%.
In a July interview with Yahoo Finance, Aikman said that Eight was eyeing Q2 2023 as the time to expand outside its home state of Texas. The company had then sold more than 100,000 cases of beer in the state.
In the same interview, Aikman was asked about the boycott against Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light and the brand’s ensuing declines. He emphasized that Eight is focused on “authenticity” and “making great beer.”
“How everybody else does it is totally up to them, but we just want to be about making great beer,” Aikman said. “We don’t want to be in the middle of the debate, we just hope that Eight’s being drank when there is a debate going on, essentially. That’s been our approach from day one, and it will continue to be as long as I’m involved with this company.”
Reny seemed to reference A-B’s struggles, without directly naming any brands, in today’s press release, stating: “Even prior to the events of this summer, the opportunity to build a true challenger brand in super premium light beer has never been greater.
“I’m honored to be leading the commercial efforts of Eight as we seek to build profitable scale and build upon the early work of the team to scale from today’s base to new levels altogether,” Reny continued. “The demand for a better-for-you brew has never been stronger.”
“This is a great day for EIGHT,” Aikman added. “Today, we launch the next phase of our
growth strategy, one that I’m confident will challenge the mega-brands that dominate our
category by focusing relentlessly on brewing a better product and building a better team.”