Justin Kendall

Justin Kendall

Editor, Brewbound

Justin Kendall provides daily coverage of the beer industry on Brewbound.com, conducts live-streamed interviews during Brewbound’s events and co-produces the Brewbound podcast. Kendall is a nearly 20-year career journalist who led alt-weekly newspapers in Kansas City, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa.

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Posts by Justin Kendall

Growing at 30 Percent, Founders Expands Distribution to Colorado

Growing at 30 Percent, Founders Expands Distribution to Colorado

The continued growth of All Day IPA has Founders Brewing Company staring down nearly 600,000 barrels of beer in 2018, according to the brewery’s co-founder and CEO Mike Stevens. “We’re clipping along at around 30 percent growth,” Stevens told Brewbound. “I see next year about the same.”

MillerCoors to Eliminate 350 Jobs as Part of Company-Wide Restructuring

MillerCoors to Eliminate 350 Jobs as Part of Company-Wide Restructuring

MillerCoors will eliminate 350 salaried positions across the organization by the end of October, the company announced today in a memo. In the letter, CEO Gavin Hattersley characterized the job cuts as MillerCoors “moving quickly and decisively to get our business back on track.” Molson Coors’ U.S. business is offering a voluntary severance program to existing employees as well as eliminating 150 unfilled positions.

Founders Brewing CEO: Beer Needs to Bring Sexy Back

Founders Brewing CEO: Beer Needs to Bring Sexy Back

Channeling his inner Justin Timberlake, Founders Brewing co-founder and CEO Mike Stevens told hundreds of industry professionals attending last week’s Meeting of the Malts gathering in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania that “America forgot how to make beer sexy.” Stevens — who successfully avoided a wardrobe malfunction while participating in a panel discussion about the state of the beer industry alongside Victory Brewing co-founder Bill Covaleski, D.G. Yuengling & Sons chief administrative officer Wendy Yuengling, Yards Brewing founder Tom Kehoe and Cigar City founder Joey Redner — wasn’t calling for a return to the days of provocative advertising, however.

Stone Brewing’s Greg Koch to Star in Documentary

Stone Brewing’s Greg Koch to Star in Documentary

Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch will be the subject of an upcoming feature-length documentary titled “The Beer Jesus of America,” which chronicles the construction and opening of the company’s Berlin brewery. Stone spokeswoman Lizzie Younkin confirmed the project, but said the film was made independently of the beer company.

Lagunitas CEO Discusses Mid-Year Growth, International Expansion Plans

Lagunitas CEO Discusses Mid-Year Growth, International Expansion Plans

Midway through 2018, Lagunitas Brewing Company is the only top five U.S. craft beer brand gaining dollar share, according to CEO Maria Stipp. Speaking to Brewbound, Stipp shared the company’s results through the first half of 2018, noting that Lagunitas ranks fourth in dollar share (up 4 percent) and sixth in volume (up 5 percent) through July 14, according to data from market research firm Nielsen.

Illinois Bar Owners Voice Opposition to Law Allowing Taprooms to Sell Other Companies’ Beer and Cider

Illinois Bar Owners Voice Opposition to Law Allowing Taprooms to Sell Other Companies’ Beer and Cider

Following the signing of a law allowing Illinois breweries to immediately begin selling beer and cider from outside beer companies in their taprooms, several Chicago restaurant and craft beer bar owners expressed concern that new regulations create additional competition for their businesses. However, a couple of Chicago brewery owners told Brewbound that they don’t anticipate major changes in the way they run their taproom businesses.

Brew Talks Next Gen 2018: State of Craft in Texas, Increasing Competition and More (Video)

Brew Talks Next Gen 2018: State of Craft in Texas, Increasing Competition and More (Video)

A majority of the beer brewed in Texas isn’t classified as “craft,” as smaller in-state producers only account for about 2 percent of the roughly 20 million barrels produced in the Lone Star State. Speaking to a crowd of beer industry professionals during last week’s Brew Talks meetup in Austin, Texas, Bob Leggett, owner of Artisanal Imports and the Uncle Billy’s and Pedernales beer brands, highlighted the difference in market share between locally produced beer and more mainstream offerings.

Constellation Brands Restructuring, Lays Off Dozens of Craft Sales Reps

Constellation Brands Restructuring, Lays Off Dozens of Craft Sales Reps

On the same day that it announced a $4 billion investment into Canada’s Canopy Growth Corporation, Constellation Brands also laid off dozens of employees tasked with selling the company’s craft and specialty beers throughout the U.S. Constellation — whose craft portfolio includes Ballast Point in California, Funky Buddha in Florida and Four Corners Brewery in Texas as well as Mexican import brands Corona, Modelo and Pacifico — terminated around 60 of its 100 or so craft and specialty reps, a source familiar with the situation told Brewbound.

Reorganization Efforts Continue at Anheuser-Busch

Reorganization Efforts Continue at Anheuser-Busch

Anheuser-Busch announced several personnel moves on Tuesday, including changes to its U.S. marketing and North American sales teams. In separate notes to the company’s wholesalers, chief marketing officer Marcel Marcondes and chief sales officer Brendan Whitworth discussed the changes, which are part of North American CEO Michel Doukeris’ commercial reorganization plan.

Brew Talks Next Gen 2018: Texas To-Go Sales, State of the Industry and More (Video)

Brew Talks Next Gen 2018: Texas To-Go Sales, State of the Industry and More (Video)

The owners of two Texas craft beer companies are encouraging the state’s wholesalers to work with them on modernizing alcoholic beverage laws that bar manufacturing breweries from selling beer to go. During a Brew Talks panel discussion, held last week in conjunction with the National Beer Wholesalers Association Next Generation conference in Austin, Texas, Hops & Grain founder Josh Hare, who also chairs the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, argued that the “marriage” between suppliers and wholesalers should work more like a partnership and less like “a parent-child relationship.”

New Illinois Law Allows Breweries to Sell Guest Beer and Cider in Taprooms

New Illinois Law Allows Breweries to Sell Guest Beer and Cider in Taprooms

A bill signed into law last weekend by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner will allow the state’s breweries to purchase and sell guest beer and cider in their taprooms. Under House Bill 4897, the state will allow licensed Class 1 breweries (producing up to 30,000 barrels annually) and Class 2 breweries (making up to 120,000 barrels a year) to purchase beer and cider from either a wholesaler or a self-distributing brewery.