“We budget to fail,” Monday Night Brewing co-founder Jeff Heck shared during Brewbound’s final Brew Talks meetup of 2018. Joining a panel discussion that examined innovation within the craft space, Heck along with The Bruery founder Patrick Rue and Calicraft Brewing founder Blaine Landberg, gave more than 150 beer industry professionals a peek into their individual innovation strategies, which includes both success and failures.
In this week’s Last Call: Scofflaw’s UK foray is marred by a ‘rogue’ press release, Rivertowne Brewing is on the auction block, and the New Jersey ABC imposes new rules on breweries.
Want to stand out at the Great American Beer Festival? Open your checkbook. At the 2019 GABF, put on by industry trade group the Brewers Association, large activations from deep-pocketed corporations took center stage, drawing throngs of beer drinkers to sprawling setups that included TVs, bar games and live music while 800 breweries pouring 4,000 beers scrapped for attention inside the Denver Convention Center.
In episode three of the Brewbound Podcast, Brewbound editors Chris Furnari and Justin Kendall sit down with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Tomme Arthur, the co-founder of Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, for two separate conversations about beer, politics and the future of brewing.
Last week’s Great American Beer Festival was the largest in history, as a record 62,000 attendees turned out to sample over 4,000 beers from more than 800 breweries that were set up across 584,000 sq. ft. space inside the Denver Convention Center. Here are three takeaways from the 2018 GABF.
In an effort to curb beer’s dwindling share of the broader alcohol market, three major trade associations — the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), the Brewers Association (BA) and the Beer Institute (BI) — have formed a group tasked with improving the health of the beer segment. During the NBWA’s annual convention Monday, outgoing chairman Jim Matesich announced the the formal launch of the “Beer Growth Initiative.” The effort is being spearheaded by alcoholic beverage consultancy Tamarron, along with leaders from the NBWA, BA and BI who are serving on a steering committee.
Newly appointed Heineken USA CEO Maggie Timoney, who earlier this month became the first female executive to lead a top five U.S. beer company, wants her performance, not her gender, to do the talking. “I’ll be judged on my results, not on whether I’m male or female,” she said, to applause from a crowd of mostly male beer distributors who attended the trade group’s annual meeting in San Diego.
The faster beer companies embrace segments that are connecting with consumers, the quicker the overall industry can return to growth, Mike’s Hard Lemonade president Phil Rosse told thousands of wholesalers during the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) annual convention in San Diego. “I think that’s what’s ultimately going to give the industry its best chance to get back to growth,” Rosse said during a panel that also featured D.G. Yuengling & Sons Inc. COO Dave Casinelli and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery co-founder Sam Calagione.
Under the specter of Constellation Brands potentially forcing additional sales of its distribution rights in California, leaders from the National Beer Wholesalers Association stressed the importance of protecting state franchise laws to thousands of wholesalers and industry professionals attending the trade association’s annual convention in San Diego. NBWA chairman Jim Matesich, without naming Constellation Brands, pointed to trade press headlines from June when the beverage alcohol company forced Markstein Beverage Co. to sell its distribution rights in northern San Diego County to Reyes Beverage Group. “Terminations without cause, particularly of distributors that took risks and helped build those brands create distrust in trading partners,” he said.
During Boston Beer Company’s annual Great American Beer Festival breakfast, founder Jim Koch unveiled a new series of Samuel Adams ads and announced a new grant program that will give $1 million to early stage food and beverage companies. Koch said the new series of folksy ads, which highlight hop selection in Germany for Samuel Adams’ flagship Boston Lager, focus on “craftsmanship” and “artisanal values.” The ads end with the tagline: “Brewed inefficiently since 1984.”
In the second episode of the Brewbound Podcast, New Realm Brewing co-founder Carey Falcone joins Brewbound editor Chris Furnari in a discussion about his career in the brewing business and the launch of the Atlanta-based beer company. Throughout the conversation, Falcone talks about his experience as a first-time entrepreneur, New Realm’s core values, the process of getting the brewery off the ground, and how he convinced former Stone Brewing Company brewmaster Mitch Steele to move across the country to join a startup in the South.
Massachusetts Beverage Alliance (MBA) today announced the official launch of Homegrown Distribution, a boutique wholesaler focused on overlooked craft brands not currently getting enough attention from a network of five pre-existing wholesale partners across the state. As an offshoot of MBA, Homegrown Distribution will assume statewide sales and delivery responsibilities for several brands.
During a meeting with his company’s distribution partners, Dogfish Head founder and CEO Sam Calagione compared the brewery to a shark: In order to survive, it must keep swimming forward. Speaking to a room full beer wholesalers and brewery employees on Tuesday morning, Dogfish Head executives unveiled their 2019 plans along with an ask. Dogfish wants its distribution partners to prioritize sales of 60-Minute IPA and SeaQuench Ale.
Surging freight costs, a shortage of long-haul truck drivers and new laws restricting the number of hours that drivers can be on the road are cutting into profits of beer companies and other major corporations throughout the United States. Although increased transportation costs are affecting all consumer goods industries, Beer Institute chief economist Michael Uhrich told Brewbound that they’re disproportionately affecting the beer industry because the vast majority of beer sold domestically is shipped. Last year, beer companies shipped 2.9 billion cases of beer, according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
