Barrel One Collective is getting a new leader, a little more than six months after the founding of the New England-centric parent company of 15 brands, including Harpoon and Smuttynose.
Nathaniel Davis will take the reins as CEO from Harpoon founder Dan Kenary, who will transition to the role of president after an eight-week sabbatical. Davis joined Mass. Bay Brewing in April 2023 as chief operations and strategy officer and was named president of the Boston-based craft roll up in August 2023.
“It became very clear to me very quickly this was the person that I hope to be my successor,” Kenary said of Davis, speaking exclusively to Brewbound. “I’ve taken that very, very seriously, the last three to five years, like, ‘OK, this is out there, I’ve got to set this up and do it right for the company.’ And so I met Nathaniel, and it clicked very quickly to me.
“Culturally, talent-wise, industry experience, he’s the full package in every which way, which is outstanding,” he continued.
Kenary, whose 65th birthday is approaching this summer, started Harpoon in 1986 and stepped into the CEO role in 2014 when co-founder Rich Doyle departed. He steered the company through acquisitions, the COVID-19 pandemic and the merger that created Barrel One in late 2024 – all amidst the backdrop of a challenging craft beer industry that has grown more tumultuous in recent years.
Still, given the choice of remaining in his role or retiring, Kenary said he would opt to work. So he, Davis and the company’s board of directors created a situation where he can downshift a bit while staying involved.
“It’s something I have taken really seriously, recognizing that this is also a young person’s business, and I’m going to be 65 in a few weeks,” Kenary said. “It’s a normal time to think about this. I don’t want to retire, but I’d love somebody to step in the leadership role here, where I can play a supportive role and really participate for the next stretch here and in a way that is exciting for me and works with my lifestyle.”
Acknowledging that “there certainly are times when founders can’t get out of the way and are a problem with the new CEO establishing themselves and becoming the focal point of the company,” Kenary will go on sabbatical Wednesday, July 16. The time away includes a cross-country road trip with his wife.
“He’s already running a lot of the company,” Kenary said of Davis. “So I think it’s going to be pretty damn seamless, but this is just to ensure that it takes place, because I’m a big personality, and so I think I’ve just got to get out of here for a stretch, so that Nathaniel feels very comfortable that he’s clearly the guy in charge.”
When Kenary returns, he expects his role as president to involve “only working 40 to 45 hours a week.” He plans to focus on continued M&A, wholesaler and retailer relationships, government affairs, HR and cultural issues and special projects.
“I really view myself as a force multiplier for Nathaniel and [chief commercial officer] Steve Kierstead,” Kenary said.
“It allows us to do more ‘and’ and less ‘or,’” Davis said of having Kenary in his corner. “Fewer choices and more, ‘Yeah, we can both do it. You take that. I’ll take this,’ because there’s a high degree of trust as well, which is super rare.”
Prior to joining Mass. Bay, Davis spent five years as CEO of Drinkworks, the joint venture from Keurig Dr Pepper and Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) that produced a pod-based, at-home drinkmaking system. It shuttered in late 2021. Before Drinkworks, Davis worked at A-B for nearly 20 years in a variety of brewing, innovation and technology roles. His long tenure in the beer industry and understanding of its culture was attractive to Kenary.
“It’s one of the things that excited me about Nathaniel from the get-go,” he said. “This is a guy [who is] incredibly principled and treats people so well. He just gets our culture and why it’s something special and worth not only preserving, but really cultivating. And that’s been so important and made things easier.”
As he takes on the title, Davis said he’s looking forward to leading Barrel One, which is home to brands that helped build craft beer in New England.
“I’m excited about what this platform represents, and the momentum that we’re feeling at the moment is totally electric,” he said. “It’s a tough corner of the industry, and not everybody is feeling momentum and feeling charged electricity, and we’re feeling it at the moment. So I’m excited about proving it.
“Greater Good, for example, is validation of the hypothesis that we’re a magnet,” Davis continued. “If we do this right, the right people will join and join in great circumstances, great terms, and be additive and accretive, and then add their own ideas and and their own momentum, and it just becomes a flywheel that will build. Ever since Day One of the new company, Barrel One, it’s felt that way. It’s a high degree of optimism, cautious optimism, but optimism.”
Barrel One, named as a nod to Mass. Bay holding the first brewers’ permit issued in Massachusetts since Prohibition, formed on December 31, 2024, through the merger of Harpoon and Smuttynose’s parent companies, Mass. Bay Brewing and FinestKind Brewing, respectively.
In addition to those breweries, the company’s portfolio includes UFO, Long Trail, Clown Shoes, Otter Creek, The Shed, Catamount, Dunkin’ Spiked, Right Coast Spirits, Wachusett, Five Boroughs, Crystal Light Vodka Refreshers, Island District Cocktails and Greater Good Imperial Brewing, which was acquired earlier this month.
Portfolio and Own-Premise Strategy
The vastness of Barrel One’s portfolio may seem overwhelming, but the company wields it with surgical precision, tailoring offerings to wholesalers on a local basis, Davis said.
“We have a very big and complex portfolio,” he said. “The reason that we’re confident that we can not only manage it, but add more, is that we’re thinking hyper-locally.
“We don’t have a singular company portfolio that is too big for anyone to manage,” Davis continued. “We have 30 wholesaler-level mini portfolios, each with a very short list of focus. And that’s what’s working, so we think regionally and in a wholesaler footprint, and I think that’s changing the game.”
Despite a challenging market for the overall craft segment (dollar sales -4.2%, volume -5.7% in the 52-week period ending June 15, according to market research firm Circana), parts of the Barrel One portfolio have found green shoots.
“Wachusett as a brand, and Blueberry in particular, is totally on fire,” Davis said.
Brooklyn-based Five Boroughs “has got some great momentum,” and “there are some regions where Harpoon is up and the trends are improved across the board.”
Dunkin’ Spiked and Crystal Light Vodka Refreshers have the broadest geographic footprint, with distribution as far away as California, followed by Harpoon, which is distributed as far West as Texas. For most of Barrel One’s craft beer brands, the focus remains close to home, Davis said.
“The priority is within this area, and frankly, there’s an awful lot of ceiling for growth between New Jersey and north,” he said. “New Jersey, New York and New England covers quite a lot.”
According to NIQ data provided by 3 Tier Beverages, dollar sales of Barrel One’s portfolio have declined 17.6% and volume, measured in case sales, has declined 17.8% in the 52-week period ending June 14 (total U.S. xAOC + liquor open state + convenience stores). However, scan data doesn’t always include independent retailers, which are more common in the company’s Northeast and New England stronghold. It also excludes the on-premise and Barrel One’s nine own-premise locations, which are playing an increasingly larger role in its business model.
Barrel One’s total volume increased 9%, to 125,400 barrels of beer in 2024, according to data from the Brewers Association (BA). The company was the 15th largest craft brewery in the country by volume. Those barrel numbers also do not include non-beer products, such as the Dunkin’, Crystal Light and Right Coast RTDs.
“More than any other part of the business, we have added to, invested in, and changed how we’re running hospitality, and how we’re thinking about it, ” Davis said.
Barrel One operates three Harpoon taprooms (Boston; Manchester, New Hampshire; Windsor, Vermont), two Wachusett taprooms (Westminster and Worcester, Massachusetts) and one taproom or restaurant each for Long Trail (Bridgewater Corners, Vermont), Five Boroughs (Brooklyn, New York), Smuttynose (Hampton, New Hampshire) and Greater Good (Worcester, Massachusetts).
“We’re a big restaurant group in the Northeast with not just taprooms, but also event venues and corporate event venues and major festivals, which can be replicated in every corner of our little footprint, and I’m super excited about it, because that’s where the brands live,” Davis said. “It matches perfectly with our much more focused portfolio strategy, where you don’t need to spread out a brand and go everywhere.
“It doesn’t work anymore, anyway,” he continued. “The brands need to be really relevant where they were born, and have a spiritual home to connect with real humans and the community. The best place to have the beating heart is the tap room, with events, festivals and corporate events.”