Focus was one of the tips for craft breweries from Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson during last week’s Craft Brewers Conference (CBC).
Few brewers knocking on the door of 100,000 barrels are as focused as Montucky Cold Snacks. The Bozeman, Montana-headquartered craft brewery has one liquid and four SKUs.
Montucky’s Seamus Gallagher and Jeff Courteau shared the brewery’s strategy for selling 1.4 million cases in 2023, including adding additional contract production at Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene, Oregon. Follow the link to learn more.
Speaking of CBC, Jess, Zoe and I put a bow on the meeting, including breaking down the BA’s federal and state affairs goals, trade practice reform targets and much more. Plus, we review the latest news. Follow the link to listen.
In other news …
The founders of Appalachian Mountain Brewery have bought back the Boone, North Carolina-based craft brewery from Anheuser-Busch InBev. The upheaval in A-B’s craft brewery division continues, following ceasing operations at Platform Beer Co. (but keeping the brand alive as three IPAs produced elsewhere), layoffs and leadership shakeups. Read the excellent work by Zoe and Jess on this breaking news story from Thursday.
The 2023 Pliny the Younger triple IPA release was a record one for Russian River. Here’s the full economic impact report from Zoe.
Dale’s becomes the next long-time flagship brand to spawn a family, with the additions Dale’s Double IPA (9% ABV), first released in 2022, and a new Dale’s Light Lager (4.2%) joining Dale’s Pale Ale (6.5%). You can see why: Dale’s Pale Ale accounted for 45% of Oskar Blues’ total sales in 2022, and combined with Double Dale’s, the family made up nearly 60% of the company’s total volume in 2022. More details on the move here.
A couple of craft breweries are showing their school pride. Cincinnati’s Rhinegeist Brewery and Des Moines’ Exile Brewing are both launching collaboration beers with collectives that funnel name, image and likeness opportunities to student-athletes at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Iowa, respectively. This appears to be the next frontier in the college sports NIL race.
Molson Coors and Miller Lite became the latest target of conservative social media personalities as they dug up a March campaign featuring comedian Ilana Glazer for Women’s History Month in which the company collected old beer paraphernalia that objectified women and turned it into fertilizer. Jess offers a look at the latest upheaval, plus the latest data on Bud Light’s off-premise trends and LGBTQ+ organizations seeking an reaffirmation of support from the world’s largest beer manufacturer.
Direct-to-consumer shipping is among the BA’s priority areas on the state level. Sovos ShipCompliant’s Larry Cormier walks Jess and I through the latest state of play, as well as how legal action may be accelerating acceptance. Brewbound Insiders can watch the full video here.
Why did Spirit of Gallo scoop up the Fishers Island Lemonade brand? “I look for things that truly connect and breakthrough with the consumer, and her reorder rates and her velocities in stores were very high,” Britt West, the senior vice president and general manager of Spirit of Gallo, shared. “If we were seeing within a defined universe of accounts, just that true traction and velocity — that’s the uniqueness of the brand.” Programming note: Jess, Zoe and I will dive into the why on the other end of the equation with Fishers Island Lemonade founder Bronya Shillo on next week’s Brewbound Podcast.
NIQ offers insights into ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages trends, including that these products are impulse buys and 82% of these occasions are at-home. Click for more info.
New hires …
Arizona Wilderness has hired Bradley Miles to lead its production. Miles joins Arizona Wilderness after serving as head of innovation for Firestone Walker.
AleSmith has hired Chantal Melton as VP of sales. Melton was with Lagunitas for nearly a decade.
New products …
A new Baja Blast Hard MTN Dew variety pack is on the way.
- Schlalfy has a new variety pack for summer.
- Coop Ale Works has a new lager.
- SweetWater has released a year-round citrus ale exclusive to Colorado.
- Left Hand has a new passion fruit sour.
- Jiant is launching an 8% ABV green tea hard kombucha called Taco Tuesday: Pineapple Spicy Marg (don’t tell Taco John’s).
- Boston Beer’s cannabis-infused iced tea brand TeaPot is adding a mango green tea flavor.
- Ska is putting LTOs in 16 oz. 4-packs.
- And Molson Coors/Blue Moon is adding a Magenta Moon variant at its RiNo taproom in Denver.
Finally, Anheuser-Busch is rebranding Kona Brewing Co. to Kona Big Wave and releasing refreshed packaging along with four new ads.
Cheap plug: Brewbound’s Brew Talks is coming back to Boston on July 12. Speaker announcements and conversation details to come. Get your tickets.
That’s a wrap on this week. Thanks to all of you for reading Brewbound and supporting us through your Brewbound Insider subscriptions. If you’d like to become an Insider, follow this link.
See you all next week.