Brewbound Podcast

Can a letter writing campaign save Deschutes’ co-branded Kirkland Signature Helles, the same way Brewbound's Jessica Infante saved her childhood zoo? The Brewbound team and weekend newsletter writer Sean McNulty discuss the end of the cult favorite lager on the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast, including an outpouring of somber reactions to the news. Brewbound editor Justin Kendall recaps his conversation with Deschutes CEO Peter Skrbek and why he’s not sweating the decision as the company’s portfolio is growing. But could a public show of support from Costco members flip the decision? Jess shares that it worked for her hometown zoo. The team also shares their personal July 4 experiences, including a view from the Jersey Shore, and the mixed results by channel for the World Cup and surge of imported beer. Brewbound senior reporter Zoe Licata also explains why quality is a default expectation for consumers now, and shouldn’t be a marketing talking point in 2026. 

Days ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, the Brewbound team catches up on beer prices – at home and across the pond – and how Independence Day is stacking up as a heat wave sets in for much of the country.Zoe shares just how different beer prices are in the U.K., learned from her experience seeing Harry Styles and buying drinks at Wembley Stadium. Jess offers an eye on the skies from the Jersey Shore, where only one bev-alc company is flying banner ads over the beaches so far (and it isn’t a beer company). And Justin breaks out the latest grocery circular for a big meat-and-beer promo in Iowa. The trio discusses the latest headlines, including Allagash’s new Maine-centric ad campaign, the World Cup’s impact and just how much Boston misses the Tartan Army and why now is the right time for ready-to-drink (RTD) brands to explore a sale.

Mass Appeal Draught House and Grille opened on the eve of the kick-off of FIFA World Cup 2026 at its neighbor, Gillette Stadium. Hendler Family Brewing co-founder and CEO Sam Hendler joined the Brewbound Podcast to discuss how the multi-branded taproom handled an influx of guests, what Scottish fans prefer to drink (Jack’s Abby House Lager) – and what they’re not drinking. “​​The majority of the audience who's been down there on game day has been the international fan base, and House Lager has been consistently the No. 1 seller, and it's not particularly close,” Hendler said. “We're selling 6 or 7x the House Lager than we are of the top-selling IPA in that taproom right now.”Hendler shared insights into the World Cup-driven boost at the company’s Night Shift taprooms and beer gardens and how they prepared their brands (Jack’s Abby, Wormtown, Masshole Light and Sloop) to stand out in the trade during this high visibility time.In the Boston area, hosting the World Cup and thousands of spectators who have come to support their teams has been a boon for the hospitality industry, particularly beer distributors and breweries.“On the ground, the atmosphere has been fantastic. People have been showing up, people are having a great time, and they're drinking a lot of beer as it goes on,” Hendler said. “There's been so much talk in beer about winning occasions that are beyond what the beer occasion has always been, and the industry still obviously needs work to do on that, because the World Cup, unfortunately, won't last for 365 days a year forever. But it's clear that beer is a winner for this occasion, and it's been absolutely fantastic.”Before the interview, Justin and Zoe discuss the results of the Brewers Association’s annual Harris Poll of consumers’ views on craft beer, recent developments in the ongoing collapse of Republic National Distributing Company and a first impression of Keystone Light Apple.After the interview, stay tuned for a conversation with ArentFox Schiff partner Nichole Shustack, who leads the law firm’s beverage-alcohol practice. She detailed navigational options for suppliers during times of wholesaler consolidation and best practices for the creation of brand platforms. Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform.

Athletic Brewing co-founder and CEO Bill Shufelt is “the most excited” he’s felt since founding the dedicated non-alcoholic (NA) beer brand.On the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast, Shufelt shared what’s driving his hyped feeling, with a foundation he and co-founder John Walker laid about a decade ago. That foundation is built on a team of 300 co-workers, bicoastal brewing facilities, a strong distribution base for its core beers, a slate of new products hitting retailers and marketing campaigns beginning to ramp up.“I’m very bullish on the long-term health and growth of the category and our part in growing that,” Shufelt said. “It was very hard to get non-alcoholic beer from zero to 2% of beer, but there are actual retailers in the U.S. [where] non-alcoholic beer is touching up against 20% of their beer sales.”Those retailers lend credence to Shufelt’s belief that NA beer can be a much bigger part of the beer category. Shufelt explained that consumers are very early in the NA beer discovery curve, with the vast majority unaware how the product has changed in the last decade. Even with the stage set for growth, Shufelt acknowledged that Athletic still has work to do for the company and the segment to reach some of his loftier goals. For Athletic in particular, which holds around 22% of the NA beer segment, distribution remains its biggest opportunity. “In independents, no matter how much our distributors smile at us and tell us we’re a priority, we’re in like 10% of their independents,” Shufelt said. “And I can go into stores in almost any state in the country and look at a shelf that is controlled by our distributor that has five-plus non-alcoholic beer products on it, and Athletic will have none. There’s just such untapped distribution out there still.”For now, Shufelt is focused on driving Athletic and NA beer forward. But could the future include an IPO? An Athletic led by someone else? Shufelt said it’s possible, but he doesn't want to be on the outside looking in on an opportunity he was one of the few people to see.Before the interview, Justin, Jess and Zoe discuss the latest headlines, including the mixed results craft brewers are seeing from the World Cup, the American Cider Association co-locating its 2027 CiderCon conference with the Brewers Association’s Craft Brewers Conference, the closure of Nebraska’s largest craft brewery and the top new products of so far this year.

Ikasu Brewing founder Masahiro “Masa” Kitano believes his Los Angeles-based, contract-brewed brand's plans to lean into “weird and good beer” that taps into Japanese culinary ingredients.Kitano’s history as a home brewer helped him craft out-of-the-ordinary beers, such as a matcha-infused gose.“It’s a sour beer with the aroma of matcha, but it doesn’t look green,” he said. “You smell it and it’s super unique. No one’s thought about combining sour beer with matcha.” Kitano’s beer, as well as his story of leaving a career as a medical researcher to chase his brewing dream, coupled with his infectious personality, propelled him to victory during Brewbound’s Pitch Slam competition at the 2025 Brewbound Live business conference last December.On this week’s Brewbound Podcast, Kitano shares an update on the business following the win and why he believes his pitch resonated.“I tried to make the pitch as simple as possible, a little bit stupid and a little be funny – magically it worked out,” he said. “I’m so glad that happened.”In the months since, the draft-only brand added several bar and restaurant accounts following the win and recently signed with L.A. Distributing Co., Kitano said. Ikasu continues to operate out of Los Angeles-based Native Son, where the brand has six taps dedicated to its beer. The relationship has helped Ikasu test new offerings and connect with a built-in audience. In this episode, Kitano goes deeper into his innovation process, as well as his aspirations for Ikasu, including plans to can Larigato, Ikasu’s Japanese rice lager, later this year for distribution.Before the conversation, the Brewbound team discusses craft beer’s 2025 production report released earlier this week by the Brewers Association. They dive into why Sierra Nevada leapfrogging Boston Beer as the No. 2 independent craft brewery by volume highlights the successes of one brewery and the shift in focus away from beer of the other.The trio also explore Mark Anthony Brands’ deal for the Finnish Long Drink, and which RTD dominos are left to fall/cash in. 

After a lengthy delay that included much fretting among industry insiders, the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) were unveiled earlier this month. Any fears that anti-alcohol activists had infiltrated the quinquennial process were eased, as the new guidelines preach moderation over specific daily drink allowances. Beer Marketer’s Insights senior editor Christopher Shepard, who has followed the process closely, joined the Brewbound Podcast to discuss the DGA, the fraught path to publication and what this could mean for brewers. “The overall guidance didn’t really change,” Shepard said of the DGA’s move to recommend moderation over the former standard daily limit of two drinks for men and one for women. “They just decided to take the specifics away.” Industry trade groups have celebrated the DGA’s embrace of moderation, particularly as it pertains to beer, which has long been touted as an alcoholic beverage that can be consumed in moderation. “One of the reasons it’s been viewed as a win by the industry writ large, and by a coalition of industry trade organizations that came together, is that they came together because there was a very real threat that the Dietary Guidelines were going to tilt towards or embrace a ‘no safe level’ [of alcohol consumption] rhetoric,” Shepard said. “That threat was, in fact, real.” The prior recommendation of two or one daily drinks detailed a drink as 12 oz. of 5% ABV beer, 5 oz. of 12% ABV wine or 1.5 oz. of liquor. Shepard posited that the move away from that method may not sit well with the spirits industry. “There are probably some folks in the distilling world that are not so pleased that that’s gone,” he said. “There are probably some folks in the brewing world that are a little bit happier that that’s no longer on the books.” Before the featured interview, Zoe and Jess discuss recent beer industry headlines, including a proposed deal between the Reyes Beverage Group and Republic National Distributing Company, 2 Towns Ciderhouse’s acquisition of Seattle Cider and the somewhat heartening data Circana published in the past month. Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform.

A new year means it’s Brewbound’s annual roundtable conversation with our peers in beer industry journalism. This year, the Brewbound team is joined by Kate Bernot, lead analyst for Feel Goods Insights, and David Steinman, VP and executive editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights. The discussion covers the biggest bev-alc news stories of 2025, including middle-tier consolidation, overall category health and consumer sentiment. Although full-year scan data has yet to arrive, the beer category is poised to finish 2025 with low- to moderate-single-digit declines in dollar sales and volume, if the trends of the first 11 months hold. “We’re looking at decline after decline after decline – it’s something like 30 million barrels down from our recent peak,” Steinman said, adding that “some of that was inflated from the pandemic gains.” “It felt like it was going to normalize at least multiple times over, and it just keeps on declining at this rate,” he continued. “It’s hard to really put a finger on exactly one thing, but it’s easy to look at the broad-brush of impacts on the trends, and it’s just a tougher business now than it really ever has been for a consistent stretch.” The usual suspects of health and wellness trends, Gen Zs’ alleged broad aversion to alcohol and the rise of intoxicating hemp dominate conversations elsewhere, but Bernot posited that there’s something bigger at play. “The story that maybe went under-discussed for me last year was the broader macroeconomic factors going on in the U.S. and the pressure on the average consumer and how that fits into the choices people are making,” she said. “We hear so much about health. We hear so much about cannabis, THC, etc, competing categories. “I just didn’t hear enough about how pressured the average U.S. consumer feels,” Bernot continued. “We’ve known for a long time that well-off Americans are carrying a lot of water for the U.S. economy, but they can’t do it forever, and especially not in general CPG. You can only go out to a restaurant so many times. You only need so many cases of beer if you’re a wealthy family.” In addition to high-level impacts on the beer business, the conversation also explored granular topics, such as the rise of Guinness in the on-premise, seismic shifts in California distribution and Anheuser-Busch InBev’s growing strength in beyond beer. Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform.