Brewbound Podcast

Can a letter writing campaign save Deschutes’ co-branded Kirkland Signature Helles, the same way Jess 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. Justin 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. Zoe also explains why quality is a default expectation for consumers now, and shouldn’t be a marketing talking point in 2026. 

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.

How did craft close out Q1 in scans? In this episode, the Brewbound team convenes to discuss the early read on trends in off-premise retailers with the first three months of 2026 in the books. The conversation shifts to the latest platform builders, as Oklahoma City’s Coop Ale Works and Dallas’ Four Corners Brewing have created the Frontier Beverage Collective. Meanwhile, Abita Brewing Company is rechristening itself as the Abita Beverage Group, targeting 170,000 barrels this year, and potential mergers and acquisitions. Then the focus turns to new BrewDog owner Tilray Brands’ Q3 earnings report and future plans with the Scottish craft beer brand in the fold. Justin, Jess and Zoe discuss BrewDog’s identity without its “punk” ethos, which now includes a residency in the Hamptons. The show wraps with a conversation about the “Daycap,” following a Business Insider story on bev-alc brands targeting daytime occasions via some creative marketing to younger LDA consumers. . Is this really a thing with Gen Z? Listen here or on your preferred podcasting platform.

As the distribution tier continues to shrink, what must brewers and bev-alc brands do to protect their routes to market? ArentFox Schiff partner Nichole Shustack and senior associate Isabelle Cunningham joined the Brewbound Podcast to discuss how suppliers can navigate the turbulence that comes with wholesaler consolidation. Instability across the middle tier shows no signs of letting up. Breakthru Beverage Group announced a restructuring this week that will result in about 500 jobs cut. Last fall, Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) abandoned its California business after several major spirits suppliers terminated it. Earlier in 2025, the craft distribution business in Southern California got a seismic shock when Hand Family Companies acquired Stone Distributing and Classic Beverage to form Sunset Distributing. An aftershock from that deal reverberated when Sunset acquired boutique craft house Scout Distributing in June 2025. These deals and countless others like them can represent a loosening of otherwise tight contracts between suppliers and distributors. “When you’re notified of a transaction, you should look at that as an opportunity,” Shustack said. “It’s an opportunity to evaluate the market. It’s an opportunity to maybe get a new contract in place. It’s an opportunity to maybe get some additional marketing commitments. “You have leverage and there’s not a lot of time in a supplier-wholesaler relationship where you have leverage,” she continued. “This is one of the few times that you do. You want to make sure that you’re thinking about it early.” Shustack and Cunningham also share updates on the uncertain future of the intoxicating hemp industry, which is slated for prohibition in November 2026. Congress is weighing several bills to delay the ban or establish a regulatory framework. The former seems more likely than the latter – especially with midterm elections on the horizon, Cunningham said. “I think eventually someday we’ll end up with a regulatory framework for it just because of the demand and the money,” she said. “Coming into a midterm election year, I do not see anyone taking this up in earnest, but I don’t see them letting the ban go into effect, either.” Before the interview, Justin and Zoe discuss a bevy of beer news, including the formation of the Oregon Beverage Alliance, year-end shipments data from the Beer Institute, BrewDog’s looming liquidation, Constellation Brands’ incoming CEO and global layoffs at Heineken. Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform. Editor’s Note: While the guests featured in this conversation are attorneys, the discussion does not constitute legal advice. Please consult your own legal counsel as needed.

Nearly a year on the job, new-ish Lagunitas CEO Bernardo Spielmann is seeing opportunities for the legacy California craft beer brand. Those opportunities include expanding Lagunitas Hazy IPA from a draft-only release to package, building on the successful launch of 9% ABV Hazicus Maximus hazy IPA, which now boasts 20,000 points of distribution, and revamping the packaging for non-alcoholic hop water Hoppy Refresher. On the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast, Spielmann shares that it’s also about listening to consumers, who demanded the return of seasonal Unrefined Shugga’, the 10% ABV strong ale that returned this year as a national play in bottles and club packs. Spielmann tells Brewbound managing editor Jess Infante that the goal is to see what resonates and respond quickly. “More and more as the craft segment matures, we’re going to have to be sharper per channel, per market, per SKU how you want to build your proposition,” he said. “There will be a rationalization and that’s the expected approach. We need to facilitate that for retailers but also our distributors. It’s also part of our strategy to be very sharp on how we launch or roll out innovations and the tradeoffs.” Spielmann also discusses the beer category’s need to bring back socializing and capture those occasions. He explains how Lagunitas is doing its part with its “Party Legend” brand activation, which celebrates consumers who are the life of the party. But first, Brewbound editor Justin Kendall and managing editor Jess Infante discuss the sudden closure of Rogue Ales & Spirits and why the shuttering of a top 50 craft brewery is jarring for the public and industry. They also dig into the rumored sale talks of party punch maker BeatBox to Anheuser-Busch InBev. Jess and Justin also share their experiences, including a visit to Tree House’s country club/golf course/taproom and the scuttlebutt from the California Craft Brewers Association’s Summit and the Iowa Craft Brewers Guild’s I-Best meeting. Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform.

High Rise Beverage co-founder Matt Skinner has built a coastal-themed brand in the Southeast, but his ambitions extend across the nation. The Charleston, South Carolina-headquartered intoxicating hemp beverage brand is now available in 22 states, and Skinner sees an opportunity to go even bigger. “We’re in the space of being a nationwide brand at this point,” he says on the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast, recorded in October at the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s Annual Convention in Las Vegas. “Having those partnerships and getting in with the right distributors now is important,” Skinner continued. “They’re finding who they feel like their horses are in the category, and I think we are aligning across the country with that. But the Southeast is very important to us.” Skinner shares his strategy of building the brand in bars and restaurants and why his pitch to those retailers was bigger than his brand. He also explains how High Rise came to be partners with Sony Music in Nashville, which flavors are resonating with consumers and why Target’s adoption of intoxicating hemp products “puts all eyes on the category.” Before the interview, Justin and Zoe discuss the latest news, such as New Belgium’s packed new product slate for 2026, including new Voodoo Ranger IPAs and a canned cocktail offshoot, as well as Molson Coors’ tough Q3 earnings report. Listen here or on your podcasting platform of choice.

How does an ready-to-drink (RTD) brand that was built on the beach translate to other seasons? Surfside, Stateside Vodka’s hard iced tea and lemonade canned cocktail brand, is betting big on sports this fall. Stateside co-founders CEO Clem Pappas and president Matt Quigley joined the Brewbound Podcast to discuss the brand’s meteoric rise, its partnerships across college football and professional hockey and baseball and the newly rechristened Stateside Live!, an entertainment hub at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex where the city’s professional sports teams play. Year-to-date through mid-September, Surfside’s depletions (sales to retailers) reached nearly 8 million cases, about a 150% increase over last year. “We budgeted to be up about 100% on the Surfside brand, and so we’re doing a little bit better than that,” Pappas said. “As we’ve gone through the year and started to lap some bigger and bigger comps, the percentages have slowed down, but the case and the dollar gains have continued to increase, so I think overall, we’ve exceeded expectations.” Surfside rolled out in 2022 and made a bigger splash in 2023 in the brand’s hometown of Philadelphia and at the nearby Jersey Shore. With 100 calories, no carbonation and real iced tea or lemonade blended with premium vodka, Surfside stood out in a sea of hard seltzers. Strong sales trends and positive feedback in the brand’s early days gave the team the confidence it needed to ignore standard bev-alc practices of “go slow on your expansion” and “one territory at a time,” Pappas said. ​​”We really felt like we had a tiger by the tail, and we foresaw that this could be one of the next big things,” he continued. Inspiration struck during rejected sales pitches for Stateside’s vodka soda RTD, which is “extremely popular in our home market,” but failed to gain traction beyond Philadelphia because there was so much competition, Pappas said. Surfside was unlike anything other brands were introducing. “We felt like, ‘Hey, we got something, and opportunity is not a lengthy visitor, and so let’s go out and push this,’” he said. “It’s been an ambitious strategy, and it’s been difficult at times, and it hasn’t been without its stumbles, but ultimately, I think we made the right decision. “We’re in a position where everybody’s pouring into this category, it’s the hot category,” Pappas continued. “We’re in that gold rush phase of the life cycle of this category, and I’m glad we went as fast as we did, because we’d probably be boxed out of a lot of places at this point if we hadn’t.” Prior to the interview, Zoe and Jess break down recent news stories, including the abrupt shutdown of brewpub chain Iron Hill and storied cider maker Martinelli’s pivot to bev-alc. Listen here or on your preferred podcasting platform.