[00:00:00] Martín Caballero: What does M&A activity in the energy drink space mean for brewers today? We're going to talk about it on the Brewbound podcast. Welcome back to the Brewbound Podcast, where it is a very special crossover episode featuring our brother in beverage news, BevNET Managing Editor, Martín Caballero, who's here to join us today to discuss last week's Blockbuster Energy drink deal that saw Alani Nu sold to Celsius for nearly $2 billion. These are things I almost never talk about or think about. So thank God you're here. Marty, how you doing?
[00:00:41] Blockbuster Energy: I'm doing okay. Thank you for inviting me to come on this episode.
[00:00:43] Martín Caballero: Oh my God. Thanks for joining us. It's always so nice when we can collaborate like this.
[00:00:47] Blockbuster Energy: We do work together.
[00:00:48] Martín Caballero: Sometimes we have to remind ourselves. Technically we do.
[00:00:52] Alani Nu: Technically we do. Zoe, how you doing? I'm good. I'm great. I'm glad we're in the office again. This is two weeks in a row, which is a big deal for us, as pod listeners know. And Justin isn't here. He's in Turks and Caicos, as we also talked about. Not jealous at all. No. He is working and is not a glorious vacation, though he should take one of those too. But I'm glad we have Marty here does kind of like our replacement and not so just like I'm a guy I'm here.
[00:01:24] Blockbuster Energy: I'm here to serve. Thank you.
[00:01:26] Martín Caballero: Well, so last week there was really, really big news in your world. We're going to talk about what this deal means, how it could affect beer distributors, what the Bev-Alc world needs to be paying attention to when it comes to non-Alc M&A. Because to be perfectly honest, energy drinks are something I have a huge blind spot to and I know I really shouldn't because they are a big deal to beer distributors. So can you give us like a brief rundown on what big energy drink deals usually mean to the distributor tier?
[00:01:51] Blockbuster Energy: This is kind of the repeat of a story that many of your listeners are probably familiar with. They've been following the beer distribution space. Energy drinks have been a big source of driver of traffic, driver of revenue for these independent distributors. And that has been noticed by a lot of the big beverage companies being Keurig Dr. Pepper, Coca-Cola, Pepsi. And over the years, some of the highest performing brands for those distributors have been picked off by acquirers in that sort of big strategic market. And that's really what's happened here. It's a little bit different because Celsius is outside of that sort of big soda group right there. It's the number three energy drink brand. So it's certainly not insignificant, but it is basically, you know, long story short, the Alani Nu brand did over 500 million in revenue last year, going mainly through Anheuser-Busch distribution houses. That will leave a large gap with those distributors that will need to be filled. And this sort of, again, like I said, there are sort of going back to the drawing board, a lot of the work that they put in to help bring that brand to a level where it could be acquired for nearly $2 billion. Now they're going to have to start over and sort of look at other options, but there are some interesting things going on in the background that I'm sure we'll talk about, which make this slightly different than I think previous instances.
[00:03:07] Martín Caballero: So many of our listeners are tap room focused breweries who don't even sell their beer into distribution for the most part. So they're familiar with how the three tier system works for beer, but can you give us a quick rundown of what distribution is like for big soda? Like how do Coke and Pepsi products get to retailers?
[00:03:24] Blockbuster Energy: Well, Coke and Pepsi operate their own affiliated bottling networks. They go on their respective trucks, the red trucks, the blue trucks, that sort of system that brings those products to market. Celsius, which acquired Elaninu, has a distribution deal with Pepsi, so they go through the Pepsi distribution system. Pepsi owns also an 8.5% stake in that company, so they have obviously some skin in the game there. But yeah, I mean, you're going to see basically the independent DSD route and services and those things that those distributors provide sort of going to be replaced by the more monolithic bureaucratic system of a large strategic in which those brands are going to have less control within that system. They're going to be really kind of at the mercy of these larger strategic. So yeah, it's going to be sort of less nimble. It's going to be a little bit less. touching the ground, touching the shelves that you would get in a DSD independent network. And I think that's really critical because that works really well with large brands that need to do a ton of volume. And it's gonna be just sort of a little bit more removed from that DSD system, which is really helpful for brands that are sort of rising up. So it is a pretty critical distinction and a pretty huge step.
[00:04:37] Alani Nu: Got it. Most of the time when we see these deals, it seems like beer distributors panic a little bit of like, oh no, like you mentioned, now we have to fill this space. Are there any deals that have happened where it's actually been beneficial for beer distributors at all or been folks that have like, okay, we're actually going to stay committed to you guys?
[00:04:55] Blockbuster Energy: Yeah, not really many that come to mind. I think one thing that this does is that it sort of clears the deck and it sort of allows for a reset. And it's certainly not anything that these distributors are really looking forward to. Again, they put in a lot of work to build these brands up and they're a little bit left holding the bag, although they do get buyouts, of course. What will maybe work out in the sense for them is that there will be new brands coming up to replace them. Last week, Jack O'Walk, the founder of Bang, who many people, or many of your listeners probably know about, his new project, AI Energy, signed a major deal with Redwood, a large AV distributor, so that is sort of a re-up situation. There are some interesting younger brands, I think, bucked up out of Utah. Interesting one, they are, again, sort of following that same model of large DSD independent presence that may become even more appealing now that there's one other player off the board. So I think these things sort of shift like pieces on a chessboard. But I can't think of many examples where it's going to be a great big help to these distributors besides obviously being compensated in a buyout, which happened here as well.
[00:06:01] Speaker: So
[00:06:01] Martín Caballero: Yeah. I mean, the elephant in the room here really is franchise law, which doesn't apply in every state, but this is something that obviously distributors really like about their relationships with beer brands and brewers is that these companies are, they're basically married, you know, to your distributors and to leave, you do have to, you know, pay out the same way these energy drink brands are doing, but it's much more difficult to leave a distributor if you are in a state with franchise law. So, I know that these energy drink brains, we do hear distributors say all the time that they're risky because this can happen, but you can also see great payoffs because they sell a lot.
[00:06:39] Blockbuster Energy: I mean, we've certainly seen a lot of beer interest in energy drink category, things like ZOA with Molson Coors and then with Anheuser-Busch and Ghost. But I think that is also pretty interesting because that had the structure of maybe a safe deal. Maybe we're growing with Anheuser-Busch. Maybe there's a potentiality for a buyout or exit there with them. And then that brand was bought by KDP. So these are all really different pieces that these, or it feels like anyway, these are pieces that these companies are sort of arranging and using as they see fit. If Anheuser-Busch felt it was a better deal for them to sell or to, you know, that wasn't something that they wanted to pursue, then that's an indicator in itself of where their sort of head is at. So, and it also just brings bigger questions of sort of beer's role in non-alc in general and how much sort of faith and stock we should put in that.
[00:07:29] Martín Caballero: Yeah, I mean, the convergence continues to pace. So what trends are you seeing in the energy segment that could apply to brewers? What's popular right now that might be able to transcend?
[00:07:40] Blockbuster Energy: Well, I think there's sort of a continuation in terms of what the profile of these energy drinks are looking like. You know, we've had the sort of energy drink 1.0, which was Red Bull and Monster, sort of really a caffeine delivery system, sort of more on the higher end of things. This second generation that we're talking about here with Alani Nu with Celsius, they have more distinct personalities. Celsius is more of a pre-workout, fitness-oriented beverage. Alani Nu has a more female-focused audience and it's sort of more of a lifestyle brand. They also do shakes and sort of different products in that end. So I think the trends that we're going to see continuing is going to be more specificity, more stuff that's built around lifestyle rather than just giving you this general bolt of energy that's just really caffeine delivery. So I think there's going to be more opportunities within that segment. And like I said, you know, something like Alani knew when it was sort of new a couple of years ago, that had a very distinctive point of view, a certain right kind of founder team behind it with Katie Hearn. And that sort of developed a lane in which it could become, you know, have some safeguards with the other energy drinks in the category. So if I'm a brewer or if I'm a distributor looking at more opportunities in energy drinks, I would look to these more focused on specific occasions and more specified. A lot of them have coming out of that sports nutrition space. You'll see them at GNC and vitamin shop, and then you'll eventually see them at your convenience store, those types of brands. It's interesting because that's not unlike the form energy deal with AB. That is again, a brand that has roots in sports nutrition, you know, developing around that and leveraging that experience to go further into RTD. I think that's a smart play. I think we'll probably see more of that.
[00:09:25] Alani Nu: We're already seeing some of that crossover with like the sports and functional beverages with alk in like Lightstrike that just came out from New Belgium and that's inspired by some of those hydration drinks looks very similar to some of those existing non-alcoholic beverages. Do you have any insights into what consumers who are drinking these non-alk versions, what their appetite is or what their feelings are towards some of those attributes being in their alcohol? Do you see that they have any desire for that or they kind of tired of that stuff already? What is that consumer base like?
[00:09:57] Blockbuster Energy: I think it's early to tell from sort of a consumer reception standpoint in terms of the sales and in sort of velocity and interest for those kind of things. But to be honest, I don't see a high demand necessarily. I feel like those products are a little bit trying to figure out what this consumer wants and just trying something different, which I can't really blame them. Right now, I think consumers want all sorts of different things at all sorts of different times. So in the morning, they want this certain thing. And then in mid morning, they want this and then in the afternoon, they want this this and you can essentially go through your whole day beverage wise and have a different brand for every 20 minutes or something like that. So I think a little bit of these products are trying to kind of split the difference and trying to give you a little bit of caffeine with a little bit of hydration with a little bit of alcohol with this. And then maybe this will work for five 30, but by 6 PM, you're already on your different drink. So that's the kind of feeling I get with those. I think they're trying to solve something that is. It's a little bit of a shot in the dark, but we'll see how consumers receive those products. I think it's a little early just to see, you know, how much they're really buying into it.
[00:11:04] Alani Nu: It's an interesting concept that people are trying to basically give you everything you want in one and maybe consumers don't necessarily want that. They still want to have them separated a little bit so you can be a little bit more, you know, pick and choosy of when you have those beverages. So you'd think that, okay, more efficient, get everything in one beverage, great. People are going to love that and it's not necessarily the case.
[00:11:27] Blockbuster Energy: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, even we're talking about energy here. I mean, there's stratification even within that day part where maybe in the morning you have a coffee, maybe instead of a second coffee, you have a Celsius and maybe in the afternoon you have a caffeinated sparkling water, which is a little bit less or a tea or something like that. So people's interpretation of the day part, I think is changing because they have so many different options now. And then at the end of the day, you have a relaxation drink because you're all wired from all this caffeine. So I think that's where the play is. And yeah, I kind of agree with you. I think when you try to do too many things at once, it can be difficult to see, you know, how is this going to fit in my day? Because it kind of eats up other things.
[00:12:06] Martín Caballero: When did we enter this phase of a different beverage for every 20 minutes of the day?
[00:12:11] Blockbuster Energy: I don't know. I think I just kind of coined that just now.
[00:12:13] Martín Caballero: I think you did. Wow. Breaking news here.
[00:12:15] Blockbuster Energy: But, you know, you just go look at the shelf. I think functional beverage is really the sort of overall thing. And that's a matter of interpretation because almost everything is a functional beverage. I mean, water could be a functional beverage, but just sort of how we break those down. And now that we have so many options, we can make the best decision for this particular time or situation. Some of it is a tyranny of choice. I don't think it's necessarily great all the time, but from a marketing perspective and delivering what consumers look for, I can understand it.
[00:12:45] Martín Caballero: I think there's a whole world here that I just straight up miss out on because I'm just like iced coffee in the morning, water throughout the day, Diet Coke with lunch.
[00:12:52] Blockbuster Energy: Missing out, I think that's to be determined if you're missing anything. Maybe the opposite.
[00:12:58] Martín Caballero: Well, that's why I love coming into the office because we have samples of stuff that I would never have even known existed. So it is enlightening.
[00:13:05] Blockbuster Energy: Absolutely.
[00:13:06] Martín Caballero: Well, so you and the team have covered quite a bit of M&A so far in 2025, far more than we have in Brewbound land. What sense does that give you of how the rest of the year will pan out? And we've had some really big deals. So there's this one, you know, Celsia Solani New, which was almost $2 billion. Just to recap for the folks at home, Spindrift had a huge acquisition, and I know there's one more, and I really should have typed this out. I'm so sorry to put you on the spot.
[00:13:32] Blockbuster Energy: There have been several smaller ones too. I mean, I think the impression is there's huge gaps, certainly. I mean, there's consolidation among the top, you know, among the top people and top strategics. And then at the bottom, we're seeing, frankly, I think there's brands that have been forced or brands that have come to a crossroads at a difficult time and have to make decisions that they didn't anticipate making and deals that they didn't anticipate having to do a few months earlier or a year earlier based on their growth and just sort of the economic atmosphere. So yeah, I mean, I think there will be more deals, but the sort of healthy feeling deals of, you know, healthy capital growth capital for a company that's making progressively strong gains. Those feel a little bit further in between. Now it feels like some brands that are sort of getting out while they can and other ones that are being swallowed up as these strategics consolidate and protect their positions.
[00:14:31] Martín Caballero: That feels more familiar to us. That I think is where we were maybe two years ago. And right now it's, you know, like the days of the larger brewers buying small craft brewers, like that's really effectively over. And now what we're seeing a lot of is smaller brands teaming up. We call it the sea otter effect where otters hold hands in the water so they don't drift apart. It's very cute. Less cute when you're forming a new platform or a M&A deal with a fellow small producer to make sure that you survive. But I hope that this turns cuter in the future. Me too.
[00:15:05] Blockbuster Energy: Well, maybe I can ask you guys a question too, because I think there's been a lot of speculation about the distribution situation with Celsius and Elaninu. There's been no announcement yet. There's been nothing that says for sure this is going to be going through the Pepsi system. And I wonder if there's any sort of comparison to what we've seen at like Monster with the cannery brewing and how they reorganize. So they have their independent distribution as well as Coca-Cola. I mean, how has that worked for them? And is that something that, you know, is possibly could be replicated?
[00:15:35] Martín Caballero: What an excellent question. They're a bit of a lock box to be perfectly honest with you. But one thing that we do hear in the rare times that they let information about this out is that when Monster acquired Canarchy, Canarchy never really consolidated their distribution footprint. So all of the brands in that family kind of were doing their own thing and they didn't have too much overlap. So what Monster has been doing in the, gosh, we just passed the third anniversary of that deal. What Monster's been up to in the past two years is to get all of these brands flowing through the same houses, which takes a lot. It's a lot of work. A lot of legal work to get all those contracts, you know, canceled and new contracts re-signed and all of that. So that's what they're trying to do. It's just like much more efficient to send, you know, a truck from a brewery out to one wholesaler rather than like three.
[00:16:24] Blockbuster Energy: And basically that lets them have just more control over that situation, right? I mean, they have, so Coca-Cola is doing their side and then they have this side, which they have more hands on. Yeah, exactly.
[00:16:35] Martín Caballero: I mean, you don't need to have as many, you know, you don't need to have as many touch points for your sales force. You can kind of. Unfortunately, this probably has resulted in some sales roles being eliminated and everybody can just focus on their relationships with their set distributors. But one thing that we have been seeing in the Canarchy family, the former Canarchy family, is a lot of these craft houses that are part of the group have really gone from being big portfolio companies to they just focus on a handful of their flagship beers. So Cigar City, if you go on their website lately, the beer brands listed are Hi-Li, and Florida man. And that's it. They used to have so many, you know, really delicious craft beers in that family. But when you're going for volume, you don't want to be dealing with an unwieldy craft portfolio that has, you know, 20 plus skews in it. So that's what we're saying. That for every single craft brand that you have. Right. Multiply that by Oscar blues, by Deep Ellum, Squatters, Wasatch, Perrin, Three Weavers is out, but... A lot going on.
[00:17:40] Alani Nu: Anytime we talk about this too, I think about the kind of outlier here has been Tilray, who one, has a bunch of brands, but also has a ton of distributors in their network. I forget the actual figure, but they shared it last month and it's like thousands. It is a unwieldy amount of distributors in their network. That is banana pants to me. So there's always going to be those outliers who are just not, don't have as clean of a setup.
[00:18:04] Martín Caballero: Tilray right now is like basically the person in the Uno round who is holding like 40 cards in their hands. And we don't know what's going to happen, but we will see. Yeah.
[00:18:14] Alani Nu: I'm curious to get, while we have you here, Marty, to another recent news bit that we talked about was Constellation has a minority investment in Hi-O. Is that how you pronounce it? Yes. So that's kind of in that functional space too, but it's like a non-alcoholic, ready-to-drink beverage space. It seems a little more like new age-y is that they're kind of just like forming new beverages that are going to speak to these young consumers. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that brand is, what their target demographic is, and why Constellation would want to be a part of that?
[00:18:46] Blockbuster Energy: So I think to me, I mean, HYO is a is a growing brand. It's certainly not a household name. It is certainly in a category in which you can rise up pretty quickly just because there's, you know, it's pretty wide open and still being defined. And to me, I think that's a little bit of what Constellation is kind of smartly doing is just playing a little bit of defense and getting a foothold in a brand that is As you said, it's a bit new agey, but it's also relatively approachable. It's not a THC infused product. It's not a sort of like Kratom product or along those, along those lines of things. So I think it's, it's a pretty reasonable bet. You know, again, I'd have to sort of look back on the numbers. I don't have them off the top of my head, but I think that. It makes sense to sort of have a piece of that as you look at growing your non-alcatelog. Also, that indicates their feeling on it. It's one to grow on. It's not going to be this front and center of their big quarterly earnings next time. But I would say, you know, Constellation, I think, It's been a little bit of time now, but you know, non-ALK hasn't necessarily been a huge success for them. I think, you know, we covered a lot about BioSteel and that deal, you know, sort of collapsed pretty quickly or pretty spectacularly in some ways. So, you know, as opposed to wait and see, but I think it's on the right part of the curve for them to get involved in that before it gets a little too played out or maybe too undefined. It seems like a reasonable bet.
[00:20:10] Martín Caballero: Yeah, this like a non-alk functional ready to drink, I guess, a cocktail. To me, it sounds like something that was created in a lab to appeal to all of like the intersection of all these consumer trends.
[00:20:21] Blockbuster Energy: I think one thing that we've talked a lot about on BevNET and maybe you guys too is just like, the unwieldy terms and definitions for this segment. There's nothing that really sounds great about, hey, this is a ready drink, non-alcoholic, it's 15 different names and they all mean basically the same thing. I think that's certainly been difficult. And I think within the retail context and merchandising context, I think that adds an extra thing. But basically it's non-alcoholic drinks that adults don't feel silly.
[00:20:50] Alani Nu: Right. We saw a similar deal too with Molson Coors, right? With Naked Life. Is that a similar like non-alcohol cocktail space? It's like an Australian brand that they took on, but they really have been hyping it up in recent conversations being, this is our in way with this kind of like non-alcoholic adult beverage that isn't like a non-alcoholic beer.
[00:21:13] Blockbuster Energy: Very similar. If you look at the data and if you follow sort of the market numbers, that's all very reasonable decisions by where the market is going. But I think it remains to be seen if that's going to be a three-year, five-year, ten-year brand or trend.
[00:21:28] Martín Caballero: Yeah. Well, Marty, this has been awesome. We should really do this more often. If the people want to hear more from you, I know they can find you on the BevNET TikTok.
[00:21:36] Blockbuster Energy: Yeah, call 1-900 in the next 10 minutes, press one, vote one, and I'll be back. I'm all over BevNET. Yes, definitely doing the TikToks. I think I have one scheduled for later today, but yeah, we're covering this stuff all the time on BevNET and on Nosh.
[00:21:52] Martín Caballero: Yeah, and we also offer an all-access subscription for insiders where you get access to all of Brewbound, but also all of BevNET and all of Notch. So if that's of interest to you, hit us.
[00:22:03] Blockbuster Energy: Why stop at one? Just get them all. Why? Right?
[00:22:05] Martín Caballero: I mean, eventually all of these things are just going to be the same. Right. It's awesome. So we'll cross over to a point where we just become one team. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us. So Zoe, as you mentioned, there is still beer news. And here's another perfect example of how the news is on BevNET.com, but it's also on Brewbound.com. Late breaking news, yesterday evening, we're recording this on Tuesday morning of February 25th. Yesterday afternoon, Spirit Giant Brown Forman announced that they were leaving the Republic National Distributing Company for the Reyes Beverage Group in California. So we are no strangers to suppliers saying they're leaving their current distributor for Reyes, particularly in California. But this is a big one. Our teammate Faryn Salnaker, the BevNET Spirits editor, covered it for us. She lives in California, so the time zones were on her side.
[00:22:57] Alani Nu: Yeah, and it was a little bit of deja vu because this just happened a few weeks ago too with Tito's. And that was just like looking at our numbers, people are really interested in that story. That was like one of our biggest stories recently of folks just seeing a big spirits company moving into Reyes.
[00:23:15] Martín Caballero: Yeah. I mean, it just, it makes sense for where we are, where the market is. You know, beer distributors have the systems in place and they've been doing it for years to service the cold box, particularly in convenience stores. Wine and spirits warehouses maybe don't have that ability.
[00:23:29] Alani Nu: Right. Particularly as they're moving into these like ready to drink cocktails and things, these products that are spirits products, but they're operating more in beer ways and how they're sold and the consumers that they're targeting. So it just makes more sense to have a distributor that knows how that works.
[00:23:45] Martín Caballero: Yeah, and this move will take effect May 1st. So more to come on that if you want to read that story, it's up now at Brewbound.com. Other beer news of this week, legislative updates. We've got self-distribution expansion pushes in Georgia and Idaho. The Georgia one is interesting because it really Self-distro is a big part of it, but there's a few other things there too. This bill in Georgia, the Craft Beer and Local Economy Revitalization Act, would permit small breweries in Georgia to sell up to 3,000 barrels annually to retailers that are licensed in the state that are within 100 miles of the brewery. So it's not like a self-distro free-for-all all over the state, wherever you want. There's definitely some guide rails in place. Another thing that it would do, it would allow craft breweries in Georgia to sell to each other. The bill defines a small brewery as being one who does not account for more than 15% of their distributors annual sales. So, which sounds a little wonky, but basically you can't be so big that you are nearly a fifth of your distributors business. And that is what would allow you to self-distribute. It would also allow breweries to donate beer to special charity events, which is a huge thing. Certainly at least at the brewery I used to work for, we had a robust donations program. So, We'll keep an eye on that one. The Idaho self-distro push is an interesting one. Self-distro is already allowed in Idaho, but this would allow out-of-state breweries to distribute their own products within the state so long as they maintain a warehouse in Idaho. I think it really mostly just applies to breweries in neighboring states born out of a lawsuit brought against the state from Washington brewers.
[00:25:19] Alani Nu: I feel like a majority of the conferences we go to and things when people are giving guidance to brewers about how they can grow, how they can best support their business, there seems to be a shift recently where many people are encouraging self-distribution more and saying if you can do it in your state, go for it because we know some of these bigger distributors, it's hard if you're a smaller, particularly like a small craft brand, to get as much attention. And so these states where you can't do it are potentially starting to be like, okay, we could help some of these smaller breweries by giving these allowances to them. So it seems like there's a little bit of a shift happening here.
[00:25:57] Martín Caballero: Yeah, and I know that traditionally, usually the lobbying groups that represent wholesalers come out against these things. But I think there's also a recognition within the middle tier that, hey, small craft brewers have different needs that maybe we don't want to meet. We don't want to take on a super wide portfolio right now. Yeah. And then in Maryland, once again, this seems to have happened several years in a row. Now there is a bill being introduced at the state capitol that would allow beer and wine sales at grocery and convenience stores, other mass retailers. Maryland is just one of a very small handful of states that does not allow this. The bill, by all local news accounts I've read, seems unlikely to pass, but its sponsor is pushing for a few different concessions to the state's network of independent liquor stores, such as a 5% convenience surcharge added to beer and wine sales at big chains that would then be used to entice developers to open grocery stores in food deserts, which is a big problem. They also would consider only letting independent liquor stores offer Bev-Alec sales on Sundays. But again, every local news outlet seemed pretty pessimistic on the outlook for this bill, but we'll keep tracking that one.
[00:27:10] Alani Nu: Other news out of this past week or so, we had a big people moves announcement. For anyone familiar with Brew Brown, this is a very familiar face to you. Cary Yunker, who is the executive VP at Bells Brewery, is going to depart the company next month after more than 20 years. which is massive. If you came to Brew Brown Live a few years ago, she gave the keynote address and she talked about her whole journey starting there as basically like a receptionist and part-time while she was in school and worked her way up to being executive VP and was basically the head of Bells after Larry left and after the whole deal with Kieran and Lyon. So it's a pretty big move to have Carrie leave.
[00:27:51] Martín Caballero: It really is definitely an end of an era for the Bells crew. We've loved getting to know Carrie over the past few years. She's an absolute delight. Brewbound Insiders can go back and revisit her keynote address. I believe it was Brewbound Live 2022. Yeah. And then she wrapped Bells on a panel in 2023. And her last day will be March 24th. It's going to be Oberon Day. Yeah, March 24th. And Zoe will always tell me that I really need to stop having dreams about work. But last week I had a dream that we all went to Oberon Day. And maybe I think we need to make that happen.
[00:28:24] Alani Nu: Yeah, it's very fitting that Carrie's last day is Oberon Day. So they made a point of saying, you know, she's going to still stick around for what they say is her favorite day of the year. And we don't know exactly what she's going to be doing next, but it did say that she's going to be working closely with some of her passions, which include community foundations and causes. So it sounds like she's just moving on for a new chapter and some continuing things she's passionate about. We're happy for Carrie, but we're going to really miss Carrie. I think that's OK to say. I think that's OK to say. She's quite a big leader within craft, for sure. So definitely big news out of last week.
[00:29:02] Martín Caballero: So Brew Run Insiders know that every weekend Sean McNulty sends out the weekend newsletter. And on Friday afternoons, you know, you, me and Justin sit around and try to figure out what's the email subject line, what's the preview line. And I was super pleased with myself for what I came up with for last week because Sean had detailed that Warren Buffett has invested into Constellation Brands. And as you did not know, but weirdly I know, Warren Buffett's, one of his nicknames is the Oracle of Omaha. So I wrote, the Oracle of Omaha finds his beach as the preview line for the email. And we all, you know, Friday afternoon at like what, like 5.30, we solidified these things, congratulated ourselves on a productive week and went our separate ways. And then as I was telling my husband about this, I don't know, the next day, at some point over the weekend, I was like, yeah, listen to this thing that I wrote. He was like, are you insane? It sounds like you're referring to Omaha Beach, which is obviously a really
[00:30:04] Alani Nu: Only a history teacher would point this out, right?
[00:30:07] Martín Caballero: And I was like, honestly, Ryan, like I see what you're saying, but our audience is not history teachers, such as yourself. And of the two of us, my grandfather landed on an old hat, not yours. But like we didn't offend anybody, right? I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so.
[00:30:24] Alani Nu: And maybe we need to start doing historical checks with Ryan. And maybe we do. I don't know. I don't know how Sean would feel about that.
[00:30:30] Martín Caballero: All right, let's hit another round of tabbing out. And this one is something that came through the newswire just last week, news released today. The K. Spetzel Brewery, a.k.a. Shiner, a.k.a. Gambrinus, is reviving Texas Special, a beer brand that was made to celebrate the end of Prohibition in 1933. They are launching with Texas Special, Texas Special Light, something to celebrate their Texan heritage and their roots. But Texas has a lot of these beers. So how many Texas branded beers does Texas really need? We've got Shiner is like the de facto Texas beer. Then there's Lone Star, which is in the Pabst family. There's Eight, which was named in honor of Troy Aikman's number whilst he played quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Another round tabbing out. What do you think?
[00:31:19] Alani Nu: Given I am not from Texas, so I might not understand the demand as much as someone from Texas, I am going to tap out on this. There's so many. They're very outspoken about their connection to the state, and this is like the beer for your state. You can't have a bunch of them, then does that make none of them the beer of the state, right? Is there going to be battles now between like eight in Texas Special of what is the real Texas beer? I don't know. I understand it is a very large state. There's a lot of people there, but... There has to be a limit.
[00:31:57] Martín Caballero: There has to be a limit. I'm with you on this. I think, uh, do you just need to be reiterated in your Texan pride so much so that you could drink a different Texas themed beer every day of the week?
[00:32:09] Alani Nu: I wonder if there are regional pockets too within Texas of like, okay, this is the, like Shiner is for this part of Texas. Oh, I'm sure. We don't have a Boston beer and then a Western Mass beer and a Central Mass beer and a Berkshire's beer, right? I mean, I'm sure you could pick a craft brewery from each of those and say yes, but we're not saying like, oh, I'm from Central Mass, so I only drink the Central Mass beer. We're significantly smaller. I was going to say, there's something very different about Texas and Massachusetts. Much, much, much smaller.
[00:32:41] Martín Caballero: I don't know. Just a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. Well, you know, Texans, I'm happy for you. I'm proud of you for being proud of your state. There are several states like this that are overflowing with such state pride, but they don't have a million different beers for themselves. So maybe they should. I don't know. Next week on the Brewbound podcast, we'll talk about when New Jersey light lager launches. No, I'm just kidding. All right, well, I think that's it. We hit all the news. Zoe, thank you for being here. If you enjoyed the Brewbound podcast, I am on a personal mission to up the reviews and ratings of our show on various platforms. So feel free to drop us a review. If there's something you don't like about the Brewbound podcast, I would say keep that to yourself. No, I'm just kidding. Drop us a line anytime at podcast at Brewbound.com. Thank you so much to the whole Brewbound FevNet crew that makes all of this happen every week, especially to Marty for joining us. How much fun was that? And we'll be back with a fresh episode next week.
