Brewbound Podcast: Big Soda Makes a Big Investment in Non-Alc Beer

[00:00:00] Jessica Infante: Athletic Brewing is getting a big investment from Keurig Dr. Pepper. Find out more next on The Brewbound podcast. Hello and welcome to The Brewbound podcast. My name is Justin Kendall and I'm the editor The Brewbound and I'm joined by Jessica Infante, the managing editor The Brewbound. What's up, Jess?

[00:00:28] Zoe Licata: Hey, not much. What's up with you?

[00:00:31] Jessica Infante: Just trying to get ready for Brewbound Live in less than 21 days.

[00:00:37] Zoe Licata: Living the dream.

[00:00:38] Jessica Infante: Living the dream. And I'm also joined by Zoe Licata, Brewbound reporter extraordinaire. How you doing, Zoe?

[00:00:47] Keurig Dr: Good. I'm doing well. Talking from our office for once and good old Newton.

[00:00:54] Jessica Infante: Somebody's got to use that office.

[00:00:57] Keurig Dr: It is being used well today. We have a good turnout today. Once we get towards these events, everyone shows up at the office.

[00:01:05] Zoe Licata: Please send everyone my regards after my commute to meet you at the Mass Breweries Guild Conference yesterday. I am all set on not, you know, setting foot on a Massachusetts highway for many days. Yes, absolutely.

[00:01:19] Keurig Dr: It was a very nice, easy, like 20 minute commute in today, but I'm very nervous for the drive home. But it's nothing compared to your drive to Salem, so I can't really complain.

[00:01:31] Zoe Licata: This place is stupid. on a peninsula with roads that date back to the 1600s. I chose this. It's my fault.

[00:01:41] Jessica Infante: It's the early airing of the grievances here.

[00:01:44] Zoe Licata: Yeah, I apologize. Let's let's talk about real things.

[00:01:47] Jessica Infante: Well, we've The Brewbound Live coming up November 29th and 30th in Santa Monica. We are closing in fast on that. And we've got another panel announced, and that is going to dive into e-commerce strategies with Molson Coors, Sierra Nevada, Crowns and Hops, and the e-premise group. And Zoe, you're going to be hosting this one.

[00:02:08] Keurig Dr: Yeah, I'm excited. It's going to be a fun chat talking about what the e-premise is like and how you can use it in this weird, Still slightly in pandemic and not world where we're kind of advancing the conversation past, you know, everyone was at home looking at the premise for where they can get their alcohol. And now, what does that look like with the on premise open and how that still can be used as a tool?

[00:02:35] Jessica Infante: Yeah, and you're going to get four. I was going to say three, but we've added a fourth panelist here. You're going to get four very varied perspectives on this one. And that's with Sarah Welch Goucher, who is Molson Coors Director of E-Commerce for North America. Steve Koning, Sierra Nevada's E-Commerce National Accounts Manager. Derek Hom, the E-Premise Group's Chief Commercial Officer. And Benny Ashburn, Crowns and Hops' co-founder and CEO.

[00:03:04] Keurig Dr: Yeah, so we'll have some perspective on people whose whole world is E-premise and for like in the case of Benny, they just started their own E-premise stuff. So we get to see how that's working out, what they're learning as they go. So a nice range of perspectives.

[00:03:21] Jessica Infante: And there's a whole lot more that you can see about BrewBoundLive at brewboundlive.com. You can get tickets there. You can see the full agenda, which is out now. You can see the full speaker list. So very excited to be in California in less than a month with both of you and, you know, talking beer biz.

[00:03:42] Zoe Licata: I'm excited. It's gonna be great. We have a lot of really interesting conversations lined up.

[00:03:46] Keurig Dr: Obviously, I'm biased, but a nice range of conversations, too. So we're keeping things interesting throughout both days.

[00:03:56] Jessica Infante: Lots of data, lots of conversation with retailers, wholesalers, large brewers, small brewers, fourth category producers. I'm probably leaving some folks out. We're going to dive into Gen Z. We're going to dive into all the numbers in craft and talk about, you know, fact and fiction with our friends at Nielsen IQ, the Beer Institute, and three-tier beverages. There's going to be a whole lot coming out of there. Plus the Pitch Slam competition, which is always fun. So, yeah, if you're in California or you want to come to California for, you know, late November, we'll be in Santa Monica. So with that plug, let's get to the news and really three big items I want to hit here. And let's just start with the big news that we talked about at the top of the show. And that's Athletic Brewing has received a $50 million investment from Keurig Dr. Pepper. That was part of a Series D round in which they raised a total of $75 million and That company keeps chugging along. They are well past their production level of 2021. They crossed that in August. And we're going to hear all about it from Bill Shufelt, who's going to join us for a very quick interview that we recorded right after they announced this deal.

[00:05:19] Zoe Licata: This is huge, and it makes a lot of sense. Interesting to me that, you know, we've seen so many other deals from these big multinational soda brands getting involved in BevAlc products through, you know, licensing agreements. And correct me if I'm wrong, guys, but I don't really know that we've seen much from Keurig Dr. Pepper except for that little joint venture they had going with AB a couple of years ago on the in-home brew device whose name is Escaping Me and it was canceled last December. Drinkworks. Drinkworks. There you go. Thank you, friends.

[00:05:53] Jessica Infante: Which you could have bought the equipment for if you had the money. I think that went to auction, right?

[00:05:58] Zoe Licata: Yeah. Yeah. I remember when I was job hunting, they had a they had an office up here in like, you know, the north of Boston land.

[00:06:06] Jessica Infante: I think you did all right.

[00:06:08] Zoe Licata: I think I did. I mean, I'd rather be with you guys over anything else.

[00:06:12] Jessica Infante: We're happy to have you.

[00:06:13] Zoe Licata: Yeah. Yeah. Why was there an office here? Who knows? But yeah, so the KDP really is kind of sat this out. So interesting to me that this is the way they're going because I mean, I think it's smart. I think, you know, we've seen that there's definitely a lot of staying power in non-elk beer, particularly non-elk craft beer, the way that Athletic Brewing going. So I think they saw, you know, a horse they wanted to bet on that didn't involve too much risk for them.

[00:06:37] Jessica Infante: And when you are in a CPG company and you don't have to worry about alcoholic beverage regulations, I think that's a more natural fit for them. And we'll see. This is a minority stake. Bill's going to talk all about it in our interview here and just about how they have basically an aligned vision and just really aligned cultures. We'll get more into that in the interview, but wanted to just hit that really at the top because that's really one of the big stories of the week. We're starting off hot this week.

[00:07:15] Zoe Licata: Dude, this week. Woof.

[00:07:20] Jessica Infante: We have a deal on Monday and that deal is global cannabis firm Tilray has acquired Maui Brewing in New York. And Montauk was one of those fast-rising craft breweries. And here we go with Tilray adding to that portfolio of Sweetwater, Green Flash, and Alpine.

[00:07:41] Zoe Licata: Yeah, plus like Breckenridge Distilling. Tilray's not at all been shy about their aspirations in the beverage alcohol space, but they've particularly not been shy about how a lot of this is just setting the table for the eventual time that cannabis becomes federally legal in the US and they can use I don't know if it's the infrastructure they want to use or the brands or whatever, but they want to be able to make cannabis-infused beverages, obviously non-alcoholic cannabis-infused beverages, because I don't think we'll ever see that become legal.

[00:08:12] Jessica Infante: It's a little column A, a little column B, because they talked about leveraging the Sweetwater infrastructure and its scale. And it sounds like they're going to take Montauk, well, throughout the footprint. We'll start there. And, you know, before we say national,

[00:08:30] Zoe Licata: Montauk for only being what, like 10 years old, their footprint is real tight and they do a good amount of volume in the few states that they're in. So this was probably a smart buy. I think it's a brand that can travel. I know maybe people too far outside the Northeast maybe don't know what Montauk is or where it is, but cute aspirational coastal town at the end of Long Island. To me, it was surprising, but some people might look at this and say, like, I could have seen this coming from a million miles away. I don't know.

[00:09:03] Jessica Infante: Yeah, well, the last couple of years they've produced anywhere from 46,935 barrels to 49,127 barrels. That's according to the Brewer's Association. So close to 50,000 barrels of beer that they've been producing. And I think the lion's share of that is contract produced. I know they were producing at Wachusett. They may have been producing at one other place. I'm not sure if it's Two Roads or not, but anyway, don't quote me.

[00:09:33] Zoe Licata: No, but that sounds totally plausible. On Sunday, I was in New York City because my sister-in-law ran the marathon, and we were all gathered at a bar on the Upper West Side to celebrate. And one of her and my brother's friends, who's One of the, well, to me, he's a youth, but he's like probably 32. But we were just chatting and he'd been drinking an IPA from a craft brand owned by a global brewer. And I said, Joe, for your next beer, the bar has Montauk IPA, perhaps you should try it. And he did, and he liked it. And then the very next morning, you surprised us with the news of this deal. And I like to think that perhaps I willed this into existence.

[00:10:13] Jessica Infante: I think that it's all your fault at this point.

[00:10:17] Zoe Licata: I'm sure this was in the works for months.

[00:10:20] Jessica Infante: It happened overnight. They heard that you pushed an IPA on to someone. And all of a sudden, Telluray Irwin Simon was at the next table.

[00:10:31] Keurig Dr: Yeah.

[00:10:31] Jessica Infante: And he's like, Montauk, get them on. Let's throw some cash in stock, you know, or something.

[00:10:37] Keurig Dr: I'm curious now what the next purchase is going to be because now with Montauk they have like the Northeast. They had like Georgia with Sweetwater and that's been expanding West Coast. They got Denver with this distillery like is it is there going to be like a Chicago brand next? They're almost fully got the map but not quite yet.

[00:10:57] Zoe Licata: Great question.

[00:10:58] Jessica Infante: Yeah, Texas, Midwest.

[00:11:01] Zoe Licata: Yeah. I mean, they ran Sweetwater Nationwide pretty quickly. And if they're not in all 50 states, I'm sure they're way closer than they were two years ago when the first deal happened.

[00:11:13] Keurig Dr: Yeah, I remember Irwin Simon saying in like August during that earnings call that the expansion was taking longer than they originally had planned, but was still going.

[00:11:28] Jessica Infante: So yeah, it was their rollout with Reyes, I think.

[00:11:31] Zoe Licata: Yeah. OK. Yeah. Because, I mean, they announced California, Oregon and Washington all within a couple of weeks of each other in February. California there with Reyes, Washington, Oregon there with Columbia.

[00:11:42] Jessica Infante: Well, Jess, noted scoop lover, you got a scoop.

[00:11:46] Zoe Licata: Yeah, so last week we happened to notice that Modern Times' Anaheim location, which was the one with the fancy swimming pool that was, I'm sure, you know, in its construction, probably behind timelines and over budget.

[00:11:59] Jessica Infante: It absolutely was.

[00:12:01] Zoe Licata: Yeah, we learned that it had closed. Then we poked a little bit and made some calls and found that it was not included in the sale to Maui. And then we also learned that the sale to Maui was actually $5.3 million less than what we thought it would be. If you guys remember the drama of this year that involved the Modern Times auction, Maui had been approved as the backup bidder with a bid of $15.3 million. Of the other two bidders, the eventual final bidder was like $20 million. And the second place bidder opted not to become a backup bidder. So with both of them out, we were looking at, you know, this $15.3 million bid from Maui and the deal officially closed last week. And it actually was for $10 million, which is I don't have to tell any of you guys much less than the stated valuation that Modern Times had included in some documentation years ago at $264 million. And that valuation was part of a crowd raise. You got to open up all your books to show people what's going on. And that was based on using the $1,000 per barrel metric that was popular in a few sales back in the last decade, the middle part of the last decade.

[00:13:22] Jessica Infante: That last point.

[00:13:23] Zoe Licata: Yeah, exactly. We've largely seen that that metric is kind of trash. I was trying to think of a nicer way to say that, but there's really not.

[00:13:33] Jessica Infante: You can throw it out now. Yeah. If you were lucky enough to cash in on that, you may have felt an impairment charge or two by now. The other part of this story is Jen Briggs, who had run Modern Times and was expected to join Kraft Ohana, the platform that Maui is building with Modern Times, decided that she didn't want to go along and she's going to do her own thing. It's an amicable split. So yeah, she's a free agent now.

[00:14:03] Zoe Licata: And you can hear more from her The Brewbound Live, where she will join us next month. Next month. Good Lord. This month.

[00:14:10] Jessica Infante: This month.

[00:14:10] Zoe Licata: Oh, man. Yeah. I, you know, I don't know. I think I've kind of revealed myself to be a great admirer of Ms. Briggs and her leadership style. And I don't blame her. I wish her all the best of luck. But, you know, she lives in Colorado and probably was commuting to California a lot and then was going to be faced with the potential of having to commute to Hawaii a lot. And like, I mean, look, I would take that.

[00:14:35] Jessica Infante: Don't put that hardship on.

[00:14:36] Zoe Licata: Right. But that's a lot. That's a lot of time.

[00:14:40] Keurig Dr: Yeah. And it seems like she said that the relationship with Garrett and Maui is still really good. And they're both going to be on stage talking about everything that's happened in the past year The Brewbound Live. So it seems that there's no, to our knowledge, any other drama going on there.

[00:14:57] Zoe Licata: No, no, all seems good. They seem ready to chug along, excited to hear more about it. If you think you got what it takes to be a chief experience officer bouncing between Maui and San Diego, hit up Garrett.

[00:15:10] Jessica Infante: And that Modern Times location was called Leisure Town.

[00:15:15] Zoe Licata: Leisure Town.

[00:15:17] Jessica Infante: Yeah. And when this whole process was going about, I remember folks asking whether Anaheim was going to close because that was the fifth location that they closed. They closed Portland, Oregon, Oakland, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles. So Anaheim makes five.

[00:15:34] Zoe Licata: Yeah, they went from eight to three in less than a year. I spent a lot of time on their Instagram page looking for images of the Anaheim location because their, you know, its social profiles have been scrubbed since the closure in mid-October. And I noticed that a lot of these Modern Times locations appear to have like an excellent dessert program. Like some real tasty looking desserts have been posted. I love dessert and I love baking. I don't know that that is something I need out of a brewery experience, but far be it for me to tell anybody how to do their thing.

[00:16:12] Keurig Dr: I'm curious if the, because the original winning bidder for Modern Times was a Anaheim based brewery, if they had actually followed through with that sale, if that location would still be open today?

[00:16:27] Zoe Licata: That's an excellent question. And I think we might get to hear more about it.

[00:16:31] Jessica Infante: Yeah. And I imagine that location is probably going to hit the market. So if you're a brewery that wants a pool and you know, you're in Anaheim, you probably can shoot your shot, but it's going to come at a cost because I believe the rent for the Anaheim location cost $44,455 per month. And that was more than twice the monthly rent of any other Modern Times location.

[00:17:00] Keurig Dr: Yeah, I remember when we were going through those documents during that whole process that that was the one location with particularly because of that rent price that had the most debt to it because it was so costly.

[00:17:13] Zoe Licata: Yeah, definitely a pricey spot. It looks super cool.

[00:17:17] Jessica Infante: Yeah, speaking of Instagram, you mentioned that to us that you were shocked that there was barely any mention of it on the Modern Times handle.

[00:17:28] Zoe Licata: I got really far back and was like, what is this? Like, if I had a brewery taproom with a fucking pool, you would see it every goddamn day. I'm sorry, Justin, you were probably going to say that in a way that involved a lot less swearing.

[00:17:39] Jessica Infante: Now that's fine. And one more story over The Brewbound.com that you all can go over and read is Ball, which sold off its Russian operations, its can manufacturing plant there. They have an option to buy it back in year three and through year 10. So that's not something that I had seen or heard before. And they sounded actually pretty sad about having to sell off that property, although CFO Scott Morrison called the sale for $530 million the best outcome because they got the cash in the bank and the option to return if things normalize. And I think he said, obviously right now that's not terribly likely in the next few years. And he had also said, it was a great business that we didn't really want to sell. And we would love to get back there if Russia ever normalizes their behavior, leadership and activities. And if you've followed geopolitical happenings, that doesn't seem very likely in the near term.

[00:18:46] Zoe Licata: No. Good luck in Godspeed to Ball and their quest for that.

[00:18:51] Jessica Infante: Yeah. And ball seems to be doing just fine. And the weird thing is if there's a recession, it sounds like they're going to be doing even better because those on-premise occasions will be, might become at home occasions. So something else to keep in mind, and you can all check that out over at brewband.com. That's all the news for now. So let's get to our interview with Bill Shufelt. Non-alcoholic beer maker, Athletic Brewing Company has closed on a $75 million Series D funding round. $50 million in that raise is coming from mega CPG firm Keurig Dr. Pepper. Here today to discuss what Athletic is going to do with all that cash is Athletic co-founder, Bill Shufelt. Thanks for being here, Bill. Hi, thanks for having me, Justin. So I mentioned the big deal. This is huge news. KDP really hasn't played yet in this space in a major way, made an investment in this space. How did this deal come together?

[00:19:54] Athletic Brewing: Yeah, so this is definitely the culmination of a multi-year relationship. It really sets up Athletic for our financial stability of the future and keeps a lot of options open on the road ahead. But really, you know how these rooms are at Bed, Net, and Brewbound, and you see everyone in the industry together, and you build these relationships over time. And we really saw a like valued company who was communicative, collaborative, fast moving, looking out at the future of this industry. And we liked what we saw in both like them at us and being a dynamic, innovative company emerging into a huge white space in the beverage world. And from athletic, we're seeing a scale partner who is really responsive and collaborative, who could be great advisors on the road ahead throughout all functions of our business. And so we're trying to get some perspectives on the road ahead as we emerge into new territory for our company.

[00:20:47] Jessica Infante: You mentioned scale and advising. Are those the two roles you see Carrick, Dr. Pepper really playing in the future? Or what do you see beyond that as their involvement with Athletic?

[00:20:59] Athletic Brewing: So yeah, the roles aren't necessarily defined. I would say it's build and learn and excitement are characterizing things on both sides of the table. It's a lot of mutual respect. It's a lot of values alignment. It's a lot of excitement about the future of non-alcoholic beverages. And from there, I think we're gonna build and learn together.

[00:21:19] Jessica Infante: What do you see as the vision? I envision this is going way to the next level, but explain to me how you see it and why it's that way.

[00:21:30] Athletic Brewing: So from the start, we've been huge believers in the future of this category. And our customers and retailers have told that from very early on. And from the start, we've kind of been making bold moves. We stood up the first full non-alcoholic brewery and taproom in the country in 2017 and 18. And then we built the first two real scale breweries in the country dedicated to non-alcoholic beer as well in San Diego and now Connecticut. And in this, we've found a partner who recognizes that boldness and believes in that future like we do. And a lot of these investments will go towards, it's really growth capital. So investing and marketing in the category. We're leaders in the non-alcoholic beer category, and we want to continue to invest and grow that category. We have a 200-plus person team around the country that we want to provide financial stability and support for. And so with this capital, this gives us enough to get through to profitability and have a really long-term sustainable business. All those things are really exciting to us.

[00:22:32] Jessica Infante: Do you see them having a hand in innovation, production, distribution, e-commerce? Do those come into play?

[00:22:39] Athletic Brewing: There are certain things we know we'll want to lean into right away. You know, we don't pretend to be experts on supply chain, logistics and a number of other things. So there's a lot to learn probably in every department of our company from each other. And hopefully we have a lot of innovative fun things to share back the other direction. But I would say from day one, this isn't a overhaul of how we go to market or how athletic works. It's a supplier partnership that they're investing in us. They love what they see in us as a supplier and leading the future of this category. So, yeah, that's what it's all about. It's a lot of mutual respect and getting athletics set up for the best path ahead. We did look at the options. you know, venture capital, private equity, family offices and strategics and really considered everything in totality. And we're in a really fortunate position in the bad economic environment out there to have some good options in front of us. And this was a partner that we decided was the best partner for our business.

[00:23:40] Jessica Infante: As far as timing goes and with the economic climate the way it is, did those factors play a role in this or would this have happened anyway?

[00:23:50] Athletic Brewing: We're pretty methodical on capital structure decisions and investment, and we at no point would ever put our business at risk. So good economy or bad economy, we would not have cut it close. But that being said, once we recognized a partner we were super excited about, and we know the opportunity in the world and the window that is open for Athletic Brewing, and I think there's mutual excitement on both sides to capitalize on that. It wasn't only them in The Brewbound. KDP was a majority of the $75 million, but over 25 of our existing investors did participate in The Brewbound, including our lead investors from multiple rounds, TRB Advisors and ACG Capital Partners, or Alliance Consumer Growth. And then multiple celebrities either reinvested or joined our team in this round as well.

[00:24:40] Jessica Infante: You mentioned exploring your options. One of the things that you brought up at Brewdown Live last year was plans to eventually go public in an IPO. How does this investment with them affect those future plans?

[00:24:56] Athletic Brewing: So we did look at a number of different capital structure options in this, and so as those other equity options I said, public markets were a consideration in that as well, and I think the door was open to that. But really we evaluated all that and thought this is the best route for Athletic Brewing now, and we have so much growth opportunity in front of us in the category that it was a no-brainer route for us.

[00:25:21] Jessica Infante: So does that kick the can down the road as something potentially in the future, or is that just completely off the table?

[00:25:30] Athletic Brewing: No, I mean, everything's still on the table. You know, I honestly spend a lot less time thinking about capital structure and things like that than I do about our teammates, getting our community great beer, running the day-to-day operations of the business. We're super focused on capitalizing on the opportunity at hand and providing our teammates great jobs. And so capital structure things and that are definitely secondary focus.

[00:25:55] Jessica Infante: You mentioned this will help on the road to profitability. How close are you right now to profitability?

[00:26:02] Athletic Brewing: We've been right there historically in the past, and then we keep bringing on big new breweries. So as anyone operating scale manufacturing knows, if you bring on a big facility that's at low utilization, it takes a while to grow into that. So we're probably within 12 months of profitability, I would say. So pretty close. Yep, for sure. And had we not brought on such a huge brewery on the East Coast, we probably would be there already. Yeah.

[00:26:28] Jessica Infante: Well, yeah, you've got bi-coastal production at this point. How is athletic pacing this year? Last year, you crossed the 100,000 barrel threshold. You hit that milestone. But how are you guys performing this year?

[00:26:43] Athletic Brewing: We're having a lot of fun. So with the new brewery online, coming online early in the summer, fall resets were the first time we were ever able to say yes to some of the really big retail partners that we were worried about servicing previously. We had held off on opening about 20 states of distribution and some really important retail partners, just because when we turned it on, we wanted to be really good partners to them. And so this fall reset period was a really big period, and next spring will be even bigger, as a lot of national retailers overhaul their non-alcoholic beer sets. Without speaking to specific numbers, I know everyone sees Nielsen numbers out there, but we passed our 2021 number somewhere in early August.

[00:27:25] Jessica Infante: So well ahead of where you were last year. For sure, yeah. When we look ahead to 2023, you mentioned being able to supply some of those larger retailers. So when you look at the opportunities ahead for Athletic next year, what do you see as the focal points for you?

[00:27:48] Athletic Brewing: Yeah, for next year is really getting more beer out there to people who've been asking for it for a long time. So we just brought on our full 50 state footprint in September. So we're now available in every state with really strong partners all across the country. And that involves bringing on a lot more retailers. And in the spring, we did run a lot of tests before we did that in terms of like, how do we sell at both high-end grocery value, independent liquor chains, things like that, and got really good comfort that the rate of sale and popularity of non-alcoholic beer is a national thing, not a coastal thing. And we had that data already from our own e-commerce platform, which is a lot more data than most people in the beer world have. So that gets us really excited about what 2023 holds. And we want to continue to be the leaders of this category and really break down the societal stigmas around non-alcoholic beer, do it in an exciting way and have a lot of fun doing it. So, you know, we probably, I think we're at something like 2,500 finish lines this year. Our team both like running races and sharing beers and having a lot of fun. In many ways, it's more of the same for Athletic Brewing in 2023, just in kind of bigger scale and more exciting fashion.

[00:28:59] Jessica Infante: Yeah, it sounds like you've got a lot of opportunity to reach a lot more consumers and markets that you just weren't previously. So a lot of open space ahead.

[00:29:09] Athletic Brewing: For sure. Yeah, a lot of time on the road. We just launched with some great partners in your backyard in Iowa. Dole Distributing and 7G are great new partners we're excited to bring on board.

[00:29:20] Jessica Infante: Yeah, very familiar with them. Bill, anything else on the raise that I didn't ask about that I should be asking about or that you want to get out there?

[00:29:29] Athletic Brewing: I mean, a lot of is kind of going off script, but like a lot of people would probably ask, oh, why KDP? And it was one of those things is like, we got to know them. It was like such mutual alignment and like good people, collaborative, innovative people. And when I look at their values on their website, our values on our website, it's almost a perfect match, which was surprising to me at first glance. And we loved getting to know them. And then, All of our teammates at Athletic Brewing are equity owners from day one. So this is a recognition of their work that everyone on our team is doing. And so it's a real moment of pride for our internal athletic team too, as equity owners.

[00:30:11] Jessica Infante: Would it be on the table or an option in the future where you would consider, you know, a potential buyout from KDP?

[00:30:20] Athletic Brewing: I really spend much less time on those capital structure type decisions. Right now we're an independent company building in private and can go really fast. And we feel like we are just getting going. Our leading product, Runwild, has 17% distribution nationally. And that's only in licensed alcohol, where everyone knows our products can go throughout unlicensed channels as well. I mean, it's so early in our life cycle to be considering major capital structure decisions like that. And we're all having so much fun and feel like we're just getting going. And yeah.

[00:30:57] Jessica Infante: Right on. Well, thanks for the time today, Bill.

[00:31:00] Athletic Brewing: Thank you so much, Justin Kendall appreciate it.

[00:31:03] Jessica Infante: And that's our show for this week. Thanks to our one man audio team, Joe. Thanks to Jess and Zoe for holding it down here. And thanks to all of you for listening. We'll be back next week.