Brewbound Podcast: How New Orleans’ Southern Eagle Preps for Super Bowl Sunday – and Mardi Gras

[00:00:00] Justin Kendall: How is a New Orleans distributor preparing for the Super Bowl? Find out next on the Brewbound podcast. Hello, and welcome to the Brewbound Podcast. I'm Justin Kendall.

[00:00:20] Zoe Licata: I'm Jessica Infante. And I'm Zoe Licata.

[00:00:23] Justin Kendall: And this week, we are bringing you an interview with the leadership team from Southern Eagle in New Orleans. We'll be joined by Brandon Frederick, the VP of sales, Greg Naquin, off-premise director, and Kris Cutrell, the director of on-premise sales. We'll discuss the preparations for the upcoming Super Bowl, which is Sunday. Not that anybody needed a reminder. Marty Graz, which is coming up, I think a couple of weeks right after Super Bowl, their expectations for performance and Clydesdales and much more. And a big thank you to Jess for helping set that up.

[00:01:00] Zoe Licata: Oh, a big thank you to you for doing it because it happened while I was driving from Petaluma to SFO and was in no place to be podcasting.

[00:01:10] Justin Kendall: They don't make it easy to get to Dog Pile, do they?

[00:01:13] Zoe Licata: They don't make it easy, but that's okay. It was worth it.

[00:01:16] Justin Kendall: So Dog Pile is Lagunitas' annual distributor meeting held in January and just attended. And this was, I believe, Brewbound's first year attending Dog Pile.

[00:01:28] Zoe Licata: Yeah, yeah. And as Lagunitas Head of Sales Peter Green put it, it is 30% business meeting, 70% bachelor party. And I did not stay for the wildness, which I only slightly regret, but I was in the vicinity of my best friend from college, so I took the evening to go see her and her two-year-old and her husband, and it was great. But yeah, it was good to see them. I feel like they're on their way to getting their mojo back, and I hate that phrase, but I don't really know of a better way to put it. The team seemed really energized, very confident in their plan. What's interesting about Lagunitas is that this is a leadership team that's all pretty new to Lagunitas. They are not new to Heineken. CEO Bernardo Spielman has been on the job for like four weeks. Peter's been there about a year. CMO Hannah Dray is about a year and a half. And all of them are like long established Heineken vets. So they've got big plans. They are like six, seven months in on an IPA package refresh that's doing well for them. I always sound like an idiot trying to say the name of this beer, but a little something-something packaging is a few months out. That's also getting a nice rate of sale boost. So those two things are going well. That's their core, 67% of their volume. A couple other interesting innovations, but all of them are very targeted. They're really approaching 2025 innovation with almost surgical precision rather than just blasting stuff out there. They've got a hazy IPA that's going nationally on draft package only in California, a new hazy IPNA, they're moving the NA beer portfolio into cans, and they've got some flavor forward 9% ABV innovations hitting C stores in 19.2 ounce cans. So yeah, well, by the time you're listening to this, well, I'm sure I have a story up on Brewbound.com. Nice to get out west, nicer to enjoy In-N-Out and watch Bravo on the night of my arrival. So, yeah, man. I almost didn't go because my daughter had been a little sick, but she started to feel better. And I was like, if I go, I'll get to sleep throughout the whole night twice. So, thank you to Lagunitas for that.

[00:03:35] Justin Kendall: They've been through the ringer. They have absolutely been through the ringer in the last few years. And I remember when they paired back the portfolio to essentially, what was it? IPA, non-ALK, and then I think they had the hard tea, which they've killed off, the disorderly tea house or whatever it was.

[00:03:55] Zoe Licata: Yeah, and they also had Hoppy Refresher back then too, their hop water. They're like basically like the first hop water to market.

[00:04:02] Justin Kendall: And they're still going with the hop water, right?

[00:04:05] Zoe Licata: Still going strong. I drank a bunch of them.

[00:04:07] Justin Kendall: I would.

[00:04:07] Zoe Licata: Delicious. Yeah, they've really been through it. They did that brand refresh right around when you're talking about they like pared down the whole portfolio to basically IPAs, hop waters, and disorderly tea house. They completely changed the packaging on pretty much everything. But that was their first package like really like overhaul since they were founded. you know, if you look at that packaging, and there'll be links to this in the story that we put up, if you look at the old packaging, like it does look like it is from the early 90s as it was. So then they modernized it, but I think current consensus is that it probably went a little too far, looked a little too different. And now they're coming back to where it's a little bit more visually related to the original stuff, but more modern feeling. The presentation was And it was like being at a, I don't know, like I was telling you guys the other day, it was like a high school pep rally skit day where, and this isn't common in craft beer, where you're presented to your wholesalers, you gotta do something to get them psyched and keep it memorable, so you end up dressing up in costumes and wigs and crazy themes. So there was Guy Fieri's, there were Billy May's, there were- Kool-Aid man. The Kool-Aid man, there was a t-shirt cannon. It was quite a spectacle.

[00:05:25] Justin Kendall: It reminds me of going to the FIFCO USA meeting in Philadelphia ages ago. And I think they had like a Real Housewife there. Cynthia?

[00:05:38] Brandon Frederick: Cynthia Bailey?

[00:05:39] Justin Kendall: Yes, that's who it was.

[00:05:42] Brandon Frederick: From Real Housewives of Atlanta.

[00:05:43] Justin Kendall: If she was on the Traders, I might know her, but that's another story.

[00:05:47] Brandon Frederick: She should be on The Traitors. She would do pretty good.

[00:05:52] Justin Kendall: And the Philly Fanatic was there. No gritty. And they did skits too. But then I also think about Boulevard and the most recent one that you watched. Like, this is a thing, right?

[00:06:03] Zoe Licata: It's a thing. It's a thing. Hey, was Chris Harrison there?

[00:06:08] Justin Kendall: Yes. He gave a rose. Yes. The Bachelor.

[00:06:12] Zoe Licata: Yeah, I mean, no longer. Formerly of the Bachelor, yeah. He's like the Voldemort of Bachelor Nation now.

[00:06:18] Justin Kendall: Yeah, he was there. He did like a rose ceremony thing.

[00:06:22] Zoe Licata: Yeah, see that stuff, like if you've got the budget, like yeah, you bring in your high-profile celebrity partners. I wouldn't call them a high-profile celebrity, but your cousin from Boston shows up at pretty much every Boston Beer meeting these days, I think. But they've gotten either visits from NASCAR drivers who Twisted T used to have a relationship with, or videos from country singers. This is a thing, and it's basically like, I would love, I don't know if we could ever make this happen on record, but I would love to hear what a wholesaler actually thinks about this. Me too. Once you've seen one crazy skit, you've seen them all.

[00:07:00] Justin Kendall: Do they like the hobnobbing with the C-level celebrity?

[00:07:06] Zoe Licata: Maybe. I mean, the last Constellation Gold Network Summit I went to, Eli Manning was there. That's right. That's an enormous deal to my people.

[00:07:14] Justin Kendall: Yeah. He was there, I think, at the last one I went to, too. And there was like a long line. I accidentally got in the Eli Manning line. Like, I could care less about Eli Manning. What did you think you were getting? And I was like, I just want to try Sunbrew. Like, this is not the Sunbrew line?

[00:07:31] Brandon Frederick: Does this mean I have to low-key put on some P.A.T.S. gear before I go to a next Constellation event, just in case?

[00:07:38] Justin Kendall: Just have it ready to go. I would shove a hat in your bag.

[00:07:43] Zoe Licata: Okay. Noted. I mean, we don't really need to relitigate this, but Eli really is Tom Brady's kryptonite. I have a theory that the only teams that the Brady-led Pats lost to in the Super Bowl are teams whose fan base is half from New Jersey. So maybe the real kryptonite here is not Eli, but is... New Jersey. Taylor Ham slash pork roll. I can see that. Anyway.

[00:08:09] Justin Kendall: Well, speaking of hitting the road, Zoe, you're about to leave for CyderCon. Bags are packed. You're ready to go. And what are you expecting? Just a celebration of standards, I feel?

[00:08:21] Brandon Frederick: That's definitely going to be part of it. That has been like the big thing at the past cider cons I've been to is rallying for these new standards of fill and now they have it. So they're definitely going to be really excited. I can start to put high ABV ciders into single serve cans, like 6.9 ounce or 19.2 and all those fun things. It's also going to be the first CiderCon with their new American Cider Association CEO, Monica Cohen. So that's going to be really interesting to see her take on cider, to meet her, see what she's thinking. She doesn't come from the cider world. She was at Dairy Farmers of America before this. She's done a lot of public speaking and life coaching. She seems, based on her LinkedIn, really excited and ready to put in some work for Cider. So I'm really interested to see what she's going to say. We have a little media session with her before everything kicks off when we first get there. So I'm looking forward to meeting her. But yeah, CiderCon is Always a good time to be busy lots lots lots and lots and lots of sessions for a few days and The real event goes on for like the full week of cider folks just networking and catching up So how many cytokines have you been to now? This will be my Third one you beat me to it.

[00:09:43] Justin Kendall: I was gonna ask I was gonna say is this number three or number four?

[00:09:46] Brandon Frederick: This is number three second one in Chicago because they alternate on and off Chicago and

[00:09:52] Justin Kendall: Chicago is their Vegas.

[00:09:54] Brandon Frederick: Chicago is their Vegas would really love if they stopped doing it in like February Because Chicago in February is not the most fun.

[00:10:03] Justin Kendall: There's a reason you do it in Chicago in February If you're holding a convention

[00:10:09] Brandon Frederick: Yeah, that's true. And then it was in Portland, Oregon last year when they had a giant ice storm. So it's not, Cedricon is not known for being the warmest weather wise, but very warm people. So I'm packing a lot of layers. I'm also going to be on a part of this session that's partially about National Cider Month but also broken up into working with media. So myself and Jordan Diggers from Beer Business Daily is going to be there and we're going to be talking about you know with cider folks about like how is the best way to get your news to us and how to collaborate with media. So if you're going to be there and you're curious in that stuff, please come in. I think there's going to be some opportunity. It's a really long session. There's going to be some data stuff and there's going to be our media discussion and then there's going to be some networking opportunities after that too. So I think it's going to be worthwhile.

[00:11:04] Justin Kendall: What day and what time?

[00:11:05] Brandon Frederick: That one is going to be Thursday at 345. All right.

[00:11:10] Justin Kendall: If you're going to CiderCon, you've got your marching orders.

[00:11:14] Brandon Frederick: Mm-hmm. It'll probably be happening when you're listening to this like right before so this is if you're curious of what to do today quote-unquote today Go and see us.

[00:11:24] Justin Kendall: Well, let's get into the news and as we mentioned It's Super Bowl week and apparently beer is poised to win Super Bowl Sunday and Zoe you broke down the latest bump Williams Consulting report tell us a little bit about why beer is winning the Super Bowl.

[00:11:39] SPEAKER_??: I

[00:11:39] Brandon Frederick: Yeah, Bump is really jazzed about beer right now and particularly excited about just the amount of giant displays he is seeing at retailers. He said he's been traveling a bunch lately and seeing that beer is really going all out at retail ahead of the Super Bowl. And it seems like it is poised to really take advantage of the event. And he kind of broke down a couple of the segments that are pushing it to the next level. Imports was one of the main ones. I think that's partially because there's been a lot of inventory build ahead of time and making sure that they don't really know what's going to happen with some things as we learned this week with tariffs and all that fun stuff. So imports are really getting their names out there, making sure they have a lot of loyalty before potentially there's impact on prices. Mainly Constellations, of course, Mexican import brands are are having big displays there, but also he noted Guinness, which is still having its moment, and Heineken, as well as a couple random smaller ones that we don't typically talk about, like Famosa, which is from Guatemala, and Tona from Nicaragua, and then some of the Canadian imports as well, which also in that weird limbo area of what's going to happen with those tariffs, but they're still kicking for right now. Non-ALC of course because it was January, tons of displays, mainly a lot of athletic and a lot of domestic beer brands putting together like an assortment of brand families. So he called out like AB having mixed displays of Budweiser and Bud Light and Bush Light and then Molson Coors was like Coors Light, Coors Banquet, Miller Light. I'm just doing massive displays of their various beers in their portfolio to try to catch anybody's attention. So it seems like there's some positivity around beer right now, at least from Bump's perspective. Latest scans are a little scary.

[00:13:37] Justin Kendall: I was going to say the scan report, though, was something else.

[00:13:42] Brandon Frederick: Yeah, the latest. So Sakana's weekly scans came in as we're recording. This just came in yesterday. And it was pretty red across the board and beer was driving a lot of that decline and beer had minus 7% year-over-year decline in dollar sales and minus 8.7% in volume. But even Scott Scalin from Circana was like, no, don't necessarily panic. Maybe this is also a possibility to, you know, spring back for the Super Bowl. So it seems like folks are really relying on Super Bowl.

[00:14:13] Justin Kendall: One thing that I wonder about, and he mentioned the weather is one of the reasons why. Does weather include climate change and wildfires? Because I'm guessing that period covers a lot of what happened in California, and that's a massive disruption.

[00:14:31] Brandon Frederick: Yeah so this was for the week ending January 26th. It definitely I feel like is a factor when we're talking about those things because like if there are giant snow storms which are part of climate change that are affecting these weather things like wildfires are definitely part of this. I'm interested to know like California specifically what that impact was on total scans but. I always have a hard time when we're like talking about weather and beer I think for the weekly scan sure maybe it has a bigger impact but we'll see like what continues to happen after this because I don't know people who really like beer are going to buy beer even if it's negative two degrees outside or whatever so yeah but he did point out that they were slightly befuddled I think by these scans because there wasn't there are any weird comps from the last year of like different date changes Normally after New Year's, like there starts to be a slow increase in sales leading up to the Super Bowl. So this week kind of went against typical trends. But yet there still seems to be a lot of optimism. I mean, even C.J. and The On Premise was talking about Super Bowl is going to be big for beer. Everybody is really almost like manifesting like, please, we think it's going to be good. Please let beer win Super Bowl this year.

[00:15:51] Justin Kendall: Yeah. Total Wine was doing the same thing in their webinar where they're talking about it's a beer holiday and it's apparently their biggest day for kegs, which not surprising, especially in the home markets.

[00:16:04] Brandon Frederick: Yeah. But apparently also beer is the new drink for Valentine's Day, according to CGA, like beat out wine this year for what folks are planning to purchase Bev Alkwise. So potential little Victory there for beer is Valentine's Day.

[00:16:23] Justin Kendall: You mentioned tariffs and I feel like this is almost like Pee Wee's Playhouse where the word is said and we're like, ah, but there's not a lot to say here other than they were going to be imposed and then they weren't imposed and now they're paused for 30 days. And I think we can just move on to the next story.

[00:16:45] Brandon Frederick: I think terrorist might be like the most despised word across any like journalistic field right now. Like every journal friend that I talked to yesterday, whatever like part of journalism they work in, they were like, I'm so sick of this today because I've had to change my story so many times in a couple hours. Because there was just so much... It was gonna happen, and then some of them are gonna happen, and then none of them are gonna happen for a little bit. It was... It just continues to be a mystery, I guess, and we continue to... We'll continue to write that. It is undetermined what the impact will be.

[00:17:26] Justin Kendall: See y'all in 30 days.

[00:17:28] Brandon Frederick: I can't live like this.

[00:17:30] Justin Kendall: Well, let's talk about CGA in Dry January, then.

[00:17:34] Zoe Licata: Let's.

[00:17:38] Brandon Frederick: But like the the TLDR here is that a lot more people said they were gonna do Dry January than actually did yeah, yeah, so it I mean that tends to typically be the case based on the past couple years of reports from CGA and they're the on-premise arm of an IQ but when they first did their survey of consumers around December of, you know, who's going to take part in Dry January, it was about two and five consumers. And then right as things were about to kick off in January, that went down to about one in 10 consumers. So folks were optimistic probably around the holidays and had a bit of fatigue. And then they jumped into 2025, which really started off not the smoothest and we're ready to drink again. of the folks that did stay committed about 79% have maintained that through January as of January 24th but 13% of those folks say they plan to drink by the end of the month so it's not going to stay that high when we look at full month numbers. Also interesting is that the percentage of folks who stayed committed once they started in January is slightly higher than last year. So about 75% of folks maintains their abstinence from alcohol in 2023 when they said they were going to in January. So Yes, people aren't super committed fully, but the amount of folks who are has slightly ticked up versus last year.

[00:19:18] Zoe Licata: Good for everybody.

[00:19:19] Brandon Frederick: Yeah. That makes it.

[00:19:21] Zoe Licata: I admire them. Hat off. Yeah. I'm not among them.

[00:19:24] Brandon Frederick: I'm also curious to know, and one of our colleagues brought this up yesterday, is some of these surveys don't necessarily bring up how many folks weren't drinking anyway. So I'm not sure how much of that percentage of folks are not drinking alcohol any month of the year. So that might also skew some of the percentages.

[00:19:48] Justin Kendall: Well, this category needs... all the help that it can get and we'll take it whether it's non-alcohol or whatever at this point. And that was a big topic within that Total Wine webinar was non-alcoholic and how their business is up. I think they said around 20%.

[00:20:09] Brandon Frederick: And athletic got a call out in the weekly Sakana report as well, saying that it could probably be a top 20 beer brand family in 2025 if it keeps up its momentum. So yeah, huge for that, which is as we know, really driving the craft and a growth right now.

[00:20:30] Justin Kendall: Well, let's play Another Round or Tabbing Out. And I know I talk a lot about splitting the G and just like every other craft ish beer ish thing at this point, there's copycats. So I'm Tabbing Out on on copycats of this because ballast points doing it. Lagunitas is doing it. I just want something organic and fun. And you can't have nice things.

[00:21:07] Brandon Frederick: We live in a capitalistic society. There's no such thing as organic and fun, unfortunately. Yeah, I'm also Tabbing Out because it kind of, nothing is lamer than when like companies try to take over things that are like cool and trendy. And that's what made the Guinness thing so interesting is that we were trying to figure out the origin of it the other day and we couldn't really nail it down, but it seems like folks were just doing it for fun. And then one bar like in Ireland started to reward people for doing it. But the fun thing was, yeah, it was, something just people were doing without super like being told to do it and everyone wants to participate but I respect I respect folks who are trying to make it their own and it if it's can help drive on-premise sales and pine sales great go for it

[00:21:59] Zoe Licata: Yeah, I mean, and if you haven't seen on social media, Ballast Point was advertising their own version of this where it was like drink split the sextant, which is where you drink all the way down to the middle of their logo on their tulips, which is really far down. Oh my God, if you did that, you'd be drinking like three quarters of the beer.

[00:22:17] Justin Kendall: I see what they're doing here. Right? There are other ways to drive volume.

[00:22:22] Zoe Licata: Right? I don't mean to clutch pearls, but like, my goodness, like why are, Do you really want to be in the position where you're encouraging your customers to chug their shit out of their beers? I mean, I guess you do, but maybe you should be also like, you know, do a cross promo with Lyft where you give them a discount code. And then Lagunitas also, it was not mentioned, but there was an image in one of the slides in the deck that they showed the other day that said, you know, drink down to the 420 line on the Mason jar, which I took to be the same thing. So yeah, I mean, this is how craft beer is though. Once one cool thing works for somebody, then everybody else does it too. So totally organic, it's the glasses they already had anyway. And it's a lot of beer, but not, You know, I don't know. Is there no safe level of chugging? I'm sure the World Health Organization would say that.

[00:23:15] Justin Kendall: Yes, they would.

[00:23:16] Zoe Licata: But yeah, I don't know, guys. Let's all find our own things here.

[00:23:20] Justin Kendall: Well, it is Super Bowl week. I'm Tabbing Out on this year's Super Bowl ads. From what I've seen so far...

[00:23:28] Zoe Licata: I find this interesting based on the conversation we had the other day. Continue.

[00:23:31] Justin Kendall: I'm just not here for it. I'll start with Molson Coors. Like I know what they're trying to do is I think they're trying to score very high on these ad meter things as opposed to sell the brand. And like, I thought that the sloth idea, like I'm, I'm all for slots. I think it was kind of a cool idea. I get what they're trying to do. I dig like the slow motion, like chase, that sort of thing. But. The problem I had with it is it takes so long, just like the sloths. It's so slow to get to the reveal. And then when you get to the reveal, the package says case on the Mondays or whatever it is. Monday's like Monday's like, I can't even remember it. See? So it's not even your brand.

[00:24:31] Zoe Licata: Yeah, man, this is such a reach that I'm concerned that they may have thrown out their backs. Like, the sloths, I'm with you. They're cute. I enjoy the sloth spin class, but it's like entirely too long. And then like, you're connecting to this case of the Mondays thing that ties back to your refreshment typo. It's all like, you would need to be, you need to have like a Pepe Silvia board behind you to figure out how all of these things connect, of course, like. And I, it's cute, good luck and Godspeed to you on this ad meter nonsense, but like, will this move your needle at retail? I don't know.

[00:25:12] Brandon Frederick: I just feel like there is, and I think it's very intentional, a common thread among a lot of these beer ads where they're trying to recreate kind of the feeling of beer ads from like the early aughts. or like it's very it feels like old school beer ads which some people have been celebrating is to be like yeah thank you go we've been asked you to go back to this style of humor and and whatever like the bud light ads are very like trying to latch on to this we're just dudes drinking beer and i'm I'm, like, bored. Like, are we living in, like, 2008? Like, it's been almost 20 years. Like, I don't... This is not exciting to me.

[00:25:58] Justin Kendall: Oh, we can go farther back than that, Zoe.

[00:26:02] Brandon Frederick: Really? I'm sorry. I'm thinking like when I could actually pay attention to a football ad. It was just like, I don't know. I will say there was, I've been very pessimistic about the Super Bowl ads, and then I did watch the Grammys on Sunday. And the way they played some of, there was a lot of teasers for the Super Bowl ads during the Grammys broadcast, tons. but the way that they did some of the advertising where you didn't know at first what you're watching an ad for and it was more like interesting art or something was kind of cool. Like MasterCards was Lady Gaga's whole music video for her new song and then at the end said MasterCards supporting like the arts. Like it was more interesting or they did a teaser for the Dunkin's which of course I liked the Dunkin's one. Jeremy Strong was in it. But what? Yeah. Jeremy Strong was in a vat of coffee beans, like steeping in coffee beans. My God. Along with the Affleck brothers who came in to be like, bro, what the hell are you doing? It was I mean, I get I recommend looking at it. All right. I'll go look it up.

[00:27:12] Zoe Licata: The I mean, it's not a real commercial, but the Casey Affleck SNL Duncan video is maybe one of my favorite pieces of content. Yeah, see that's wild, but like that, okay, Duncan sells coffee, Jeremy Strong in the coffee, cool, get it, Duncan's from Boston, all of these people are as well, makes sense. 60 seconds of fucking sloths to sell a light lager?

[00:27:39] Justin Kendall: I don't know. That's true. That's the one thing I will say about the Bud Light ad is you knew it was a Bud Light ad. They made no like they were talking about Bud Light, you know, and Bud Light, Bud Light. How many Bud Lights does that cooler fit? Blah, blah, blah. You know, it was it was all Bud Light all that all the time. It might as well just been a neon light flashing the entire time.

[00:28:03] Zoe Licata: But yeah. And it like shows people drinking. Well, People holding their products and connecting with each other face-to-face, yeah, that all makes sense. But when you get into the theater of the absurd, it's like insurance commercials. Car insurance commercials are either like, driving is dangerous, we can keep you safe. zany nonsense you know there's like one or the other and it's like either show you how the product actually works or just like entertain you and hope you remember with geckos and cavemen and all sorts of nonsense.

[00:28:36] Brandon Frederick: What are your guys thoughts on the Michelob ultra pickleball one because they say ultra a lot but they're it's mainly about celebrities playing pickleball.

[00:28:49] Justin Kendall: I love Catherine O'Hara so much, though. It pains me to say anything bad about anything she's in, and I don't think I can. I actually kind of dug it out of all the ads that we've seen.

[00:29:02] Zoe Licata: I mean, to me it makes sense because you have a very popular sport, which is a little bit about what Ultra is all about. It's about a healthy lifestyle brand. You've got these pretty universally liked celebrities who are of a certain age bracket who happen to be the generation with all the money in this country. So I think it fits. I think it works. That old Ultra commercial with the soccer man. Messy Lionel messy. Yeah on the beach. Yes that one Yeah, that one's kind of like all right fine the products there There's a bar on the beat like I get it all but and Dan Marino.

[00:29:42] Brandon Frederick: Yeah, I mean there was still a lot of random athletes and celebrities in this one, too They just weren't as recognizable if you aren't like hyper into those sports. I feel like yeah, and it moves super fast So it's hard to even see everybody

[00:29:59] Justin Kendall: Yeah, Moira Rose and the Green Goblin, I'll give it to them. But then the Budweiser ad, the Clydesdales have been back for a while. They're going for tugging at your heartstrings.

[00:30:13] Brandon Frederick: They love to do that.

[00:30:15] Justin Kendall: How did that foal get that keg out of the water? I want to know.

[00:30:20] Brandon Frederick: I also want to know, do you even want to drink out of that keg after it's been thrown around and rolled around for miles and miles? No, that beer is not good. Do not drink that beer.

[00:30:32] Justin Kendall: I appreciate the fool's dedication to the job.

[00:30:37] Zoe Licata: I mean, look, Horse, you don't have to work this hard. No. You should achieve some work-life balance here, my friend. According to Numerator, a Consumer Insights firm, nearly half of Super Bowl watchers can't wait to see what Budweiser does this year. And I have great news for those people. You can go watch it right now on YouTube. 44% of respondents said they're looking forward to seeing Budweiser or Bud Light commercials more so than any other brand. So I think... You know, the AB crew thinks it's, you know, the advertising glory days of yore. But and that's why we're seeing horses. You guys remember the frogs? The frogs were great.

[00:31:16] Justin Kendall: Hey, I remember the surprise of watching the Bud Light dilly dilly ad where they had the dragon or they killed the bud knight and they started a war and lawsuit with Molson Coors and ended any type of like category health partnership that we had at the time like they just nuked it like that the dragon just blew that up

[00:31:43] Zoe Licata: Dude, I liked Dilly Dilly. It made sense. You could do so much with it. That can extend to all of your in-store stuff. You have a catchy tagline that people were saying. I used to give brewery tours at the time, and people would yell Dilly Dilly in that tasting room, which is a completely unrelated company. But it tied to Game of Thrones, which was an enormous cultural phenomenon, but it wasn't an obvious ripoff. It just all made sense.

[00:32:07] Justin Kendall: There is someone who lives in this state who has the license plate Dilly Dilly and I imagine that in every state there's probably that person. But I was behind them in a Starbucks line at one time.

[00:32:21] Zoe Licata: Do you think they're a fan or are they a bud distributor?

[00:32:24] Justin Kendall: That's a great question. I wonder if they are a bud distributor.

[00:32:28] Zoe Licata: So the thing with the horse commercial, the Clydesdales, I will put some respect on their name, I think there are so many nods here to the trade, and that's why you see a lot of this. It's like last year, they had an actual bud distributor in the commercial. And it's the same, it's like the horses kind of are the stand-in for the trucks, and this is like a, it's like a we see you, we understand and appreciate your work message to their distributors. So it's a lot of money to spend on that, and it works with consumers, they like the horses, you feel good, it's a nice story, look at this little horse guy, he wants to be a big horse. And then you get to the bar and you see the on-premise, you know, like, That's what the middle tier likes. They actually like to see classes of trade depicted on TV because it gives an immediate here is where to go to drink and buy our beer message to consumers.

[00:33:20] Brandon Frederick: Yeah. I think you touched on something just that is what I feel like is missing from a lot of these ads is where are they impactful enough where people are going to know about it and reference it when they're in the store? And a lot of these, like the sloths, I don't see people, when they see a Coors Light, I almost forgot what brand was associated with it, but when you see a Coors Light on the shelf, are you gonna think, oh yeah, the sloths? No. No, you're not. Maybe for like the next month, if you have sloth POS. Right.

[00:33:58] Justin Kendall: Monday's light. Monday's light, everybody.

[00:34:01] Brandon Frederick: Right. But light ones, maybe you're going to be like, hey, guys, let's like how many just try to see how many of these we can fit in our grill or whatever the heck they're saying on that commercial. Maybe there's some reference there, but it's not necessarily as much like I want to see things where like it it has enough impact where people are thinking about it and talking about it when they're in a store. And that's what those commercials used to do is it was like a cultural thing. And it doesn't feel like that as much anymore.

[00:34:28] Justin Kendall: Here's a pop quiz for you both real quick. What was the Bud Light ad last year?

[00:34:35] Zoe Licata: I don't think I know. Was Shane Gillis around yet?

[00:34:40] Justin Kendall: No, he wasn't. Well, I don't know if he was in the ad, but do you remember the Bud Light genie?

[00:34:47] Zoe Licata: Oh my god. Yeah.

[00:34:50] Justin Kendall: Because I feel like just like mobsters in the 70s they have buried him in the Las Vegas desert.

[00:34:59] Brandon Frederick: I was like I know Post Malone was involved somehow but I don't.

[00:35:03] Justin Kendall: He was in it. Peyton Manning was in it. I think Dana White was in it. Maybe UFC fighter. Like I know way too much about this, but the reason I bring this up is if you're watching anything on prime, you might see him pop up in a car ad for Amazon motors or whatever it is, because he's the annoying dad, I believe in the ad, who's trying to like say all the cool slang terms. This is where he resides now.

[00:35:32] Zoe Licata: Do you remember the actor who plays the Bud Light Genie?

[00:35:35] Justin Kendall: What's that?

[00:35:36] Zoe Licata: Do you remember by face the actor who plays the Bud Light Genie?

[00:35:39] Justin Kendall: The only reason I remember this is Weekend Newsletter writer Sean McNulty sent me a picture and said, is this the Bud Light Genie? And I didn't know what the ad was. And I was like... Sean does love the Bud Light Genie. That is definitely him.

[00:35:55] Brandon Frederick: So... Yeah, they really got rid of him real quick. That was also a weird ad because they were like low-key promoting drinking cans in the on-premise because it was like Peyton Manning in that same like era of ads was just like throwing cans to everybody.

[00:36:11] Justin Kendall: And chilling with Emmett Smith, I think.

[00:36:15] Brandon Frederick: Yeah.

[00:36:16] Justin Kendall: Anyway, well, you can watch all of these ads on Sunday and, you know, form your own opinions or you can go to YouTube now and Don't even have to wait, or you can look for them probably in our newsletter. So with that, let's get to our featured interview with the leadership team from Southern Eagle. Super Bowl 59 kicks off on February 9th in New Orleans. What's life like Coors and Anheuser-Busch distributor in one of the country's biggest party towns ahead of one of beer's biggest days? Here to talk about it from Southern Eagle's leadership team are Brandon Frederick, Vice President of Sales. Thanks for being here, Brandon. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Greg Noken, Off-Premise Director. Thanks for being here, Greg. Looking forward to it, Justin. And Kris Cutrell, director on-premise sales. Thanks for being here, Chris. Thanks for having us. So I'll just throw this out to all you. When did your planning for Super Bowl week begin and what do the logistics of an undertaking like this look like?

[00:37:24] Greg Naquin: So I can tell you, we started Super Bowl planning back in early April of last year. It started with, you know, just like anything that comes to the market, started with a plan, and from that plan, strategically meeting all the time to discuss how we're gonna get those plans moving, put those things in motion, and how we're gonna execute to make New Orleans stand out, you know, more than any other market that's hosted the Super Bowl.

[00:37:48] Justin Kendall: So how are you feeling at this point in time? We're what, a week out?

[00:37:53] Greg Naquin: where we got, we are fired up and ready to go.

[00:37:55] Justin Kendall: We're excited. Absolutely. Are y'all going to be on call that day?

[00:38:01] Greg Naquin: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Look, there's going to be some standby stuff definitely going on behind the scenes while the big game is going on. So we, we, we don't want to miss an opportunity to sell, you know, another bottle, another case of beer.

[00:38:15] Justin Kendall: Right on. Well, this is New Orleans' eighth Super Bowl, but it's the first one since 2013. How has the city's beer scene and culture changed since then?

[00:38:27] Greg Naquin: Well, we've had a lot of things go on in New Orleans. I mean, you just read the news and watch TV to see what's going on here. A lot of positive stuff's happening in New Orleans, right? You know, we hosted the Super Bowl back in 2013. You know, since then, we've had a myriad of other events that's come through. Our convention business has picked up significantly. Unfortunately, COVID kind of set us backwards, and I hate to bring that up, but it set us backwards a little bit from showcasing where we had progressed to versus where we were prior to. So, we're coming back. We're a resilient city. You know, we've been down and going back hundreds of years, you know, where wars and hurricanes and other things have come to, you know, kind of beat us down. But we're a resilient city, and we bounce back. So, culturally, I mean, I think everybody in the country is intrigued, from a New Orleans standpoint, to come down here and soak it in, eat our food, experience Bourbon Street, and, of course, come drink our delicious products that we're going to serve.

[00:39:24] Justin Kendall: Were any of you on the team in 2013 when this took place?

[00:39:28] Greg Naquin: All of us.

[00:39:29] Justin Kendall: All of you. So how does it compare all these years later?

[00:39:34] Greg Naquin: Well, all of us were in different roles at the time. So I think now, and I'm not going to speak for these guys, they can add their take on it, but it's different. I'm a little bit more involved in the backside of getting things executed, logistics, the budgeting, the planning, versus where I was in 2013. We have a different mix of products that we're trying to push to the consumer. And of course, the consumer, as legal age starts to come to fruition for some of our consumers, preferences and what they want to drink change. So focus sometimes could shift between brands on what's more important and what's not. But our eye on the prize right now is just taking care of one of our major sponsors and keeping it going. Different from 2013 to 2018. Ultra is the biggest difference. In 2013, Ultra was, we were establishing the brand. Right now we are We're a 10 share, right? Ultra's a 10 share and growing in this market. So that's a big difference. In 2013, my role was as a team leader. Now getting to lead the team with these two guys, it's a totally different perspective for sure. Having a clear, clear direction from Anheuser-Busch really helps us in focusing on those brands that are important and showing up big. It's exciting. I think we're all pumped to deliver our unbelievable Super Bowl.

[00:41:02] Justin Kendall: How about for you, Chris?

[00:41:03] Kris Cutrell: I was just a relief account manager at the time. So I was in the back of grocery stores, keeping displays full, and kind of helping where needed. I mean, it's definitely very cool to see the process from this level. And the amount of execution out there is a crazy amount of stuff. I think it's going to come together very well. I got to see just more of the off-premise side of it back in 2013. Then it was impressed, I think. I think now it's bigger and better, obviously Bud Light's the lead brand by far, but to Greg's point, Ultra is getting its fair share of attention. And then obviously a lot of the other brands that have evolved, you know, a lot more seltzer play, another play in RTDs that we're excited to show off. Yeah, right. That's a huge change, right? It's a pretty big factor. You know, it was just off beer, but the amount of seltzer and RTDs on the floor has just been insane.

[00:41:57] Justin Kendall: You mentioned McUltra has a 10 share at this point. What's the share for Bud Light then? It's right above that.

[00:42:04] Greg Naquin: It's closer to an 11 share.

[00:42:06] Justin Kendall: Okay, so they're neck and neck at this point.

[00:42:09] Greg Naquin: Absolutely. Yeah. Chris brings up a huge difference from 2013 to today is the RTD space. How much we're playing with cut water and neutral and going up against really leading the spirits can cocktail and showing up in a big way with neutral acting like we're the dominant player. in the market. That's a huge difference from 2013.

[00:42:35] Justin Kendall: It really is to see those brands get the focus and come on as they have, especially in, well, I mean, you look at the hard seltzer space and when I look at the numbers, I see a lot of red outside of white claw and neutral and to perform well in that category or that segment is a testament to the resources that they put behind that brand.

[00:42:58] Greg Naquin: Yeah, it holds true. I mean, we have something in this warehouse that, you know, satisfy the drinking need for everyone that's coming to New Orleans. And like they said, you know, that RTD seltzer space, we've been a huge part of the continued growth of that category in New Orleans. And Neutron itself, when we rolled out with that a couple of years ago, we took that by the horns and owned it. And it helped grow into what it is today here in the NOLA market. So definitely for that LDA consumer that's coming here and new entries into the alcohol spirits, beer side of the world,

[00:43:35] Justin Kendall: That definitely helped push a lot of that volume and that growth and that category.

[00:43:49] Greg Naquin: So we're expected to execute at a high level, right? You know, like we said, we all know Bud Light is the major sponsor, major beer sponsor of the Super Bowl. We're expected to execute Bud Light at some of the highest levels that we may not have ever executed Bud Light before. And working with Greg, Chris, with the sales team, everybody basically in Southern Eagles operation, the priority definitely shifted to having Bud Light stand out more than any other product that's offered for sale in New Orleans. It's what we do every day. We push Bud Light every day. We push McAuldrey every day. So it's nothing different from a marching orders or execution standpoint. We just elevated it a little bit more to reach that high level, high potential growth that we want to put out there in front of consumers for the big game.

[00:44:38] Justin Kendall: What are your warehouses looking like at this point?

[00:44:42] Greg Naquin: So we're emptying it out, which is a good thing. Of course, we have product. Everybody's pulling together back there, meeting the high demand of the volume that we're pushing out in the market. But it's clearing out. But we're able to see the floor in a spot or two and hoping to get some more products so we can push that out there as well.

[00:45:04] Justin Kendall: So when you've got back-to-back events like that, that's a heavy lift alone is one event like that, but then you're following it up with the city's biggest event annually. How incremental will the game be for you and your accounts?

[00:45:22] Greg Naquin: To put a true number on it? I think just from what Super Bowl is bringing to the market, we typically don't see this type of volume in Dry January, February timeframe out of the Superdome. We'll see a volume lift increase when Mardi Gras is around this timeframe. But to have that incremental volume that's gonna come from Super Bowl out of the Superdome that we normally don't have, I think we'll probably see just from this dome and just incremental market pull through from Bourbon Street, the CBD, just all the private parties, everything that's coming along with the folks coming to town, I'd say somewhere in between the 5% to 10% increase in volume, potentially. From an off-premise perspective, it gives us a head start. This is beautiful for us. It gives us a head start on Mardi Gras. We're building huge, impactful displays with Bud Light Ultra, Neutral, Cut Water, Kona, everything that's coming to life, Bush Light, and we're getting that beer down early. and we're going to maintain it and be in the best position to win for Mardi Gras. So, it actually moved up our planning for Mardi Gras, where we're going to have less to do in preparation for Mardi Gras. It's really just maintaining what we already established.

[00:46:33] Kris Cutrell: So, from my perspective, it's a win. It's great. I agree with Greg. I mean, obviously the events are very close to each other. I believe one of the first parades that hits the city will be the Friday after the Super Bowl. I think we've done a good job of planning out to make sure both events are executed very well. Obviously stacking these bars and restaurants and stores up with as much beer as possible. possible is going to have to happen because come right after the Super Bowl, we're in Mardi Gras, which is kind of nice for us. So while the warehouse is emptying out, it's about to all fill back up with Mardi Gras beer. There's been obviously some challenging aspects coming apart with some logistics on Mardi Gras and Super Bowl. It's a lot of planning. That's why we've been planning at it for so long. The team's done a good job of communicating. We're very excited to see the the incremental lift in the market. I know a lot of the retailers are extremely happy as well. So it's been a very positive experience. And while it's a lot of work, it's also a lot of fun and a really great thing for the city.

[00:47:38] Justin Kendall: The Super Bowl in itself would be enough, you know, but then you have Mardi Gras. So what are the pain points for planning both of these events sort of back to back?

[00:47:50] Kris Cutrell: Logistically, it's always challenging for getting product to the accounts, right? So that's always probably the hardest thing, you know, that we'll do. Getting around from A to B, it's all about executing early. You know, Super Bowl was kind of after, right after the Saints were out of the playoffs. We were ready to go. So we've been slinging neons and signage and getting displays down and specials up for a while now. You know, we do Mardi Gras every year. So it's challenging. Don't get us wrong, but it's challenging. We've gotten pretty good at it over these years, so it's just kind of tweaking the plans a little bit. But we do think logistically, parking restrictions, getting around, you know, there's a lot of safety measures in play with Super Bowl, right? I mean, those are something we're kind of learning every day. Just trying to stay ahead of it as much as possible is going to be crucial, but being able to have backup plans and good communication with sales and logistics and delivery and everything is really what's going to make it all come together.

[00:48:57] Greg Naquin: Chris nailed it. I mean, from a security standpoint, that's a piece that comes along with the Super Bowl that we typically don't have to deal with with Mardi Gras. So, you know, from a delivery standpoint, an aspect for our—and also for our account managers and TLs and even some of us to move around in those key areas surrounding a lot of where the Super Bowl activity is going on, that's a different set of challenges that we have to deal with from Mardi Gras. We'd like to try to keep some trucks in the area, just in case we have some emergency situations. With Mardi Gras, it's easy to kind of pick an area, because we do it every year. We try to typically park in the same spot, leave that truck or that vehicle parked, of course, manned with some of our employees here, to be able to easily pull off the truck and run product to the accounts where we need to run it. During Super Bowl time, we're still trying to figure out what parameters or what guardrails are going to stop us from you know, trying to do it the same way with the same ease that we can do it during Mardi Gras. But nonetheless, we're still going to be strategic in how we do it and how we operate, how we deliver, trying to get those trucks staged so we don't miss those opportunities.

[00:50:06] Justin Kendall: How does the Super Bowl compare to Mardi Gras?

[00:50:11] Greg Naquin: Yeah, I mean, for us, Mardi Gras is bigger, just more so because Mardi Gras spans over a couple of weeks period. Super Bowl, a lot of activity around Super Bowl kind of happens in a four to five day timeframe for the city, whereas Mardi Gras is about a two to two and a half week period with parades going on. every weekend. The week leading into Fat Tuesday, which is Mardi Gras Day, there's parades that start on a Wednesday night and go all the way through Fat Tuesday. So we have a couple more weeks of that volume boost with Mardi Gras than what we would get with just that four to five-day span with Super Bowl.

[00:50:51] Justin Kendall: How does the Super Bowl compare to any of the other events that you host, whether it's a Final Four or Wrestlemania or whatever it might be?

[00:51:02] Kris Cutrell: Nothing compares to Wrestlemania. I can speak a little on that. There's a lot of parties, a lot of runouts. And it seems like more and more happen every day, or we're finding out about more and more. So that's definitely very different, you know, typically for other events, Final Four. You know, there's definitely some parties, but not like this, I mean. The amount of events that are going on and the sizes of these events is absolutely incredible. I don't think you can get a hotel room within a 50-mile radius, right? So it's almost overwhelming, but it's great because we have, you know, Anheuser-Busch has been such a strong partner in this whole thing. you know, their partnership with the NFL. I mean, their brands are showing up everywhere, you know, and that's been really cool and extremely helpful for us. And I guess that's the biggest difference, I would say, from the other events is the Anheuser-Busch partnership and inactivation that they put into the market, especially the investment. That's been pretty cool.

[00:52:12] Justin Kendall: big wrestling, you and me both. So what's your expectation for drafters package mix for the weekend?

[00:52:21] Kris Cutrell: Most of it's been package that we've seen. That's, that's just kind of where the parties are hosted. There's just been less handles. I would say like a lot of big venues. I do think places like superdome, I think the draft is going to be the big one there down bourbon street draft still monster. typically some of the surrounding areas it does pretty well, but a lot of the hotels getting extra parties in their ballrooms and stuff like that, that's obviously skewing our package mix a little bit higher. Then also just the amount of extra brands being put out there is also putting a dent in it. We've had a lot of extra execution with the RTDs neutral for us, that's also showing up, so that's also skewing the mix. Traditionally, draft is pretty big in the downtown area, but package for the Super Bowl seems to be the big play, especially with a lot of extra to-go bars, you know, because you can have a drink to go in New Orleans and walk around with it. So that's going to be a big factor for the bars, restaurants, and venues.

[00:53:25] Justin Kendall: Obviously Bud Light and Michelob Ultra are the focus points for the week, and you've mentioned some of the other brands in the Beyond Beer portfolio, whether it's Cutwater or Neutral or even Acona, but what other brands in the portfolio are you expecting to do some numbers this weekend?

[00:53:44] Kris Cutrell: Stella Artois, that one's going to show up in a very, very big way. We've got a lot of great ads for it, and they are getting a Super Bowl commercial this year. We feel that we're a pretty big Stella market. We do want that brand to show up in a big way, especially with imports just growing and growing and growing every year. You did mention Kona Big Wave. That's obviously a pretty big one. I would say Bud Light, Ultra. Stella Kona, obviously the King Budweiser will be showing up. We have a lot of activations with the Clydesdales this year, which is gonna be pretty cool. And then, yeah, neutral and cup of water. I mean, there's a lot of liquor sold in New Orleans, right? So we're trying to grab as much of that share as possible. And a lot of great support from Anheuser-Busch behind both those brands, both on and off premise. And, you know, we definitely want to be the market leader in that category.

[00:54:34] Justin Kendall: Anything you want to add, Brandon and Greg?

[00:54:36] Greg Naquin: I mean, it's the same as what Chris said from an off-premise standpoint. And Greg could probably talk to this a little more. You know, Stella is definitely the focus brand. We feel that, you know, in our market, with us being one of the premier and largest markets in our region, we can branch out and elbow out a little bit more on that brand, especially leading into Mardi Gras, Super Bowl, just basically just execution throughout the rest of the year. So, style is definitely going to be a big focal point for us for the Super Bowl. We've kind of piggybacked our partnership with one of the largest parading crews for Mardi Gras. It's Zulu Social Club. They're iconic, they're big, they're known. In my news market broad news about Zulu and their coconut that they give out. Stella partnered with Zulu. We're focused a lot on bringing that to life. Chris mentioned showing up big with Stella. We're showing up big with Stella. We're showing up big with our partnership with Zulu. And they are excited about it.

[00:55:42] Justin Kendall: Is this an all hands on deck weekend for y'all?

[00:55:45] Kris Cutrell: Yeah, absolutely. I would like to bring up one other brand that we're all going to kick ourselves on for not talking about, which is Michelob UltraZero. Um, that brand is rolling out this year. So this is kind of our big welcoming, you know, that brand to the market. I would expect that brand to be showing up at a lot of places around the Super Bowl and, and should have a good kickstart to that brand's future. Yeah. Pretty cool.

[00:56:10] Justin Kendall: You all have a pretty deep portfolio. I'm looking at like an old NBWA roster book. Like, are there any other brands outside of the AB portfolio that are ones to watch this weekend?

[00:56:24] Greg Naquin: Oh yeah. I think our consolation portfolio is going to be on fire. I mean you read any industry rate on what consolation is doing. The growth is just speaking for itself. So of course we're going to have some some consumers and some Super Bowl goers and people that are coming to the market that are going to you know drink a little Corona or drink some Modelo. So yeah, so definitely Constellation. And like you said, we have a bunch of other great supplier partners that we're making sure we're putting some focus on too. White Claw, Chris mentioned earlier, White Claw Seltzer is still a pretty big player for us in the market. So there's definitely some on and off premise accounts where we're going to see some pull coming from the Seltzer category with White Claw.

[00:57:08] Justin Kendall: As far as selling beer in New Orleans goes, what's a normal week like for you all?

[00:57:14] Kris Cutrell: It's never the same. Our weeks are probably the same every, I guess, closer seasonally, but it changes. You know, Mardi Gras is obviously a very different time for us. You know, football season, we're a big football town. You know, that's pretty crazy. You know, summer gets pretty hot. So, you know, conventions, it just changes a lot. It always depends on what's coming in town. I would say that, In New Orleans, you know, any day could be a party. So for us, we always have to kind of be on our toes.

[00:57:49] Greg Naquin: Yeah, there's moments where there's pop-up, you know, brass bands that just come out of nowhere and start parading down the street, and the second line starts. That's part of the culture here in the city. And just to go back to touch back on something you asked a little while ago, you know, just talking about culturally our city and what we have. And from a consumer standpoint, coming You know, to New Orleans, we do have a pretty healthy portfolio of local beers that we think the consumers are going to try as well. One being Urban South Brewery, located right on Chappatula's here in New Orleans. They're definitely going to get a lot of attention from our consumers.

[00:58:24] Justin Kendall: Yeah, they are definitely on our radar. They were one of our rising stars last year at our Brewbound Live business conference at the end of the year. So definitely a brand that we're watching. And I guess, you know, you brought up Michelob Ultra Zero too. You know, we're seeing this moderation trend nationally, and we're at the tail end of Dry January here in a party city like New Orleans. How are you seeing that sort of affect business, if at all?

[00:58:56] Greg Naquin: It's affecting the business. I think there's large podcasters that are but has strong opinions on alcohol consumption. There's probably several headwinds that are affecting the beer business between moderation And then what's going on in the THC beverage market, there's some headwinds for sure that we see.

[00:59:21] Justin Kendall: And as far as THC beverages go, what are you seeing in your market with those products? Because I think that's an area that Urban South plays in and there are definitely others. So, you know, how is that taking hold there?

[00:59:36] Greg Naquin: They're a player. I mean, in any market that those drinks are in right now, they definitely come in and cause some disruption to other pieces of the beverage industry. You know, how they're going to play, you know, in 2025 and going beyond. We can't really speak to that because we don't sell any of it. We don't have any of it in-house. We've definitely seen a little bit of a slow on it. But it had an impact. It had an impact on our business. And it's something that we watch closely as we continue to try to do what we do best, which is push our beer products, our seltzers, our RTDs and whatnot. But it's something that we're still watching pretty closely.

[01:00:17] Justin Kendall: Circling back to the Super Bowl, how will you all be celebrating on the big day once you know, all the kegs are out and everything's delivered and the cases are stacked and you know, are you going to be able to breathe? Are you going to be, you know, watching your phones? Are you going to be at the game? Like how are you celebrating?

[01:00:36] Greg Naquin: We're celebrating. We're gonna be celebrating with a beer in our hand, I can tell you that. But the phone will most likely be in the other hand. Just because the game's going on and the show is over, that doesn't mean that the business is gonna stop for us, right? There are things that still come into play for us as the host market, the host distributor. From a logistics standpoint, just making sure we have some other things that are buttoned up, I's dotted, T's crossed, even in the aftermath of the big game. So yeah, we're gonna celebrate, we're gonna drink a beer, we're gonna watch the game, but still be pretty vigilant as to business operations as well. Who you got? Chiefs or Eagles? That's a tough one. Who cares? It'd be pretty exciting to see Patrick Mahomes get the third one in a row. Either team, you know, I wish them both the best of luck. But it would be interesting to see him and get his three-peat. But like I said, both teams, best of luck. It's not the Saints. You know, I wish it was the Saints. I think we all do have the Saints playing in their home market in the Super Bowl. But we'll cheer for either team. But like I said, it'd be cool to see him get his three-peat.

[01:01:51] Justin Kendall: And he picks there, Greg and Chris, other than who cares? Or you're sticking with it?

[01:01:57] Kris Cutrell: No, I like the Chiefs.

[01:01:58] Justin Kendall: Three-peat. Good story.

[01:02:02] Kris Cutrell: All you have to promise.

[01:02:03] Justin Kendall: Did you want to jump in?

[01:02:04] Greg Naquin: I think Greg was still going to say who cares.

[01:02:08] Justin Kendall: I still think he had the best answers, but.

[01:02:11] Greg Naquin: I think if we, if we could focus on the saints and their leadership, and if this podcast can make a difference in who they choose, then let's talk about that. Then otherwise, who cares?

[01:02:23] Justin Kendall: Well, I know you all are busy. Thank you so much for all this time and sharing, you know, what the experience is like. We really appreciate it.

[01:02:31] Greg Naquin: Thank you, Justin. We definitely appreciate the time and appreciate you guys wanting to talk to us down in New Orleans.

[01:02:40] Justin Kendall: Absolutely. We're happy to chat with you anytime. Let's definitely stay in touch.

[01:02:45] Greg Naquin: Definitely.

[01:02:46] Justin Kendall: Thank you so much. That's our show for this week. Thanks to Jess and Zoe for all they do. Thanks to our one-man audio team, Joe. Thanks to Brandon, Greg, and Chris. Thanks to all you for listening. We'll be back next week.