[00:00:00] Justin Kendall: Next on The Brewbound Podcast, our 200th episode extravaganza. Hello and welcome to The Brewbound Podcast. I'm Justin Kendall.
[00:00:19] Zoe Licata: I'm Jessica Infante. And I'm Zoe Licata.
[00:00:22] Justin Kendall: Am I here? And am I Sean McKenzie? I'm here officially? We were gonna give you a shout out, yes.
[00:00:27] Sean McNulty: Alright, okay, now if I get introduced or not, so I wanna, you know, just make sure I get my name in there, it's very important.
[00:00:32] Justin Kendall: We're just going to have your random voice popping up and people won't know. Yes, our special guest this week is Weekend Newsletter writer Sean McNulty. Thanks for coming back, Sean. Thanks for calling me a special guest. You know, when we have a special anniversary episode, I feel like you're the call.
[00:00:50] Sean McNulty: You got to do it. I'm always available. So that's the best part. The most special of guests.
[00:00:55] Justin Kendall: Well, if you're unfamiliar with Sean, Sean writes our weekend in insiders week in beer newsletter.
[00:01:03] Sean McNulty: That's the way we call it. Yes, exactly. The weekend beer. Yes. So creatively titled, uh, wrapping up all the fine work here that these three very talented people do all week. Plus some odds and ends from the world of beer at large. Justin, I guess we call that things that. Coming to people's inboxes that are aren't quite fit for print but uh good enough for the weekend newsletter So, you know gonna have some fun with the the good old beer industry. You do a great job. Thanks, man every week I think it's our most read newsletter So it's really what it does it's always really the gifts just and people people tune in for the gifts But I'll take what I can get
[00:01:39] Justin Kendall: Well, and you also have creative ways of saying what we're going to do at Brewbound Live each week as well. You know, what our attendees can expect from Zoe, you know, late at night. Yeah. Yeah. You get a call from Zoe.
[00:01:54] Sean McNulty: Prank calls from Zoe. I think we got Justin yelling at people to keep it down a lot. People walking around in rows of beers. You know, yeah. I think you're the only person who reads those, Justin, but I write them to entertain myself mostly. So, uh, if you do look every week, there is a new, if you look at the, the Brewbound live, which is, uh, I recommend you all go and, uh, but a month now, guys, is that less than a month, right? Justin. Yeah. Less than a month. So, uh, there's always a new descriptor of what to expect from the Brewbound, uh, crew there in that little description in the newsletter. But, uh, yeah, you guys excited. I mean, this is, you know, I can tell on your faces right now, but that's the excitement that I'm reading. We are excited. All right. Jess, give yourself a little excitement.
[00:02:34] Jessica Infante: Oh, I'm so excited. As you've covered previously in the Weekend Newsletter, like I will be very excited to be toddler free for a couple of days.
[00:02:41] Speaker 1: Exactly.
[00:02:42] Jessica Infante: I look forward to that. Not that I don't love my child.
[00:02:46] Zoe Licata: It's really exciting once we get there. Like we're all very happy once we get there.
[00:02:50] Jessica Infante: It's just a lot of work to get there.
[00:02:53] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[00:02:53] Jessica Infante: Because planning, you know, we do a lot of work in advance. In addition to all of that work, we're still doing our, you know, regular day jobs of getting the news out. So this time of year is... to grind. It's fun.
[00:03:07] Zoe Licata: Also a great time to promote that if you're watching, if you are not fortunate enough to be in Marina Del Rey with us, but you're watching on our live stream, we're recording all these videos with our award winners right now and you'll be able to see those. So we're putting in a lot of work for you live streamers right now.
[00:03:24] Justin Kendall: Yep. Lots of planning and we've got awards to give out in December. We've got all kinds of stage content coming. We announced Sam Calagione in a fireside chat last week. Got more to come. It's all up. I mean, the agenda is out there. You can see what you're getting into and I think it's, it's a good deal. So join us in Marina Del Rey, December 11th and 12th. Tickets available now. With that, let's get into some news and it was a big news week for us last week as we broke the story that Lord Hobo-Lone and Lone Pine are merging.
[00:04:03] Jessica Infante: They are, they are. And this is a really interesting one. Obviously, it's not new for craft breweries to be combining these days. This is like the move of late. But what's different here, I think, is that they've got significant backing from Valterra Partners, which has been Lord Hobo-Lone's partner for years now. And I had a really nice chat with the team. And something that really struck out to me was that Lord Hobo-Lone CEO, Simon Thorpe, told me they're really gonna be approaching marketing in a completely different way. And they're gonna be able to do that with all this investment that they get from their partners. And what Simon really said was, instead of like the usual push marketing that craft breweries have relied on for decades, and that's, you know, I'm gonna nerd out for a moment, forgive me if you all know this and I hope you do, but there's push in which you are pushing the product out to your customers and there's pull where your customers are clamoring for and pulling the product toward themselves. And the three-tier system makes this a little bit more challenging because, you know, craft breweries do rely on their distributors to really get the product out to market to retailers. So they're a little bit more removed. So traditionally what is usually done is a spend of about four to five percent of revenues on traditional push marketing. What Simon wants to do here is 10 to 12% investment, mostly focusing on, on pull strategies. So I think we'll, we'll probably see, we didn't actually get into the deets on this, but I'd assume we're going to see some media, a lot of above the line stuff. A lot of traditional craft breweries do a lot of below the line and that, that stuff does, you know, it's tried and true and it works, but we're in a different world now. So I think you've got to try different things, especially the way that the craft numbers have been trending. What's really interesting here is that these two brands are pretty similar. Lord Hobo-Lone, Massachusetts based, started as a beer pub in Cambridge in 2010, eventually evolved into becoming its own Brad Avery IPA heavy. They've got two tap rooms right now. They've got their production facility, which has a lot of capacity in Woburn, which is north of the city. They've got a tap room in the Seaport District in Boston and Lone Pine is based in Maine. They've got a production facility in Gorham. They've got taprooms there, but also in Portland and in Old Orchard Beach. And they have very similar volume output last year, both in the 17,000 barrel range and similar footprints. Lone Pine is a little bit more farther flung than Lord Hobo-Lone is. But that's kind of what they liked about each other. This is what Lord Hobo-Lone really liked about Lone Pine was that they did have such similar DNA, but they also have really complimentary strategies where Lone Pine has a pretty strong chain game, but Lord Hobo-Lone, did I just say Lord Pine? This is going to happen.
[00:06:48] Sean McNulty: Go with Pine Hobo, man. Pine Hobo was my recommendation because it eliminates the L problem right there that you're having. Oh, smart.
[00:06:55] Jessica Infante: I was preferring Lone Hobo, but yeah. Lone Pine has a pretty significant chain presence, whereas Lord Hobo-Lone is really deep and does really well in mass independence. They're able to, you know, where one is weak, the other is strong and they fit together really nicely. But Lone Pine has done a lot of this on a pretty bare bones sales team. So they're going to be able to invest in having the people power to really take them to the next level. So it'll be a really interesting one to watch. But definitely there's more to come. Simon told me that they have screened something like 300 to 400 breweries, had serious conversations with 12, and they really started chatting with the Lone Pine crew about a year and a half ago. So this is taking a while to take shape, but yeah, we should see. Their footprint, their distribution footprints aren't exactly one-to-one. Justin, I think Simon told you they're about 60% aligned. So we'll see what happens.
[00:07:54] Justin Kendall: And they're not done. And they're not done. Which is pretty much what you're saying is they are not done acquiring. And I kind of feel like Massachusetts is now or New England is now sort of on the forefront of this consolidation movement and craft that we're seeing. Maybe it's recency bias, but You've got the Hendler Family Brewing Company, I think I got that, with Jack's Abbey, Night Shift, and Wormtown.
[00:08:23] Jessica Infante: And then you have... And their contract business, which is Jack's Beverages.
[00:08:27] Justin Kendall: Yep. And then you have this going on. I'm sure there are others that I'm not thinking of off the top of my head, but it just feels like we're seeing a lot of this consolidation movement in New England.
[00:08:39] Jessica Infante: Yeah. Well, I mean, look at where we are. This is six states that are all pretty small compared to other states that are really tight together, similar cultures. for the most part, kind of similar regulatory situations. You've got some variety, but I think it makes sense. You know, like you can serve several States from one spot. So I think if you can put all your eggs in one basket and really work together, find your otter buddy, this is the place to do it.
[00:09:05] Justin Kendall: Yeah. And that's a good point is, uh, I'm glad you said Otter because you've got Harpoon and Otter Creek got finest kind what they did with Wachusett and Smuttynose coming together. So now it's coming back.
[00:09:19] Sean McNulty: All the deals are coming back to mind. Yeah. Yeah. But Lumpine was like operating, you know, at capacity, which that was the other part of this, just that kind of. I don't know what's really talked about too much, but I mean it's the Lord Hobo-Lone numbers were you know they were doing 47,000 barrels five years ago. I guess whatever it was something like that. They probably have some extra capacity on their hands. It sounds like and it sounds like Lone Pine could use the extra you know space for growth. They've been at 16 17,000 barrels for a while and they sound like they were maxed out on what they currently have right Jess.
[00:09:50] Jessica Infante: totally maxed out and using contract partners for quite a bit. The thing that they told me was that their seasons are super cyclical almost.
[00:09:57] Sean McNulty: Lucky to match. Yeah. Right. Summertime for them must be off the chain and right. Yeah. Yeah. Volume doubles or triples in the summer compared to the winter. Yeah. So they can take more advantage of that next summer for sure.
[00:10:08] Jessica Infante: Yeah. Yeah, so that's the plan. By next summer, they will be producing everything in Woburn and nothing with contract partners.
[00:10:14] Justin Kendall: And this is all being made possible by Valterra Partners. They are the chief investor in this new ownership group. And they were the private equity firm that invested in Lord Hobo-Lone in 2017.
[00:10:25] Jessica Infante: Yeah, exactly. And they, you know, Simon says they're great partners and they're all in and really excited about what's going to happen here. And it's not just craft beer, like they're looking at distilleries, they're looking kind of across categories. Interesting.
[00:10:44] Justin Kendall: Let's move on and talk a little bit about the Beer Institute's membership meeting, which Zoe was in attendance for on Election Day. Zoe, how'd it go?
[00:10:55] Zoe Licata: It was definitely an interesting atmosphere. It was on Tuesday, on election day, and the majority of the content was centered around politics or looking forward to what might happen based on the election results. It also served as the transition of power for BI leadership with the switching from AB to Molson Coors as their representative within Big Beer. Gavin Haddersley spoke about his vision for beer moving forward and really emphasized how important it is that kind of all BevElk is collaborating right now. He said, like, I don't remember a time where BevElk has been pretty civil like this with a collective goal. Speaking specifically about dietary guidelines is the main thing they're collaborating on. We know that's been a hot topic for a lot of trade groups. And so he's like, this is really big that you're seeing both within beer, all the different groups working together, BI, BA, and BWA, but also across Bev-Alc, there's this collective idea. And he said, I don't know when that's going to end. It'll probably be after, you know, there's actual guidance given on dietary guidelines, then you'll start to see some divergence in what people are rooting for there. It was a nice like camaraderie moment before all the talk about politics to kick off the day. But yeah, those dietary guidelines are really irking everybody.
[00:12:29] Sean McNulty: All right. Can I ask a question about this? I'm just raising a hand on this. All right. Who pays attention to dietary guidelines in America? What evidence that this will have any effect on alcohol consumption levels in America? I mean, I get like from a regular, like if it triggers like business problems where you can't sell, you know, it restricts that I get that if it, but I don't know the things that it does to my knowledge outside of that perception wise. I don't think, I don't think this is going to change the tide of like, Oh, now we're in trouble. Uh, you know, I, I, I just don't buy this argument.
[00:13:01] Zoe Licata: Yes, that question was brought up and they kind of danced around it a little bit. There is like sure consumers are making more buying decisions around wanting to have healthier lifestyles. So maybe it might have more impact going forward if new guidelines came out because the suggested adjustment is a pretty significant change to what it is now. I think it basically like cuts it in half.
[00:13:21] Sean McNulty: Yeah, but the current one is also for a 12-ounce beer of 4% alcohol, which lo and behold is not what is being made these days. So this whole thing is a charade. I'm sorry. It's a charade.
[00:13:34] Zoe Licata: Sean said it, not me.
[00:13:36] Sean McNulty: I said it. You can attribute it to me all you want. That guideline is from an era where Bud and Miller and Coors were the three beers in America, and we do not live in that era anymore. So yeah, sorry.
[00:13:48] Zoe Licata: I think what they're really emphasizing, because, I mean, at the end of the day, it's hard to be a BevAlk company and say you are trying to look out for the health of Americans. Right. I think what their big emphasis is, is that there seems to be a misuse of information or a sharing of inaccurate information that is going out there. And so they are trying to emphasize that, hey, we need to make sure that we are keeping a watch out on what studies are being approved and what information is being shared so that down the line, you know, things don't get out of hand and there could be even further restrictions on things based on this false information.
[00:14:29] Sean McNulty: Got it.
[00:14:29] Jessica Infante: Like I know one of the big concerns is that one of the panels of scientists that is answering one of the questions that's been asked in the dietary guidelines process, I think the industry is concerned that they feel some of these scientists are not American, like a lot of them are Canadian. Yeah. But they're also like fairly known to be pretty hardcore anti-alcohol in general.
[00:14:50] Zoe Licata: Yeah, four of the six panelists on this like board are all a part of this anti-alcohol, the word isn't anti-alcohol, but like this kind of safe limit. Yes. This dry movement.
[00:15:04] Jessica Infante: And a lot of this is happening under this government panel that was originally devised to prevent underage drinking. Yes. So some of the industry claim is like, that's not the question here.
[00:15:14] Zoe Licata: Yeah. It kind of leads back to a lot of the stuff that's been happening in Oregon and their debate over, you know, increasing taxes on BevValve because the driving concern from one of the main politicians pushing that is like, oh, we need to curb underage use of drugs and alcohol. And the beer and wine and other BevValve industries are saying, okay, but you're trying to curb that by curbing all alcohol industry and that's not going to work. You need to be putting your money and resources towards other things that are directly addressing any potential underage drinking. So there seems to be a muddled mess of like what actually can help things and how biased some information is going out there. So it's become very, very hot debate for folks.
[00:16:03] Sean McNulty: That sounds like Chicago, I didn't know that they're proposing an increase or there's talk of that in there, more to make up for a tax, you know, lack of a windfall they have there. I think for a revenue point of view versus a cultural one, Zoe, but this kind of pull the old syntax lever conversation seems to be getting, you know, obviously it's very regional and very much by state, but that does seem to be bubbling up, which I think is probably involved in this conversation as well, at least.
[00:16:27] Zoe Licata: Yeah. So yes, other than dietary guidelines, there was a lot of talk of like, all right, with the next administration, what is going to be happening? And like I said, this was held before we knew the results, but there was predictions made by some folks about what would happen if Donald Trump was elected. And one of the biggest concerns for what could affect Bev-Alk was tariffs. So there was a lot of discussion around tariffs. They brought up that Trump has called tariffs the most beautiful word in the dictionary, like last month said this. So he's really leading with this tariffs first agenda. And B.I. specifically has been super outspoken. It's like one of their main concerns has been the aluminum tariffs that were originally put out in Trump's last presidency. And so they're concerned of further tariffs affecting BevAlc suppliers, because it seems like with the aluminum stuff, it's not actually impacting the folks that it should, based on some of the studies that BI has put out there, that it's really impacting aluminum across the board, even if it's made in the U.S. And so if there are further tariffs on BevAlc, it could have a significant impact on both suppliers and potentially on consumers if they have to pass on those prices to them.
[00:17:40] Justin Kendall: See, Gavin, you've got plenty you're going to have to work together on going forward. You've got tariffs, you've got taxes, like there's just an endless stream of things that they can work together on, you know? So I'm not worried about the big brewers being able to work together now. Like they've got all that until it all crumbles over a Super Bowl commercial or something. Oh, right. Yeah. That's coming up. Yeah. Well, let's talk a little bit about Molson Coors, and they are further getting out of craft, it seems, as they're ceasing operations at the Lining Kugel's Chippewa Falls Brewery and the 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee. This is going to lead to layoffs of 90 workers. This has all taken place in mid-January. One of the things I thought was interesting here is Dick Leiningkugel came out and said that the family was not consulted before this announcement came.
[00:18:39] Jessica Infante: That was interesting.
[00:18:41] Justin Kendall: Yeah.
[00:18:41] Jessica Infante: They've been together for, God, what, like definitely more than 30 years. I want to say that acquisition happened in the eighties. Yeah, I think it was like 88. So almost 40 years. And that's just strange to me. You know, Dick was active until like, I think he retired two years ago. So to not tell them this is a choice. An interesting move.
[00:19:05] Justin Kendall: Yeah. And they are keeping open the Liny Lodge, which is like a taproom with an adjoining pilot brewery. But they're losing the most workers there, which is, I think, upwards of 50. I want to say it's like 54, 55, if I remember the war notice right. It's a lot of people. Yeah. And so what we also learned was 75% of Lining Cool's production was already taking place in Milwaukee at, I want to say it's at the 10th Street Brewery, which will, you know, obviously go to the main production facility there.
[00:19:39] Sean McNulty: Yeah, I mean, it was 157 years ago that, you know, the brand was launched. I mean, that's just, you know, Chippewa Falls. I'm sure that is what the town is known for in Wisconsin. That's not like, Oh, we have other things that, you know, go on in this town. It's like, Oh, okay. That's a little. A small announcement, but a huge amount of history there, Justin, just kind of over. And I can see where, you know, Dick came out saying like a little, like, Hey, this is, this is, this is it. Like, you know, uh, not that he was necessarily arguing the point, I guess, to, uh, from a business point of view, but it just seemed, I don't know. It surprised me, the handling of this, Justin, I'll put it that way.
[00:20:15] Justin Kendall: I think we were all surprised at the handling or at least at his commentary after the fact, because you don't come out and say that if, uh, There are probably stronger words behind the scenes, I'll put it that way. Yeah. Yeah. And he's not that far removed from the company and he's not really removed from it. I believe he was still doing tours and things at the brewery. Oh, I'm sure, yeah.
[00:20:39] Jessica Infante: When his nephew, Tony, is the president.
[00:20:42] Justin Kendall: Right. Yeah. And John is still involved. We just had them both on the podcast when we were at CBC. And the other news coming out regarding Molson Coors Kraft was a 10K filing last week saying that that divestment they made of Atwater, Hop Valley, Revolver, and Terrapin They sold them off for $23 million, but they're going to incur more losses regarded to the sale of those breweries, upwards of $41 million this quarter. And then it looks like 95 to 115 million in the next couple of quarters, possibly. That's their expectation.
[00:21:26] Jessica Infante: Well, it's not as bad as what happened with Constellation and Ballast Point. So most of course, you could take a little heart with that. Yeah, so in like a very strange colliding of worlds in our lives we The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City took a trip to Milwaukee and they had a whole scene in the Miller Beer Caves where they had like a beer and cheese pairing. Then they did like a whole like montage of them like touring the facility set to like the Laverne and Shirley music.
[00:22:06] Sean McNulty: Influencer marketing. Very nice, right? Oh yeah, this is paid. This is paid. This is not. Yeah, exactly.
[00:22:13] Jessica Infante: their host presented Miller High Life and one of them, Mary Cosby, loves champagne. And the host was like, this is the champagne of beers. And like, I don't know, maybe Mary's just pulling her leg here, but it seemed as though she really believed. She was like, oh, I like this.
[00:22:30] Sean McNulty: Oh, yeah. Of course. For the check they were getting, she better like that.
[00:22:34] Zoe Licata: She's a very harsh critic. She will speak her mind on anything.
[00:22:37] Sean McNulty: Not when there's underwriting from the company, I guarantee.
[00:22:41] Zoe Licata: I'm glad she enjoyed it.
[00:22:43] Sean McNulty: Okay, fair enough I should give speed I suppose but yeah, yeah, all right, I love it look reaching me now Listen, I always say find ways to reach other, you know beer drinkers. Like I love to see that.
[00:22:54] Jessica Infante: That's great You know, I only started watching that show to consume content that did not pertain to beer in the Give you a break from beer and yet I
[00:23:06] Sean McNulty: And yet here we are. Here we are. All right.
[00:23:09] Jessica Infante: So tune in next week for me and Zoe's recap podcast. We're going to try to spin off. But yeah, Molson Coors also reported earnings last week, which I'm sure connected to that, that filing. It was an interesting call. Like by all accounts, the numbers are rough. They've got double-digit declines in shipments, depletions. Net sales revenue, kind of an ugly time. But, you know, Gavin had said, like, we expected this. The industry had a bumpy road. But he did call out they're seeing a lot of bright spots in Blue Moon. So he said that Blue Moon non-alk is the second best selling craft non-alk in the country. And I mean, they revamped the packaging. They re-christened Blue Moon Light Sky to Blue Moon Light. And that seems to be doing well for them. So mixed bag.
[00:23:55] Justin Kendall: Yeah. So not fully out of craft, but you know, depends on who you ask. The beholder. Yeah.
[00:24:03] Speaker: Yeah.
[00:24:04] Justin Kendall: Another thing that we should bring up is in your neck of the woods, Jess, you just wrote this, Treehouse is actually chasing a space in the Prudential Center in Boston.
[00:24:15] Jessica Infante: They sure are. And more Zoe's neck of the woods than mine. I don't really leave the suburbs anymore because I'm a boring mom. But yeah, you know, we should have seen this coming because over the summer, Treehouse launched a pop-up beer garden at the Prue. And if you are not familiar with our fine city here, the Prudential Center is a mall, basically, but like, yeah, a mall plus a nice ball, a nice mall.
[00:24:41] Sean McNulty: Okay.
[00:24:41] Zoe Licata: Well, it's connected to the even bougier Copley place, which is mall.
[00:24:48] Sean McNulty: All right. Mall plus is better than all right.
[00:24:50] Jessica Infante: Yeah. Mall plus like the crew is coach and Copley is like Louis Vuitton.
[00:24:57] Zoe Licata: Can you put it in housewives terms for me Real housewives of I want to say og real housewives of New Jersey like old school before they made all their money and then the Copley is real housewives of Beverly Hills
[00:25:12] Sean McNulty: All right. Justin's nodding his head now. Okay. Perfect. Yep.
[00:25:16] Jessica Infante: Yeah. So they did a pop-up beer garden over the summer. In September, they launched a beer to go out of a storefront. And now we know what all those things were adding up to, which is the fact that they are going before the Boston licensing board tomorrow to apply for a pouring license to serve beer and drinks at a combined brewery and distillery.
[00:25:34] Sean McNulty: Oh, and distillery. Okay.
[00:25:35] Jessica Infante: Yeah. And a distillery and the distillery, like, I mean, this is, I'm sure this is everywhere, but in Boston, at least you have to have like an ostensibly separate space for your distilling stuff. So like you just like build a fence around it. You're fine. So yeah, they'll have that. They'll have like a, like a 3000 square foot patio. The whole thing is going to be 35,000 square feet, two floors, a five barrel brew house. Yeah. They're not fucking around.
[00:26:03] Sean McNulty: No, they're still doing that golf course.
[00:26:06] Jessica Infante: All the golf courses is happening Once the brew bound opens at 25 or 26, come on guys my my book club inquired about Yeah, they were like no So we go to notch
[00:26:22] Sean McNulty: All right, there you go.
[00:26:24] Zoe Licata: Yeah, I mean, this is a lot of locations for them. A lot. It's a lot. And they're still trying to build that Saratoga Springs one right now.
[00:26:31] Sean McNulty: All right. In your neck of the woods, Sean. Well, it's the closest one to me, put it that way. But yeah, I'm not going to walk over there. You might be closer to Connecticut. I might be. I might very well maybe. Yeah, Saratoga Springs. It's very nice. Saratoga Springs is very nice. That'd be a nice addition.
[00:26:45] Zoe Licata: Yeah, I'm curious to see if this gets approved what it's going to look like in there because I'm trying to picture this like two-story building within the Prudential Center and it seems like a lot it's intense I got a sneak peek of their current setup and there it is like sneakily big inside like It's it's just a one small little front like very tiny, but they have a door that almost kind of leads into this massive a secret space, really, where all the beers are. And so it looks like they potentially have more space there than it would appear if you're just walking by, but... Can you think of what it used to be? I don't know, because it's such a small front. It's right next to the Shake Shack, which was a former, like, I want to say like a Talbots or something. I get so turned around in there. Yeah. And then the other side of it is, I want to say it's like a doggie daycare. It's right by the entrance to the convention center. So it's like way at the end, which could potentially be good for them.
[00:27:51] Sean McNulty: That would be a nice proximity. Yeah.
[00:27:53] Zoe Licata: Yeah. Not by the Eataly. Not by the Eataly.
[00:28:01] Justin Kendall: Well, let's talk a little bit about Monster's Q3 earnings and energy drinks, blah, blah, blah. Bev Alk, not doing so hot and sales declined $2.5 million compared to Q3 2023. They came out around $39.8 million in sales. They blamed it on craft beer and the beast unleashed is now leashed. It is dropping unleashed from the name.
[00:28:31] Jessica Infante: Thank God. It was just cumbersome to say. Yeah. It's just the beast. Yeah. Which is what we used to call something else back in college.
[00:28:41] Sean McNulty: Hmm. Oh. Oh. Hmm. I love it. I love it. Jess, it's a good Jess College story. You know, sign me up for one of those, but.
[00:28:47] Jessica Infante: No, I mean, like everybody called Milwaukee's best the beast, right?
[00:28:51] Sean McNulty: Oh, that beast. Yes, of course. Yeah, that beast. There was a different beast, of course, which, uh.
[00:28:54] Jessica Infante: No, that was the only beast in my life.
[00:28:56] Sean McNulty: That is true.
[00:28:59] Zoe Licata: Yeah, do you think they could bring back the beast from Game of Thrones a little collab?
[00:29:05] Sean McNulty: Yeah, oh my gang doesn't do that anymore.
[00:29:08] Jessica Infante: Yeah, I think this slots open Mm-hmm bring him back to life with the beast from the Sandlot.
[00:29:13] Sean McNulty: Oh, oh boy. I never am deep cuts.
[00:29:18] Justin Kendall: Okay here we go Next up yeah beast rankings yeah
[00:29:28] Jessica Infante: Free ideas for you monster.
[00:29:29] Sean McNulty: Yeah, exactly. Unleashed will not be at the bottom of those rankings. So yes.
[00:29:32] Justin Kendall: And they also announced that they have, uh, I want to get this right, uh, restructured their senior management team for their alcohol brands division. So I'm guessing that means that they've installed a lot of their people and the canarchy, former canarchy people are not there anymore. That's probably pretty much new accurate interpretation of that phrasing All right, let's play another round or tabbing out. And I'm down to Jess and Sean for now, because Zoe's internet has crapped out on her, but Monster announced new flavors for the beast. And the three that they said are on the way, and we knew because they were shown off it. Next are Gnarly Grape, Killer Sunrise, and I have no details on what Killer Sunrise is, and Pink Poison, which is a choice that yeah, I'm shocked made it through the TTB. So with these three flavors, are you buying another round of any of these? Are you tabbing out on them?
[00:30:37] Sean McNulty: Would this require me buying around in the first place on any other monster drinks? Because I have yet to do that either. So that may be the part of the problem here, Justin, but you'd have to buy a variety pack to get up to speed. So yeah, pink poison. Yeah, that's a, that's a thinker. Good point on that. I don't know. If the TTP just doesn't care anymore, they've probably seen too much. I don't know what it is, but that's interesting. It might not exist in a few months. They might not be there come February, so it's entirely possible. Yeah, no thanks on that one. So Pink Poison, what was the other two, Justin, besides Pink Poison?
[00:31:10] Justin Kendall: Well, the ones that made it out illegal apparently are Gnarly Grape, Killer Sunrise, and Pink Poison. That's gotta be Tequila Sunrise. I gotta think, yeah. Yeah. I see you working there.
[00:31:20] Sean McNulty: Yeah.
[00:31:20] Jessica Infante: Yeah. What is that? It's like cranberry, orange. Yeah.
[00:31:24] Sean McNulty: Grenadine grenadine. Yeah, I had a few of those. Yeah back in college. Yeah. So for my college days, I'll go with that one That's a that's if I'm picking one out of three. I'm picking that one first out of the writing Well, I feel I'm polite Jess, you know, you know how polite I am so when you are very polite, but I'm not and So far out the door down the street
[00:31:50] Justin Kendall: All right, Zoe, welcome back. Are you buying another round or tabbing out on any of Monster's new flavors? Pink Poison, Gnarly Grape, or Killer Sunrise?
[00:31:59] Zoe Licata: No, I am absolutely, I'm not even starting the tab in the first place for any of those.
[00:32:05] Sean McNulty: Zoe and I are of like mind. Okay, very good. This is what 200 episodes does to you. You've tabbed out with so much so far. Just you hit a point. You hit a point.
[00:32:15] Zoe Licata: Yeah. I just, I mean, I'm not a Monster fan in the first place. I'm not the target audience for this.
[00:32:21] Jessica Infante: But you do drink energy drinks.
[00:32:23] Zoe Licata: I do drink energy drinks. I think the branding and aesthetic of Celsius and Monster is very different.
[00:32:31] Jessica Infante: Very different.
[00:32:32] Zoe Licata: Very different target audiences and everything there. So yeah.
[00:32:35] Jessica Infante: And I bring that up to say how this is like a big,
[00:32:39] Zoe Licata: miss, you know? Yeah. My friend the other day just asked, when are bars going to start to offer vodka Celsius as like an alternative to vodka Red Bull? Because they prefer Celsius over Red Bull.
[00:32:53] Jessica Infante: That's a great question. Who distributes Celsius? Very good question. I think that is how we will find our answer. We don't need to solve this mystery right now.
[00:33:05] Sean McNulty: Just bring our own. That's fine Pepsi Pepsi. Okay, Pepsi folks opportunity and the greater Boston area and pick up some business Yeah, Justin you having any of these are you just gonna you know sit on the sidelines as usual enough?
[00:33:19] Zoe Licata: He just wanted to be validated that he does not like that
[00:33:23] Justin Kendall: I've been against pink poison since I've seen the name. Yeah.
[00:33:26] Jessica Infante: What if Brett Michaels gets involved?
[00:33:28] Justin Kendall: Are you on board then?
[00:33:30] Sean McNulty: Now we've taken it up a notch. All right. You might've saved it. Then you have the real housewives come in on it and then we just have this whole, I mean, now we're selling like hotcakes people.
[00:33:41] Jessica Infante: So many free ideas, Monster.
[00:33:42] Sean McNulty: So many free ideas in the podcast. We'll probably get Ricky Rocketer. Is he still alive? CC, so CC DeVille wasn't here. Yeah, I think CC's around there. We'll get CC to jump in. Well, Sean, I believe you have something for us. Look, I mean, it's the 200th episode. We have to, you know, reflect on what this means for all of your lives. Let me not that. Okay. Uh, but I listened to it back and it went back to what I, what I count as the hundredth episode. I don't know if it's exactly true, but I'm not sure this is the 200th to be quite frank with you. So we'll just call it ballpark here, but it's just like, it was a different time in the world. And just imagine where you're going to be for the 300th. This is where I'm giving aspirational vibes here. So at the 100th episode, Jess had just gotten her second vaccine shot. So she was. Back we're going Jess was regaling us with their tales of Getting her vaccine because she was also volunteering and I was the one to bring up that Jessa did that was very very nice person to
[00:34:45] Jessica Infante: No longer.
[00:34:46] Sean McNulty: Well, now you have a child at home. So I assume in the volunteering hours that we've gone by the wayside, but that was why she got us. And Justin was still vaccine lists at the time. So Jess was one of the early people. So that was a joyous moment in Jess's life. And Justin, is the turkey still alive in your backyard? We didn't even got a follow up on this. We had a turkey sighting that didn't quite, that we'd never gotten a closure on. So quite frankly, I need to know what happened here.
[00:35:11] Justin Kendall: I wish he probably would have moved to Iowa with us. Turkey was still still rolling strong in in Medford I did not come with did not make the moving band to didn't follow you there It would have been nice if you would have I think Sophie would appreciate it But you want a nice wild turkey right around the backyard.
[00:35:37] Sean McNulty: Yeah the toddler. That's a great combination. So yeah, okay fair enough. I Yes, those are your two highlights to put you in time. So who knows where you all be for the 300th episode of this podcast, but sky's the limit, you know, we'll see what new concoctions are being thought up in the, in the craft beer world. And, uh, I don't know, 20, 26, somewhere at 27, maybe somewhere in there. So. Yeah. Yeah. I just imagine just the possibilities that are there, Justin. Your eyes are glowing. The eyes are wide open. I love it. Yeah. And just continued employment. That's all I'm hoping for. I just hope there is one, a 300th episode. So yeah.
[00:36:15] Justin Kendall: Yeah.
[00:36:15] Sean McNulty: There you have it.
[00:36:16] Justin Kendall: Do we need to do a life check before we go? So we have something in the time capsule for episode 300.
[00:36:24] Sean McNulty: I want to go back to listen to this episode. Yes, exactly. So anything of note going on in your life there, Shelley? Besides the Beer Institute, because that's not going to cut it.
[00:36:33] Zoe Licata: Current state of being an unhealthy obsession with Formula One Freezing for the first time this entire year because it's been the hottest fall of our lives and As Patriots fans celebrating that we have three wins this season That's where I'm at.
[00:36:54] Sean McNulty: We'll see. All right, just any shots that we should know about in your life for you anything. Yeah, I
[00:36:59] Jessica Infante: I am getting the chicken pox vaccine on Thursday. Yeah, because I've never had. You've never had chicken pox? No. Wow.
[00:37:11] Sean McNulty: Yeah. That's interesting.
[00:37:12] Jessica Infante: I know both my brothers and my cousin who live next door to us all had it at the same time and I didn't get it. Yeah. And my pediatrician thought I was immune. And then when I was pregnant, they did all these panels on my blood work and said, you have a problem here. We cannot give you the shot in your current state.
[00:37:28] Sean McNulty: No, probably not. No.
[00:37:29] Jessica Infante: Yeah. I mean, Corey got hers a few months ago and she was loving it.
[00:37:35] Sean McNulty: I'm sure.
[00:37:35] Jessica Infante: So I timed this for a Thursday afternoon so that if I'm out of commission on Friday,
[00:37:45] Sean McNulty: If we learned anything from your COVID shot, you should do that. That's exactly right, Jess. So that would be, yeah. Need a little time out after that. All right, Justin, any animals going on in Iowa that we should be aware of? I'm fully vaxxed. Let's get that out of the way. I did get the shots.
[00:38:02] Justin Kendall: Lost a turkey, got shots. All right, got it.
[00:38:04] Zoe Licata: Many, many shots.
[00:38:06] Justin Kendall: And yes, a nine-month-old or eight-month-old puppy who's still kind of bitey. Her name's coffee and hopefully by episode 300 my broken toe has healed as well my okay Well now we have something you buried that may be broken again. I might be You know when you fall over a baby gate and land on the coffee table It's a it's a time and then a dog named coffee comes to give you give you a kiss to make you feel better Or bite exactly then yeah, yeah
[00:38:40] Sean McNulty: Okay, fair enough. I'll just note that we we have no water in New York, so it's good We got a big whopping quarter-inch arrayed on Sunday. Yeah the grounds wet And it has not rained in New York, and I can't even remember Zoe's point about the fall. She's not lying about that. It is legit. So we'll see where climate change comes in. Oh, Justin, I forgot. In the 100th episode, this is, oh, here's our great capper. You were tasting a beer of scorched earth from New Belgium to commemorate Earth Day. Which was a smoked beer that you were not a big fan of so bring it back into earth everybody Earth Day environmentalism Justin was on the hundred episode drinking a beer that New Belgium created to commemorate how bad the climate change thing is going So yeah, there's so many things.
[00:39:31] Justin Kendall: I want to say right You and me both so maybe we need to get in on these phonio beers from Brooklyn while we're at it Yeah, yeah All right, well, that's it for episode 200. Thanks to Sean McNulty for joining us. Thanks to Jess and Zoe for all they do. Thanks to our audio team, Joe, Josh, Ryan. And thanks to all of you for listening. We'll be back next week for 201.
