Brewbound Podcast

This week’s Brewbound Podcast features interviews with some of Brewbound’s 2023 award winners. Hear from: 2023 Large Brewery of the Year, Athletic Brewing, with founders Bill Shufelt and John Walker; 2023 Craft Brewery of the Year, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, with founder Sean Lawson and CEO Adeline Druart; And 2023 Beyond Beer Company of the Year, BeatBox Beverages, with co-founder and COO Aimy Steadman. Also, the Brewbound team gives a few quick takeaways from last week’s Brewbound Live business conference, recaps the Brewers Association’s Year in Beer report, and plays Another Round or Tabbing Out on non-alc and alc convergence and a Lobster Pie beer. Listen here and on all popular podcasting platforms. Look for additional Brewbound award winner interviews in the coming weeks.

More signs of the times keep coming in the beer industry, with consolidations, expansions, production shifts and IP sales. Jess, Zoe and Justin reconvene to discuss the latest industry shakeups at Made by the Water, Young Lion, Other Half, RiverWalk, Ipswich and Anchor. Plus, the team shares whether they’ll be participating in Drinksgiving/Blackout Wednesday and looks at the latest Circana convenience store scans, with New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA passing Molson Coors’ Blue Moon Belgian White. The show wraps with a game of Another Round or Tabbing Out on the influx of new non-alcoholic beer brands from regional breweries and large-scale marketing activations in the wake of Heineken’s big F1 spend at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Listen above and on all popular podcast platforms.

Hard tea and spritzer brand Loverboy is getting into the non-alcoholic space with a pair of 6-packs: lemon iced tea and white tea peach. Loverboy SVP of sales Derek Hahm and SVP of commercial strategy Todd Anderson discussed the launch of the brand, and how it will be incorporated into the Bravo reality series. Hahm and Anderson also discuss Loverboy’s goals in the hard tea category, the advantage of working with a Bravolebrity and Loverboy’s strategy of working with beer wholesalers. Listen to the conversation on popular podcast platforms, including Apple, Google Play and Spotify. Send questions, feedback or ideas for the podcast to [email protected].

Bernstein Autonomous analysts Nadine Sarwat and Trevor Stirling share what they know so far about Ozempic, Wegovy and other diet/diabetes drugs’ effect on alcoholic beverage consumption. Sarwat and Stirling break down why these drugs have entered popular culture conversations, what users are saying about their cravings, comparisons to past diet trends and much more. Also, Jess, Zoe and Justin discuss the latest news, including promotions at Rhinegeist, the failed union effort at Creature Comforts and non-alcoholic beer reaching its limit at retail. Listen to the conversation on popular podcast platforms, including Apple, Google Play and Spotify. Send questions, feedback or ideas for the podcast to [email protected].

As Brewbound’s next Brew Talks event in Denver approaches, this week we replay a Brew Talks Boston conversation exploring what’s next for hazy IPAs. Vitamin Sea Brewing founder Dino Funari, Wormtown Brewery president and general manager Kimberly Golinski, Mighty Squirrel Brewing co-founder Naveen Pawar and Samuel Adams taproom head brewer Megan Parisi share where they believe the style is going, how New England craft breweries are approaching hazies and what maturity means in the market where it originated. Plus, Justin and Zoe recap Firestone Walker’s annual business planning meeting. They also play a game of Another Round or Tabbing Out, discussing White Claws entry into non-alcoholic seltzer. Listen to the conversation on popular podcast platforms, including Apple, Google Play and Spotify. Send questions, feedback or ideas for the podcast to [email protected].

Jeffrey Stuffings, co-founder of Jester King, discusses a bill in the Texas Senate that would fine businesses $10,000 for hosting “sexually oriented performances” – which includes drag events, if people under age 18 are present or on public property – and shares why the Austin, Texas-based brewery is encouraging its followers to oppose it. Although the proposed law does not apply to establishments that are 21+, many breweries and restaurants that host drag shows are family-friendly and would like to stay that way. Stuffings explains how Jester King has built an inclusive space and why he sees the legislation as an example of “fear of the other.” Dave Infante, editor of independent drinks newsletter Fingers, joins the conversation to share why brewery owners hosting similar events need to be prepared for potential backlash in this overheated political environment. The Brewbound team also breaks down the latest headlines, including conservatives’ call to boycott Bud Light following the brand’s influencer activation with Dylan Mulvaney, a influencer who documents her life as a transgender woman; Deschutes’ big bet on non-alcoholic beer; recent small brewery mergers in California; and Mikkeller ceasing ops in the U.S. and BrewDog shutting its Pittsburgh outpost. Listen to both conversations in-full in the episode above, and on popular podcast platforms, including iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. Have questions, feedback or ideas for the podcast? Email [email protected]

3 Tier Beverages consultant Stephanie Roatis shares the beverage alcohol segments trending up (hint, Dry January did all right) and those on the downward swing in her quarterly 3 Up, 3 Down report. In addition to soaring off-premise sales for non-alcoholic beer, imperial ciders – those clocking in at 8% ABV and above – also recorded an impressive amount of growth in scan data, as did cider producers at the regional level, Roatis said. “Cider had a super transformative 2022 – we saw a lot of the dollars shift into regional players and move away from companies like Ace and Redd’s,” she said. “Cider experienced a volume decline of about 8% last year, but regional cider saw their off-premise dollars grow 22 points since 2018. So now regional players, largely in the Pacific Northwest, are making up about 54% of the category.” On the down side of the 3 Up, 3 Down report, craft beer was flat, buoyed only by two styles: IPAs (+4.78% in the 13 weeks ending January 28) and American wheat (+1% in the same period). Eight of the segment’s top 10 styles declined in dollar sales. In addition to Roatis’ report, the Brewbound team analyzes the Drake’s-Bear Republic craft-on-craft merger, breaks down Boston Beer’s full-year earnings report, questions why one of the largest craft breweries in the U.S. isn’t making non-alcoholic beer a focus, and calls for a moratorium on the use of “drinkable.” Listen to the full interview in the episode above and on popular platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. Have questions, feedback, or ideas for podcast guests or topics? Email [email protected].