Brewbound Podcast

Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, state guild leaders from California, Oregon and Minnesota discuss their legislative priorities in 2021 and the challenges ahead for their members. Featured guests include: Lori Ajax, the new executive director of the California Craft Brewers Association Leia Ostermann Bailey, associate executive director of the California Craft Brewers Association Lauren Bennett McGinty, executive director of the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild Christina LaRue, executive director of the Oregon Brewers Guild The guild leaders share their key legislative agendas, the challenges of educating public health officials, looming state excise tax battles and more. The Brewbound team also breaks down the latest news stories, including Boston Beer’s Super Bowl ad, Pabst pausing production of Olympia, the legacy of Untappd and much more. Editor’s Note: This podcast was recorded prior to the resignations of executives Jeff Krum and Natalie Gershon from Duvel Moortgat USA and Boulevard Brewing Company and additional accusations of management’s mishandling of workplace and sexual harassment came to light. Listen to the episode above, or find it on popular platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. New episodes of the Brewbound Podcast are published every other Thursday. Check Brewbound’s upcoming events schedule for future podcast episodes and streaming video programming. Email [email protected] with questions, comments or suggestions for future shows and guests.

Rabobank beverage analyst Bourcard Nesin joins the Brewbound Podcast to discuss his new report that details how drinker demographics are changing and how beverage companies can welcome these new consumers, who are more female, more diverse and older. “There’s really these seismic shifts at the consumer level,” Nesin said. “The changes are particularly among the consumer groups that alcohol companies have either ignored or actively avoided in some cases in the most terrible way. “A lot of it has to do with economic empowerment, and a lot of it has to do with shifting cultural norms,” he continued. In 2019, women accounted for 50.1% of alcoholic beverage drinkers younger than 25, surpassing men for the first time ever. Since 2004, the number of women of color regularly consuming alcoholic beverages has increased 84%. People of color represented 31% of alcohol consumers in 2019, increasing 8% over the past decade and a half. Nesin shares insights gleaned during interviews with executives at beverage alcohol companies and discusses the evolution of beer marketing. The Brewbound team and Nesin also discuss the Capitol Hill riot and its implications for the beer industry, including how the largest beer manufacturers and trade organizations are approaching future political contributions. Other topics covered include Jim Beam’s new campaign to recruit beer drinkers, the Brewers Association’s decision to move Craft Brewers Conference to Denver in September, FIFCO USA shuttering of Portland Brewing Company after 34 years and Molson Coors’ partnership with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to launch a new energy drink. Listen to the episode above, or find it on popular platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. New episodes of the Brewbound Podcast are published every other Thursday. Email [email protected] with questions, comments or suggestions for future shows and guests.

Atlanta Brewing Company marketing director Cameron Davis knows what it’s like to deconstruct and rebuild a legacy beer brand. That’s what Davis and her colleagues did in 2018, taking Georgia’s oldest beer brand, the former Red Brick Brewing Company, and transforming it into Atlanta Brewing Company, a moniker the company had used until 2010, just in time for the company’s 25th anniversary. Davis recalled that the idea to return to the brand’s roots was born out of “Tuesday Dream Time” brainstorming sessions. “We’d sit in a room for 20 minutes and just say all of the stuff that if you could imagine anything for this company, what would it be?” she said. Those conversations led the brewery’s leaders to wonder what if they went back to the Atlanta Brewing name. “It didn’t make any sense to us why we weren’t already Atlanta Brewing,” she said. There also wasn’t a lot to lose. “We were kind of at the point where we’re rebranding or we might not be around,” Davis said. “Honestly, we had those conversations about ‘If we don’t do this, will we be around in two years? I don’t know?’ I think that’s a question that a lot of breweries ask themselves.” In episode seven of the Brewbound Podcast’s third season, Davis shared the process for blowing up a brand, the advantages of working with an agency such as CODO Design (who recently partnered with Brewbound on a four-part Voices series on when to rebrand or refresh a craft brand) and the risk-reward of alienating existing consumers. “You have to do what you feel is best for your company,” Davis acknowledged. “And if some people aren’t happy with it, sorry.” Davis also shares the realities of rebranding, including the wait for seeing a sales bump. “We’ve just now started to see those sales go up,” she said, adding that core beer sales increased 28% after the changeover and merchandise sales exploded. “It took longer than we expected but now we’re starting to get that payoff, which is great.” Listen to the latest episode of the Brewbound Podcast above, or find it on popular podcast platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. Look for new episodes of the Brewbound Podcast on Thursdays. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email [email protected].

Innovation in craft brewing is a lot like a pee-wee soccer game, with all of the players running toward the same ball. At least, that’s how Neal Stewart, the vice president of sales and marketing for Deschutes Brewery, sees it. And that’s not a bad thing. So how do craft brewers differentiate in a crowded and more competitive climate? They need to figure out what their “superpower is” and make that their focus, he explained during Episode 5 of the Brewbound Podcast’s third season. “What do you do really well?” Stewart asked. “Even if that kind of sounds similar to another brand, be OK with that, but really focus on that, and find a unique way of communicating that.” That’s just one of the nuggets of knowledge shared by Stewart, who recently added the VP of sales title and responsibilities to his existing role as VP of marketing for the Bend, Oregon-headquartered craft brewery. Stewart, who joined Deschutes in April 2019, has more than two decades of experience working for some of the biggest beer companies in the U.S., including Pabst, Dogfish Head, Molson Coors, Mark Anthony Brands and Flying Dog. In this week’s featured interview, Stewart discusses his preference for working with people with beer industry experience and who have “been through wars and been in the trenches,” the differences in starting at a large beer manufacturer versus a small craft brewery, and how craft beer has stopped being an “easy business.” Stewart also explains why he’s adopted a wholesaler’s mindset, and why he’s embraced the dreaded question, “How does this help us sell beer?” “For them, it’s all about efficiency and it’s all about moving boxes,” he said. “And I think that craft brewers right now need to be thinking about how do we move boxes and how do we spend our budget to do that immediately.” Listen to the episode above, or find it on popular platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. New episodes of the Brewbound Podcast are published Thursdays. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email [email protected]. Editor’s Note: Justin Kendall is well aware that he confused Skynet with Skylab. He regrets the error and apologies to the Terminator.

For years, many drinkers have mistakenly referred to New Belgium Brewing as the “Fat Tire Brewery.” “Some people would still call us that,” New Belgium CEO Steve Fechheimer said during a recent Brewbound Podcast interview. Fat Tire, the company’s flagship beer, was a staple at craft beer bars and liquor stores across the country in the early 2000s, which led many consumers to believe it was the company’s namesake offering. The fact that several drinkers skipped over the words “New Belgium” on the label didn’t matter as much when there were fewer than 7,500 craft breweries competing for attention. Today, however, Fechheimer said many other craft breweries — including New Belgium — are stuck debating whether to be a “house of brands” or a “branded house.” Having well-defined brands that can stand on their own – for example, calling a beer Voodoo Ranger versus New Belgium IPA — allows the company to have different conversations and to establish different relationships with consumers, Fechheimer argued. “From a marketing perspective, that’s really powerful,” he said. At the same time, however, Fechheimer would love if drinkers also worked their way through New Belgium’s portfolio after discovering one of the company’s priority brands (Fat Tire, Voodoo Ranger and Mural Agua Fresca Cerveza) In episode 38 of the Brewbound Podcast, Fechheimer discusses the internal tug-of-war between creating new brand identities and leveraging New Belgium’s already well-established name. He also explains how New Belgium plans to rebound from a difficult 2018 and discusses the company’s plan for working more closely with underrepresented communities. Listen to episode 38 of the Brewbound Podcast above, as well as on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and Soundcloud. New episodes of the Brewbound Podcast, which is co-hosted by Chris Furnari and Justin Kendall, are published every Thursday. Episode 39, featuring Matthew Osterman, the founder of Denver’s Sleeping Giant Brewing Company, will be released on Thursday, June 6. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email [email protected].

When Monday Night Brewing co-founder Jeff Heck is looking to hire a new employee, he doesn’t just sit a candidate down and run through a list of the 15 most common interview questions. “It’s a painful process to go through for people that want to get a job with us,” he said, noting that the company asks applicants to actually perform the job they are applying for as part of the assessment. When the company was trying to identify its next wood cellar manager, the executive team and other key brewing and operations personnel spent an hour-and-a-half tasting 15 different beers the candidate had produced and asked him dozens of questions about each one. “We just want to see – how does he think about the beer? What would he do differently? Is he able to talk about the mistakes he’s made? Is he able to talk about how he would take learnings from one beer and apply it to another?” Heck said. Similarly, when the company was looking for a new marketing manager, it asked candidates, who had already passed an initial round of interviews, to create a mock social media calendar, which helped the hiring team narrow its search. “It’s a great screening tool,” he said. In episode 26 of the Brewbound Podcast, Heck discusses the company’s recruiting and hiring processes, interviewing and onboarding new employees, the company’s culture, and how the executive team encourages employees to take ownership over certain aspects of the brewery’s operations. Listen to episode 26 of the Brewbound Podcast above, as well as on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and Soundcloud. New episodes of the Brewbound Podcast, which is co-hosted by Chris Furnari and Justin Kendall, are published every Thursday. Episode 27, featuring Fort Point Beer Company founder and CEO Justin Catalana, will be released on Thursday, March 14. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email [email protected].

Fergal Murray spent 31 years with Diageo Ireland, as both a Guinness master brewer and a global brand ambassador. During that time, he poured perfect pints of the iconic Irish Dry Stout for former President Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, Jimmy Fallon, and Tom Cruise, among many other international dignitaries and celebrities. But his brewing industry expertise stretches far beyond the draft handle. Over the course of his more-than-three-decades career with Diageo, Murray worked alongside the global marketing and sales teams to help drive awareness of the Guinness brand, and to educate wholesalers and retailers across the world. These days, Murray is consulting for small breweries and distilleries across the world, most notably with Wachusett Brewing in Westminster, Massachusetts. On a recent trip to the U.S., Murray stopped by the Brewbound offices to chat about building brands on-premise, the emerging non-alcoholic beer trend, and the tug of war between the desire to satiate consumer demand for innovative products with the need to hone and perfect core recipes. “Every high-performance something or other comes out with something new with an improvement,” he said. “Brewer — tell me what you’ve done to make your beer better.” In episode 21 of the Brewbound Podcast, Murray discusses the changes to the American beer scene that he’s witnessed during his long career in beer, his latest collaboration with Wachusett and innovations that could drive future category growth. Also in this episode: Brewbound editors Chris Furnari and Justin Kendall share their takeaways from the 16th Annual Beer Business Daily Summit in San Diego. Listen to episode 21 of the Brewbound Podcast above, as well as on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and Soundcloud. New episodes of the Brewbound Podcast, which is co-hosted by Furnari and Kendall, are published every Thursday. Episode 22, featuring Russian River Brewing co-owner Natalie Cilurzo, will be released on Thursday, February 7. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email [email protected].