Brewbound Podcast

Brendan Sindell is on a mission to bridge the gap between major domestic and craft beer offerings. “I grew up drinking major domestics in college and I found myself drinking them out of habit,” he said. So Sindell created House Beer, a sleek-looking lager brand targeted to millennial consumers who “don’t want to drink their dad’s beer.” The Venice, California-based beer company, which counts Ashton Kutcher and the Winklevoss twins among its investors, only makes one product – a “premium crafted lager.” “The strategy behind just creating a sessionable craft lager in five different SKUs allows us to be extremely focused,” Sindell said. He’s betting drinkers still want to drink lager beer, despite the fact that some of the country’s largest brands – Budweiser, Heineken, Pabst, and others – are in decline. “We’re starting to get a lot more attention,” he said. “I think the rise of Modelo, [Michelob] Ultra, Pacifico, Corona has a lot to do with it. The consumer that was once drinking the big four is trading up to those beers, and that is kind of where we lie.” In episode 20 of the Brewbound Podcast, Sindell discusses House Beer’s value proposition, the company’s distribution and growth strategy, the challenges and opportunities of selling a single product offering and why his investors remain interested in the beer category despite declining volumes. Also in this episode: Brewbound editors Chris Furnari and Justin Kendall discuss Super Bowl storylines, the closing of the Widmer taproom in Portland, Oregon, and key executive hires at Sierra Nevada and MillerCoors. They also share some social media accounts to follow and discuss the latest “Beer Twitter” debate over craft breweries using unpaid volunteers on packaging day. Listen to episode 20 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 21, featuring former Guinness brewmaster Fergal Murray, will be released on Thursday, January 31. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email [email protected].

Constellation Brands chairman of beer Bill Hackett has spent more than three decades growing sales of imported Mexican beer in the United States. When he began building the Corona brand in 1984, the market for imported beer in the U.S. was just 8 million barrels. Last year, about 34 million barrels of imported beer was sold in the U.S., and 23 million of those barrels were imported from Mexico. Much of that growth can be attributed to Hackett, and others who have worked on the Corona brand over the years. So what’s his secret to scaling a brand that, in many cases, consumers didn’t even know they wanted? “I went into market and I just started asking questions,” he said. After surveying retailers and drinkers about Corona, Hackett identified a target demographic and built a marketing plan around what consumers believed were the brand’s key differences. “Very simply stated, what we did was developed the marketing, positioning and the advertising, basically reading back to consumers what they were telling us about the beer,” he said. In episode eight of the Brewbound Podcast, Hackett discusses the strategies that have allowed the Corona brand to flourish in the U.S. over the last three decades, and how he sees the beer market evolving in the years to come. Hackett also talks about the taproom phenomenon, the importance of brand building at a time when 7,000 craft breweries are fighting for mindshare, and what he drinks when he’s not tipping back a pint of beer. Also in this episode: Brewbound editors Chris Furnari and Justin Kendall share the latest news and run down segments. Listen to episode eight of the Brewbound Podcast above, as well as on iTunes. The episode is also available on 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 eight, featuring Victory Brewing co-founder Bill Covaleski, will be released on Thursday, November 8. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email [email protected].