Brewbound Podcast

With national sales meetings and annual business plan presentations ongoing, the Brewbound team reconvenes to discuss new products on the way from major craft producers Sierra Nevada and Firestone Walker — including a lifestyle tea brand, fruit beers and a hard seltzer. The team also discusses a recent report from Goldman Sachs’ Bonnie Herzog following the c-store focused NACS trade show that highlighted seltzers and beyond beer offerings from Constellation Brands, Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors and Boston Beer. The conversation then turns to the closing of Due South, the acquisition of Catawba and a bunch of openings. Dusty Rhodes also makes a squeaky appearance (apologies). Listen to the episode above and on popular platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. New episodes of the Brewbound Podcast are published almost weekly. Email [email protected] with questions and feedback.

The Brewbound team recaps the 2021 Craft Brewers Conference, which focused on health, wellness, diversity, inclusion and equity. They share why there may be good reasons for craft brewers to be optimistic heading into 2022, as craft is expected to return to growth by year’s end. The team also discusses the recent slowdown of hard seltzer sales and Boston Beer’s beyond beer moves that on the surface look like swimming against the current. Listen to the episode above and 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 and feedback.

Can the hard seltzer segment outsmart the seasonal slump it typically goes through every fall? Two-thirds of the Brewbound team discuss in the newest episode of the Brewbound Podcast. Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light Seltzer is betting on it with its new Fall Flannel Variety Pack featuring such autumnal flavors as Apple Crisp, Toasted Marshmallow, Maple Pear and — of course — Pumpkin Spice. Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer will roll out the Truly Holiday Party Pack on November 1 including cocktail-inspired flavors such as Cran Orange Sparkler, Pom Ginger Fizz, Holiday Sangria Style and Spiked Apple Spice. The team also discussed COVID-19 protocols in place at upcoming fall beer industry conferences, including the Brewers Association’s Craft Brewers Conference (which will not require attendees to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s annual convention (which will require attendees to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result). Listen to the episode above and 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 and feedback.

Expect drastic shifts in off-premise sales data from week to week moving forward as we begin to cycle the pandemic-driven stock-up period from 2020, NielsenIQ VP of beverage alcohol practice Danelle Kosmal cautioned during the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast. Kosmal joined the Brewbound team to discuss why 2019 might be a fairer comparison for 2021 numbers, what she’s watching for moving forward, and when the numbers might begin to normalize. On that last point, don’t expect normalization until 2022 and even then, it’ll be a “new normal.” “It’s going to take us a good year or two to figure out what that balance is going to be,” Kosmal said. “How much of the old life of bars and restaurants are we going to go back to? And how much of the new habits that we’ve learned to embrace over the past year will continue?” Kosmal also discusses trends in hard seltzer, where seltzer consumers are coming from, and the growth of ready-to-drink canned cocktails. Listen to the episode above and 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 and feedback.

The Brewbound Podcast is back. After taking a hiatus from new episodes during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brewbound Podcast returns with a new format, moving away from how-I-built-this-style interviews to bring you fresh takes and context on the latest news stories from executives, entrepreneurs and experts. In our first roundtable discussion, Brewbound editor Justin Kendall and reporter Jess Infante are joined by: Tomme Arthur, the co-founder of the Lost Abbey, the Hop Concept, Port Brewing and now Tiny Bubbles in San Diego; Caitlin Braam, founder of Yonder Cider and co-founder of the Source Cider in Seattle; And Bourcard Nesin, a beverage analyst at Rabobank and the co-host of the Liquid Assets podcast. On this week’s episode, the crew discusses the joint venture between Yuengling and Molson Coors; the U.S. Department of Justice approving Anheuser-Busch InBev’s acquisition of Craft Brew Alliance; a bleak report on the state of the industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the reality of e-commerce sales trends. Listen to the first episode of the revamped Brewbound Podcast 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.

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].

FIFCO USA has undergone a lot of changes since its national sales meeting in Philadelphia last October. The company formerly known as North American Breweries — whose portfolio includes the Labatt, Genesee, Imperial, Honey Brown, Magic Hat, Pyramid and Portland Brewing beer brands, as well as offerings such as beyond beer offerings Seagram’s Escapes, Seagram’s Spiked, Hemptails and Fun Wine — named a new CEO (Rich Andrews) in December and a new CMO (Piotr Jurjewicz) earlier this month. The company has also pivoted away from its Pura Still spiked still water offering, redirecting its resources to the popular Seagram’s Escapes brand. A constant for FIFCO though has been chief sales officer Josh Halpern, who took center stage during the national sales meeting, starring in several skits with reality TV stars such as Chris Harrison and Cynthia Bailey, Philadelphia Phillies mascot the Philly Phanatic, and U.S. Olympic gold medal soccer player Carli Lloyd, as well as spoofs of Rocky and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. According to Halpern, doing so allows wholesalers, who are working with upwards of 70 suppliers these days, to see who he is. “This is such a people driven business,” he explained. “I started my career at A-B, and we used to say, ‘Making friends is our business,’ right? So I just want our wholesalers to feel comfortable with who I am as a person, and I’m not afraid to show my personality.” To Halpern, putting himself out there shows FIFCO’s wholesalers that its execs don’t take themselves too seriously, but do take the business seriously. In Episode 6 of the Brewbound Podcast’s third season, Halpern explains how FIFCO USA came to embrace being a big-small brewery, how that leads to co-creating brands with reality TV stars and why ceding some creative control to popular platforms such as Barstool Sports to build brand equity is necessary. “Part of that ‘Biggie Smalls’ mentality … is saying we need to give up a little bit of our ownership on the brand creative content side, make sure there’s guardrails in place and whatnot, but trust people like Barstool Sports, who have done really amazing things in the last five to 10 years, to help grow our brand equity for us and with us as well,” he said. “When you’re a company of our size, you need to relinquish a little bit of control, while at the same time have the right guardrails in place to make sure you’re very much in ownership of your brand.” Listen to the latest 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].