Well craft beer, I wish I could say I find this kinda thing off-brand here in 2024 … but I don’t think that Porch Drinking’s roundup of over 30 “Hawk Tuah” themed beers on UNTAPPD surprises anyone anymore.
While I usually resist Justin’s notes to me to please work more politics into this newsletter, in this case – I think it’s merited. Ladies and gentlemen, I have excellent news: The Beer Party is gaining momentum.
Fellow Irish citizens, I have some bad news – we’re going to need a new negative stereotype. It seems our multi-decade long work at being viewed as a people who enjoy having one too many beers 🥴 was all for naught according to this new chart below, which shows that Irish folks are drinking 31% less per capita than they were in 2001. In fact, sales of non-alc beer in Ireland have 2x’d in the past four years to hit a 2% market share.
Well celebrity booze brands, you’ve had a good run … but now it’s Bey’s turn. Yes, add noted whisky enthusiast Beyonce Knowles-Carter (she insists I use her full name when we talk on the phone, but she calls me GIF Guy) to the list of Hollywood A-list liquor entrepreneurs.
The nice things about hosting a massive political convention in your state capital are that you get beers named after you … and that the mayor does most of the work anyway.
In this issue, Sierra Nevada lays out its 2025 plans, A-B makes a deal to sell distro branches in MA and OH, Oregon’s hop crop declines double digits, NIQ offers a halftime bev-alc report on the Brewbound Podcast and Zoe shares her Bahamian beer haul.
Ya know, some days … being on TV is harder than it looks, folks (#funfact – I’ve done a few TV appearances of my own, and no, Zoe, none were via footage on the local news). The team at KREM-TV in Spokane was reporting on a beer-naming contest that EASTERN WASHINGTON U was holding with the NO-LI Brewery to give a new name to the Eagle Ale (working title) that they were making together
In Wednesday’s Brewbound Insider newsletter, gains made by domestic tax paid beer shipments in May were all but “wiped out” in June, according to Beer Institute chief economist Andrew Heritage. Insiders are also reading about attendance at the 2024 Craft Brewers Conference, the impending closure of J. Wakefield’s taproom and Lawson’s market expansion.
Who says endorsements are just for athletes? Kudos to the MOLSON corporation for finding a creative way to work beer into Olympics sponsorship! 🍻 And more importantly, a congratulations to the parents of 9 Canadian Olympians who are now getting a 💰, TV time and most importantly – free beer (😱) as part of their new endorsement contracts during the Paris games.
Congratulations beer, you did it! Beer was chosen as the alcoholic beverage of choice for the summer (66%) over wine (54%), liquor (50%) and cocktails (43%) in a brand new survey of 2,087 LDAs. What’s that? Who paid for the survey? Well, I mean is that really important? OK fine, it was the BEER INSTITUTE (who enlisted MORNING CONSULT to conduct it on its behalf), but I’m sure they totally would have released the results even if wine had come out on top, ahem.
Three years post-pandemic, the beer industry’s performance is still “erratic,” National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones said during a webinar on Tuesday.
Gonna open this weekend’s newsletter with an invitation to the Brewers Association to join me for a pint in NYC (you’re buying – uhh, Justin insists), as the BA just published a report that asserts that the price of a pint on-premise has tracked below the rate of inflation for the past 3 years. It also cites an average pint price of $6.85 as of the end of 2023. So, come to NYC and let’s have a couple of craft pints to toast to that – just make sure you bring more than $20.
Some say there’s no such thing as bad publicity … but I feel rather confident in saying this wasn’t a July 4 holiday product placement spend from Coors.
The number of craft beer drinkers who are drinking less craft beer than they were a year ago has surpassed the number of those who are drinking more for the first time since the Brewers Association (BA) started asking this question in its annual poll in 2015.
