Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, November 18, 2023.

Where it’ll be hard to miss the HEINEKEN SILVER branding tonight at the F1 race in Vegas 🧐.  

HEINEKEN is doubling down on the light beer brand, dedicating another $100 million to ‘getting the word out’ in 2024. 

52-week sales through Sept. 9 for the brand were $15.9 million, according to NIQ data cited by 3 TIER BEVERAGES … but uh, hey – gotta spend money to make money, amirite, Justin? 🤑

What’s that? No, that’s not a veiled request for a raise. It’s a very heavy-handed one – I have to go to NJ to afford beer these days!

ALTHOUGH: With a Numerator poll indicating that of the ⅓ of folks planning on buying alcohol for their Thanksgiving celebrations, 70% are planning on buying wine for turkey day (beer: 57%), that doesn’t bode well for HEINKEN SILVER’s shindig. 

Don’t worry folks, we’ll get our revenge on St. Patrick’s Day, Irish-style … ☘️

Made By The Water is not living up to its name … and shutting down large scale brewing at New Orleans-area brewery FAUBOURG (fka DIXIE Brewing), mainly because basically it’s too close to the water 🤔.

MBTW cited high costs of water, as well as high taxes and staffing issues as the main factors. Climate change has contributed to significant fresh-water challenges for the greater NOLA area in recent years, according to the NY Times.

About 20 employees have been affected by the decision, as the $30 million FAUBOURG facility was intended to be MBTW’s main brewing facility when the 2 companies combined in Sept 2022.

They temporarily shifted to contract brewing at NEW REALM in VA and INDIEBREW in GA this spring after a fire at FAUBOURG, and it sounds like they discovered some cost-saving realities in the process … and thus, all brewing will now shift to those facilities going forward for all MBTW brands.

FAUBOURG’s taproom and event space will remain open at the location, which will still have some small-scale pilot/R&D brewing on-site as well.

Yes, the company is launching a competitor to, err kinda … itself (🤷) with SUN CRUISER, a new 4.5% ABV vodka-based hard tea.

And yes, this is the same BOSTON BEER whose founder has gone on the record many times saying that the future for spirits-based RTDs is limited.

But, remember this is a company that loves to double (or triple) down on things that are working (TRULY fruit punch … or iced tea … or lemonade, anyone? Should be plenty around from 2022).

Although SUN CRUISER will be a 100-calorie product and come in 4pk slim 12 oz. cans, in case there’s any question as to the TWISTED TEA consumer differentiation approach being taken here. 

Will hit 14 test markets in March to start.

“One thing I want to be very clear about is that Red Tree will not distribute alcohol in the United States, nor will Coca-Cola.”

– RED TREE president Jenny Dowdy during the Beer Marketer’s Insights fall seminar this week, reaffirming COKE’s stance on the alcohol business for those of us in the cheap seats.

TILRAY’s SWEETWATER is further confusing ... err, I mean delighting customers with a new Half-a-Gummie 5.5% ABV brand extension from their 9.5% ABV (and no THC) Gummies IIPA line.

Like its predecessor, Half-a-Gummie will also have no THC, but is going with tap handles that … definitely look like THC gummies. Yes, I know it’s meant to be fruit-forward in the sense of ‘traditional’ gummy bears … but I’m onto ya, TILRAY! 

To be clear, there are no actual ‘un-buzzed’ gummy bears used to make the product either. Also to be clear – the term ‘half-a-gummie’ is never used to refer to anything but a THC product.

Ya know – I think the rise in MILLER LITE sales this year may not just be due to the whole BUD LIGHT thing at this point 🤔.

ATHLETIC BREWING

Assistant Brewer - San Diego, CA

SUNTAN BREWING

Operations Manager - Chandler, AZ

FIFTH HAMMER Brewing Co

Sales Manager - Long Island City, NY

Yet another victory for labor in 2023 🥳, as A-B has agreed to end its tiered healthcare plans for Teamster employees, as well as restore benefits for some retirees that were lost in previous negotiations.

This after the Teamsters cut off deal talks last week unless A-B agreed to end its tiered-healthcare policies.

According to the October CPI numbers, beer at home was +4.7% for the month, +1% from Sept., and +2.1% over the past 3 months.

Beer away from home was +5.2%, and +2% in the past 3 months. Although as Bart Watson notes … this isn’t exactly in line with CIRCANA data, which has the price of beer down vs. 3 months ago. 

And if you’re buying beer in NYC – all of this really doesn’t matter in the on-prem world we live in. So, call it as ya like.

Jess & Zoe talk with SHORT’S Brewing CEO Scott Newman-Bale, discussing the Bellaire Inn, the brewery’s solution to the workforce housing crunch in its northern MI home, particularly in their very busy summer months.

PLUS: They dive into BOSTON BEER doubling down on hard tea, the ECLIPTIC deal, and NEW BELGIUM’s new addition to the CEO suite.

🎧 Listen here!

Chicago’s lager playground, METROPOLITAN BREWING, made its closing official … after going Chapter 11 last month. Last day will be Sunday, Dec. 17.

NB’s VOODOO RANGER Imperial IPA is now the best-selling craft beer in the c-store channel, surpassing BLUE MOON Belgian White. At least that’s in dollar sales YTD, crossing $81 million through the week ending Nov. 5 – BM is still +222k cases on VOODOO volume.

A-B’s US CMO, Benoit Garbe, is resigning from the company at the end of the year after a 3-year stint. Chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington will now oversee all marketing activities.

NYC’s OTHER HALF is expanding yet again, this time buying YOUNG LION Brewing Co.’s space in Canandaigua, NY, although the IP is not involved in the deal. The 10k BBL capacity brewery & taproom will be OTHER HALF’s eighth location, and 2nd in the Finger Lakes region.

11% ABV RTD party punch maker BEATBOX has set a new, 5-year manufacturing deal with CANADA’s FLOW WATER to up their output. BEATBOX has committed to a minimum annual volume (MAV) equal to $115 million in revenue for FLOW WATER over the life of the deal, with a pay-or-play provision attached. BEATBOX thinks they can be a $500 million business by 2028, the end point of this deal.

Join for December’s BREWBOUND LIVE in Marina del Rey, CA on Dec. 6 & 7.  

PLUS: Take a gander at the full agenda for both days here.

AND: A top-drawer guest list -- wonder if we can get Jake Gyllenhaal to come? I could see him enjoying Marina del Rey in December. I dunno, think Jess and Zoe will go for it? 🤔

• TILRAY BRANDS prez of U.S. Beer Ty Gilmore
• NBWA chief economist Lester Jones 
• BA chief economist Bart Watson
• BELL’S Brewery EVP Carrie Yunker
• NATIONAL BLACK BREWERS ASSOC exec director Kevin Asato
• BuzzBallz founder Merrilee Kick
• RHINEGEIST Brewing CEO Adam Bankovich and co-founder Bryant Goulding
• BeatBox Beverages co-founder Aimy Steadman 
• ROGUE ALES president Steven Garrett
• STATESIDE Vodka CEO Clement Pappas
• EXTRA MILE Convenience Stores category manager Michelle Abdollah
• CROWNS & HOPS founders Beny Ashburn and Teo Hunter
• NIQ bev-alc vertical director of thought leadership Kaleigh Theriault 
• 3 TIER BEVERAGES analytics and client success consultant Stephanie Roatis
• Advisor and board member Simon Thorpe
• Karl Strauss co-founder and CEO Chris Cramer
• Arlington Capital Advisors managing director Ryan Lake
• CANarchy chief commercial officer Chris Russell
• Great Notion co-founder and CEO Paul Reiter
• Three Weavers founder and CEO Lynne Weaver
• The E-Premise Group founder Ethan Stienstra
• Liquid Death SVP of marketing Dan Murphy
• Owl’s Brew co-founder Jennie Ripps
• Firestone Walker shopper marketing manager Ruby Martinez
• Bump Williams Consulting VP of analytics & insights Dave WIlliams
• Mellow Mushroom associate director of beverage operations Kynyetta Lester
• Stone Distributing GM Brian Fried
• Breakthru Beverage California director of beer Sinead Carey

SO: Get your tickets now – right here for Dec. 6 & 7 in SoCal! 

BREWBOUND Insiders save $200!

This week’s beer is not going out to Jess, who joined Zoe’s #NoSeans club (somehow Lawson is always excluded… 😏) and didn’t say hello when she was in NYC this week. I mean, sometimes it’s like I don’t even work here (editor’s note – Sean does not have a BREWBOUND security badge, he knows why).  

But I digress – let’s give this week’s beer out to ATHLETIC BREWING, who has given over $1.6 million this year to more than 200 non-profit organizations, per their Two for the Trails program, which donates a small cut of ATHLETIC sales to groups working to protect outdoor spaces.

I’ll happily crack an Upside Dawn open after my Saturday afternoon park hike today in solidarity – OK, fine, yes, Jess … you can have one from my fridge too 🙄.

Slainté! Til next Saturday, you can reach me anytime here on LinkedIn.

-Sean McNulty