Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, May 25, 2024.

Well, I’m sorry beerbiz … but it seems the potheads have finally won. No, not in the CHEETOS eating competition (they won that years ago), but according to a new study cited by Axios, daily or near-daily users of marijuana exceeded alcohol users for the first time in 2022.

Granted this is just pertaining to daily-ish use, and drinkers 🍹 outnumber tokers 😶‍🌫️ overall – but certainly another number to keep in mind these days, especially as the other folks may not remember it after this #innovation 👇 at the weekend BBQ.

PLUS: Enjoy a new 3 Up, 3 Down with 3 TIER BEVERAGES, looking at the latest insights in the hot craft light lager space (err, to be clear – the space is hot, but the beers are cold), plus signs of topping out in the RTD space.

AND: Come to the beach 🏖️ with BREWBOUND in December! (Zoe is still planning the party at the moontower, I hear everybody’s gonna be there) BREWBOUND Live is returning to Marina del Rey, CA, on Dec. 11 & 12 for 2 days of insightful conversations and analysis, plus top-notch industry networking opportunities. 

PLUS: Beer and beverage-alcohol brands can participate in retailer one-to-ones. Leaders from WHOLE FOODS and other businesses will be available for private, pre-scheduled meetings. Brands will be selected at each retailer’s discretion. REGISTER HERE.

THEN: Just a heads up for any breweries thinking of attending GABF this year – the BA is running a deal for breweries who register by June 2:

• “Pay $0 for a festival booth, and receive four brewery badges and one complimentary GABF competition entry.”

The HEINEKEN-owned brand is bringing it all back, back to Cali, Cali (that gif is catchy). The Chitown taproom closed this week, and the facility will fully shut down in August.

86 employees are affected, although a few will transition to remote roles or at the Petaluma, CA brewery.

2023 LAGUNITAS sales were -7.8% and volume -10.6%, according to NIQ off-prem numbers, with declines continuing again so far this year.

This is from a new $60 million investment across the company’s CA and VA facilities, which is expected to bring total capacity to about 700k BBL a year.

The $20 million phase one is almost complete.

20 of the Top 50 breweries had volume growth in 2023 … the rest were either flat (4) or down (26).

But the Top 50 volume was +3%, and accounted for a 51.5% total share of craft beer sales in 2023, up from 49.3% in 2022.

BOSTON BEER chose the six finalists for its Brewing the American Dream Brewing & Business Experienceship:

• Back Unturned (TX)
• Crowns & Hops (CA)
• Dokkabier (CA)
• Dublin Corners (NY)
• Khonso Brewing (GA)
• Providence Brewing (RI)

Next up: All six will be pouring beer at the Crafting Dreams Beer Bash in Boston on June 7.

THE TANK BREWING CO

District Sales Manager – Miami, FL

LORD HOBO

Taproom Floor Manager – Woburn, MA

TONEWOOD BREWING

Former UINTA president Jeremy Ragonese is the new director of marketing for WA hop supplier JOHN I. HAAS.

The folks that brought you PBR and drinks not meant for fathers is now rolling out a “tequila-inspired” FMB called EL JIMADOR Spiked Bebidas, created as part of PABST’s JV with BROWN FORMAN. I too have been tequila-inspired, but those results are not suitable for this newsletter.

EL JIMADOR is the #2 tequila brand in Mexico, according to PABST.

PLUS: Speaking of your dad, that brand is apparently still innovating … as Not Your Father’s Hard Soda Pop is being tested across 11 states.

Before my professional career pivoted into the wildly lucrative “columnist” industry 😬, I spent most of my career in marketing … and one of the lessons I found to be true, time after time, is to lean into ideas that are so simple and right in front of you that they also connect amazingly well with audiences (#funfact: BUD’s “Whazzzzap!” campaign was based almost exactly on a short film, minus the BUDs).

Another marketing lesson I learned is that “borrowing” ideas is totally fine, so I’m re-using the video featured in Zoe’s new Social Stream feature in the daily BREWBOUND newsletter, and encouraging any smart marketers out there with healthy video advertising budgets to co-opt this into an ad campaign for late summer/fall football season.

This one’s a layup (link here to watch) – maybe even use Tinx as the VO artist!

We have another twofer on this week’s podcast from the floor of the CBC:

• INFINITE INGREDIENT founder and executive director Katie Muggli
• LIFTING LUCY co-founder Ashlie Randolph

PLUS: Justin and Zoe chat all things Cold Snacks, and Jim Koch going off-script in a recent interview … delivering a lot of #realtalk candor. Plus, if you have any dishwasher connects in the greater Des Moines area, please email Justin.

Listen Here!

• The MOLSON COORS / TEAMSTERS strike at the Fort Worth, TX brewery is over after three months, as the sides have come to a new three-year agreement. No terms were released. 
• New Hampshire’s oldest brewery PORTSMOUTH Brewing has closed its doors due to flooding caused by ruptured sprinkler main last summer, and the insurmountable costs involved to get the building back up to code. The brewpub opened back in 1991. 
• JUNESHINE closed its Williamsburg, Brooklyn location after two years. 
• Happy 30th anniversary to TX’s oldest craft brewery, SAINT ARCHER 🥳. 
• The federal regulator in the KROGER / ALBERTSON’s deal is alleging ALBERTSON’S execs deleted texts pertaining to the case 🤐.
• TILRAY is selling up to $250 million in new stock to fund opportunities for acquisitions or investments due to the government’s initiation of a formal rulemaking process to reschedule marijuana. Ugh, marijuana’s always late for its appointments isn’t it? 🙄
• UNCLE NEAREST acquired the SQUARE ONE Organic Spirits brand in Virginia. No price was disclosed.

This week’s beer goes out to the real hero of the beer industry – no, not Duff Man … brewer’s yeast! What can’t it do?

In addition to creating Jess’s 2nd favorite beverage (once KIRKLAND wine has your heart, it never lets go), it may also save humanity. Apparently researchers have found that brewers yeast could potentially be used to recycle the increasing amount of electronics waste that Zoe’s generation is producing 😒.

I’ll leave the scientific details to Justin’s favorite publication (Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, or the FBB as he keeps referring to it in casual conversations with the rest of us … to continual blank stares), but a UNC researcher called it “the master recycler.”

So, have fun sharing that #funfact at your Memorial Day BBQs this weekend, and Justin says whatever you can do to slide the FBB into conversation is greatly appreciated.

Slainté!  

-Sean McNulty