• 🎉 It’s Day 2 of Brewbound Live!
• 🏆 Brewbound Announces 2023 Award Winners
• 🗣️ Six Finalists Advance in Brewbound Pitch Slam
• 💰 NB2A Adds Molson Coors to Industry Partners
• 🦁🐻 Parting Shot: Brewbound Live Official Party

Day 2 of Brewbound Live is happening now in Marina del Rey, California.

The day kicked off with Crowns & Hops co-founders Beny Ashburn and Teo Hunter and National Black Brewers Association (NB2A) executive director Kevin Asato for an industry Wake Up Call, moderated by Brewbound managing editor Jess Infante.

The conversation was followed by a beyond beer panel with BuzzBallz founder and CEO Merrilee Kick, BeatBox Beverages co-founder and COO Aimy Steadman and Stateside Vodka CEO Clement Pappas. 

Other content throughout the day includes:

• Finding Inspiration Outside the Beer Aisle with Liquid Death, WeldWerks Brewing Company, Hella Cocktail Co., and Molson Coors;
• Be Fearless: Overcoming the Beer-iers to the Evolving Consumer with NIQ and 3 Tier Beverages;
• Conveniently Growing: Keys to Winning in C-Stores with Extra Mile and Bump Williams Consulting;
• Level Up Your Digital Strategy with Firestone Walker, The E-Premise Group, Great Notion Brewing and McDermott, Will & Emery;
• Quali-Tea Competition: Hard Tea & Lemonade Challenger Strategies with Owl’s Brew, Fishers Island Lemonade and New Belgium Brewing. 

Check out the full agenda here and tune into the livestream here.

During Day 1 of Brewbound Live, Brewbound revealed its 2023 Award Winners and class of Rising Stars.

The Brewbound Awards celebrate beverage-alcohol companies for their achievements and impact throughout the last year. The Awards serve as an appreciation of notable industry members, trend setters, breakout brands, change agents and up-and-coming entrepreneurs. 

Winners of the 10th annual Brewbound Awards include:

• Craft Brewery of the Year: Lawson’s Finest Liquids
• Large Brewery of the Year: Athletic Brewing Company
• Beyond Beer Company of the Year: BeatBox Beverages
• Beer Champions of the Year: The National Black Brewers Association’s Founding Members
• Person of the Year: Garrett Marrero, Maui Brewing, Founder & CEO

In addition to the Award winners, Brewbound also honored seven emerging alcoholic beverage companies as part of its 2023 class of Rising Stars. They include:

• Alvarado Street Brewery, Monterey, California;
• Big Grove Brewery, Iowa City, Iowa;
• Crowns & Hops Brewing Co., Inglewood, California;
• Dokkaebier, Oakland, California;
• Stateside Vodka, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
• Torch & Crown Brewing Company, New York City;
• Trace Brewing, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Read more about all the winners here.

Six finalists emerged from a field of 12 contestants Wednesday to secure a spot in today’s final round of the Brewbound Live Pitch Slam, presented by Ollie, a Next Glass Company.

Today’s final will feature:

• Trusted Gut
• Dr Hops
• Crooked Owl
• People's Republic of South Central
• Gay Water
• and Vine Street Brewing Co.

Vine Street Brewing won the audience vote to secure the sixth spot.

The finalists were selected from a group of 12 competitors which also featured:

• Urban Jungle Brewing
• Single Fin Cider
• Big Country Organic Brewing Co
• Palmys
• Joyhound Beer Company
• Hedlum

Tune into the Brewbound Live livestream at 11 a.m. PT to watch the final round of the competition. The champion will be announced at 3:20 p.m. PT at the closing of the conference.

In addition to bragging rights, the champion will walk away with an industry awareness-building packaging valued at $10,000 and free registration to Brewbound Live 2024. They’ll join the cohort of previous winners including Sunboy, Funkytown Brewery, Lunar Hard Seltzer, Crowns and Hops, Willie’s Superbrew, Novo Brazil Brewing, Armada Brewing and Border X Brewing.

The National Black Brewers Association (NB2A) announced today it has added the country’s second largest brewer to the ranks of its business council.

Molson Coors has joined the council as a gold member and pledged a $50,000 investment in the NB2A, the first-ever trade association for Black brewers and brewery owners. Revolver Brewing president James Gleaves will represent Molson Coors on the council. 

Gleaves said: “As a Black man in brewery leadership, I recognize the importance of diverse voices and perspectives in shaping the industry’s future. I’m proud to be able to use my decades of brewing and management experience to help bring a new generation of industry leaders into the beer business.”

The NB2A debuted in 2023 as a resource to address the needs of Black brewers and business owners. It is committed to increasing both the ranks of Black-owned breweries and the number of Black individuals working in the beer industry by empowering people with the knowledge and resources they need to thrive in the environment.

Since founding its Celebrate Tomorrow initiative in 2020, Molson Coors has donated more than $6 million to organizations in North America that promote economic opportunity, according to the release.

Yesterday, Brewbound named the NB2A and its founding members its 2023 Beer Champion.

Insiders can read more details here.

Speaking of Teo … here he is at the Brewbound Live Official Party last night at Firestone Walker - The Propagator, presented by Firestone Walker, YETI, Crafted ERP and the Beer Institute.

Attendees got to enjoy Firestone Walker brews, received one of the notorious Brewbound Live YETI mugs and had time to continue networking with fellow industry members. 

The festivities will end today with the Brewbound Live Wrap party in the Marina del Rey Marriott lobby from 3:30 to 4:40 p.m. PST.