• 💋 Chace Crawford Joins Jiant Hard Tea
• 🍷 Report: Southern Glazer’s Layoffs
• 🏭 O-I Glass to Lay Off Workers, Close Plants
• 🔮 On Tap: A-B Earnings, Brewbound Podcast
• ⏮️ ICYMI: Boston Beer’s ‘Messy’ Financials 
• 🗣️ Wa Post on Hurricane Helene Aftermath
• 🎸 Firestone Walker Teams Up With Ernie Ball

Spotted: Nate Archibald with a new job and a hard tea in his hand.

Actor Chace Crawford has joined hard tea and kombucha maker Jiant as chief creative officer and part-owner. Crawford is best known for his TV roles on Gossip Girl (Nate Archibald) and The Boys (Kevin Moskowitz/The Deep). 

At Jiant, Crawford “will play a key role in product development, marketing strategies and brand expansion,” as well as helping the Los Angeles-based company deliver “exceptional beverages nationwide with fresh creativity and a touch of celebrity,” according to a press release. 

Crawford will also be featured in future marketing campaigns and social media content, starting with a “Geriatric Elder Millennial” advert, with the actor leaning into the wants (and stereotypes) of aging millennials, including better-for-you beverages and waking up early. He will also be involved in both consumer-facing and trade events, including retailer meetings. 

Jiant co-founder and co-CEO Aaron Telch told Brewbound: “He's already participated in a few things behind the scenes before we launched [his addition], and you can tell he's really interested in the behind the scenes business aspect of what we do.”

Co-founder and co-CEO Larry Haertel Jr. added: “He's been a huge asset behind the scenes. He's definitely had his influence on some of the innovation we have coming out next year, and we’re looking forward to sharing this with the world and seeing what people think of it.” 

Jiant had been interested in bringing on a “talent partner” for a while, but it was “more difficult than we thought,” Telch said. Then the duo met Crawford earlier this year through a mutual friend, and learned he was already a fan of the brand, and had moved away from beer to drink hard teas and hard kombucha. Crawford visited the Jiant office the next day, and the partnership was formed. 

Telch said: “Not only did he love the product, but he was very motivated to roll up his sleeves and work on Jiant with us.”

Crawford joins Jiant as it wraps up the year with +50% growth, after posting triple-digit growth in 2023. The company also closed a $6 million Series A capital raise at the end of 2023. 

For 2025, Jiant is targeting triple-digit growth, according to Telch. The growth will be dominated by the company’s hard teas, which have become Jiant’s primary product since launching in 2022, three years after the company’s founding as a hard kombucha company in 2019. 

Insiders can read more about Jiant’s 2025 plans, and how 2024 set the foundation for future growth.

Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits has “laid off hundreds of employees” across the U.S., with many of the job cuts coming from its fine wine division, according to a report from Wine-Searcher. 

The outlet called the reports “unconfirmed,” but cited comments by Gregory Stokes, owner of Columbus, Ohio-based The Bottle Shop, and anonymous posts by laid off employees in a Reddit thread.

Wine-Searcher reported that Stokes made the following comments during a U.S. Wine Trade Alliance webinar last week: “Southern Glazer's, the largest wine distributor in the country, just laid off 3,000 people across the country. They're getting rid of an entire wine division because of the slowdown in wine sales."

The reported job cuts come as Southern Glazer’s is in the midst of a lawsuit with e-commerce alcoholic beverage seller Provi, a potential lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission for anti-competitive pricing actions and a raid of the distributor’s offices in California by the Internal Revenue Service and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

Wine volume (-4%) and dollar sales (-2.1%) are both in decline year-to-date (YTD) through October 12 in NIQ tracked channels. Volume declines have held steady across the board in every wine category, with the exception of non-alcoholic wine, wine-based alternatives and wine-based cocktails YTD, as well as in the last 4-week period and rolling 52-week timeframe. 

Glass bottle maker O-I is expected to layoff around 150 employees as it closes its Streator, Illinois-based plant on November 18, according to Packaging Dive. O-I is expected to take a charge of around $39 million associated with the Illinois closure in its Q3 earnings, which includes a $24 million impairment of plant assets and $15 million for “one-time employee separation benefits and other costs related to the closing.” 

The company previously announced a severance program of around $21 million in Q3, with the company expecting to pay out cash severances expenditures in Q4, according to an 8K filed on October 16.

The company is also closing an innovation hub in Perrysburg, Ohio, Packaging Dive reported.

Work from those plants will shift to other O-I plants.

Additional furnace closures are expected later in 2024, the company said in an 8-K filing dated October 21. According to a September 4 filing, the company plans to close four furnaces as part of its “Fit to Win” initiative to “reduce redundant capacity and begin to optimize its network.” Around 200 employees were expected to be affected by the closures, per the September filing. 

Anheuser-Busch InBev will report its third quarter financial results on Thursday, its second round of earnings that lap the 2023 conservative-led boycott. 

This week’s Brewbound Podcast will also feature a pair of conversations recorded during the NBWA Annual Convention: 

• NBWA VP of state affairs David Christman will provide an update on the trade group’s state-level efforts;
• Behold Beverage Intelligence’s Sean Mossman and Glazer’s Beer and Beverage’s Laura Melzow will discuss how artificial intelligence is changing workflow in the middle tier. 

Also keep an eye out for the 2024 Brewbound Live schedule. 

Boston Beer Company reported Q3 financials, which Bernstein analyst Nadine Sarwat described as “messy.” 

Key numbers to know: Q3 2024 shipments (sales to wholesalers) declined -1.9% versus Q3 2023, to 2.24 million barrels, while depletions (sales to retailers) declined -3%. 

Included in Boston Beer’s results was a $42.6 million non-cash impairment charge, with the bulk of that impairment attributed to the Dogfish Head brand ($41.2 million), which the company acquired for $300 million in 2019. It was the third impairment of the Dogfish Head trademark, following write downs of $16.4 million in Q3 2023 and $27.1 million in Q3 2022. Future impairments aren’t expected on the brand as Boston Beer is “amortizing the remaining intangible asset” over the next decade.  

Brewbound reporter Zoe Licata recaps the call with investors and analysts, including comments from Boston Beer founder Jim Koch and management on Twisted Tea trends, Truly Hard Seltzer’s continued struggles and optimism around Sun Cruiser. 

In other news, Maui Brewing Company parent company Craft ‘Ohana is handing off the daily operations of Modern Times Beer to Wings & Arrow, the bev-alc platform led by Josh Landan, who founded and sold the Saint Archer craft beer brand to Molson Coors and later created Ashland Hard Seltzer. Craft ‘Ohana is retaining an interest in Modern Times, which it acquired from a bankruptcy auction two years ago.

Additionally, the coffee and hospitality businesses are being taken over by a San Diego businessman, Duncan Ward, who already has plans for a Modern Times branded beer and coffee spot in West Hollywood for 2025. 

How can you find balance in life and business? Tim Parker, the co-founder of Chula Vista Brewery, shared how meditation has improved his mental health and business on the latest Brewbound Podcast. 

When a lot of brewers are looking to contract brewing to fill their tanks, Boston’s Dorchester Brewing is moving in the opposite direction. The company is wrapping up its contract business after eight years in order to focus on its own brands. 

Seattle’s Georgetown Brewing is acquiring another Emerald City alcohol and NA producer: Timber City Ginger Beer. 

The latest A Round With Q&A features Rafael D’Armas, a brewer with KCBC and a board member with the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling. Learn more about his quick rise in the brewing industry.

Catch up on the rest of last week’s headlines, including: 

• Keurig Dr Pepper To Acquire GHOST, Move Energy Drink to Own Distribution Network;
• Circana: Craft Losses Soften Again; New Belgium Leading Declines in Top 30 Craft;
• NA Beer Brand Best Day Brewing Secures $12.5M Investment.

Get these stories and more with Sean McNulty’s spin in our Insiders’ Week in Beer newsletter.

– Kate Bernot reporting in The Washington Post on the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina. 

Bernot reported that New Origin Brewing’s brewery “was leveled by a Norfolk Southern railcar borne upon the floodwaters like a locomotive.” Another brewery, Brewery Cursus Keme, was only “plants and tangled wires” due to the hurricane.

The report shares updates from several Asheville breweries – Zillicoah Beer Company, Burial beer Company, Highland Brewing and DSSOLVR, among them – on their future plans. The story also includes photos of the devastation. 

Read it here.

Firestone Walker has a new duet partner: guitar string maker Ernie Ball, with whom it’s collaborating on Electric Eagle, a 7% ABV West Coast IPA.

The craft brewery and Ernie Ball’s partnership is “rooted in a mutual appreciation for great music and beer,” according to a press release.

Both brands are based on California’s Central Coast, where distribution of the beer is concentrated. Electric Eagle is available in 16 oz. can 4-packs at Firestone Walker’s taprooms in Paso Robles, Buellton and Venice, as well as on draft at on-premise accounts in the area.

Sam Tierney, brewery manager at Firestone Walker’s Propagator R&D brewhouse in Venice, said in a press release: “We used a mix state-of-the-art hop formats for high aroma and flavor impact, including traditional hop pellets, lupulin-rich Cryo hops for pure aromatic character, and Incognito hop extract for a clean bitterness and punchy flavor boost.”

Ernie Ball CEO Brian Ball said in the release: “As fellow 805 natives, we take immense pride in our roots and the rich culture of craftsmanship that this region embodies. This collaboration is not just about creating a great beer; it's about celebrating the artistry and passion that both Ernie Ball and Firestone Walker bring to our respective crafts.”

Dollar sales of the Firestone Walker brand family are roughly flat (-0.8%) in the 52-week period ending October 5 at off-premise retailers tracked by NIQ, according to data provided by 3 Tier Beverages. Those losses have decelerated to -0.4% in the L4W. 

The 2024 Brewbound Live business conference will explore how to create meaningful connections with consumers across generations with predictive insights firm Foresight Factory.

Lindsay Kunkle, the head of the global firm’s U.S. consultancy, will examine shifting demographics, changing consumer mindsets and emerging audiences with an eye on how these factors are relevant to beverage-alcohol producers. She will offer insights into Generation Z’s outlook on alcohol, as well as dive into the “never old mindset” of Baby Boomers as they enter longevity, the new definition of diversity ,and the growing population of adults who opt not to have children.

Kunkle will be among the featured speakers at the 2024 Brewbound Live conference December 11 and 12 at the Marina del Rey Marriott in California. Tickets are available now.

Leaders from all three tiers will gather for business-focused conversations on driving the bev-alc industry forward, data presentations, networking and brand building.

The speaker roster includes:

• Natalie Cilurzo, Russian River Brewing co-owner;
• Lester Jones, NBWA chief economist and VP of analytics;
• Jennifer Hauke, Draftline Technologies founder;
• Zech Francis, BeatBox Beverages SVP of global marketing;
• Rebecca Dye Yonushonis, New Belgium Brewing CMO;
• Arthur Moye, owner and CEO of Full Circle Brewing;
• Kaleigh Theriault, director of thought leadership, beverage alcohol vertical, NIQ;
• Brian “BK” Krueger, VP of business development and portfolio strategies, Bump Williams Consulting;
• Peter Skrbek, CEO, Deschutes Brewery;
• Rebecca Maisel, Gulf Distributing SVP legal and government affairs;
• Lauren Doll-Sheeder, Doll Distributing managing partner;
• Jennifer Grant, Markstein Sales general manager and VP.

Additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Register for Brewbound Live 2024 >>

Brewbound Live is sponsored by John I. Haas, NIQ, Crafted ERP, Strike Visuals, Fast Track Packaging, Abstrax Hops, NIQ, Foundry, Suntory, Firestone Walker and JuneShine. Sponsorship opportunities are still available for those seeking to elevate their presence beyond participation. Supplier and service companies interested in sponsoring the Pitch Slam and/or Brewbound Live should contact Brewbound’s ad sales team about opportunities.