• 🏀 BeatBox New Product Reveals
• 👨‍💼 New Belgium Cuts 7 Jobs
• 🍻 A Round With Sneaky Spirits’ Rachel Kiley
• 🗣️ ‘Boston Beer is stuck in limbo’

Party punch maker BeatBox hosted its first national sales meeting earlier this week in Houston, which had the feel of a Meow Wolf, with a faux convenience store decked out in neon, a trippy giant mushroom-covered hard tea garden, a Las Vegas-themed area with casino games, a lab for new innovations with “scientists” that looked strikingly like Rick of Rick and Morty Adult Swim fame and the usual presentations about the coming year. 

Keynote speaker Jesse Cole, the yellow-tuxedo clad owner of the Savannah Bananas barnstorming baseball exhibition team, who preached an entertainment and fan-first approach to business. BeatBox founders Aimy Steadman, Justin Fenchel and Brad Schultz took the message to heart. 

The meeting had a high-energy, upbeat tone as BeatBox is averaging triple-digit sales growth in 2024 and is the No. 1 ready-to-drink single in U.S. convenience stores tracked by NIQ over the latest 13-week period (ending June 13) when the brand’s wine- and malt-based single-serve businesses are combined.

Phil Jamison, BeatBox EVP of sales, added that BeatBox’s depletions have reached 4.2 million through the end of July, and are expected to reach 8.5 million by the end of the year, pushing BeatBox’s wholesaler network revenue to $287 million this year.

BeatBox’s big bet for 2025 is both a product and a partnership. The company announced a deal with sports megastar Shaquille O’Neal, who will invest in the business and also be the face of a new Blueberry Lemonade flavor (11.1% ABV) launching in May.

BeatBox SVP of marketing Zech Francis made the deal with O’Neal official on stage, signing the contract on his phone Wednesday morning. 

The partnership with O’Neal will see the Inside the NBA star earn royalties on the sales from the new flavor, which will be reinvested for equity in the business, Francis told Brewbound. 

Francis said: “Shaquille is gonna be a massive, massive driver and the face of the Blueberry Lemonade product that we're coming out with. But on top of that, he's investing in our business, like you guys heard. He's gonna be across the entire portfolio, really promoting the BeatBox business as a whole.”

The spring launch of Blueberry Lemonade will be joined by Watermelon Lemonade, in singles. 

BeatBox will also launch a Lemonade variety pack, with both wine and malt bases, featuring Blueberry Lemonade along with Lemon Squeeze and Watermelon Lemonade. Citing Numerator survey data, Francis said 50% of RTD shoppers are interested in a BeatBox Blueberry Lemonade flavor.

Blueberry Lemonade will also be the “hero flavor” of BeatBox’s returning 3L “big box.”

Brewbound Insiders can read more about BeatBox’s 2025 innovation strategy, including a $38 million marketing investment, an April Fool’s pickle partnership for a real product and a new, much requested product.

New Belgium Brewing eliminated the roles of seven employees Thursday as part of a reorganization of its sales and marketing structure, a spokesperson told Brewbound.

One affected employee was in marketing, while the rest were in sales. The cuts came as New Belgium, which includes sister brand Bell’s Brewery under its umbrella, reduced its internal structure from four divisions to two.

A spokesperson said: “The new, simplified structure aligns leadership across the teams and streamlines current communications and processes to better serve and support distributors and national retailers moving forward.” 

The restructuring aims “to lay a stronger foundation of support and to carry the momentum of our growing business into the future,” the spokesperson continued.

Under the new two-division structure, “several open positions” will come online in the next few weeks, which affected employees will be able to apply for. 

The job cuts are less than one-third of the size of the layoffs New Belgium went through in 2022, as it combined workforces with Bell’s following the companies’ merger under parent company Kirin.

Insiders can read more about New Belgium and Bell’s recent performance in scan data.

Rachel Kiley was the first-ever employee at Atlanta-based Monday Night Brewing when it opened in 2012, joining as sales director and working her way up to chief operating officer. 

After helping lead the brewery’s expansion to six locations across four states and 21,000 barrels of beer produced in 2023, Kiley has stepped down to become CEO of Sneaky Spirits, the brand she co-founded with her husband, Peter, who is Monday Night’s brewmaster.

Kiley discusses the nuances between craft beer and craft spirits, the relationship between Monday Night and Sneaky Spirits and how entrepreneurs can shrug off the doubters in the latest edition of A Round With – an exclusive Q&A with industry leaders just for Brewbound Insiders.

Below is a snippet from the conversation:

You helped grow Sneaky Spirits from its infancy while at Monday Night and are now taking the reins as CEO. What has this journey been like for you?

Rachel: Sneaky Pete Spirits has been in the works for a few years now, but the Yacht Water and Pedro Furtivo products have been in earnest development for about two years. During that time, I was opening two out-of-state taprooms with Monday Night (Garden Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Proofing Co. in Knoxville, Tennessee), and also trying to work on Sneaky Pete products, design, distribution and go-to-market strategy. 

I am so proud of the taprooms I opened with my team in that time period, and I think they are really special and beautiful places of community in their city. They are also in great hands with the other hospitality leadership at Monday Night, and I realized I was ready for a change. 

I am excited to now have one job instead of two, and to focus my full effort on building and growing Sneaky Pete Spirits.

Sneaky Spirits and Monday Night will maintain a relationship. What can you tell us about it?

Rachel: Monday Night will be the co-packer for our Yacht Water line and, as someone who used to manage our production and operation team years ago, I know that our production and packaging team will ensure a consistent, shelf-stable, high-quality product for us. 

Monday Night will also feature Sneaky Pete offerings at all taprooms, and I will continue to liaise with Monday Night in an advisory capacity on new projects and initiatives.

Insiders can read the full Q&A, including how Kiley will define success in Year One, how her craft beer career prepared her for the movie into craft spirits and advice for others making the leap.

Bernstein analyst Nadine Sarwat wrote there is support “for both the bull and the bear cases” for Boston Beer Company, but neither are sufficient for having an active rating on SAM stock.  

Sarwat wrote: “We believe that, in order to have an active rating on this stock, we would need to take a leap of faith. We simply do not have the conviction to do so. So limbo it is … for now.”

Boston Beer’s topline is “fully dependent on growing (but decelerating) Twisted Tea, as Truly [Hard Seltzer] continues to decline.” The hard tea brand is up +10% year-over-year in the last 12 weeks in off-premise retailers tracked by NIQ, “and now accounts for 56% of [NIQ]-tracked volumes.”

Bernstein estimates the Twisted Tea brand could grow at a +9% volume CAGR over the next five years. However, the brand is slowing down and the rest of the Boston Beer portfolio, with the exception of core Samuel Adams, is “in meaningful YoY decline,” Sarwat wrote.  

Thus, Boston Beer’s stock is in limbo, with a rating of “market-perform” at $305. In early trading, the stock was trading at $281, up from its open of $279.70, but far below its 52-week high of $395.52.

Beverage-alcohol’s growing “fourth category” of flavor-first offerings are quickly becoming a “mega category,” NIQ VP of alcohol industry thought leadership Jon Berg shared on the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast. 

Berg explains how the collective of ready-to-drink offerings such as flavored malt beverages, canned cocktails, hard seltzers and other flavor-forward offerings have shifted the fortunes of bev-alc for the year, while the best case scenario for beer, wine and spirits is likely a flat year. He also dishes on the tension between value and volume, slumping craft sales, channel outlooks and brand life cycles.

Plus, Zoe is back with a beer report from the Bahamas. She and Justin discuss their travel schedules, the decline in attendance for this year’s Craft Brewers Conference and Monster’s bev-alc struggles. 

Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform. 

While many annual business plans over the next couple months will likely include fourth-category innovations, Sierra Nevada is focused on continuing to innovate with “beer-flavored beer.”

Sierra Nevada leadership shared their plans with wholesalers Wednesday at its brewery in Mills River, North Carolina. The company’s top three priorities for 2025 include continuing the growth of Hazy Little Thing, revitalizing Pale Ale and strengthening the company’s non-alcoholic portfolio.

Insiders can read details on what's to come in 2025, including new non-alcoholic offerings, and a craft lager challenger.

And look out for further coverage of the event, including Sierra Nevada’s 2025 goals and why the company still believes in investing in craft.

At Brewbound Live in Marina del Rey on December 11 + 12, beer and beverage-alcohol companies can participate in retailer One-to-One meetings with ExtraMile Convenience. The buyer will be available for private, pre-scheduled meetings, and brands will be selected at the retailer’s discretion.

ExtraMile Convenience is a successful, industry-recognized c-store brand with more than 1,000 franchised convenience stores in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Alabama, and Mississippi. The growing ExtraMile network leverages experience and efficiency of scale to deliver “extra” value.

Meet with Michelle Abdollah, the Category Manager of Alcoholic Beverages, during Brewbound Live. Michelle is a seasoned retail expert with over 15 years of experience in merchandising and operations. With a proven track record of driving growth and profitability, Michelle has honed her skills through various leadership roles at 7-Eleven and Target. Her expertise has earned her recognition as one of the Top Women In Convenience by Convenience Store News in 2024.

Beer and beverage-alcohol professionals attending Brewbound Live can also meet with Whole Foods beer category buyers, with additional retailers to be added soon!

You must be registered for Brewbound Live to be considered for a retailer meeting. Once you register for the event, you will receive an email with instructions for signing up.

Register for Brewbound Live 2024.