• 🌅 Sunset is ‘The Guy’ For Craft in SoCal
• 📊 CGA: On-Premise Update & Outlook
• 📰 News: pFriem, Westbound & Down, Hooters
• ☘️ St. Patrick’s Day Improves Beer Dollars to Flat
• 🗣️ ‘Because the Boom is Over’

Hand Family Companies (HFC) made a splash Monday with a deal to enter the Southern California market through the acquisitions of Stone Distributing and Classic Beverage, creating a new subsidiary, Sunset Distributing. 

When the transaction closes in 60 days, Sunset will be an instant player in the California market, with around 15 million cases of craft beer and NA beverages. Sunset’s portfolio is expected to include Sapporo-Stone, Coronado Brewing, Pizza Port, Societe, JuneShine, AriZona, Russian River, Maui Brewing, Modern Times, Prime, Poppi, Essentia, Alani Nu and several others.

HFC president and CEO JR Hand told Brewbound that he expects Sunset to “be the dominant wholesaler in the craft space in Southern California.”

Hand said: “When it comes to craft, especially regional, local craft in California, we're the guy. So I think we're gonna be speaking from a different pulpit. The people that worked for Stone Friday, and the people that worked for Classic Friday, are walking into a completely different world starting [Tuesday] on what they can offer to retail and customers. Retailers hopefully have a choice again.

“Most suppliers are going to be excited about this because it gives them a chance to retrench themselves and fight with a bigger partner.”

Hand explained that Sunset’s creation, covering the LA and San Diego markets, may help fix some of the network footprint issues for recruiting brands in California. He added that he hopes Sunset will “bring a little balance” to the California market.

He said: “LA County is bigger than 37 U.S. states, or some crazy number like that. The opportunity to touch that many consumers and retailers is a big deal for us. Taking 2 businesses that honestly needed a little more scale and to be able to put them together is a big accretive opportunity for us as a buyer, and also long term for our stakeholders, employees.” 

Hand expects Sunset Distributing will join the California Beverage Solution alliance of A-B wholesalers, to which Stone also belonged, which was formed to create a statewide distribution network to compete with Reyes, Breakthru and RNDC.

He expects conversations to follow the integration of Stone and Classic as Sunset, which are already beginning with suppliers in those portfolios.

Hand is also open to future deals for Sunset. As an independent Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) distributor in its other markets – Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois – HFC could be a landing spot for A-B’s RTD brand Cutwater, which A-B-owned branches are prohibited from selling in the state. RNDC currently distributes Cutwater in California, but recent departures from the distributor by Sazerac, Tito’s and Brown-Forman show the door is open. 

Hand told Brewbound that his company is “highly interested in any opportunities that present themselves.”

Brewbound Insiders can read more about the deal from Hand, including how it came together, as well as insights from Classic Beverage owner CJ Sanchez.

Gain cutting-edge insights from industry leaders, explore new technologies, and hone your skills at the Craft Brewers Conference, April 28-May 1 in Indianapolis Learn more

CGA is back with another quarterly report exclusive for Brewbound Insiders. 

The latest installment by NIQ’s on-premise arm dives into bev-alc trends at bars and restaurants, with data through December 28, 2024. 

Here are a few highlights:

• Beer accounted for more than 1/3 of bev-alc dollar sales in 2024, and recorded some of the largest share gains over the last 52 weeks;
• Domestic Super Premium was the second largest beer share gainer by volume behind imports, supported by RoS growth in New England;
• Draft imported beer boasted the top trends and drove total draft beer share gains, likely aided by expanded distribution in the West North Central Division;
• NA beer recorded key growth in Georgia, with increased distribution and RoS driving +35.7% volume sales growth for the segment in the state. 

Insiders can dive into the full report, including insights on how beer compared to wine, spirits and RTDs, and how NA is performing in the on-premise.

🚒 pFriem Family Brewers (Hood River, OR) will open its second location next week in the Beaver State. 

The new tasting room in Milwaukie will have its grand opening April 7, welcoming visitors into a refurbished fire station adjacent to Milwaukie’s City Hall. The location includes 3 bars with more than 20 taps, which will serve pFriem core, seasonal and small batch offerings, alongside specialty cocktails and Son of Man draft cider. The tasting room will also have an outdoor patio and upstairs events space. 

💰 Westbound and Down Brewing (Idaho Springs, CO) plans to double its production capacity with several production investments, Craft Brewing Business reported. 

The company, which operates 5 locations, has increased volume +1,835% since 2019, boosted by several acquisitions, including Aspen Brewing and Capitol Creek Brewery in late 2023. 

Its latest expansion plans includes increasing its brewing capacity to 8,000 barrels in 2025; increasing to 11,500 barrels and adding distribution in Arizona, Illinois and Oregon in 2026; increasing to 14,500 barrels and entering California, Texas and New York in 2027; and increasing to 19,000 barrels and achieving $3 million in annual profits in 2028. 

To support expansion plans, the brewery has launched a crowdfunding campaign, with a minimum investment of $750, including processing fees. The company’s shares are valued at $2.25 per share, according to the investment page. 

🦉 Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern Division of Texas on Monday, March 31. 

Hooters has reached an agreement to sell corporate-owned locations to a group of franchise owners, who currently operate 30% of the Hooters franchises in the U.S., including 14 of the top 30 highest volume locations, according to a press release.

The chain created an FAQ page on its website to clarify for consumers and business partners that it remains open for business.

Total bev-alc dollar sales declined -1% YoY and WoW in off-premise channels for the week ending March 23, according to Circana’s latest weekly scans report. 

Beer dollar sales were flat in the latest week, showing improvement over recent trends (L4W -2.5%, L12W -2.6%), likely due to a final boost from St. Patrick’s Day sales on the Monday. Beer volume declined -2.1% YoY. 

Note, St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Sunday in 2024, so comps do not line up exactly with the holiday. 

Spirits also improved its already positive trends, with dollar sales increasing +2.8% and volume +5.9% YoY. Spirits dollar sales increased +1.3% in the L4W and +1.5% in the L12W. 

Meanwhile, wine’s negative trends accelerated. Dollar sales declined -7.3% in the latest week (L4W -5.7%, L12W -4.4%), while volume declined -8%. 

Total bev-alc volume declined -2.2% in the latest week, an improvement over the L4W (-4%) and L12W (-4.1%). The -1% dollar sales decline was also an improvement over previous trends (L4W -2.5%, L12W -2.3%). 

Circana EVP of BevAl Scott Scanlon wrote: “Upcoming, there are many uncertainties that need to play out from tariff questions to Q1 weather impact. This week certainly helped many brands that were struggling with St. Patrick comps, should not be concerned if some retracement occurs. 

“Growth within key brands, especially Michelob, provides hope that predictions of a healthy summer season could still be realized. Consumer sentiment remains a concern, but need time to assess.”

– CODO Design (Indianapolis, IN) on why “so many breweries are rebranding today.” 

The 15-year-old food and beverage branding firm released its 2025 Beer Branding Trends Review this week, highlighting rebranding efforts from breweries for their total companies, or core beer offerings, including several recent legacy brand changes. 

CODO has “branded or rebranded” more than 90 breweries to date, but has never seen more inquiries about rebranding than right now, according to the report.

CODO wrote: “The days of easy, organic growth are long gone. In order to thrive over the next ten years, you need to get your branding – your story and key messaging, your brand voice and identity and packaging – completely dialed in.

“This is no longer a nice-to-have, and it’s not even table stakes. Now, it’s mission critical.” 

Read the full report to check out recent breweries that have made the plunge, and some of the top reasons and strategies behind making big moves.

Carrie Yunker ended her more than two-decade run at Bell’s Brewery on a high note Monday – Oberon Day, the annual release of the company’s spring-summer seasonal wheat beer. 

Yunker kicked off the festivities at the brewery’s Kalamazoo taphouse and event space by raising an Oberon flag. Hundreds of Michiganders and fans from neighboring states, many wearing costumes, lined up and waited for hours for the taphouse to open and to drink this year’s Oberon and several special variants. 

For Yunker, who started at the Michigan craft brewery as a part-time receptionist and ended up leading the company as founder Larry Bell’s handpicked successor, Oberon Day was a fitting way to say goodbye as employee No. 50.

Yunker said in this week’s episode of the Brewbound Podcast: “This day is the best of everything. It’s the best of Kalamazoo, which is a city that I love so much. It’s the best of craft beer, which if you throwback craft beer to its heyday, it’s really about bringing people together and community. And what you will see is the streets of Kalamazoo, lined with people wearing teal, wearing orange, drinking Oberon, lighting up not just our account but accounts all over Kalamazoo. 

“It really is this wonderful amalgamation. .... It’s food and fun and family and community and this day represents that, not just here in Kalamazoo, but you see that spotlighted across the Great Lakes.”

Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform.

Full Disclosure: Bell’s Brewery covered airfare and hotel accommodations for the Brewbound team to record this interview during Oberon Day.

The Brewbound team is hitting the road and heading to the Craft Brewers Conference on April 28 – May 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Brewbound trio will be on the ground, covering all the latest news and presentations coming out of the conference, as well as hosting live podcast interviews at the Brewbound booth (#512).

Make sure to stop by our booth #512, where Brewbound will be chatting with brewery founders and owners, beverage entrepreneurs and c-suite leadership across the industry. Whether you’re a business vet or just starting out, we’d love to meet you and hear what’s new.

How to Connect with Us:

• Stop by our booth (#512): We’re excited to set up our Brewbound Podcast studio at BrewExpo America and engage with brewery leaders and industry suppliers. Swing by to meet our team, watch a podcast interview recording, participate in social content, and walk away with a T-shirt.
• Submit your news: Have news or updates from your brewery? Our team is covering the event and would love to hear from you. Submit your news here.
• Contact us to set up a time to chat: Want to schedule time to connect or be part of our coverage? Reach out to us at news@brewbound.com.