• 🍻 A Round With Meli Founder Samara Oster
• 😮 RNDC Rocked By Brown-Forman Exit
• 🤝 Two Roads, Yards & Bald Birds Partner
• 📰 CBC 2026 and a Michigan Distro Deal
• 🗣️ Almanac CEO: ‘I Hate the Word Taproom’
• 🌵 Beer Mail: AriZona Hard with Vodka

Samara Oster would prefer consumers to meet Meli with “no expectations” of how it might taste.

Meli (4.4% ABV) is brewed with 100% organic quinoa sourced from small farms in Bolivia, making it gluten-free.

The beer is “designed to be an easy drinker – pleasing to beer aficionados, but also approachable to those who typically prefer other categories,” Samara said during the semi-final round of the Brewbound Pitch Slam during the Brewbound Live business conference last December. 

Meli’s go-to-market strategy for its June 2024 launch was to target top restaurants and hotels to drive trial in its home state of Massachusetts, and then funnel those drinkers to off-premise accounts.

Brewbound caught up with Samara in the latest edition of A Round With – our Insider-exclusive Q&A with industry leaders. Here are excerpts of our conversation, edited slightly for clarity:

How did you come to discover quinoa as a beer ingredient?

Samara: Many years ago, I took a trip to Peru with my family and saw quinoa beer listed on a menu, so I decided to try it. I loved its crisp, light taste. 

When I got home, I researched the beer and learned that there are many quinoa beers in Peru, and they are brewed with barley, plus a quinoa adjunct. In the states, there are also many breweries using quinoa as an adjunct – particularly, gluten-free breweries. Making a 100% quinoa beer was another story.

What was the most challenging part of Meli’s development process?

Samara: The hardest part was when, after years of experimentation, we had developed a recipe we loved at pilot-scale, but it completely fell apart when we moved over to commercial machinery. That kicked off another year-and-a-half of test brews and process modifications before we had something replicable and commercially viable.

Quinoa is a magical ingredient when the conditions are right for it to shine, and it can create the most clean and crisp beer, but if any part of the process isn't optimized for its unique profile, you either have a stuck mash or a subpar final product.

Insiders can read the full conversation, including insights on Meli’s target demographic, its channel strategy and what’s next.

The country’s second-largest distributor, Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) has been shedding suppliers at an alarming rate, with another major national loss announced Thursday.

Following Brown-Forman’s exit from RNDC in California this month, the whiskey giant will now follow suit in other states.

Beginning August 1, 2025, Brown-Forman will move its portfolio across 13 markets (all open states), a transition that will involve 7 new distributor organizations. The updated distribution partnerships include:

• Johnson Brothers in IN, MN, NE, ND, SD and TX;
• SGWS LA and NY; Continued alignment in AR, KS, MA, MO and RI;
• Columbia Distributing in WA;
• Keg-1 River City in KY;
• Oklahoma Spirits Alliance, a partnership with Capital, LDF, and Fisher 59 Distributors in OK;
• Reyes Beverage Group in HaI and as previously announced in CA;
• Specialty Imports in AK.

In addition, as a result of the reshaping of the company’s U.S. distributor relationship landscape, Breakthru Beverage Group (BBG) will become the company’s largest national distributor partner, covering 14 key markets across the U.S. and Canada.

The loss of Brown-Forman is another major hit for RNDC, whose former CEO, Nick Mehall, departed the company in February after Brown-Forman and its top-selling spirit brand, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, announced their departures in California, the country’s largest spirits market. 

Insiders can read more about the exodus and implications in their wake.

3 East Coast craft breweries have teamed up to launch a new multi-facility contract brewing platform.

B3 Beverage Company is a joint venture from Two Roads Brewing (Stratford, CT), Yards Brewing (Philadelphia) and Bald Birds Brewing (Jersey Shore, PA). 

Bald Birds founder Joe Feerrar said in a press release: “We recognized a substantial opportunity in today’s shifting beverage landscape. When the Two Roads and Yards teams saw the potential, they also got excited about leveraging our respective strengths to grow our core businesses and offer even better service and a wider array of options to existing and future contract partners.”

Leaders of Two Roads, Yards and Bald Birds will remain in place at their respective companies, which will all continue existing operations. Feerrar, who founded Bald Birds with his wife Abby Feerrar in 2017, will lead B3 as CEO. 

All 3 partner companies have experience in contract brewing, but for Bald Birds brewing and distilling clients’ products has been a “longtime focus,” according to the release. The brewery’s 150,000 sq. ft. facility produces more than 1 million case equivalents (about 72,500 barrels) of beer, NA beverages and RTDs. 

Insiders can read more about the new partnership.

🔔 The 2026 Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Cup are set for April 20-23 in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Business Journal reported the dates with an anticipated attendance of up to 10,000 industry professionals.

Brewbound’s Justin Kendall and Jess Infante discussed the destination and future of the event with Brewers Association president and CEO Bart Watson during a podcast conversation earlier this month.

🤝 Imperial Beverage Company (Kalamazoo, MI) is in the process of acquiring Carmela Wine Division, with the transaction expected to close June 2. 

The deal adds 1,500 products, including craft beer, wine and NA beverages to Imperial’s statewide portfolio. Carmela’s food division will remain separate from Imperial, while its wine division will be integrated into Imperial.

Larry Cekola, sales strategy director at Imperial, said in the announcement: “We’re honored to welcome their team to Imperial and we’re excited to move forward together as we continue to provide choice, expertise and quality brands to consumers across Michigan.”

🧐 Armed Forces Brewing could reemerge in Texas or Florida, journalist Dave Infante of the Fingers newsletter reported, citing an investor letter sent by CEO Alan Beal. The move follows the company shuttering its Norfolk, Virginia-based facility and retreating due to what it called a “local woke mob.”

However, the company lost around $4.16 million between 2023 and the first 6 months of 2024, according to SEC filings. Armed Forces also reportedly had unpaid bills to several vendors, including contract brewer Brew Hub (Lakeland, FL), and owed its taproom staff their final paychecks. 

– Almanac CEO Damian Fagan to the San Francisco Chronicle on the transformation of the beer company’s Alameda space from a sour and barrel-aged brewery to a family-friendly community space called Almanac Adventureland, featuring pinball machines, slushies for kids and a sandbox. 

“We don’t view Almanac as a craft brewery anymore. Those days have gone,” Fagan continued. 

In fact, Almanac has distanced itself from being a craft brewery. 

The pivot has worked. The company is profitable with Saturdays drawing around 3,000 visitors, and the brewery’s output is now at around 20,000 barrels, with Love hazy IPA accounting for 40% of its business, per the Chronicle. (Almanac was on the Brewers Association’s “do not publish” list for production data last year.) 

In a companion piece to 3 Up 3 Down, the team at 3 Tier Beverages breaks down hot trends in bev-alc heading into the summer selling season on the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast.

3 Tier Beverages founder Donn Bichsel, consultant Danelle Kosmal and CGA VP Matthew Crompton share a complete look at trends in the off- and on-premise, including continued momentum for non-alcoholic beer, hard juice’s rocketing growth and the growing simplicity movement within craft. 

Kosmal also covers why craft lagers are working, how flavored lagers such as lime are performing and what opportunities still exist in the space. Kosmal and Crompton explore why ABV and style remain among the key factors driving consumer purchases. They also cover the three pillars of innovation growth – NA beer, flavor and craft line extensions.

Before the conversation, Brewbound editor Justin Kendall and senior reporter Zoe Licata analyze 2024 craft brewery production data, which the Brewers Association released last week, including New Belgium leapfrogging A-B's craft portfolio, big losses for Boston Beer, big gains for Athletic Brewing and the regional craft breweries leveling up. 

Listen here or on your preferred podcasting platform. 

Less than 2 weeks left until BevNET Live NYC (June 11-12) 550+ attendees from across the beverage ecosystem including brands, investors, retailers, operators and service providers are already registered!

The BevNET Live NYC speaker lineup has shaped some of the most influential brands. On stage they'll share actionable insights on the trends and strategies driving the beverage market today. From leadership lessons to retail channel success, these sessions provide expert perspectives and real-world strategies you can implement immediately to stay competitive.

Beverage brands also have the opportunity to meet one-to-one with retail buyers, including Top Ten Liquors, Stop & Shop, Whole Foods Market, Circle K, H-E-B, Casey’s and The Goods Mart.

AriZona is getting into spirits-based canned cocktails. A sampler pack of AriZona Hard’s new vodka offshoot arrived at my (Justin’s) house last week. 

AriZona Hard with Vodka comes in 4 flavors, each 4.5% ABV and 100 calories per 12 oz. slim can:

• Lemon Tea
• Green Tea
• Peach Tea 
• Raspberry Tea

Look for these in a variety 8-pack now.