Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, June 8, 2024.

So I think we’ve been looking in the wrong direction all of this time for #innovation – Utah’s Dylan McDonnell has the right idea.

He brewed a beer using a recipe from a 3,000 year old Egyptian papyrus, which oddly enough also had “Next year will be the Year of the Craft Lager” written on it, and yeast cultured from a jar that dates back to the 9th century B.C.

The result of course was a … 9% Double IPA. Just kidding, Dylan described it as like a sour, but no hop flavor. So, a sour beer.

PLUS: A decent showing of #beerbiz advertising in game 1 of the NBA Finals this week:

• MICH ULTRA (two 15 second spots)
• CORONA (Pedro Pascal spot)
• MILLER LITE (Luke Wilson campaign)
• MODELO

Sorry BUD LIGHT, guess we’ll see you in football season?

AND: Come to the beach 🏖️ with BREWBOUND in mid-December! (come for the insights, stay to see if Justin can actually finish his third pint by the end of the 2nd night).

BREWBOUND Live is returning to Marina del Rey, CA, on Dec. 11 & 12 for 2 days of insightful conversations and analysis, plus top-notch industry networking opportunities. 

Three new speakers were announced this week:

• Arthur Moye, owner and CEO of FULL CIRCLE Brewing;
• Kaleigh Theriault, director of thought leadership, beverage alcohol vertical at NIQ;
• Brian “BK” Krueger, VP of business development and portfolio strategies at BWC

They join these folks 👇, and you can register now here to get the special early registration pricing! 

OK, Zoe now has your data insights into BA taproom breweries that:

• Make less than 15K BBL a year
• Do not have a significant food element to the business
• And/or sell at least 25% of its product from its taproom(s)

AND: They made a little less of it in 2023, down -2.4% in volume to 1.95 million BBL (2022 was +9%).

The average output from the 3,910 breweries was 499 BBL. There were also fewer openings, and more closings in 2023:

• Openings: 288 (down from 311 in 2022)
• Closings: 168 (up from 147)

Category leader TREE HOUSE was -11% to 39k BBL. Next in line OTHER HALF did 35.5k, +5%.

These breweries also make less than 15K BBL … but sell less than 25% of their product from their taproom(s).

AND: The production from these 2,092 breweries was down in 2023 too, -9% to 4.17 million BBL. The category also had similar openings / closings trends.

• Openings: 40 (down from 105 in 2022)
• Closings: 92 (up from 80)

CA’s MADEWEST was the top at 14,820 BBL (+11%), with MT’s URBAN CHESTNUT in second place, with 14,405 BBL (-24%).

The landlord of the now shuttered taproom space in NC is suing the brewery for back rent totaling $217K, as well as future obligations outlined in its lease contract through 2032.

WEATHERED SOULS co-founder Marcus Baskerville also posted on LinkedIn earlier this week that he is looking for a new role in the industry.

ALSO: Clearwater, FL brewery BIG STORM is closing its Ybor City taproom location after about 16 months, while its landlord says the brewery owes $387K in back rent, according to a new lawsuit reported by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. 

• BIG STORM made about 7,400 BBL in 2023 according to BA numbers.

OH: CHOBANI founder Hamdi Ulukaya got the ANCHOR real estate for a pretty sweet deal – no wonder he’s so excited about the beer business 🥳. Total was $9.9 million, despite it previously being listed in the $40 million range.

Not bad for 2.1 acres of prime San Francisco real estate – yogurts for everyone! The price for the ANCHOR brand was not disclosed.

RUSSIAN RIVER BREWING CO

Digital Marketing & Events Specialist – Windsor, CA

SIXTH CITY DISTRIBUTION

Field Sales Representative – Cincinnati, OH

SARENE CRAFT BEER DISTRIBUTORS

Field Sales Representative – Bridgeport, CT

🤝 GOT A JOB 

SAPPORO-STONE made it official with interim CEO Zach Keeling, removing the interim tag. 

REST IN PEACE

Goes out to U.S. BEVERAGE founder Joseph J. Fisch Jr., who died at the age of 75 last week. The company has grown into the country’s largest independent beer importer in the U.S., according to a statement from the company.

"There is no fact that we are in any negotiations with Boston Beer."

- A statement from SUNTORY regarding the BOSTON BEER sale rumors last Friday.

SAM stock ended the week at about $290 a share, still far above where it was before the rumor ($255 a share), but well below its $370 a share high in 2024.

Jim Koch calls the shots here – he owns all of BOSTON BEER’s class B voting shares.

FWIW: Weed brand GREEN THUMB INDUSTRIES also sent a letter to Jim this week, indicating its interest in merging with BOSTON BEER.

This week’s got a three-fer of interviews!

• MONDAY NIGHT BREWING co-founder and CEO Jeff Heck
• New CICERONE owners Dan Imdieke and Jason Pratt
• Former JACK’S ABBY exec Rob Day on the importance of marketing in craft beer’s mature market stage

PLUS: Justin and Zoe welcome someone named “Jess” back to the pod (🤷) and discuss:

• SF’s burgeoning yogurt + beer conglomerate
• WTF is up with those BOSTON BEER sale rumors
• MONSTER’s latest shutdown in TX, and more.

• The SHEEHAN Family lawsuit saga is now officially over, as all parties agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice in MA Superior Court, and the sale of the business to Timothy, John, Christopher and Mathew Sheehan closed on May 31. Go in peace everyone.
• Elsewhere, SOUTHERN GLAZER’S is very likely to face a lawsuit from the FTC over its pricing policies, according to a new report in Politico. PROVI’s anti-trust lawsuit against the company (and RNDC) was allowed to progress by U.S. District Court judge last week.
• BWC is seeing signs of a growth slowdown in the booming FMB & spirits-based RTD categories in May numbers.
• BROWN-FORMAN sales were -8% in Q4 of its FY24, to $1 billion. Net sales for the whole FY24 were -1% to $4.2 billion.
• DESCHUTES is releasing a new NA beer nationally starting Sept. 1 in partnership with PATAGONIA, Kernza Golden Brew (there is also a version with alcohol). 

This week’s beer is going out to 10-cent beer night, as it hits its glorious 50-year anniversary this week.

Yes, this all-time beer promotion event by the CLEVELAND INDIANS in June 1974 shockingly was never repeated after 1974, although I’d argue $16 beer night is a bit of an extreme overcorrection.

According to reporting at the time, 25,000 fans drank roughly 65,000 beers that night, with about half of the fans drinking little to no beer. I’ll let you work that math out.

Sadly it seems the six beers per person purchasing limit may not have been the smartest precaution. Streakers, women trying to kiss umpires, firecrackers thrown in the bullpen – this game had it all (to note: the stadium did not sell firecrackers).

It all ended with a 9th inning riot on the field to prematurely finish the game, resulting in a dozen arrests, and memories that last a lifetime.

Some may blame the beer, but … OK, yeah, it was the beer. The INDIANS actually brought it back six weeks later that summer, but with uh, much tighter beer purchasing restrictions. Somehow there were no riots or streaking, but I gotta think a moon or two saw the light of day 🍑.

Slainté!  

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)