Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, June 7, 2025.

Hey, ma! Look! I have a logo! Sweet … I’m finally goin’ places, folks.

However, it seems we have another reason why GenZoe is ruining the alcohol business – bar tab anxiety.

Yes, according to this new NY Times piece, twentysomethings now get anxiety from leaving credit card tabs open, and yes, that sound you hear in the background is Gen X rolling our eyes at you big time.

Instead, a lotta kids today pay with their credit cards and close out every time they go up to the bar to order a beer HIGH NOON, even if they’re drinking several during a bar visit. What’s that? Cash? Yeah, not so much, boomer. (Come on, Gen Z you know cash … it’s that green stuff your parents give you each month so you can pay your rent).

As you might expect – bartenders love having to take the time to close someone out each time they order a beer (in between making drinks with 15 ingredients so your friend can post it on TIKTOK 🔥), and bar owners love the increased swipe fees that go along with the trend.

The decreased anxiety is probably also bad news for the THC gummy business somewhere along the line here too.

But, whaddaya gonna do … each generation gets the nightlife they deserve, and the prices that go with such behavior – you don’t think your multiple swipe fees are being eaten by the bar owner, do you, Gen Z? 

Although in the end, let’s just hope folks are still being generous with the tipping each time they close out, even if they’re now doing it with their watches.

ALSO: Yeah, it turns out the yogurt guy doesn’t seem too excited about beer, either. ANCHOR BREWING is generally still sitting idle in SF outside of “a skeleton crew of maintenance workers,” a year after being purchased by CHOBANI founder Hamdi Ulukaya.

THEN: Adult NA beverage sales are seeing a bit of a slowdown in recent weeks (incl. NA beer, wine and spirits), according to NIQ data ending the wk of May 17 that was shared by 3 TIER:

• L52W: +29% 
• L26W: +16.3%
• L13W: +12.4%
• L4W: +10.9%

-4.4%

Total bev-alc sales for Memorial Day weekend, according to BEERBOARD. Draft was -3.9% and packaged products were -6% … with the expected caveat that RTDs and NA beer were both up significantly: +21.3% and +18.5% in units sold, respectively. 

PLUS: Total off-prem bev-alc sales for the week ending on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend (May 25) were -5.1%, according to CIRCANA, with volume -7.3%. 😳

• Beer led the way … in the bad way, with sales -6.4% and volume -7.8%.
• Spirits were generally flat-ish (sales +0.6%, volume -0.3%)

ALTHOUGH: Craft beer sales were at least uh, less worse 🤷‍♂️ in the L4W ending May 18 vs. the L4W that ended April 20, according to CIRCANA data.

• Sales: - 5.6% (vs. -6.3%)
• Volume: -7% (vs. -7.2%)

The grocery sector still remains the big drag on craft beer overall, with sales -8.4% and volume -9.3% in the L4W.

AND: Craft still lags significantly behind total beer in the L4W: 

• Sales: - 2.6%
• Volume: -4%

Jess has the sales breakdowns by brands to know here, including which 10 of the top 30 craft brands still saw increases in both sales and volume.

The rooftop/taproom location will re-open next week as a BRAXTON outpost after some renovations (note: this is a leased space, not brewery-owned), although no financial details were revealed.

HI-WIRE beer will still be poured and sold to-go at the location, which will be BRAXTON’s 5th – and first in OH. Existing employee staff will be staying on as well.

Zoe has your next tranche of data analysis from the BA’s 2024 production data … which wasn’t great for the little guys:

MICROBREWERIES (under 15k BBL/yr. and 75%+ of volume sold off-site): -7.5% YoY to 3.79M BBL

• AND: -18% vs. 2022
• PLUS: -36% vs. 2018 (the peak production year)

This is despite increasing the number of breweries in the category last year to 2,209. In 2018 that was more than 4,500.

TAPROOM BREWERIES (more than 25% of beer sold on-site, with no significant food element): -4.1% to 1.92M BBL

This was despite 2024 having the largest number of taproom breweries operating ever (3,936).

Your top 4 in the category:

1. TREEHOUSE: 40,262 BBL (+3% YoY)
2. OTHER HALF: 39,431 BBL (+11% YoY)
3. ASLIN: 25,343 BBL (+8% YoY)
4. BRAXTON: 23,850 BBL (+30% YoY)

AND: Some comps for other big, renown names in this area:

• ALCHEMIST: 18k BBL (flat)
• FIELDWORK: just under 14k BBL (+2%)
• TRILLIUM: 13k BBL (-3%)

BREWPUB BREWERIES (more than 25% of beer sold on-site, with significant food element): -2.8% to 1.52M BBL

This category is -13.6% from its peak in 2022, and has held pretty steady at just over 3,500 breweries for the past few years.

Your top 3 here are:

1. PINTHOUSE PIZZA: 23k BBL (+3% YoY)
2. ALVARADO STREET: 17k BBL (+10% YoY)
3. MCMENAMINS: 15k BBL (-7% YoY)

Zoe has a bunch of other brand by brand numbers for ya here, if inclined.

“I got 4 kids, and they're all over 21, and I had 100 kids at my house for a party last week, and I didn't see one of them walking around not with a drink in their hand. To my dismay, they weren't drinking non-alc.”

- TILRAY CEO Irwin Simon at TD Cowen’s Future of the Consumer Conference, describing frankly what sounded like a rager happening at his house, with a dash of sarcasm.

No word how many of those twenty-somethings were drinking uh, TILRAY products, nor who was the beer pong champion … whom I really hope got this SHOCKTOP merch as a prize.

SCHILLING HARD CIDER

Marketing Coordinator – Auburn, WA

PHASE THREE BREWING CO

Director of Sales & Distro – Elmhurst, IL

PAULANER USA

VP of Finance & Operations – White Plains, NY

JUNESHINE hired Anthony Trento as its new VP of sales, coming over from STONE DISTRIBUTING where he had the same title. 

PILOT PROJECT hired Kyle Hodges as director of business development, coming over from DARK MATTER COFFEE.

BJ’S RESTAURANTS AND BREWHOUSE promoted Lyle D. Tick as its new president & CEO. BJ’s made 47k BBL of beer last year, according to BA numbers.

The BI dropped its latest report, summing up April’s tax paid beer shipment as -3% YoY, down from +0.4% in March. The YTD number is -6.5%, or -3.16M BBL.

Imports were the big drag as … one might expect, with the April number -14.9% YoY. That category is now -4.9% YTD, with Mexico leading the way – although Canadian imports are -80% this year so far. 😳

Yeah, we’re still in full contraction mode in the NBWA’s monthly BPI distributor survey as we enter the key summer selling season, with total beer at a 45, -18 points YoY. As always, anything below 50 means distributors intend to order less, over 50 means an intent to order more.

At-risk inventory was at least finally below a 50 for the first time this year, at a 47.

As Below Premium was the category with the highest number at a 47, that kinda says it all … as Imports took a huge hit #thanksTrumpTariffs.

Craft kept its enviable setup in the basement, at a … 20. The next lowest score was a 33 for Cider. 

• RNDC is saying farewell to CA, as the 2nd-largest U.S. bev-alc distributor is leaving America’s largest spirits market. 🤯 Vine Pair puts the exit date at Sept. 1, saying company leadership indicated it “has no path to profitability” in the state, which is also what I tell Justin when I ask for a raise.
• HARPOON is opening its 5th location, with a new one in Manchester, NH cutting its ribbon later this month. It’s described as an “experimental brewery, restaurant and taproom” location. NH is HARPOON’s 2nd largest market, behind MA.
• ALLAGASH is returning to Ohio after a 20-year hiatus, due to Ohio’s infamous “double decade” ban on anyone who speaks ill of Skyline Chili, even if purely in jest. YTD ALLAGASH sales are +0.3%, according to 3 TIER. Overall 2024 volume was -9%, according to BA numbers, to 109k BBL.
• TRITON BEVERAGE GROUP added CAPE COD BEER to its MA-based portfolio, joining MAYFLOWER and HOG ISLAND. CAPE COD made 4,100 BBL last year, -17% YoY, but is the largest of the 3 brands.
• BROWN-FORMAN’s FY25 sales came in at -5% (to $4B) although whiskey sales were flat (RTDs and tequila products … not so much). B-F expects another single-digit decline in FY26 and its shares were -16% on the news Thursday morning.
• TN signed a law last month moving regulation of hemp-based beverages from the Department of Agriculture to the state’s ABC, and opened up some distro & sales flexibility in ABC-licensed locations. Howdy, beer! 👋

RHINEGEIST’s merchandise director Jenny Morrissey and VP of marketing Tracey Ireland join the pod this week to discuss:

• Evolving the merch aspect of the business from a “marketing tool” to an individual, revenue-generating business unit using Morrissey’s fashion biz background;
• Engaging a diverse customer base from out-of-town visitors to local “super fans”;
• Trend spotting, product inspiration sources, knowing when to cut bait on ideas and much more.

But first: The BREWBOUND trio discuss:

• The big move at RNDC;
• The value of family-friendly spaces in the beer biz;
• Jess not inviting me to a Jersey-themed party;
• Justin teaching the kids about the wonders of Jimmy Buffett;
• The existential question of what is a “taproom,” exactly.

LISTEN HERE! Or just search “Brewbound” on your podcast listening platform of choice. And leave a review and rating, would ya? (Good ones only, plz)

This week’s beer goes out to MICH ULTRA, which at this point is just taunting the rest of the beer business with how well it’s doing by putting out beer that comes with gold, literally.

MICH ULTRA is gifting the bottles with the real gold (and diamonds) to the LAKERS, BULLS, WARRIORS, SPURS and whomever wins this year, because if there’s something that folks who make $15M a year playing basketball need – it’s beer bottles wrapped in a pendant made with gold and diamonds.

OK, fine, common folk … 🙄, A-B is also giving you a chance to win a bottle here, but yours will come with pendants that are “gold-plated” and have “synthetic stones” – I mean, you know you can’t be trusted with nice things. 

Although with that kinda pitch – better check to see that A-B didn’t switch in NATTY LIGHT for the beer in the bottle.

Slainté!

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)