Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, November 16, 2024.

Folks, we’re getting pretty close to GOOSE ISLAND’s annual Bourbon County release! 

Gotta say, it’s nice to still have one of craft’s few remaining annual traditions left here at the end of 2024, even though I’m pretty sure Justin and I couldn’t finish one bottle between the two of us at this point. In a whole weekend.

But, tradition is tradition so I’ll gladly seek out a (small) pour in NYC in a couple weeks, and of course I am even more eagerly anticipating this year’s big drop of BCBS NFTs.

And yes, I totally just copied and pasted that headline from previous newsletters. This time it’s a new taproom & brewery inside Boston’s Prudential Center, which Jess & Zoe described to me as a “mall+” so, do with that as ya like (Copley Place nearby is apparently much bougier).

But this space is pretty massive at 35K sq. ft. 🤯,and will include a 5 BBL brewhouse as well as a distilling element. The brewery launched a to-go outpost in the Pru earlier this year, and also did a pop-up beer garden there in the summertime.

This would be TREE HOUSE’s 6th location (assuming Saratoga Springs gets finished), and yes the golf course thing (and future home of the BREWBOUND OPEN 🤞) is one of them.

Percentage of brewing capacity being used by BA breweries, according to the BA’s member production survey:

• 2018: 61%
• 2023: 52%

Draft beer gains in 2024 through October, according to BEERBOARD data:

• +1.4% of sales

Craft beer share of taps: 65%

Craft beer share of draft volume: 39%

Domestics share of taps: 20%

Domestics share of draft volume: 44%

• Share of retailers’ operating margins for domestics: 75%

NORTH PARK BEER CO.

Wholesale & Logistics Manager – San Diego, CA

CEREBRAL BREWING

Marketing Manager – Denver, CO

SOUTHERN BARREL

HEINEKEN USA has a new CMO – Alison Payne is coming back over from the home office in Europe to lead U.S. marketing efforts, replacing Jonnie Cahill who is departing the company after more than a decade. 

• Alison was previously in the HUSA division overseeing the Mexican brand portfolio from 2018 to 2021. 

“99% of what we sell in the U.S., we produce right here in the U.S. Over 95% of the ingredients that we use, we procure from local companies and local farmers.”

Well, it was bound to finally happen one of these months … and October 2024 appears to be it. Beer at home inflation was +2.6% last month, matching the overall CPI.

But beer still comfortably takes the title in bev-alc at home numbers 💪:

• Wine: +0.3%
• Liquor: +0.1%
• Total bev-alc at home: +1.1%

Happy Episode 200 everybody 🥳! Which I’m pretty sure the BREWBOUND team never thought they’d hit … since they said “Sure, you can come on the pod if we hit 200 episodes 🤭” when I started this newsletter here.  

But folks, dreams do come true … as who has two thumbs and is on this week’s pod? This guy 👍😁👍. Talk of all things:

• The LORD HOBO + LONE PINE deal, and we somehow only confused the two names one time
• On the ground intel from the BI’s annual meeting
• Layoffs at MOLSON COORS this week
• MONSTER’s continuing search for bev-alc growth
• And I think we inadvertently put ourselves into a time capsule 🤷‍♂️

Listen here!

• The BI thinks a federal excise tax on any cannabis-infused products should be “higher than the highest rate for any beverage alcohol product” should it ever become legal on the federal level, in case there was any doubt. It also thinks alcohol and cannabis products should never be allowed to be sold at the same location.
• Selling RTDs in Pennsylvania sounds like a real hoot. 
• BOSTON BEER is upping its marketing spend and partnerships effort in 2025, according to the distributor meetings the company had this fall.
• WEATHERED SOULS founder Marcus Baskerville is starting a fried chicken & craft beer-focused restaurant in San Antonio as his next act, called FRESH BEVERAGE CO. 

Book your room for BREWBOUND LIVE at the Marina del Rey Marriott Hotel on Dec 11 & 12 is now open! I advise keeping it down 🤫 after 10 p.m. unless you want a visit from Ol’ Man Kendall next door. He has a really big day tomorrow and doesn’t need your tomfoolery right now, people!

Quite a lineup here folks – all in one place! 

AND: DOGFISH HEAD founder Sam Calagione was just announced for a fireside chat with Justin, and know that the pipe he’s holding totally just makes bubbles 🫧.

Sam of course joins an already stellar lineup of speakers:

• Jessica Fierro, ATREVIDA Beer Co owner and head brewer; 
• Christian McMahan, SUNTORY RTD Company North America chief growth officer;
• Satoru Shimizu, SUNTORY RTD Company North America , president;
• Scott Selix, CLIMBING KITES co-founder;
• Aaron Vargas, BACKPOCKET Brewing managing director;
• Amy Cartwright, INDEPENDENCE BREWING co-founder;
• Chris Herron, BEVSTRATEGY LLC and CREATURE COMFORTS co-founder;
• Rebecca Maisel, GULF DISTRIBUTING SVP legal and government affairs;
• Lauren Doll-Sheeder, DOLL DISTRIBUTING managing partner;
• Jennifer Grant, MARKSTEIN Sales general manager and VP;
• Zech Francis, BEATBOX Beverages SVP of global marketing;
• Rob Tod, ALLAGASH Brewing founder
• Karen Hertz, HOLIDAILY Brewing founder
• Paul Verdu, WISCONSIN Brewing Co. president
• Day Bracey, BARREL & FLOW Fest founder
• Lindsay Kunkle, FORESIGHT FACTORY director, head of U.S. Consultancy;
• Rebecca Dye Yonushonis, NEW BELGIUM BREWING CMO;
• Mary Mills, consultant for 3 Tier Beverages;
• Julie Rhodes, consultant, NOT YOUR HOBBY MARKETING SOLUTIONS
• 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 Bump Williams Consulting;
• Natalie Cilurzo, RUSSIAN RIVER co-owner;
• Peter Skrbek, CEO Deschutes Brewery;
• Lester Jones, NBWA chief economist and VP of analytics; 
• Jennifer Hauke, DRAFTLINE TECHNOLOGIES founder and president.

This week’s beer is going out to … draft beer! 

While yes, one might suggest that draft beer does not indeed need, well, a beer – this fact from DRAFTLINE TECHNOLOGIES that 7% to 13% of all installed & ready draft lines are empty 😳 suggests that, yeah beer might be a welcome sight to many existing draft lines right now.

That stat is from a new ode to draft beer by Kate Bernot in Bon Appetit, something which is becoming an increasingly rare sight in many bars & restaurants (uh, draft beer that is, not Kate – I’m sure she’s still frequenting pubs on a regular basis).

As for craft beer pouring on those taps, that also sounds a bit challenged, according to BEERBOARD chief strategy officer Brandy Rand:

• “Craft is really valuable to operators, but we're also seeing kind of a dilution of profitability, because we're throwing [them] too much assortment. What happens there is that you have less fresh beer, you don't have the profitability that operators are demanding now.”

So if you’re out with the family or friends this weekend, think about skipping over the cans list and select a good ol’ fashioned pint of beer – and maybe send a toast out to Kate. Or maybe just 🍻 to the people you’re with, so people don’t ask you a lotta questions about who “Kate” is. She’ll understand.

Slainté!  

-Sean McNulty