Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, September 13, 2025.

Well, I finally have some good news! I’ve found the cause behind the negative beer sales trends this year – apparently, it’s baseball players.

Yes, it seems the days of players charging the field with beers in hand or knocking down 9+ beers on a team flight (while thinking you drank 70) are over … although that’s probably for the best, as Yahoo Sports reports that while MLB teams still have beer fridges in locker rooms –  they’re largely being untouched these days.

It seems a tart cherry juice antioxidant drink is often the beverage of choice after a game to aid with muscle recovery (in case HIGH NOON is looking for new varietal ideas).

Wait – where you goin’ there, social media? Overt public eye scrutiny of behavior was largely cited as a factor, in that going to a club and having 9 phones recording you in the VIP section the entire time is not conducive to knocking back a few brewskies. #GoodTimes

Although, it also sounds like “feeling groovy” is also on the rise among MLB players, as the rising popularity of marijuana/THC products was also cited.

Call me an old fashioned optimist – but I gotta hope a baseball player still shotguns a beer before going up to bat every now and then. I mean, it apparently worked for the World Champion 1986 METS! (just don’t ask what happened after that season) 

And the way the METS are playing this month – all ideas should be on the table.

GOTTA SAY: I almost did a spit take with my beer when reading this quote from Zoe’s great interview with Andrew Burman, co-founder of NYC’s OTHER HALF – a brand that arguably launched the weekly one-off IPA release/lines around the block phenomenon that dominated NYC’s craft beer culture in the 2010s:

• “A single beer is nice, but if you can make 30 barrels of it once a year, what does that really matter? You need to move some volume.”

Ah, the kids are all grown up. 😢 Kudos on the 40k BBL a year, OTHER HALF!

THEN: BEVNET’s spirits editor Ferron Salniker has a new Q&A with the menu creators of 3 of the top cocktail bars in the country in regards to how they’re approaching non-alc cocktails, the impact on business and more.

PLUS: While banks may no longer be too keen on investing in craft beer – the people still seem to have an affinity! Two Southwest brewery projects recently closed million dollar+ crowdfunding rounds:

• Colorado’s WESTBOUND & DOWN raised $1.2M+ in its first round, and has opened a 2nd effort to open another location in Denver.
• Arizona’s MOTHER ROAD BREWING raised nearly $1.4M across 2 crowdfunding efforts.

​​“If we can bring premium and craft to any beer category, we're interested in it. If that's not the defining part of why consumers are interested in that beer style, it's not for us.” 

– SIERRA NEVADA CEO Pryce Greenow defining the company’s approach to new products, including its further push with its Pils brand up to a top 4 company priority in 2026. 

KANE BREWING

Production Brewer – Ocean, NJ

NODA BREWING

Key Accounts Manager – Charlotte, NC

CRAFTSMITH BEVERAGE

HEINEKEN USA chief sales officer Jim Sloan is leaving the company next month after a 20-year tenure.

• Former CONSTELLATION exec Bill Renspie has been tapped to fill the role.

Yeah, if you were looking to the NFL to change beer’s fortunes this year – well, maybe try the NBA in about 5 weeks?

BEERBOARD puts draft beer sales at -7.3% and packaged products at -8.3% YoY for NFL opening weekend (Sept. 4-7). At least the Thursday season opener was +2% for draft. Hey, take what you can get (packaged products were -10.7%).

• MICH ULTRA was #1 in Dallas, and MILLER LITE was #1 in Philly.

RTDs and non-alc again rose above the rest, at +37.6% and 39.7%, respectively, for the long weekend.

• HIGH NOON Pineapple led the way in RTDs
• HEINEKEN 0.0 led in non-alc, with DOS EQUIS Lime & Salt Zero taking a surprising #2 slot (was there a B-dubs promotion or something?)

Well, for anyone of the mindset that going out is too expensive these days – that didn’t get any help from August trends.

The overall CPI was +2.9% YoY, but bev-alc away from home was +3.8% (food away from home was also +3.9%).

• Bev-alc away from home was also +0.6% MoM
• At-home bev-alc was better at +0.3% YoY

Spirits led the way in blame (come on, spirits 😏) at +4% in the on-prem YoY, although beer (+3.2%) and wine (+3.1%) were both over the total CPI as well.

The average price for a case of beer in the off-prem is +$0.53 to $31.24 YTD (+1.7%) according to NIQ data through August 30, with hard seltzer leading the way at +$1.25 to $40.58.

🙋‍♂️ SEPARATE BUT RELATED

Affordability was cited as the #1 headwind facing the bev-alc industry in a new JEFFERIES poll of 3,600 folks. 

Money was cited as the #1 reason among folks who responded that they aim to drink less over the next 12 months, at 58%. That number was 36% in a 2021 poll.

“If we do 10 of those and one becomes a 10-million-case, $250-million brand, I’m good with that. We’re kind of built around regular failure as a company.”

BOSTON BEER CEO Jim Koch at the BARCLAY’S conference on how the company approaches innovation launches … and the flops that ensue. Now, can I interest you in a case of General Admission, perhaps?

Jim’s updates on SUN CRUISER, TWISTED TEA’s pricing problems and what’s next in the innovation pipeline (an alcoholic POPPI, anyone?) are in the link.

• OH’s SUPERIOR BEVERAGE has picked up the distro rights to RHINEGEIST, CONSTELLATION and MARK ANTHONY after the merger of 2 A-B houses, HOUSE OF LAROSE and COLUMBUS & DELMAR was revised over a year after its announcement.
• Mid-Atlantic brewpub chain IRON HILL announced that it has closed 3 locations, including its flagship/first-ever location in Newark, DE. The other locations were in Voorhees, NJ, and Chestnut Hill, PA. It now has 16 locations. 
• COCA-COLA’s RED TREE BEVERAGES is moving production of FRESCA Mixed from CONSTELLATION to SAZERAC – as well as MINUTE MAID Spiked,  which is moving over from LEVECKE CORPORATION.

-$73.28

The average decline in monthly taproom draft beer sales from January 2023 and December 2024 according to a new BA report.

Taproom food sales were +$42.31, and liquor & hard cider sales were +$15.29 a month combined.

We’re now just 3 months out from BREWBOUND LIVE – time to get those tickets for December! Plus, if you get the room next to Justin – you can count on zero noise next door as of 9 p.m. every night!

The team is also bringing back the one-on-one meetings with retailers once again (including WHOLE FOODS, BREAKTHRU, SUNSET and HEIMARK so far) and assembling a great round of speakers already, with a lot more to come!

• Sophia D’Angelo, founder and CEO, Boston Experiential Group;
• Kaleigh Theriault, director of bev-alc thought leadership, NIQ;
• Andrew Hummel, director bev-alc vertical, CGA;
• Rosalie Kennedy, director of marketing, Athletic Brewing;
• Sam Hendler, co-founder and CEO, Hendler Family Brewing Company;
• Bourcard Nesin, analyst – beverages, Rabobank;
• Jon Halper, owner and CEO, Top Ten Liquors;
• Nick Firestone, CEO, Firestone Walker.

SO: Book your hotel room and tickets here.

BREWDOG USA chief sales and marketing officer Eric Teodoro Franco joins the pod to discuss:

• The sales bump they’ve gotten from returning to a focus on core brands.
• How the brand differs significantly from its position and business tactics in the U.K. 
• Adjusting its distribution and taproom approaches over time
• How the exits of the brewery’s founders have affected U.S. business, and more.

PLUS: Justin’s voice seems to have fully recovered from the IOWA STATE vs. IOWA game in time for the pod this week, as the BREWBOUND trio discuss:

• The 21ST AMENDMENT closing and news from the world of dietary guidelines.
• How Zoe’s cornhole woes have spread to her NFL gambling abilities, but she does manage to successfully talk Jess and Justin down from the BREWBOUND LIVE planning stress tree. Well done, Zoe.
• Then, Zoe and Jess have diverging ideas about what BBL means – for the record, neither of them chose barrel of beer – and dive into the new dumb shit Gen Z is doing with alcohol which makes me feel a lot better about being psyched about “ice” beers when I was that age.

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 Germany’s Oliver Struempfel … although, maybe don’t have him carry it over to you himself.

Yes, as the beginning of Oktoberfest begins to come into view – good ol’ Ollie (can I call you Ollie?) had his sights set on the prize this week, attempting to carry 31 steins of beer in a German competition to break a world record.

Alas, only 17 of them were still there and drinkable when Oliver (yeah, seems the Germans don’t like when we do American nicknames) crossed the finish line and put down the (remaining) steins.

But don’t you fret – Mr. Struempfel (it turns out, he’s quite formal) is not deterred! He said he plans to attempt the record again … and up the ante to 33 steins! 

Hopefully his lager-soaked lederhosen are back from the cleaners in time.

Slainté!

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)