Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, October 4, 2025.

Well, it’s about time Gen X gets the respect we deserve around here! According to consumer insights firm NUMERATOR – we’ve overtaken the Boomers in spending power!

Now, given the size disparity between Gen X and Millennials, I’m sure we’ll have that title for all of … oh, 6 months, but while we do – let’s use it wisely and spend it on red wine from the NEW YORK JETS.

Oh, they may be 0-4 on the field this year, but in the vineyard they apparently actually know what they’re doing! 

The organization works with top CA winemakers to create their rare JETS Uncorked bottlings, which retailed for about $40 a bottle and won a gold medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition last year. It’s also been featured on wine lists at restaurants like Del Friscos in NYC, and I hear some place called Vesuvio’s in North Jersey -- which has an excellent sommelier.

THEN: PHORM ENERGY selected MMA fighter Michael Chandler as its new partner and spokesperson. PHORM is a JV between A-B INBEV and UFC CEO Dana White, with A-B about to expand production of the drink at its L.A. facility. 

THE NA BEER CORNER: We have a few new entrants this week (as I also saw GO BREWING from Illinois join the NA beer shelf in Jersey this week at WHOLE FOODS):

• REUBEN’S BREWS is launching a Party On brand with IPA and Gold SKUs. The beers are made in-house at REUBEN’S, who is also pasteurizing the beers to ensure shelf stability and safety.
• John Mulaney is entering the celebrity NA beer space alongside Tom Holland’s BERO and Charlie Sheen’s WILD AF (which also went with the “Gold” name), becoming a partner in Midwest-based YEARS.
• RUPEE BEER is also launching its first NA SKU, simply called, uh, RUPEE Non-Alcoholic. #KeepItSimple It’ll debut this month in advance of the Diwali holiday on October 21.

BLACKHORSE BREWING

Director of Brewing Operations – Alcoa, TN

GUILFORD HALL BREWERY

Sales Rep – NJ/PA

STERLING STREET BREWERY

The BI is putting the U.S. tax-paid beer shipments number at -9.4% YoY in August, essentially confirming other data we’ve seen thus far. This would make for the 2nd worst month of 2025 for declines if the numbers hold in the final tallies.

YTD through August, that number is at -5.7% YoY.

There was no info on imports in August, as the BI accelerated its report timing to “prevent overlap with Beer Institute members’ quiet periods ahead of their quarterly earnings reporting,” according to BI chief economist Andrew Heritage. 

• August imports data will be included when the September reports are released next month.

But hey – good news! Future declines should be less severe this year, and “less worse” is pretty much the highest hope you can have for sales in 2025 at this point.

Can I interest anyone in a 28 total beer score for the BPI in September? Although I guess the uh, “good news” is that it’s only down from a 31 last September.

I’m not really kidding when I say that’s the high point. Craft has now fallen to a number where it’s too young to buy its own product, at 16.

#CheapBeer saw some small improvements across Below Premium and Premium Regular, as did Cider and FMB/Seltzer – but all of them are still nowhere near a 50, which would indicate that wholesalers plan to order more of a given category in the month ahead.

• DAD BEER agreed to an offer for a $300k investment for 12% of the company after appearing on ABC’s Shark Tank.  
• WILDING BRANDS is closing the Fort Collins, CO taproom for its FUNKWERKS brand this winter, but the beer will still remain in distribution. The taproom was open for 15 years.
• Philly’s EVIL GENIUS set a sales partnership with U.S. BEVERAGE across the brewery’s 7-state footprint. ROGUE signed a similar deal with U.S. BEVERAGE in August. 
• NEBRASKA BREWING is calling it a day after 18 years, after filing for Chapter 11 protection back in May. 
• UNCLE NEAREST laid off 12 folks (13% of the workforce) as part of the initial stages of its receivership process, with further staff and expenditures evaluations ahead.
• SAZERAC’s dealmaking continues, buying WESTERN SON VODKA & DISTILLERY in TX, and joining fellow TX company SOUTHERN CHAMPION (parent co. of BUZZBALLZ) as a new addition.

We’re less than 3 months out from BREWBOUND LIVE – time to get those tickets for December! Justin said to let you know his autograph signing session will be from 6 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. on December 10 next to the lobby vending machine. And yes, this year he’ll remember his pen.

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;
• Leah Wong Ashburn, owner and CEO, Highland Brewing.

SO: Book your hotel room and tickets here.

Apply now to make your best business pitch for BREWBOUND Pitch Slam at this year’s BREWBOUND Live event in December! (gifs optional in your deck)

You’ll not only join a pretty great lineup of former winners in FUNKYTOWN, CROWNS AND HOPS, LUNAR HARD SELTZER, SUNBOY and more, but you also get an industry awareness advertising package on Brewbound.com valued at $10,000.

Most importantly, you’ll be mentioned in this newsletter.

APPLY HERE!

This week, we keep things Jersey with SURFSIDE’s Clem Pappas and Matt Quigley joining the pod to dive into:

• Their big bet on sports marketing efforts in the months ahead;
• Insights into how they navigated their explosive growth;
• How their decisions to go against conventional wisdom paid off, and more.

BUT FIRST: Justin got lost in the mountains (he always finds his way back eventually) so Jess & Zoe hold down the podcast fort this week, diving into:

• Zoe shutting down a bar. Literally.
• Jess dressing her daughter up like a 60-year-old man
• The whirlwind shutdown of IRON HILL
• MARTINELLI’S move into bev-alc

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 is going out to Japan, as it sounds like they may need some. 😳

Beer production and distribution at many of ASAHI’s Japanese breweries (or “plants” as the WSJ described them 🤷‍♂️) have now been offline for 4 days after a cyberattack crippled the company, which still does not know when its supply chain will be fully restored.

Finally – a cyberattack situation with high stakes! Take that, Leave the World Behind and your creepy deer! 🦌

ASAHI also had to postpone several beer launches planned for October – although the real joke may be on the cyberterrorists, as October is typically one of the slowest months for beer sales in Japan. So clearly someone needs to do a better job of hacking themselves into some beerbiz data sheets next time, mmmkay?

Now, ASAHI can still make beer … it just can’t seem to move it out of the “plant” and get it out to retailers with its systems down, which kind of negates the need to make more beer at the moment.

So ASAHI, I think it’s time you call in the boys from NYC’s OTHER HALF to consult on a good old fashioned Saturday morning beer release at the brewery to move some product outta there. While it’s been a minute – I’m sure their line management and lightning-fast point of sale skills can be dusted off in no time to help the cause.

Slainté!

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)