Brewbound Podcast

On the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast, the team analyzes the tectonic shifts in the bev-alc market in the last week, including: Constellation Brands giving Coors Distributing Company the proverbial black rose, with plans to terminate their relationship in the next 30 days, and the odds of its portfolio heading to the Reyes Beverage Group, which entered Colorado earlier this year; Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits paying $12.5 million to resolve a federal probe into bribes given to retail chain grocery buyers; Underwhelming Labor Day off-premise scans; A major equipment manufacturer shuttering its brewing division; And more industry upheaval. Brewbound's Justin Kendall, Jessica Infante and Zoe Licata also ponder the creation of the Two-Zie, a double koozie from mid-strength beer maker Dad Strength.

Von Ebert Brewing brewer Dashawn Agbonze sees himself as the "fun police" – a badge he wears proudly, much like the German brewers that he admires.   "I'm always like, 'Why are we doing this?'" Agbonze said on the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast. "Ultimately, like the Germans, I don't believe in magic. I need an explanation. Let's talk it out. Part of that is, let's train people so that everyone can see the same vision and we have the same goal because we know exactly how to get there."   Agbonze, a two-time Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling (MJF) scholarship awardee, shares his journey climbing the ranks of the brewing industry and why he believes education is critical for up-and-coming brewers.   "The education is important because it enables you to be in a controlled space to fail," he explained. "You're not putting a business on the line. You don't have employees with families that you have to risk in order to learn that 'Hey, a clean tank would make the beer that you want,' or 'Hey, contamination via your canning line can happen,' or how to solve these problems in a safe space."   Failures in a learning environment become key lessons in training the next generation of brewers, Agbonze shares.   Before the interview, the Brewbound team discusses the latest news, including a major departure from Whole Foods' bev-alc team, an update on Pabst's stolen beer, the Beer Institute's latest beer supply data and FIFCO USA's new owner and new/old name.   Brewbound managing editor Jessica Infante also shares highlights from her trip to Asheville for the annual business planning meetings at Highland Brewing and Sierra Nevada.

The summer selling season wraps up this weekend with Labor Day Monday, and one of the hottest segments of the summer has been hard sports drinks.   Brewbound editor Justin Kendall and senior reporter Zoe Licata dive into the fast-growing segment and how their views have shifted on it over the last year. They look at who is leading the segment now and new entrants looking to fast-follow, including Boston Beer Company.   The duo also recap several rounds of layoffs, including Sapporo USA's wind-down of the Stone Brewing-branded locations in Escondido, California; Mark Anthony's integration of the Finnish Long Drink and coming sales team cuts; and Diageo's ongoing $1.2 billion restructuring effort hitting its NYC headquarters.   Plus, Justin and Zoe discuss low-ABV beers (and Justin cracks Sierra Nevada's new Go-Two IPA) and Pabst's viral stolen beer marketing campaign.

Fingers boozeletter author Dave Infante joins the Brewbound Podcast to deep dive Diageo's ongoing restructuring and workforce slashing under CEO Sir Dave Lewis (aka "Drastic Dave" for his reputation for making big cuts at previous stops).    Infante shares insights from his reporting and conversations with Diageo employees, many of whom wondered why the Guinness and Johnnie Walker maker was so slow to adapt to the modern bev-alc competitive landscape.   "The frustration that I heard from current and former Diageo employees was mostly about why weren't we doing this before we had to start laying everyone off," Infante tells Brewbound editor Justin Kendall and managing editor Jessica Infante (no relation).    "You don't have to get to this point before you start pivoting to RTDs."   The trio also hit recent headlines, including Garage Beer and Liquid Death tapping into the real world animosity around data centers and BuzzBallz's recent Pop-Tarts partnership.   Jessica offered a theory on the BuzzBallz-Pop-Tarts team up: "Kids aren't eating Pop-Tarts. You know who's eating Pop-Tarts? Sad, elder millennials who can't afford anything else and want a tiny treat. The moms who would be out marching on the capitol up in arms against this aren't feeding that to their kids."   "They're the ones who are intrigued by the BuzzBallz Pop-Tarts that they saw on Instagram," Dave adds.   "That's definitely going into their Stanley tumblers," Jess says.

Does every beer need a non-alcoholic (NA) analog? The Brewbound team discusses on the latest episode of the Brewbound Podcast.    As Molson Coors prepares to launch an NA version of Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, Brewbound editor Justin Kendall questions whether the product is trend chasing or if consumers are clamoring for it. Managing editor Jessica Infante gets White Claw Zero flashbacks, while senior reporter Zoe Licata offers a different perspective after exploring NA ciders.   The trio also analyze recent headlines, including: Samuel Adams taproom workers' plans to unionize and Boston Beer's response, so far; And B3 Beverage's "complicated" partnerships, with a deal for Yards Brewing going forward and others falling through.