Craft Brew News 01/17/20
(News brought to you courtesy of Brewbound – www.brewbound.com)

Pabst Launches Craft Beer Brand, Captain Pabst, with Flagship IPA

Pabst Brewing Company is launching a line of craft beers, as the craft segment has matured and sales of craft offerings have slowed to low single-digit growth.

The Los Angeles-headquartered maker of Pabst Blue Ribbon announced today the launch of Captain Pabst, a standalone craft beer brand outside of the PBR family, and the launch of its flagship offering, Seabird IPA, in Wisconsin and Illinois.

The Captain Pabst line of beers pays homage to company namesake Frederick Pabst, who was a ship captain on Lake Michigan before marrying into the family that owned Milwaukee-based Best’s Brewing Company, which was renamed for Pabst by 1889.

Seabird IPA, which is brewed with Magnum, Citra, Cascade and Mosaic hops, is named for the last ship Pabst captained. The beer checks in at 4.5% alcohol by volume and has 45 IBUs. Pabst beached The Seabird on the shore of Lake Michigan’s Whitefish Bay in an 1863 storm, and then abandoned his nautical career for his father-in-law’s brewery. Pabst died in 1904.

Boulder Beer Company to Sell Brewpub Building, Transition to Contract Brewed Brand

Three months after announcing plans to pivot to a brewpub business model, Boulder Beer Company today announced plans to sell its brewpub building and pivot once more to a contract brewing model.

In an email Monday to Boulder Beer consumers, owner Gina Day announced that the brewpub will
close on January 18.

She wrote “Some outside influences have recently transpired that have led us to make business decisions we feel are best for the company, “An opportunity to sell the building at 2880 Wilderness Place recently presented itself to us, which has led us to the decision to close The Pub at Boulder Beer.”

In recent months, Boulder has announced several changes to its business model, citing increased competition within the craft brewing industry.

In October, the company announced it would cease distribution to its 27-state footprint and retrench to a brewpub-only model.

However, by December, Boulder Beer’s model changed once more, as the company announced a partnership with Denver-based contract brewery Sleeping Giant to brew, sell and distribute six Boulder offerings.


Hard Seltzer Volume Projected to Triple By 2023

Hard seltzer is not a fad; it’s a category, Brandy Rand, the COO of market research firm IWSR, declared today during Beer Business Daily’s Beer Industry Summit in Palm Beach, Florida.
Rand argued that hard seltzers are meeting consumers’ desire for refreshing, flavorful beverages that are low in calories with little to no sugar. And seltzers are cutting across all demographics and age groups, she said.

According to IWSR, hard seltzer volume in the U.S. hit around 82.5 million cases in 2019, and volumes are expected to more than triple, to 281 million cases, by 2023. Rand shared that more than half of U.S. alcohol consumers drink hard seltzer at least once a week, with an average of 2.83 cans per occasion.

Rand sees plenty of growth prospects for hard seltzer due to 90% of hard seltzer sales occurring at off-premise retailers, and less than 1% of those transactions are being made through ecommerce.
Donn Bichsel Jr. Starts 3 Tier Beverages Consulting Firm

Former Revolution Brewing chief commercial officer Donn Bichsel Jr. has launched 3 Tier Beverages, a Chicago-based sales and marketing consulting firm.
According to Bichsel, the need he’s found in the market among craft breweries is for someone with fresh eyes to examine the business and slow everything down. Many companies are growing at such a fast rate that they may have “forgotten why they’re in the industry in the first place, and what their brand means to them and what message they’re trying to put out to the world about their company,” he added.
Bichsel’s services are tailored to his individual clients’ specific needs, including developing sales and marketing personnel, building wholesaler relationships, devising marketing and go-to-market strategies, examining pricing, evaluating brand portfolios, creating seasonal programs, and identifying mission statements and a company’s overall ethos.
Bichsel joined Revolution in 2012 as its sales and marketing director and helped to shepherd the then-brewpub to an 85,000-barrel regional craft brewery with distribution in seven states. His resume includes sales leadership stints at MillerCoors, Goose Island, Heineken USA and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

Since departing Revolution, Bichsel said he’s learned more about the craft beer industry over two months than he did over the last couple of years due to being so dialed into the Chicago craft brewery’s rapid growth.

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