Brewbound Live Peers Into the Future of Beer and Beyond

The Brewbound Live business conference in December focused on the future of the beer category and the increasing convergence between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Firestone Walker co-founder David Walker opened the conference with a discussion on what it means to be an American craft brewery as the industry morphs and evolves. Craft brewers have taken some lumps over the last few years, but Walker has nevertheless remained bullish on craft with the Paso Robles, California-headquartered craft brewery aiming for 600,000 barrels in 2022 on the way to 1 million barrels down the road.

Also bullish on craft beer is Kirin-owned Lion Little World Beverages, which now has more than 1.5 million barrels of production at its disposal between its acquisitions of New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

New Belgium CEO Steve Fechheimer and Bell’s Brewery EVP Carrie Yunker wrapped up Day One of the conference on what comes next, following founder Larry Bell selling Bell’s to Lion.

Along with detailing goals for the new partnership, Yunker and Fechheimer eased some concerns that the Michigan-based craft brewery will lose its identity with the acquisition, and the retirement of Larry Bell.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work with Steve and the team over the last several months, and I don’t feel like the smaller brewery,” Yunker said. “My voice is just as big in the room as them and they’re great leaders and I think really our job is to be bullish about making sure we protect the things that matter to our people.”

Meanwhile, Athletic Brewing Company co-founder and CEO Bill Shufelt discussed the evolution of non-alcoholic (NA) beer – and the strategies the Stratford, Connecticut-based brewery has used to become a leader in the segment.

Athletic launched in 2018, and has grown to claim about 50% of the NA craft beer segment by “taking something that was so long neglected and bringing it out of the penalty box,” according to Shufelt.

“The word sober – and these binary words are so outdated – 80% of our customers drink alcohol at other times during the week,” he said. “We really think non-alcoholic in all its forms, not only beer, is the first credible occasion growth driver in adult beverages that we’ve had in decades.”

Rather than “cannibalizing the other offerings” in beer, Shufelt said the non-alc segment provides a beer option for the days where alcoholic beverages might not fit.

“Now, we have a beer you can drink Sunday through Thursday and absolutely love and be psyched to pair with your weeknight meal,” he said. “Or [a beer for] the 50% of the population who barely drinks at all.”

Among those coveted consumers are Generation Z drinkers, those ages 21-24.

Gen Z is consuming less alcohol and drinking it less frequently than older generations, according to Lindsay Kunkle, FTI Consulting senior director of digital and insights, and Peter Rose, senior partner of Kantar’s consulting division.

One-in-five (22%) Generation Z consumers surveyed in 2021 said they never consume alcohol – a +5% increase compared to millennials surveyed at the same age. One-quarter of Gen Z consumers are drinking alcohol weekly (17% less than millenials), and 6% consume daily (7% less than millennials).

Gen Z’s formative years have been shaped by 9/11, an encompassing digital world, the COVID-19 pandemic and more, according to Kunkle and Rose. Those events have helped shape Gen Z’s perspectives and what they want as both consumers and employees.

“We’re seeing a generation that – not just from a workplace standpoint, but from a consumption standpoint – is going to be trying to align with brands that’s values are quite similar to their own,” Rose said.

As employees, Gen Z is looking for value in work over monetary gain, leading to what has been referred to in the past two years as the “great resignation.” However, Kunkle said this movement should be viewed as a “great reshuffle.”

“They are looking for careers that make them happy, not necessarily the most possible money,” she said. “And they’re looking for a job, a career, that reflects their own personal identity.”

Brewers aren’t the only ones looking to cater to Gen Z consumers. Retailers told the Brewbound team that they’re actively courting them.

Jason Murphy, Buffalo Wild Wings beverage product and program innovation manager, said he’s exploring different beverage offerings beyond beer to better meet those consumers’ needs.

“Low- and no-alc has a huge opportunity to drive sales in our sports bars next year, not just in beer, but also in spirit-free drinks [and] mocktails,” he said. “That category has a lot of runroom for us, and it’s something that our guests have surveyed back to us and told us that they place a lot of importance on when they come to have a visit at Buffalo Wild Wings.”

With more than 1,200 locations in the U.S., Murphy said Buffalo Wild Wings has to be even more selective with what products it chooses for its tap handles.

“Most of the products that are being pitched to us right now are hard seltzers and imperial IPAs, or things chasing off-premise trends,” he said. “I understand why that’s happening, but for me, I only have 22 handles. There’s not much I can do with a 15th hazy IPA and 100th hard seltzer in my set, so I’d like to see more innovation in the beer space.”

Mary Guiver, Whole Foods global senior category merchant for beer and spirits, stressed the importance of brands knowing who their shoppers are and why their products meet those consumers’ needs.

“They have to really focus on the high-level takeaways around what makes their product special, whether that’s metrics around top-performing items or brands in the market in their category, or trends, or capturing share of a category,” she said. “Those have been historically things that we asked for. If not that, then really showing up with some whitespace items that are really unique. If not that, then the Whole Foods ethos around something that you’re doing beyond the product can really get us time with you one-on-one.”

Funkytown Wins 2021 Pitch Slam Competition

Chicago’s Funkytown Brewery won the 2021 edition of Brewbound’s Pitch Slam Competition, presented by O-I.

Funkytown, the second Black-owned brewery in Chicago, beat five other semifinalists, judged by a panel of industry experts. In a four-minute pitch, childhood friends and co-founders Richard Bloomfield, Zachary Day and Gregory Williams detailed how their offerings “meet the needs of the first time craft beer drinker.”

“We’re using homebrew as an opportunity to gather feedback from Black people, women and other minorities to see what smells and tastes based on the palate,” Bloomfield said. “The feedback we were able to gather from these underserved groups is what drives our approach for brewing and branding.”

Funkytown has four beers: Hip-Hops and R&Brew American pale ale, Woo-Wap-Da-Bam American amber ale, Cuffin’ Season Irish red ale, and New Year, Who Dis oatmeal milk stout. All beers are between 5.5% and 5.8% ABV, and feature local references in their label art.

“These different styles enable us to have a competitive price point that doesn’t turn someone away but provides an entry point for clients and beer consumers,” Day said. “On one end, we’re offering an entirely different world for the people within our culture, and another offering an entirely different culture in the beer world.”

Bloomfield, Day and Williams started homebrewing in 2017, and were inspired to start their own brewery two years later after attending Fresh Fest (now Barrel and Flow), a beer festival showcasing Black-owned breweries in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Funkytown launched in October 2021 through the Pilot Project, a Chicago-based brewery incubator.