Brewbound 2022 Beer Champion of the Year: The Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild

Speaker 1 [00:05] We hope you all are enjoying our 2022 Brewbound Live Business Conference. We'll be conducting interviews with our 2022 award winners and our class of rising stars throughout the program. So let's bring on our next guest, the winner of Brewbound's 2022 Beer Champion of the Year award, the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild. Joining us now, our executive director Jess Talley. Thanks for being here, Jess.

Speaker 2 [00:30] Thanks, Justin.

Speaker 1 [00:31] And Director of government and Industry relations, Bob Galligan. Thanks for being here, Bob.

Speaker 2 [00:37] Oh, happy to be here.

Speaker 1 [00:39] Well, congratulations to you guys on all you guys accomplished in 2022. Um, Jess and Bob, the Guild and the, and Minnesota Brewers scored several legislative wins this year. Uh, let's start with the 4 and six pack sales to go from smaller brewery taprooms. That was something that until, uh, this last year, y'all couldn't do, and, uh, this is a big win for the majority of brewers in the state. How do you see this helping your members going forward?

Speaker 2 [01:09] Yeah, I mean, 4 and 6 packs are a huge win. That's what a lot of our, um, especially smaller breweries were. We're really um excited for, um, and I think it's uh, it's a very good shot in the arm for an industry that was completely decimated during a global pandemic. Uh, and even during that global pandemic, we weren't able to actually budge the legislature at all to really give us any, any leeway. So, uh, the actual fact that now smaller members are able to sell is, uh, definitely, um, a, a, a big win for us. We still have more work to do. There, it's very limited. Um, consumers can only buy 2 4-packs or 1 6-pack, um, at the moment. Uh, so we will have to keep chipping away at that, but at the same time, it's, uh, it's a great, a great start and a great foot in the door.

Speaker 1 [01:56] The pandemic was such a strain on brewers, and to not have that ability to sell beer like that to go, uh, was a major disadvantage for the state's brewers. Um, why do you think that legislators during the pandemic couldn't see sort of the impact this was having on your members, Jess?

Speaker 3 [02:18] Well, you know, I think, um, these were just some, some quite entrenched laws in our state. Uh, we saw all of our neighboring states had this right, um, permanently have these rights at this point, and um it was just, it was just a lot of moving parts, a lot of different interests at play, and, you know, despite massive consumer engagement, despite Uh, most of our members pushing really hard for this during the pandemic, um, it just did not get done, uh, and I think that that really spurned a lot of new champions for us in 2021 and 2022. Ah, both the public and within the legislature, uh, and so, you know, as much as we, we really wish we would have seen movement in 2020, uh, I do have to say that the lack of movement is, is maybe what helped us finally push this legislation through this past year.

Speaker 1 [03:17] When you were presenting this to lawmakers, what did you find was the most persuasive argument in favor of the change?

Speaker 2 [03:27] Uh, I would say, uh, kind of the, the main thing that, um, was a, was a big selling point was I always had the tagline that we have, we have 49 other case studies that show that this, uh, benefits brewers and does not impact the other tiers. Those case studies are called states. Uh, we, as Minnesotans try to think that we are Uh, progressive and, and leaders in a lot of ways. Um, but having said that, when it comes to liquor reform, we, we are not. Uh, uh, our liquor laws are rather archaic. We still are the home of Andrew Volstead, who wrote Prohibition, and we're still kind of dealing with the fallout from that, from 80, 90 years ago. So, um, but I think literally getting, getting it across that, that we are The last. We, we were kind of the last bastion of a place that still penalizes success. Once a brewery makes over a certain amount of barrels, they can, they could no longer sell. Um, or if a brewery made less than a certain amount of barrels or was a brew pub, they can't sell. So there's still a fair amount of laws on the books that that we're going to have to take a look at and and work on reforming, but At the same time, letting legislators know that we are coming from behind, uh, was, was a pretty big selling point.

Speaker 1 [04:43] Well, in addition to, uh, the state's small brewers getting 4 and 6 pack, uh, privileges, the state's largest breweries, uh, making up to 150,000 barrels, can now sell Growlers to go. Uh, this is a privilege that around a handful of the state's breweries get now, and, and when they, again, like we said, they, they didn't have this privilege during the, the pandemic shutdowns. So, how do you expect this to affect those businesses, uh, this year and beyond?

Speaker 3 [05:12] You know, just for a little bit of context, um, Breweries getting cut off from Growler sales once they reach a certain size, um, it is a, a very unique Minnesota law as well. Um, our breweries that fit this category were some of the only breweries in the country that were facing this type of restriction. Um, so that's kind of a little bit of context around that and speaks to what Bob was saying earlier about some of the messaging that we found to be effective, um, and then Bob, yeah, if you want to take the impact.

Speaker 2 [05:46] Yeah, I mean, the impact is huge. This is, um, even though a lot of the larger breweries that now um are available to or allowed to sell, um, growlers and crawlers, uh, they are mostly distributing breweries. Uh, they are on the, on the larger side of things. But there's a misconception that, uh, larger breweries succeeded during the pandemic. A lot of people, because they are distributing breweries, uh, liquor sales or liquor store sales were, were rather large. But having said that, That there were literally no draft sales. No one could sell anything in bars, uh, and then because their taprooms were shut down and they couldn't sell beer to go, there were no kegs being emptied. So, um, this is, this is just kind of, again, playing from behind. Uh, these larger breweries needed a lifeline, and I think that this is, in a lot of ways that lifeline, but it's also granting. You know, uh, members who were not able to do this, the right to actually sell their beer in the way that they deem best and most profitable for their businesses. Um, again, I don't see any reason why we, we penalize businesses for being successful. Just because you actually brew a certain amount of beer doesn't necessarily mean that you should, uh, be forced into not selling that off-site, in our opinion, so.

Speaker 1 [07:03] Yeah, the word you keep using uh for Minnesota is unique when it comes to their, uh, bedlock laws. So, I, I guess we're finding that out. Yeah, well, and you were the last state, I believe, with the 3-2 beer uh law, right? Yeah, and grocery. Still have it,

Speaker 2 [07:20] still have still go to the local convenience store and pick up some, uh, some 3-2, so. Yeah,

Speaker 1 [07:25] uh, so those are the legislative wins this year, or a couple of them. Uh, when you both look back on this year, what stands out to you? The

Speaker 2 [07:34] past year has been, um, Uh, really exciting in a, in a lot of ways. Uh, I know it's incredibly frustrating that we had to go through this global pandemic and, uh, you know, I mean, I think theaters, restaurants, and breweries and bars pretty much got the, the, the rough end of, of COVID. We were just decimated. There was, there was nothing that we could really do. That's our business model. Um, but seeing people actually Come back out of the kind of their, their hiding hole. Um, I, there are so many people I know where as soon as they got their booster or, or were finally able to re-enter society, the first place they went was their local craft brewery. And to me, that's a, a testament of, of, of the ethos of craft beer. Um, we, we tend to take care of our community and in return, our community takes care of us. The fact that So many of us did not actually close during the pandemic. I think it's a testament to just how much the community is actually uh are ingrained in our, our very culture. So, um, it's been uh, it's been really refreshing to kind of see that, uh, resurgence of, of, of what I think the industry is kind of based on.

Speaker 3 [08:46] You know, a similar point for me, um, That, ah, I really just want to highlight, ah, the customers, the customer advocacy, ah, tying back to our legislative win this year. We've been asking for these changes for years and every single year we didn't get them passed and every year we came back to customers and asked them to help us try again and they did. Every year, the customer engagement Minnesota group, um, during one of our days of action, I think in 2021. They sent 9000 emails to legislators in a matter of hours. Ah, we were told that craft beer was the number one constituent call topic multiple weeks, uh, throughout legislative sessions, and I feel like that sort of advocacy base is, uh, so important to changing entrenched laws and really just Helped drive, you know, legislators wanting to get something done for their constituents this last year, and I think those years of advocacy, especially when we couldn't do events, we couldn't hold fun, you know, ah, rallies at breweries or brew pubs or at the Capitol, I think that engagement shows how customers value these businesses and how important these businesses are in their communities as meeting spaces, um, as social spaces and as small businesses that support the local community.

Speaker 1 [10:12] Our team definitely got to see that during uh the raft Brewers conference. Uh, we brewery hopped to several places, and, you know, most, if not all of them were packed. So, it was good to see, see that during that, and I, and I know that there's a little shot of the arm, because we weren't the only, uh, tourists in town, uh, for CBC, but it was good to see. So, when you all look ahead to 2023, what are the guild's priorities next year?

Speaker 3 [10:43] You know, the, the landscape is pretty exciting and pretty tumultuous still, uh, you know, the list of shortages and supply issues and changing market forces is very long. Um, that said, you know, it's not all bad, there's all these new technologies, these, uh, new opportunities to explore, you know, Minnesota, we just had the market for THC beverages, uh, open up quite suddenly, quite surprisingly. Um, and nobody has a crystal ball. I, I think we have all learned that over the past couple of years as we really cannot anticipate what next thing is going to be thrown at our breweries and brew pubs. Uh, so as a guild, you know, we're really here to help them adapt. and help them, ah, sort of overcome these challenges as well as, ah, take advantage of new opportunities. So, you know, legislatively we always want to protect the rights that they already have. We want to continue to provide support services, information and resources, networking, scholarships, all of these things that help, um, our members thrive and grow. We really are a mission-driven organization. Our mission is to promote, protect and grow a robust Minnesota craft brewing industry and so whatever that looks like in the coming years, uh, you know, we're ready to take on that challenge.

Speaker 1 [12:11] We know the pandemic was super rough on your members, and I'm sure these legislative victories are gonna help them in the future. But as we go into the next year, how would you describe the health of Minnesota, how would you describe the health of Minnesota's breweries at this time?

Speaker 3 [12:33] Would we say recovering, Bob?

Speaker 2 [12:36] Yeah, that's one way to put it, yeah. I, I, again, I don't think anyone is, uh, no one's doing cartwheels right now. Um, the, the days of triple-digit growth year over year, uh, in craft beer is, is not really a reality anymore. Um, but we are small businesses and I always like to say kind of Um, resilience and, um, creativity are, are something that our members understand in, in, in full. Uh, so I think, uh, given the supply chain issues, given inflation, given staffing shortages, given all these things, uh, we still tend to find a way. So I think the overall health of Minnesota breweries is actually decently strong. Uh, the fact is, is we've had some members close in the past year, but we've had more members join. Uh, so I think that's, uh, that's all part of it, and I think slowly but surely chipping away at the, uh, the fact that we, we really are stronger together, which is kind of the purpose of our, of our guilt, uh, is that we push forward as an actual industry. Uh, I think that That kind of mentality is, is almost stronger than ever coming out of the pandemic because I think a lot of people did realize that it's, it's a lot harder to achieve anything whether it's legislation or, or whether it's, you know, actual big moves into different markets and whatnot. You really are stronger when, when you all work together. So I think that, that mentality is, yeah, is, is still very much vibrant and part of our, our community.

Speaker 1 [14:07] Justin Bob, congratulations on your legislative victories this year, and congrats on being Brewbound's 2022 beer champion of the year. Thank you so much. Thanks to you all, and for our viewers at home, stay tuned for more Brewbound Live.