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Speaker 1 [00:23] Let's meet our next Brewbound rising star. It's Rupee Beer. Joining me now is co-founder Van Sharma. Congratulations, Van. Hey, Justin, thank you so much. We are beyond the moon. Uh, means a lot. Well, it's definitely earned and we are so excited. to be able to honor you this year and have you on stage at Brewbound Live. Very excited to share our insight, our journey, and what that's looked like for us the last 6 years. Well, it's been quite a journey over those 6 years. Rupee Beer was born out of the pandemic. You're 6 years in, as you said. What's it like building a brand in the on-premise in the post 2020 world? So many emotions come up. Uh, it's definitely a lot of hard work, I would say in terms of really meeting your customer at the on-premise level and to add even a more complex nuance to that, the Indian on-prem on-premise element, world food category. For us, we're really engaging an audience in a specific category of restaurants that a lot of big. traditionally hasn't gone in for. So for us it's really about understanding what those consumer needs, but also understanding and meeting our customers where they are. And uh yeah, we're from the restaurant business, so for us it really makes a huge difference in understanding the legacy that we come from, from restaurants, but also putting it into modern day practice. And uh yeah, we continue to build that strategy across the country and invest in Indian restaurants, international restaurants across the United States. That's something that I love that you told us on the Brewbound podcast earlier this year was, this is the story that you know, restaurants, you grew up in restaurants, you grew up in Indian restaurants more specifically. So, this is something that, that you've lived and I, I love, what I love about the brand is that you found a white space, uh, an area that You saw a hole that needed filled and you're attacking that area and I think that you're doing it very well. Appreciate that and totally and I think with any business and I've done a few different things before in terms of startups, I feel like any good business always should be solving a problem and during the pandemic. We know that we identified a problem. My co-founder, who's also my, my brother, uh, we noticed that Indian beer just wasn't being imported into the United States. And even beyond that legacy in years of regular supply of a lot of import brands having, you know, regular month on month access to good fresh quality beer in the US often isn't something. Uh, you see as much. So for us, we really wanted to solve that problem and, um, yeah, I'm a big believer that being at the right place at the right time and during COVID, which is when this whole sort of idea started to brew, um, to where it is now, uh, it's been a journey for sure. And speaking to that opportunity too, right now, a lot of import brands are challenged and you're providing an opportunity or you're taking advantage of an opportunity too in this moment where As those brands are challenged, you are US produced, so you are able to fill sort of holes that might be out there for the market. 100% brewing domestically has what often when we were starting off, people were saying no, that's never going to work. It's kind of become our secret sauce I guess and we are very proud to be brewed in the United States for the 1st 5 years we were in Boston, which is a historic city for us in terms of how Gone to university there. So for us, yeah, very much part of the story of rupee being the next wave of Indian inspired beer, world beer with a US element. That's very much part of the story and how the brand has, you know, developed year on year. One of the things you said to us during the podcast was anywhere global flavor is, spice, those are the places that you hang out in. 100%. Yeah. So what started as wanting to have a beer available for the Indian on-premise, more specifically, um, our parents' network of restaurants has brewed into something a lot larger. And yes, anywhere there is more complex flavor, right? So, Indian, Asian flavors, Thai, Middle Eastern, Caribbean. Uh, we're so grateful with the help of our distribution networks as well across the country. We're selling into a wide variety of ethnic, multicultural accounts that traditionally a lot of Indian players and other Asian imports have not been able to penetrate. So for us, we look at it as more of a global world brand um that has a really unique Indian identity. The name rupee, it's obviously the currency of India, 7 other countries around the world, but historically has also been The currency of 20 countries around the world, so it has a really global kind of story to it as well, which is why I think it fits extremely well into this kind of category of a rising ethnic multicultural account base, but also where flavor, where spice and those types of things hang out. And very much so also indicative of my brothers and I's interests as well. We love going out for international food, traveling, so it fits right into the kind of area that we want to be in, if that makes sense. Totally makes sense. Well, since launching it as an on-premise focused brand, you've expanded. You've got chain placements. You're available online. You ship direct. How much of the business is still on-premise versus off at this point? Yeah, what started as an extremely on-premise heavy business has obviously changed and as also we learned the nuances of the industry and where we should be focusing, we totally understand that the off-premise category is extremely important. It's extremely vital, specifically chains. So as we scale and also launch new markets this year in 2025, we entered Texas as an entire state and also parts of California. So really to meet our customer base, on-premise restaurants will always be our favorite place to hang out in. That's where the brand was built. It was where it gets introduced to new consumers. But to really meet the customer, um, we have to make sure that we're able to shift from that 60 to 40% kind of percentage split of what we were seeing earlier to really being more heavy on the off-premise category. So, yeah, in 2026, going into this quarter as well, some hires that we've also made, really investing in making sure we want to be where our. The consumer base is grocery shopping where they're buying their alcohol. So for us we totally understand the importance of that now and are investing in that area quite a bit. And yeah, pitching more chains, more chains naturally reaching out to us, which is always an amazing, you know, feeling as a, as a, as a startup, you know, founder in beer. So yeah, we're definitely, we understand the importance of playing both sides, but really giving a focus to off-premise. How much closer are you to that split? Yeah, I think now we're probably around Um, I think I would say like 60% or so now is going towards the off-premise, um, off-premise category as we scale, as we launch also larger markets. I mentioned we launched Texas this year. We're in California now. Those are obviously beasts of markets to be in. So as we launch more, um, you know, regional but also national markets that we want to grow in and invest in, um, that number will probably continue to go up. Um, and still, you know, in the larger markets we're grateful when it comes to on-premise. The brand really has been introduced in so many verticals. We're in so many Michelin star James Beard restaurants across the country, New York City, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, etc. So anywhere those types of places continue to, you know, also invest in new chefs and in the culinary category. We're also doing a lot to stimulate that audience as well. Rupee Beer recently posted on LinkedIn that you are now the number one Indian IPA in the US. What did it take to get to that point for you? Yeah, I would say also a lot of education. I don't think people realize, and we're speaking about marketing here at Brewbound Live this year as well, there has been a whole lot of marketing knowledge and insights that both my brother and I have had to really invest in to get this brand where it is today. I don't think people understand the, the background of really having to reverse engineer a strategy around teaching more of mainstream America. On pairing beer with international flavors like Indian food as an example, but also, you know, making Indian food look approachable. So for us, IPA, another avenue of education, having to really educate our base on what an IPA actually is, its nuances, how it's brewed differently, whereas a lot of import brands often tend to be just loggers. So for us, yeah, we wanted to build a range of beers. That shows the modern drinker what what's out there in different styles of beers, but also things that are approachable. So yeah, we continue to invest in that strategy and also wanting to be the IPA of choice at international Indian restaurants was really important to us. So now for the first time ever we're seeing that historically, um, your legacy lagers kind of dominated that space. Is that your fastest growing brand at this point? It's one of them, I would say. Our lagers continues, our basmati rice lager continues to be our flagship, but definitely we do invest quite a bit in our IPA, um, since we see the potential in it, but also, um, our consumer base also of Indian restaurants and also a lot of Americans that go to Indian restaurants, they want an IPA, right? It's like their, their beer of choice, especially if you're having an Indian meal. So for us, we knew when we approach that pillar as our second skew that we wanted to do an IPA with. We knew that we had to build a super iconic reverse engineer recipe that told the story of too many Americans that don't know why the name India is even in the beer, but also really brew a beer that's less bitter, less hoppy, that more women would want to drink, perhaps more multicultural audiences would want to drink. Traditionally, you have to realize a lot of these places that often Warmer Caribbean countries, Asian countries, places in Africa, they traditionally only churn out lagers, right, or pilsners, more neutral beers. So we wanted to create an IPA that still had that distinct taste but also that was more approachable for a more global audience that perhaps traditionally doesn't like bitter or like that flavor profile. Speaking of opportunities, you recently launched a non-alcoholic beer and I, one of the things that I, I thought was really cool is you posted, uh, on LinkedIn, the pairings that, that the non-alk beer goes with, which was essentially everything. I'm not sure that anything was left out. Yeah, we definitely try to find, um, you know, Indian flavors and foods and menu items that are best sellers across Indian restaurants including our own, but also in terms of just understanding that we knew we wanted to do an NA, um, I'm sure a lot of people here know also, um, Indian Americans continue to dominate the independent liquor trade in the United States. A lot of them often have the last name Patel. They're growing. And they're growing up more and more liquor stores across the United States. One thing to note is often they don't drink, which is really interesting. They own a lot of liquor stores, but a lot of them may perhaps not drink. So for a long time they were also asking us, can you produce something that's an NA? And that's a category we also wanted to play in. So for us, yeah, we brought to market first Indian inspired and in the North American market and much to understanding the nuances of our brand, we wanted to create something light, crushable, easy to drink, super smooth that had a really great affinity with international spicy cuisine, so we went with a lager style. And yeah, we're really excited and that was 2025 has been definitely a year of innovation. Two products that we launched this year, and some more interesting things that we are looking into for 2026 as we look at the data, the insights of what people are looking at, but also what makes sense for an Indian brand. What have you learned about that segment since you've entered it, because it is so far dominated by very large players. Totally, yes, I would say that's definitely dominated by some large players. Um, the only nuance I could add is that we're obviously doing something a little bit different for a lot of our core customer on-premise, uh, accounts across the United States. They've never offered a non-alcoholic beer or product to their consumers. So for us, it's a really great opportunity to bring a story of a brand that's In to this specific base of of new accounts and also do some education around that as well, but beyond that, we really view and a lot of our drinkers from craft beer festivals that we're at are saying this is such a great palatable beer. I can literally just see it sitting in my fridge, you know, crushing it with some friends. So it's interesting to note how obviously the consumers in the United States are changing, preferences are changing. And uh yeah, we were really excited to, to bring that to market and to make it part of our brand buildout. Um, yeah, we don't want to be a one skew brand. I think for us it was really about understanding Uh, and offering, um, an East meets Midwest, import meets craft kind of range of products and, and Ruby continues to, to build that out. And we recently just launched something new, just literally last week, a new hard tea, which is, uh, which is also part of our strategy for innovation and things that also I like to drink myself. Um, in Maine, hard teas when I was in high school were really popular as well. Twisted tea in the Northeast, right? So definitely things that make sense. Everything we do has intention behind it, and it has to obviously make sense for the way consumers are, you know, playing with beer and alcohol, but also things that make sense for our, you know, our brand being an Indian inspired label. Is that primarily an off-premise play for you, the hard tea? Yeah, so definitely we'll on-premise or off-premise will definitely be a large part of it, but hard tea has never been a category that an Indian restaurant has ever picked up. So for us we're also going to be having to spend a little bit of time to really educate that consumer base. So we're excited the conversations we've had from a wide variety of even owners that have Fast, casual Indian concepts across the United States are saying, I'm going to bring this in to all of my locations in the DMV or in Dallas when it does launch and hit market. So we're really excited to see, um, you know, how that grows and we'll definitely learn a lot once it's in market and, you know, tweak your strategy as we, um, as we grow. I'm very curious, like how many Indian restaurant accounts are there in this country? Yeah, so that's a good question. We were just recently looking at some numbers with some of our team as well and pulling some stats. There's around 9000 Indian owned eateries in the United States. So it's a huge player. From that, not all of them serve alcohol, which is a great opportunity for some of our other Beyond Beer skews that we're working on. But yes, um, you know, a lot of magazines out there, um, and, you know, publications have noted Indian food continues year on year to be one of the fastest. Growing ethnic cuisines in the United States and being, you know, having grown up in the Indian restaurant world my entire life, being the son of restaurateurs in 3 different countries, um, for us, I totally understand and the momentum that it's built and it's been a long time coming. I think Indian food and the way it's grown continues to show a lot of, um, a lot of potential for not only major US metro cities like New York and LA, but beyond that, um, small towns. America, Indian restaurants are popping up all over, and it's becoming more and more approachable. So we want to help educate more people that Indian food is, it's here to stay, it's also approachable. It's also a very vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, you know, friendly as well to so many different types of other folks that have dietary restrictions. So yeah, we're kind of playing at it from a different angle these days, not selling the food, but, you know, catering to beverages that are made to pair with the food. Well, when you reflect on 2025, what do you count as Rupee's biggest win? Yeah, that's a good question. So many, we're a fast moving company, being nimble and small, obviously, but in terms of the amount of stuff that we do, our output is very high. So we work diligently every single day to make sure whether it's innovation of new products, wanting to offer and show people a range that we're not just a one skew logger kind of brand, but also, you know, whether it's opening up new national accounts and chains this year, that was a big win entering places like Costco and Walmart. We want to continue obviously doing more. In the off-premise national account side, um, yeah, launching two new SKUs, which is a big thing. And I think also, yeah, coming to Texas and also California, those are markets that we got a lot of requests from over the last, I would say 56 years. So for us, um, those would probably be 3 wins in terms of, um, you know, 2025 and, and, and, you know, what we've done, what we've done to date. So when we look ahead to next year, what do you see as the biggest opportunity for Rupee? Yeah, so a good question. Every day we're getting, you know, emails from random people in random markets thinking that they can be a distributor saying, I can bring your product to Michigan. I can bring your product to Louisiana, uh, but then also on the contrary, we do get initial inbounds from larger wholesalers and distributors as well. So, um, as we scale, as we grow, the goal is to offer rupee beer state, you know, state by state in all 50 states. That's, that's definitely the goal. But the larger macro picture, I mentioned this earlier, rupee historic. has been the currency of over 20 countries around the world, so the name has clout and notoriety across the world, so we get inbounds from really interesting places around the world. So as we figure out our US, you know, action plan and scaling more here, we definitely are laying the foundations for 2026 and going to some global markets, whether it's the United Kingdom, where as an example, London has more Indian restaurants per square capita than New Delhi and Mumbai combined. That's a huge opportunity for us. We want to go to the United Kingdom. We lived there for quite some time, parts of Europe, Middle East, India, also, Australia. So we're hoping in 2026, really being able to get the rupee name and the brand introduced to more markets across the world that have large Indian communities, but also communities that for a long time have already embraced Indian food, Indian flavor, which is, which is great. Well, thank you for doing this, Van. Our team is so excited to be able to honor. You and Summit and Rupee and the whole team there. So congratulations again. Thank you and as a side note, I think I mentioned this on the podcast a few months ago, we really do read Brewbound everyday, so it's literally our encyclopedia on learning more about the consumer insights, all the things that we didn't know about six years ago, um, and it's like the stock market. So definitely being a business person, it helps you connect the world and understand that there's a lot of thought behind big beer, craft beer that the average consumer never hears about. Well, we appreciate that too. So thanks again, Ben. Our next rising star is Good Boy Vodka. Joining me now is Good Boy founder and CEO Alex Pratt. Congratulations, Alex. Yeah, we appreciate it. Yeah, looking forward to hanging out with you guys. So, it's been a big year for Good Boy and I, I think you guys, you got some very nice exposure this year. I, I'm gonna start with Happy Gilmore too because John Daly was, was kicking back some good boys in the film and I, I thought that was very cool to see in a Netflix movie, like one of their biggest releases of the year, there's your product. Yeah, I would say, you know, it was, it was amazing. You know, John wouldn't tell us everything about what was going on, but he said that he, he put the drink in a few scenes and he sure did that. John's always John, right? So you never really know what you're going to get with him, but I mean, we were ecstatic when we saw the movie came out. We got a few pictures of behind the scenes, you know, while it was happening, and it was an incredible movie. We're really excited about that. How did you hook up with John in the beginning? Yeah, so John and I hooked up in the beginning. Um, we had just a foolproof vodka and um I went golfing with John one day and, uh, you know, we're, we were out making the 9 and turning and we saw a cart girl that had one of those giant orange Gatorade, um, you know, like the football team Gatorade. Um, fillers on the back of the cart, and on it was a piece of paper, printed piece of paper, and it said John Daly's. And so I said, Hey John, you know, we've got these RTDs. I think we need to make a John Daly RTD and, um, you know, John said, Yeah, let's do it. And then kind of from then it was, it was history and we just, we formulated a recipe about 6 months after that and never looked back. Well, I, I get the scan data and I get to see like the nice chunks of growth that you all are, are gaining this year. But as we get ready to close out this year, how many cases will you have sold this year? Uh, we'll be just over 2 million cases this year. So it's been an exciting year for us. You know, our goal this year was to be right around a million cases. So, you know, I think we probably could have been. Closer to 3 million cases. Um, we had quite a few out of stocks this year. Um, the growth was just instrumental and, and unprecedented, and we didn't see it coming. Um, and really what happened was our, our VPO really just increased and not only did our points of distribution increase, um, double and triple, but our VPO, uh, increased and that really, uh, took the volume to a new level for us. I was with some Michigan wholesalers early in the year and I was asking which brand should we be watching. And Good Boy was one that came up over and over again. I'll tell you what, our Michigan wholesalers are near and dear to our hearts. They've been with us since the beginning. Uh, they always believed in the brand. We've, we've uh shown tremendous growth, 300% to 400% year over year growth with them. Um, you know, I've got a home in Michigan. I live in the southwest corner, and, um, you know, I really want to make sure that we're participating at my home states, which are Florida and Michigan, and, um, the Michigan, uh, wholesalers, they've just been incredible to us and we can't thank them enough. And, um, you know, next year we're shooting for right around 650,000 cases in the state and we think potentially more. So Good Boy started with iced tea and has added lemonade this year. Um, what did you learn? From launching lemonade this year. Our first brand was the seltzer launch. We played in that market during COVID. Um, we then launched the John Daly cocktails. We saw the consumer moving to a lemonade. Um, Obviously iced tea lemonade has been so hot and so we, we opened up some additional skews and lemonade. Um, you know, our goal this year was, was, you know, to sell, you know, a few 100,000 cases and, and kind of dabble into the market and see how it goes and, you know, once again we, we way under forecast of that. And uh those sales went through the roof and we've been out of stock of lemonade shipments for quite a while and, you know, uh, thank God that those uh AV wholesalers love us. They continue to really support us and, and wait patiently, but that SKU, I mean, that SKU is outselling our John Daly SKU, at first and um uh just unbelievable. We're, we're very excited about that SKU and some additional innovations that we have coming next year. Is the AB network your primary network or do you have a mix of wholesalers? Yeah, the AB network is mostly our primary network. Uh, we do have some other wholesalers that support us really well, um, and, uh, you know, every state is a little different, um, you know, um, each state has their wholesalers that we believe are, you know, kind of the lead dogs in that area, and we try to make the best partnership possible in each market. Goodboy was in around 42 states and maybe adding some more. So how is your map looking at this point? Yeah, we're in 45 states now, you know, the Alaska, the Hawaii, the Utah's, the Wyoming, we're, you know, we're still um transitioning to those states. They'll be, they'll be finished next year, um, but we've got a lot going on with moving into Canada and Mexico right now. We also sell like in the Cayman Islands and Aruba, and we do a lot of duty-free business. So, you know, um, yeah, we, we're always looking to expand, of course, you know, John's got a major following overseas and so we're getting the constant emails and requests to go to the European market. So we're pretty interested in doing that as well, uh, but the growth in the US has us very busy right now. What's it like trying to launch an international market at this point? We build this brand from the uh from the ground up and you know we learned a lot of things the hard way and we learned what works, you know, where to spend money, where not to spend money, what kind of marketing, you know, do the consumers like, what kind of marketing do they don't, what do they not like, and so I think that when we launch now in international markets, we'll do it better than we launched in the US and we'll have more velocity with the brand right away, um. We have a big demand for the, for the brand outside of the US and we want to reach those consumers and provide products and, and, um, you know, are, are great service to them and so we're gonna do that. Uh, we just need to do it in the right way and, and, um, uh, you know, do it, do it in a timely fashion. When you look back on 2025, what do you count as your biggest win of the year? You know, I would think that our biggest win of the year is, you know, our innovation this year, um, and a few different products. You know, obviously the 192s, uh, uh, non-resealable was, was big for us. We were first to market. That, that, that's one. Amazing for us. We expanded there as well. Obviously, the lemonade innovation was amazing. Um, you know, we've, we've, we've really put some time and energy behind programming and getting the brand out there and, and really activate it more within our national and regional wholesalers, um, and, you know, I think it made a big difference in our success, and I think that we're gonna lay into that more, uh, next year as well. What have you found out about the consumer and where they shop for Good Boy? Like, is it a primary convenience store consumer or are you getting a lot of polling grocery? Like, how's the mix work for you? Yeah, that's a really great question. I mean, you know, we were mostly an off-premise brand and we really did no CStore business. Then we got into CStore business and saw that, you know, there's a major consumer that's looking for this, this tea-based product, and the John Daly went off really well in the C stores and then when the 192's came out, obviously it's the perfect SKU for a convenience channel, so. Um, that was instrumental to the convenience channel. We saw that growing and then surprisingly enough, our on-premise business kind of fully organic, grew quickly for us. I mean we used to be about a 10 on 90% off, and I would say we're more moving towards a 40 on, 60 off. So we're starting to see tremendous volumes through on-premise and all by demand and call, which is incredible. It means that, you know, we've we've done things a little differently. We, we, we. Kinda, you know, uh, built the brand backwards. They say build it on-premise and it'll grow the growth off-premise, and we kinda, we did that opposite, you know, we really grew demand off-premise, um, and on-premise now, the consumers are looking for it and we're excited about that. I mean, we're, we've been doing things a little bit differently in the industry and, um, we enjoy being different in, in that regard and uh it's, it's been extremely successful for us. And I think how I talk about it to my team is we feel like we've been dragging. This wagon uphill with no wheels on it, and next year we're just kind of bolting those wheels on and we're excited to take the ride down. So, uh, the momentum is building very quickly here. What kind of on-premise accounts are really bringing the product in? Um, I would say, you know, obviously the, the local bars and restaurants, um, we've got a lot of uh national placements, um, with, uh, uh, restaurant chains that's been very successful for us. I think, you know, for us, it's focusing on being in all bars, you know, I mean, it's, uh, you know, sports bars are great, you know, the high-end bars, you know, the golf clubs, uh, obviously, you know, if you, we always say, In our, in our company, if you can't sell a John Daly to a golf course, I don't know if you should be working in sales. It's got to be the easiest sale ever. I mean, these golf courses find out about it and it's it's a no-brainer for them. So there's a lot to focus on, but for us, I mean, we're just adding headcount right now and really trying to keep this momentum rolling forward. People want the product. We just have to get it out there. It's all about distribution right now for us. So when you look ahead to 2026, what do you see as the biggest opportunity for Good boy? Yeah, so for 2026, I mean, it's going to be a mega year for us. Um, we know by our regional and national, um, chain placements that we're going to double distribution again, um, if not triple. Uh, we're going for, uh, just over 6 million cases next year. Um, you know, that with our vodka business, we want to be just around a $200 million business next year. Um, you know, we're adding headcount, you know, people love the energy behind our brand. Um, you know, the, the, not only the consumer but our employees love the momentum and it's fun to sell a brand that's, you know, growing so fast and, um, you know, we're just having a lot of fun with it and I think for us next year is just getting more distribution. That's our main focus. We know the VPO is there, we know the consumer, you know, poll is there. We just have to continue to place the product in, in, in every single C store, national, regional, across the country, and we're going to continue to do that. Are you looking to take on investment or is that something that you're, uh, holding off on for now? Yeah, I mean, we're, you know, a strategic investor, you know, potentially, you know, I've been funding this thing myself, and so, you know, we're really, we don't look for it, um, you know, we're not interested in selling our business. We're looking to have, you know, our company, Good Boy continue to innovate and continue to be a leader in the industry and Want to dominate all channels and we'll be playing in the non-alcoholic world as well here shortly in 2026. We've got a lot of innovation in that space, a lot of sleepy categories that we're going to be taking advantage of and really moving the needle. It's going to be really exciting. It's going to be really fast paced. Like I said, we're adding a tremendous headcount to do this, but yeah, I mean, we're not. so interested in investment and we're not really interested in selling our brand. It's, it's just not what's on the horizon for us. We've got a completely different playbook than all of our competitors, uh, at least that we compete with pretty closely. They all have this exit strategy in mind and, and, and the rainbow, and we're more focused on just building this amazing family-based business and continuing to dominate and take market share. As far as some of those new products, whether it's non-alk or other flavors that you haven't tapped into, what are you looking forward to getting out there next year? So next year, we've got some really amazing innovation, um, on the non-alcoholic side, which is going to be important for us, but also on the alcoholic side, um, you know, we're looking into a lot of the, the new high ABV stuff has been very popular. Um, we've got some interesting stuff coming out on the John Daly side there. Um, We also have some just new SKUs that play in the same channels that are growing quickly but are different flavor profiles, and we've always kind of been first to market and creating these unique flavor profiles and I'll tell you what, the team is very excited about what's coming next. How soon can we expect some of that? We have it approved for a lot of chain placements and so those will be going in in March, so I'm sure the consumers will start seeing some of this new stuff popping in, I imagine January, February. So, um, it's getting exciting quickly. Well, we'll be looking forward to seeing it all and congrats again, Alex. I appreciate you joining me and yeah, we're just very happy to add you to our list of rising stars. Yeah, thank you so much. We, we really appreciate it and uh I can't tell you how excited we are to continue to add value to this, uh, to this uh Elk Bev world and um all the amazing people that we work with every day. So thank you for having us today. Joining me now to discuss Brewbound's 2025 best new product is Ellie Pressler, Chief commercial officer for Sierra Nevada. We're here to talk about Sierra Nevada pills, our best new product. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me and thank you for recognizing pills. It was a pretty unanimous choice with the judges. So, well, glad to hear it. Yeah, well, pills launched earlier this year as a draft-only offering, and Launching only on draft to start. OK, that, that's fairly new at this point, although, you know, we've heard for years that brands are built in the on-premise. And then Sierra comes back with a new packaging format for you. It's 8 packs of 8.4 ounce cans. When you reflect on this release. What stands out to you? Why do you think it resonated so well with consumers? Yeah, I think it starts really first with the liquid, and the development of this from a liquid perspective was really just such a passion project of Brian Grossman, who is our chief brewer, and it's a liquid and, you know, a pilsner that's, you know, very much a nod to the heritage of the style with our kind of unique twist on it. And it's a liquid that really emulates and showcases our, our commitment to that kind of finest quality and purest ingredient, right, that we put on all of our brands and our packaging because you really can't hide anything in this liquid and the work that Brian did with our brewing team. To develop that liquid was really, really special. And so from a brand and a marketing perspective when we talked about it as a team is how do we build a brand and a launch strategy that is going to stand up to the liquid that had been developed and so that's really what we sought out to do. So how do we be really clear to consumers about what this is. Know that they can expect all that they know and love about Sierra Nevada from a quality and a commitment to the ingredient perspective in this launch. And for us, we thought the best way to showcase this was through the on-premise, and it's felt like at the time, maybe a bit of a bold choice. I've loved hearing, you know, Lester Jones from NPWA and others start to talk a little bit more about the on-premise being such an important. Role within our segment in industry and frankly a place where I think we need to kind of dust back off and bring some shine and energy back to. And we saw that work well with pills. And then as we started to transition that into the package, we really were thinking about it and came back to an email that Brian had sent the team as we were working on this project, probably over a year ago now, about some of the best pilsners that he's enjoyed in Europe and really how they were in this specific pour size, specific glassware that you got to drink while they were cold and crisp and refreshing, and we thought about that and said, well then. As we bring this into package, we need to maybe do it a bit differently. And so that's where we started thinking about what are the different formats and ways that we could do that and where we landed on that 8.4 ounce can and even, you know, put a quote from Brian on it to really help us fully tell that story. And I, I think right now we're really happy with that choice, right? Time will continue to tell, but we're incredibly proud of the liquid and the brand and really just honored by the recognition from the Brewbound team. So when you're bringing a new package format to market with your wholesalers and getting your retailers on board, How do you pull them in? How do you get them excited about this? How do you, you know, sell it to them? Well, I mean, for us, we told the story of the liquid and the brand more than anything, um, but I will be honest, I was nervous about it. I was nervous first internally. Was my team going to embrace it? And thankfully, you know, they, they did. They really understood it and were energized by what we were doing. And then we had to start talking to wholesalers and our retail buyers about it, and wholesalers by and large really embraced it, frankly, much faster than even I expected. I figured this would we'd have to put on our selling shoes a little bit. But they really frankly understood it and were willing to try something new and different, and I think that there have been others right that have paved the way. I also think because they have broader portfolios in many instances, so they're now in a place where they're using and looking at different case counts and pack formats and things of that nature. And honestly they also want to bring energy back to beer and craft, so trying things different is something that they're really, I think, willing to do, and we found that, you know, our retail buyers thankfully mostly embraced it, but we had a few that definitely were like, hey, we might sit on the sidelines and wait. We're not, we're not sure we're sure if if we want to be the ones to kind of go out with this, but frankly, by and large our distribution, especially for a fall package launch in limited markets, exceeded our expectations, and many of the buyers really did understand the heritage of what we were doing, the nod, what we were trying to create. And how frankly it could deliver on several different trends they were hearing from their consumers and drinkers, right? It can be a different way to potentially moderate if you're looking for that, right? It's also a style that really resonates and ultimately when folks would try the liquid and the quality of the liquid, they more than like embraced all of the other elements of how we were bringing the brand to life. How are you viewing the year 2 opportunity for pills? Yeah. You know, we think that we will really accelerate growth, but it is going to be this balance of continuing, frankly, to focus in the on-premise and grow the draft business, to continue to drive trial, bring drinkers into it so that then they can return right to their. Purchase for their home use or their events and their socialization and buy it in the package format and so we'll really be working to accelerate growth, focusing on it as one of our core four priorities as we go into 2026 across our portfolio and really making sure that we don't lose sight of that draft and on-premise while we continue to expand and grow package nationally. Well, thank you for doing this, Ellie. We really appreciate it and congratulations. Thank you, Justin. We really appreciate and are very honored to receive this award for pills.

Speaker 2 [38:54] I am thrilled to welcome our next two guests to discuss this year's Cause of the Year award winner, Washington DC's Right Proper Brewing, whose work to support laid off and furloughed federal workers, has spread good beer, cheer, and networking. So joining me are Right Proper co-founder Leah Cheston. Hi, Leah, how are you? Hi, thank you so much. This is such an honor. I'm, I'm humbled. Oh, it was, it's such an easy, easy decision this year. And you had the brilliant idea to welcome your, uh, your, one of your partners in crime in all of this. We have with us today, Kyle Dietrich, the founder of Grounded Idealist. Uh, the organization's been a partner co-hosting events at Right Proper, supporting displaced workers with coaching and career transition support. Welcome, Kyle. How are you?

Speaker 1 [39:41] Jess, I'm great and congratulations, Leah. Happy to be

Speaker 2 [39:43] here. Well, like I said, it was an easy decision and Leah, you and I have talked a lot about this program, which has an excellent name on the Brewbound podcast before. But for, you know, the at-home audience who is, you know, watching Brewbound Live 2025 happen, let's run it back. So, you've done this before in other instances, but this year's iteration of Right Proper's Federal worker support. Uh, it really started earlier in 2025 when major reductions in force started happening in the federal government, which was largely driven by executive orders. So Right Proper rechristened its Pay It Forward program as Executive Order me a beer. Which is terrible situation for so many people, but I got a little bit of a chuckle out of. So, so far, more than 1000 beers have been purchased for laid off federal workers, but there's so much more to this program than just beers. So please tell us about it. Yeah, so, uh, like you said, we had pay it furloughed program, very similar where strangers could buy beers for furloughed federal workers in the, in the last government shutdown in 2018. Um, and so when this started to happen, these executive orders started going through and, and our, you know, our friends and our community, people were losing their jobs. Um, we had a playbook for it. My, my husband came up with the name, so all credit to Thor there. And, um, yeah, so, so executive ordered me a beer and it's just a simple idea that strangers either in the pub or Uh, people from wherever, you know, can, can pay for these beers, order them online, and then people can come in and redeem the beer. And so if you are an affected government employee that lost your job, you could come in and get a free beer that's been paid for by someone else. Which is great, but then you also added a networking component, right? Yes, and so it kind of organically grew and evolved, and so initially it was just this idea of connecting, you know, the beers to the, to the people affected, and then we, um, Started hosting happy hours, industry focused happy hour networking happy hours, so people who had lost their job in a specific field, you know, science will be this week, um, education next week, that, that sort of thing to sort of bring people together who had been affected and hopefully bring in, uh, you know, employees, employers in the private sector that could, you know, maybe hire some of those people, um, and then that sort of evolved to other, uh, coaching networks and. Um, other nonprofit organizations that were helping, uh, these, these laid off federal employees and so offering services during these happy hours like resume editing, little coaching, short coaching sessions, and, and so Kyle was, was one of those and part of that process, so he can talk a little bit more about that as well. Yeah, Kyle, let's, let's bring you in here. I know you attended some of these events early on and now you're, you're really helping run them. So walk me through that journey.

Speaker 1 [42:41] Yeah, we, so I was at USAID, the US Agency for National Development, until February. Again, executive orders, stop work orders, lots of things happened. The agency ultimately was dismantled, so not just, I think the big thing is it's not only federal, we have 250,000 federal workers, but we also have contractors, implementing partners, nonprofits, researchers and university. There are just so many people affected by this, and in DC, obviously it's very acute and pronounced. We all know many, many people. So I am a coach, was working at USA leading the team, the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, and really saw this as an opportunity to support people that were essentially free falling. And so we mobilized an organization called Grounded Idealist. We partnered with several organizations that held events at Right Proper. Leah and Thor I've known for a few years. They're neighbors, a family owned business. I also really love their food and their beer and just they're great people, and you can kind of keep it in mind like what people are going through. You lose your job and you lose your entire sector for some of us, particularly the international development community, and so having a space to convene, to come together is powerful given how kind of isolated you feel. How lonely this moment is and so we did a number of events as partners where we showed up to do coaching, kind of mini coaching, really helping people ground and think about their career, their skills, their purpose, but also in a space that was lighthearted and we could connect and really think about what this moment meant for us. And so we've had a number of events. We did one, I think just a month ago. Which was there's a coalition of organizations and a lot of them have held events at Right Proper that are founders looking to help people in transition right now in all different kinds of ways. Civic Match was one of those groups. They helped federal employees go to state and local government. We help people start businesses as social entrepreneurs. We do coaching and career navigation support, and so it's just been a great place for coming together for, for just celebrating a little bit of the wins, for coordinating and building human relationships at the center of like this bigger movement we're trying to build.

Speaker 2 [44:47] Amazing. Kyle, as somebody, you know, in the community, how would you say that? What has right proper support meant? To this very sizable community of, as you mentioned, not just federal employees, but contractors, freelancers, other related organizations, how much do they feel the impact of what Leah, Thor and the team have done?

Speaker 1 [45:07] You know, I'm gonna, I'm going to answer it this way. We all have up years and down years. Businesses have them, organizations have them, people have them, and the real question is how we show up for each other, right, because we all know we're going to have an off year with our health, with our business, we're going to lose jobs, we're going to lose family, like, and so the real question is as a community, how we show up for people in those up and down times, and, and the thing I think we realized really early on that Right Proper got right. is what people are looking for and the reason this has worked so well, something as simple as donating a beer to support somebody is people are looking for a space to pour in their hope, their love, and their support for people, right? And so the biggest thing we can do is creating containers for people to continue to pour in because if we look like really clear-eyed about what's going on right now without being political, it's hard. Like this is a hard moment and we need to kind of a safety net to support some people. We all, we need to kind of come back together because there's a lot of division right now and so that it's as simple as that, whether it's an actual physical place to come together for a happy hour or just a beer like we had an event and we were able to offer like food and drinks for free for all these wonderful people who've spent their whole lives and this entire year serving others and so it's just a gentle way of giving back and affirming what they're doing.

Speaker 2 [46:28] Now, Leah, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the happy hours came into being because you had all these pre-bought beers and nobody was coming in to claim them and you wanted people to enjoy them, right? Yeah, it's actually been much easier to get the word out about buying the beers than it has about redeeming the beers. And, um, and so yeah, we, um, we let, we, you know, we, we promoted that we had the beers available, but the happy hours really helped kind of Um, provide a sort of, you know, place where they could come and, and know that, that, that at least the first beer was on us or on a stranger actually, but Amazing. Well, I don't have to tell you that times are tough across craft beer right now for a variety of reasons, but I know the, the, the heart of the craft beer industry really is one of community and giving back and at a time when maybe it feels difficult to do something for others, how can your fellow craft brewers assist those in their communities in a way that isn't detrimental? The other great thing about this is that we, so we already had a pay it forward meal program where people could buy meals that we would distribute through mutual aid organizations in the, in the neighborhood, and this program also helped boost that and so we've seen a huge increase in those and so we've about 500 meals have been purchased this year um and and we distribute those through. Um, through mutual aid groups and um uh harm reduction groups and LGBTQ plus Center in DC and so that's been a really, um, you know, even more powerful way to sort of provide and I, you know, when times are hard and, and this, you know, when everyone's sort of losing their jobs, you know, you kind of just, OK. What can we do? And you feel pretty helpless, you know, and so something like this, it felt really small, but it felt like just something that we could do. And, and also, I mean, we were struggling too, right? So we, you know, as a lot of craft brewers are right now, like we couldn't really afford to front, you know, we can't afford to front the meals and to front, the beer like we maybe could have, you know, 5 years ago. And so I, I, my advice would be to lean on your community to help your community. Um, because they really, you know, to coming together is, and we can help them come together, right? We can be that middle, that liaison, um, between those who can help and those who, who need the help. Um, and so that, that's just been really great to, to, to see it come. You know, full circle like that. Um, and then, you know, it's just focusing on the next right thing, you know, when you get, you get overwhelmed and you feel helpless, and, OK, what is one thing, the next right thing that we can do that we actually have control of. To help our, our community and, and DC feels, you know, like a small town in a lot of way, you know, Kyle's a neighbor of ours. We live about 2 miles from, from the Brew Pub, um, and, you know, so it's, it's, it's very, very local in terms of what do they need, what can we do to, to assist that need. Awesome. Well, I know many craft brewers are gonna listen to what you just said and, and hopefully find ways to help out in their own communities. Leah, my friend, it's always great to chat with you. Thank you so much and congratulations. We're so pleased to be able to give you guys this award. Thanks, Jess. I mean, it's, you know, like we said, it, it really, it started as something very simple and very small, and so, um, it's really cool that, that it, that it. Has grown um to this and, and it's, you know, we're not, we're not saving lives here, but, but like Kyle said, you know, people coming together over a beer in tough times is, is really important. You certainly could be. Kyle, thank you so much for joining. Your perspective has really made this conversation an absolutely elevated thing and it's been great to get to know you. So thank you for taking the time.

Speaker 1 [50:17] Thank you, Jess. Our next award winner is our large brewery of the year, and it's Deschutes Brewery. Joining me now is Deschutes CEO Peter Skurbeck. Congratulations, Peter. Thank you, Justin. This is such an honor and it is so fun to be recognized by the team at Brewbound. Um, for, for the work we've been doing, we've been having a lot of fun and obviously made some real progress over these last couple of years. I'd say, you know, we were digging into the numbers and you had quite a turnaround in 2024 with a focused portfolio to shoot. Outperformed the overall craft industry growing 9%, I believe, right? That is, and that includes our non-alcoholic, which again it's broadening what we think about as craft and what as a craft producer we can bring to the fan that gets them super stoked. So let's dive into that because we had you at Brewbound Live in 2024. Yeah, it was last year, so. You were on stage. You were speaking about a focused portfolio, and that includes the fresh squeezed family as well as the non-alcoholic family, and you've done really well behind those brands, but I, I, I kind of want to hear from you, you know, what have you learned in the last year from, you know, as that, uh, strategy has. evolved and unfolded. I think we've just been validated that the strategy of focus really works, especially when you're focusing on the right brands in the right channels for the right occasion, right? And Fresh Squeeze, I think, is a prime example of that. We look at Fresh Squeeze in our home market. This is more than a 10 year old brand. At a time where very much the category is facing real challenges as it applies to depletion growth and overall um syndicated data story around what's working in retail, for Fresh Squeeze to be growing in our home market with the tenure it has is just incredible. And again, it's for ourselves clearing out the clutter of a lot of the rest of the portfolio and focusing on display, focusing on execution. And being top-notch in that execution wherever we can be that has helped, help us generate that kind of trend at a time in the category. And equally, what's been fun to watch is there are really 22 focal points and you nailed it. This is what we talked about last year. It was fresh squeezed and that was the non-alcoholic portfolio. And those were the two things that we pushed really, really hard this year. So fresh squeezed, you know, muted growth compared to NA because it's in a tenured category, but still seeing mid-single digit growth in our home markets, which is awesome. But when we look at non-AC, we literally doubled this year 2x, which is incredible, incredible growth. That is incredible growth. So You've really built an NA portfolio by tapping into the brand equity of, of some of your top offerings. You've got Fresh Squeezed, you've got, uh, Black Beaut. As, as well as you're partnering with Patagonia there. So, what have you learned about that space and why do you think that that strategy of using sort of existing brand equity to enter a new realm has paid off for you? Yeah, first and foremost, we are very aware of our brand awareness and where it's at, and whereas those of us in the beer community probably know who Deschutes is, but for the most part, the consumer really doesn't. Once you get outside of some core West Coast markets, and this is meant to be a national play. Our goal with non-alcoholic beer was always to take full fidelity, full aroma, full body, full mouthfeel, the real beer drinking experience, and just have the consumer tell us whether they want or don't want the alcohol on that occasion. Um, and, and so there are two things. I mean, one, leveraging equity of existing brands, as you mentioned, right? Fresh Squeezed, our number one brand, and Black Butte, where is not our number one, it is America's number one porter and very special to us because in so many ways that's the beer that put us on the map when we were founded in 1988. So the idea of trying to create a brand from scratch. It just, we didn't have any idea of how we would scale that and so it was, let's truly borrow the equities of existing of existing brands that people love and bring them the alternative so they can choose, do I want alcohol or do I not, but I know I'm not having to sacrifice on the quality and the taste of the liquid. Now that's also why we were so late to market, to be clear, we, we've been in, we're in R&D 7 years ago from today, and you know other companies didn't even exist in the space, started and flourished before we ever released our first product because our strategy was always meant to be we don't want to just create a great non-alcoholic beer, we want to create a great non-alcoholic. Counterpoint to our core beers and flavor matching existing recipes and the diligence that we needed to execute to ensure that we're delivering to the fan exactly what they expect from fresh squeezed IPA or Black Butte in their non-alcoholic counterparts was something that we were delivering on. Is there anything you've learned since you've entered the NA space that you've had to sort of tweak your strategy or, you know, anything like that that has sort of come up where you're like, we kind of have to pivot here? So far, Not so extremely, I, I would say the only pivot might be our alcohol containing beer strategy is very focused on a single behemoth brand, fresh squeezed. The non-alk side is much more of a portfolio play, and that matches where we're at in the cycle for this category. Craft beer as a whole, seeing declines, focusing on where you can get scale and drive both fan value and retailer value and distributor value is really important, but on the non-al side we're really selling a whole portfolio. And it's as you mentioned, it's not just Fresh Squeezed and Black Butte, but it's also Superstoke, which is a standalone brand. It's our partnership with Patagonia on the first scaled nationally nationally available USDA organic non-alk option, and it's the second very exciting Patagonia SKUU that we just released, which is an IPA. Again, all organic, so very, very cool, but we're finding that retailers for the most part are looking for a portfolio solution, not just a single SKU or a single style that's well represented, but a portfolio they can trust. And the good news about our portfolio. Is every brand that has been released for any appreciable amount of time, Fresh Squeezed, Black Beaute, Superstoked, Patagonia, they've all won gold medals at the most prestigious competitions globally, either GABF, or World Beer Cup, or US Beer Open, which is awesome. It's awesome. I mean, from a taste standpoint, and taste is what matters. We, we may say all these other things about brand, and I think having sharp brand positioning and engaging brand is really important, but when we ask consumers what is the most important thing in your decision making for what to purchase, it's, it's taste. And this is beer, not alcoholic beer, and it's beyond beer. That is the number one most important thing. So on that front, I feel like it took a lot of work, but we are delivering and we want to keep getting better every chance we get. Well, we're, we're definitely living in a flavor era, it seems. We are indeed, and flavor takes many forms. So I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about your partnership with Kirkland because you've been doing very well with that partnership and it, it's a hellas that's really taken off through it, so. How has that sort of affected the brewery's trajectory working with Costco in that way? It, it's so exciting and, and beyond, beyond just the commercial opportunity that comes with, with being able to reach folks all across the country and all across the world, that this beer is going to be exported to warehouses abroad just shortly, which is very exciting. What I love about it is the beer itself was actually brewed at our Ben pub, the initial recipe. And it was a super high quality, you know, nothing spared Hellis that won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest. We had no real commercial plan for this, and it was a discussion with the team at Costco that were really the visionaries behind, you know, how could we take an ultra, ultra high quality beer and scale it and bring it to membership at an incredible value. What I love about this so much is that I think that Hella style is a very nice, if you kind of think about the Venn diagram of import and premium drinkers and then dyed in the wool craft lager drinkers, that Hellas is kind of right there in the middle where I think it can hit a sweet spot for the, for the beer drinker regardless of where you're coming from and regardless with what your prior beer drinking experience may be or your exposure. different categories. Hellas is, you know, malt forward, still has that nice spicy tetang hop character. It's just a crowd pleaser of a beer. And when I think about our craft as a brewer, the opportunity to bring to the whole nation and beyond. A product of this quality at scale is just, it's an incredible honor because this is what we dream of, right? It's like creating a great lager and then having people drink it. And the reality is we might create a great lager and it may not make it past the bounds of our gates at our pubs or past the state of Oregon and. Washington. So the chance to bring our craft broadly to, to the, the entire country is awesome, man. It's awesome. And for it to be a hell of style too. I just, I love this style and I, I, I know it's kind of like old school Germanic style, but I think it's so tasty. Well, one of the things I, I, I'm curious about is you've got all these irons in the fire. You're working non-alk, you're, you're working the fresh squeeze play. You're working this Kirkland beer and you've got some new things that are, that are on the horizon too. Are, are you able to keep up with the demand that that's going to be out there for these products? We are because we will continue to invest to do so and, and we've done that just in the last year, made major investment to ensure that we're able to support the scale. Uh, in fact, we brought online a whole fermentation cellar that was originally put in in 2017. But never commissioned because there wasn't the need that we fully commissioned that adds a couple 100,000 barrels of fermentation capacity. So we're doing major projects on that front, changing our ability to do different pack types. We'll be speeding up canning. We'll be automating variety packing, so we're very much in a cycle of investing to support growth across some wildly different categories, as you noted. This really is our transition moment into beverage as a whole, and we're thinking about the business in that fashion. When you look back at 2025, what do you consider toch's biggest win? God, oh God, this has been such an exciting year. I, I know it should be one, but I'm gonna kind of give you two, and, and one is firmly happened and commercially proven out, and the other is just at its infancy. Um, the first is doubling the size of the non-alk category. Um, I, I think that's amazing and getting to a point where fresh squeezed through syndicated has been the highest velocity broadly distributed non-Ak brand. Doesn't have the most distribution. But that's pure opportunity from, from my point of view. So if we're floating at something like 20% ACV, but we're the highest velocity single SKU, that's awesome. The fact that fans are so excited about the liquid is exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to make it so truly no sacrifice was being made. You're just choosing whether you want alcohol or not in that occasion, and, and we'll keep working at that. But I think seeing that NA portfolio scale and be loved by the consumer and the fan, that that's number one. That is our biggest achievement. In 2025. The one that I bolted on is kind of like asterisk to the side. is the very, very early launches of Party Bomb, OK, this, this very cool novel Beyond Beer product that actually uses a co-product of our dealylization, which is how we get this tremendously clean flavor with real fruit. I mean this is way outside of the norm for us, and the way that we created the brand defies all standard linear processes that many CPG, CMOs, or the like would take. We completely blew all of it up and involved the fan and the consumer from the very onset of how we would position that brand, of the flavors of the liquid, the naming, the visual identity. Everything was fan-driven, which is unconventional. We started with like 70 different concepts, put them in front of fans, whittled it down, um, did tons of AB testing and research, but we did all of this in like the course of 60 days and didn't have a brand when we were starting retailer conversations to having a fully baked, fully designed, ready to go thing, which look, that's an unconventional way of doing things in the space, but moving very quickly and involving the fan never seems like a bad move to me. What I love though is we finally got the litmus test to, are people gonna like this or not? And when we rolled this out to, to the drinker, to the fan, it was met with like A reception that defies anything I expected and the same was true for distributors and retailers. So look, it's not in the marketplace. Anything can happen, but just the early reaction to something that was way outside of our comfort zone, done in a very unorthodox fashion is heartening to say the least. So tell us a little more about Party Bomb. What, what exactly, it's an FNB, right? By technical and regulatory definition, it's an FMB, and I feel like all of us in the industry, we do this all the time. We're like FMBs and RTDs and one has a malt base and one has a distilled base, and we've done so much consumer research on this and equals 45,000 plus, and basically what we've determined is that is not how the consumer thinks about it. Flavored alc and flavor is the driver, the base of the alcohol, where it fits in the cold box, where it's available, it is almost a non-factor. Depending on the market that you're in a little bit, right, for availability purposes, but the play into the flavoredal was driven off quite a lot in the way of insights. One was big, bold flavors that really weren't being offered. Think about the offering that Buzzballs has really giant flavors, bright, colorful, huge on the flavor front. And that's all at a higher ABV. So, you've got other folks that are operating great products in that category all at higher ABVs. And then you have on the lower end a really limited set that, you know, the, the thing we saw was lower carbonation, a little bit learning from the twisted tea consumer. We did a lot of talking to that, that consumer base. We did a lot of looking at adjacent products like Noca and things with lower carbonation and basically said, There is white space. It sounds counterintuitive, but there is white space, and the white space is very, very full flavor, lower ABV, low carb. And low carbonation, not low carbohydrate, to be clear. Um, and, and that was, that was the focal point. Those were the kind of insights we tested that and asked consumers what they wanted and what they felt like they would drink that doesn't exist in the marketplace, and that's what we're trying to deliver. Walt's creating a product that has no weird ingredients, real fruit, natural flavor, no weird stuff, and, and that's an anomaly in the flavored out category. Hey, I've tasted through it and I, I thought that it tasted great, so I mean, thank you, but I don't know that I'm your target market either. But you're definitely not, not our target market, and this is what we learned in the deep research, you know, the most loyal craft consumer, and when we look at our most loyal craft beer consumer in our own portfolio. About 20% of their alcohol consumption occasions are with craft beer, and the other 80% are everything else. Domestic premium imports, flavored out category, distilled spirits, wine, you name it. And, and so as we've tested this in our own and operated locations, which tend towards dyed in the wool craft fans, people are loving it. Our own brew team is loving it, which that, that says something right there. Well, I mean, you have the non-A portfolio, you have fresh squeeze. Is this sort of a, a third pillar for you moving forward? It is, and that's always been in our strategy. Um, this third pillar and moving into broader Bev and the exact manifestation in terms of the specifications of the product by ABV, by flavor type, that was always gonna be driven by the consumer. That was the point. But The, the diversification outside of let's just call it classic beer has been part of our strategy for 3 years and it was really only possible to fully realize once we reached a certain amount of scale on the non-oxide because our intention was always to try and use the co-product from de-alkalization, knowing how high quality it is and knowing that it gives us an economic advantage over some competitors, um, to be able to invest more in flavors. That was always part of our strategy. Took one. So when you look ahead to 2026, what do you see as the biggest opportunity? So they're twofold in 20 in 2026. 1, we still need to grow ACV on our non-out portfolio. The velocity data is there to support it. We know the fan and the consumer love it. We need more distribution. That's way up there. And number 2 is the successful launch of something that is beyond beer that requires different marketing tactics, different means of engagement with the fans. They're adjacent. It's not wildly different. It's still beverage, but this is going to be a learning for us being historically a brewer, and I think the amount of excitement internally throughout the team. On the commercial side is, is very, very high and we're looking forward to this and it, it helps too that the brand party bomb is so fun and so fun to activate that it's energizing in and of itself. So here we go. Yeah, well, do you see it as more of a grocery play to start, or do you see those elements inconvenience? Is it both? What is sort of the channel strategy with a party bomb? It's, it's a great question. So there are two channel strategies. One is for grocery, and we're coming out with a single SKU. We don't want to spread velocity across multiple SKUs. We're very careful with that. We know this product is new, so people are going to want a sample. We're launching with a variety pack at 5% alcohol. 4 flavors, that will be the SKU that we focus on. I, I wouldn't surprise me if things go well and the consumer response is similar to what we've seen as we've sampled people in the marketplace that we don't end up With demand for a single flavor of one of the flavors that's in the variety pack pretty swiftly thereafter, but we'll see how that goes. That's the grocery channel strategy right now. Focus on that one SKU, scale that one SKU, get the consumer super excited and coming back for more. Convenience, completely different strategy. Convenience, we're launching with a line of Party Bomb called Party Crashers, which is slightly higher ABV. So it's 8% ABV in a 19.2 ounce container, same high quality fruit ingredients. They're the same flavors as exist at the 5% version. And so that's a single serve, two SKUs only. It's a strawberry lemonade and the pineapple whip, which is like a sleeper slayer of a flavor. It's just those two, and we have the ability to go further, but I think let's anchor, display value to the fan and consumer and display value to that retail partner at convenience, and then we will do more after that. But they're different strategies for sure. I, I love that strategy. I, I love the differentiated strategy, the attack one where, I mean, it, it, it's sort of played out where the grocery channel consumer is. Looking for mid to lower strength items whereas convenience is definitely that high play. Totally and it's single serve for the most part and so we wanted to be cognizant of that and I think that's a learning we had when, when you asked earlier about some of these learnings. The, the learning we had is don't try and transpose and this was a historic sin of ours, one channel strategy to another channel. We don't do that. Our strategies are formed by channel. To best fit that fan and that consumer. I love it. So, well, congratulations again, Peter, and to Deschutes. Uh, we are so happy to be able to celebrate you this year. Thank you so much. This is such a special honor for us and thank you for the recognition. Let's meet our next Brewbound rising star. It's San Diego's Pure Project. Joining me now is Pure Project founder Matt Robar. Congratulations, Matt. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you to, uh, thank you to everyone for the award and we're super excited for it. We're stoked to get to, to, uh, honor you this year and we were talking a little bit before we started recording and about a decade ago, I visited your tap room. Yeah, it's been, it's 10 years in January and we were just discussing that. You, you kind of visited, you know, our first of the, the initial, the teeny little brewery there in uh in Miramar that's right by. You know, all the, uh, all the, all the past success stories from San Diego Beer, right? We were right next to, you know, what you would call, you know, Ballast Point and, you know, the Saint Archer's and, and all that type of stuff. So we were kind of right in that epicenter, which all that was happening about 10 years ago, actually, when we were just first getting started and opening our doors. Yeah, and it's really wild to think that those breweries, which seemed too big to fail and were acquired by massive breweries, uh, Some of them aren't around like St. Archer. Some of them have changed hands like Ballast Point. Now you've got a new neighbor in Athletic Brewing. It's amazing how much things have changed in 10 years. Yeah, if you would've told me that a non-alcoholic brewery was going to take over that massive brewery out our back door, I would've told you you were crazy 10 years ago, you know, so. Uh, yeah, a lot of, a lot has changed for sure. So let's dial into what's going on at Pure Project because you've been driving a lot of double-digit growth over the years and you've just steadily grown in San Diego. What's been driving that for you? Yeah, it's a, it's a really good question, and we've always actually tried to be fairly pragmatic about our growth and, you know, a lot of the You know, I, I called it, uh, you know, success stories, but maybe in some ways they're also cautionary tales, right? Of, you know, breweries and cause we're also, you know, out here with stone as well, and so, um, a lot of times what we saw is, you know, things looking really great and then people growing a little bit too fast, right? And so we've always kind of been a little bit more on the conservative side with the growth and so we slow, in the beginning, in the first You know, 7 to 8 years, we really just kind of added taprooms, you know, and so we went from one taproom, we built out our brewing space at Miramar a little bit more, and then we ended up, and now we have, uh, 5 total taprooms. Um, during COVID, we were actually able to acquire a brewing facility, um, from another brewery that had gone out of business. And that has since allowed us to expand our production a little bit, which has been great, and that has now also allowed us to go into wholesale in a more meaningful way. And so really in the last two years, that's kind of been a bit of a focus and that's where some of the growth has been coming up from recently because the last taproom we opened was this brewery here in Vista, which is where I am right now actually and that was in 22. So yeah, it's been a couple of years since we've added a new taproom and now we're really just kind of focused on Um, you know, the growth from the wholesale side. So which products are you putting out at distribution that are really driving the growth for you? You know, for us, we did not put any wholesale out before, so all of any and all of our products right now, honestly, because we, we just hadn't done it before. We didn't make enough beer to do that much wholesale or distribution in the past, um, and so we're kind of putting all of them out there. We don't have a, um, A huge, um, catalog of core beers, you know, we have 4 to 5 core beers, and that's really, you know, a big piece of what we're focusing on, but we still, we still produce a lot of specialties, you know, twice a month we release 2 specialty, you know, canned beers and we try and release. Some bottled specialties every month as well. And so, and then there's, you know, draft stuff coming out into the taprooms and, you know, local restaurants and things like that as well in between as well. So we try and keep a rotating list to keep things interesting and fun while still pressing into, you know, some of the core as well. With that taproom business. What are you hearing from customers right now on what they want when they're coming in? Yeah, you know, it's interesting. Um, it's San Diego specifically because San Diego has seen a ton of turnover, uh, in the last two years specifically. We've seen a lot of breweries close. Um, and I, and I think what people are looking for is, is changing a little bit in that they're looking for options, right? They're, you know, certain people within a group that they're going out may not just be like, they all want to go have beer, right? And so for us, you know, having Having a little bit of food at taprooms and which we've incorporated and having um some non-alcoholic options and having wine and different things like that has really just kind of expanded the, the reach of people that you can talk to, you know, and so for us as we expand into those different, um, those different ancillary categories or silos, it's really important for us just to do it in a way that feels really authentic to us, um, and so, you know, we're, we're trying to be really pragmatic about how we do that, so. Well, and once you get them in, then you can make them fans and sort of build that trust with them, and they see that you're more than, more than a brewery. Well, that's always been, that's always been a part of it, right, is we wanted to not just serve you a beer in a glass, but tell you the story of the beer in the glass, right? And if you can tell the story of the beer in the glass, then the connection goes a little bit deeper, right? It's just like a sommelier. We've always said it's like a sommelier, you know, before he serves you, you know, Um, this dry Riesling from Germany, right? He's telling you the story of where it's grown and the hillsides on which it's, which it's grown and the family history and the two, you know, the two dogs that walk the vines every day with the owner and like you're starting, you're building this picture and you're starting to understand the love and the care and the ingredients and everything that goes into it before you even take a sip. And so it builds that reverence a little bit. And so we always try and tell the story a little bit. Um, you know, to, to the beer that's in the glass and not just like, yeah, there's some hops in it, you know, which, you know, sometimes that's all, all you have time for, right? And so, but you know, when we have time we like to always do a little bit of storytelling and, and you're a 11% for the planet company too, so I think that that would help tell that story of peer project. Absolutely, that's always been a big piece of, of who we are and it's always been a bit of a North Star for us and so I think people really do connect to that, but it's also not something that you can always easily communicate, right? And so, you know, that's why the taprooms are really important for us, right? You, you can tell that story a lot easier over a bar than you can on a on a, on a package, right? And so It's a, it, it is really important for us to, you know, connect with our fans and connect with the people who, you know, have kind of raised their hand to say, you know, like this is the type of stuff I'm into. I like what you guys are doing. I like the types of ingredients you're sourcing and how you're, you know, showing up in the community and, you know, giving back to environmental groups and things of that nature. And so it's really important for us to be able to be there locally and to, you know, have those conversations and build those relationships. When you reflect back on 2025, what do you consider the biggest win of the year for peer project? Oh, the biggest win of the year, I would say it has been our ability to, uh, you know, grow the wholesale side of our business, you know, it. It has grown in a way in which we've had to shift a lot of the things that we're doing um and so the whole team, it's been a huge team effort. It's not just, you know, sales and logistics and marketing, it's it's the entire team, it's production, it's, you know, all the different teams that have to grow and to have to adapt to the new things that we're Doing and all that stuff and so just the way that the team has really come together to support that wholesale growth I think has been really, really important. And at the same time, the taprooms have done an exceptional job, you know, their, you know, their 5 star and their customer service ratings and all that keeps, you know, going up across the board and so To know that we can grow into other areas and the retail side of the business is still staying extremely strong and you know people are still being taken care of and you know I think that that's just really cool to see and it's super important for us, you know, not to lose that connection honestly just the way that the whole team has adapted to all the changes in the last several years, let's be honest, it's been an interesting industry in the last several years. I think everybody will attest to that. And so, you know, we have such an amazing team and just their ability to adapt and kind of roll with the punches have been awesome to see. When you look ahead to 2026, what do you see as the biggest opportunity ahead for Peer project? Yeah, it's a great question and one that we ask ourselves all the time and in our Planning meetings as well, right? You know, what, what's coming next, and I think it really is just trying to stay ahead of potentially some of the consumer trends, try and meet people where they are and where they're going to be in 206 and do it in a way that still feels authentic to us in our ethos. So where do you think the consumer is going to be in 2026? Well, you know, I don't think, uh, I don't think NA is slowing down in any way, shape or form, you know, um, so I, I think that's something we'd really like to explore in 2026, so. That's pretty exciting, yeah. Well, we'll be looking forward to that and we couldn't be happier to honor Pure Projects. So, congratulations to you, Matt, and your team. Thank you all. I appreciate you. Thanks everybody.