The Brewbound Minute: Falling Rock to Close, GoPuff to Acquire Liquor Barn & More

Justin Kendall [00:03] Hey everyone, welcome to the Brewbound Minute, our occasional rundown of all the beer industry news you need to know in about 3 minutes or so. It is Thursday, June 24th, and I am Justin Kendall, the editor of Brewbound, and I am joined by someone who is once again in the land of pineapples, Jessinfonte.

Speaker 2 [00:25] Hi, hi, how are you?

Justin Kendall [00:26] I'm well. How's Jersey?

Speaker 2 [00:28] It's fantastic. I'm really happy to be here with my fam and the beach.

Justin Kendall [00:32] Well,

Speaker 2 [00:33] are you

Justin Kendall [00:33] pineapples and the pineapples, yes, uh, you gotta polish those pineapples up for this show. So, are you ready to run down the headlines?

Speaker 2 [00:42] I definitely am, and there's a lot of news.

Justin Kendall [00:45] In a bit of a weekend surprise or not, given the last year, iconic Denver craft beer bar, the Falling Rock Tap House, announced it will permanently close on June 27th after 24 years in business. Owner Chris. Black and his brothers announced the closure last Saturday. They acknowledged that the news may come as a shock to some of their patrons, but the pandemic's effect on the falling rocks business has been the icing on the cake of the last 5 years.

Speaker 2 [01:17] a year-long construction project that caused a 30% drop in sales, changes in the neighborhood that have impacted our business negatively, like crazy late night crowds and decreased office usage, continued increasing competition from our suppliers, challenges in finding kitchen staff plus rapidly increasing costs, all have added up to a. Financially unsustainable situation, they wrote. So if you're in Denver, you still have time to get to the Falling Rock for last call. In fact, many industry luminaries have already have. According to social media posts, including the Lost Abbey's Tommy Arthur and Russian Rivers, Natalie and Vinnie Chillerzo, who surprised Falling Rock owners Chris and Cheryl Black on Wednesday.

Justin Kendall [02:01] GoPuff continued its buying spree of brick and mortar liquor stores this week with the acquisition of Liquor Barn. Liquor Barn operates 23 stores in Kentucky, which will allow GoPuff to extend its reach within several major markets in that state, including Louisville and Lexington.

Speaker 2 [02:22] I love the name Liquor Barn. As you know, GoPuff is an e-commerce convenience store that offers delivery of pretty much anything from ice cream and snacks to beer, wine, and liquor in 30 minutes or fewer. Last year, GoPuff acquired 160 Bevmo stores on the West Coast, which added it added to its network of 450+ warehouses.

Justin Kendall [02:42] Add Pepsi to the list of non-Ak beverage makers looking to get into Bev Alc. Pepsi filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office to add trademarks for its Rockstar Energy drink for potential beer, hard seltzer, and FMB products. Pepsi joins competitor Coca-Cola, who hooked up with Molson Coors for Topo Chico Hard Seltzer last year, Arizona, which partnered with Heineken USA on Sunrise Hard Seltzer, and a long list of others.

Speaker 2 [03:16] Meanwhile, in New York City, Anheuser-Busch InBev products will not be available at the Stonewall Inn this weekend for New York's Pride celebration. The historic gay bar that sparked the LGBTQ community's fight for equality in 1969 when patrons fought back against a police raid. Stonewall Inn owners are refusing to serve Bud Light and Stella Artois because AB has made political contributions to lawmakers who have co-sponsored bills that discriminate against transgender student athletes in Tennessee, Florida, and Mississippi. Despite those donations, AB has expressed support for the LGBTQ community on social media, including changing its social media avatars to the company's logo colored in the rainbow flag for Pride Month. AB has said it supports politicians who support the beer industry and the jobs it creates, and is proud of its two-decade relationship with GLAAD.

Justin Kendall [04:05] Finally, how is the beer industry rebounding in an increasingly vaccinated and open US? Well, in May, US brewers shipped an estimated 15 million barrels of beer with an M, a nearly 9% increase, that's more than 1.2 million barrels, compared to May 2020, according to the Beer Institute, which cited unofficial estimates of domestic tax paid shipments from the TTB.

Speaker 2 [04:33] Admittedly, those are on some easy comps after shipments declined more than 1.45 million barrels in May 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. Shipments have now increased each month in 2021. Year to date, domestic shipments are up 5.4% to nearly 69.3 million barrels.

Justin Kendall [04:51] And that's the news, like the Brewbound M, let us know. If you like them, we'll do more of them. Until next time, later.