Small Bytes: Girl Beer Takes Home 🏆, Ohio Light, Truth 💣, Go Brewing in Da Club, and More
Hopefully you’ve had the chance to recharge the batteries and find room in the cabinet for that set of 22oz Hefeweizen glasses from Aunt Susie. It’s important to fulfill your obligations that come along with this time of year, which include not knowing what day of the week it is at all times and binging an entire season of at least one TV show. For me that was the Penguin on Max, which I highly recommend if you like the sound of a mobster show in the Batman universe. Before switching over to posts looking ahead toward 2025, I have a few last small bytes from the end of the year to share:
Girl Beer Wins Brewbound Pitch Slam 2024 🏆
Back in June, I made a TikTok in response to product images that had surfaced for Hurray’s Girl Beer, a new product launch being pitched to retailers at the time. I shared the negative reactions that I thought it would generate, particularly from within the existing craft beer industry, and wasn’t giving it much of a chance myself. But then Dan Barrera, a 17 year veteran of Whole Foods who works in Category Management DMed my account, sharing how impressed he was with founder Ray Biebuyck’s presentation along with some additional takeaways. As someone who prides themself off being open-minded and embraces being proven wrong, I gave Girl Beer a deeper dive with a clearer head.
This early-October post became one of Beer Crunchers’ most read stories of the year and to this day, few others have covered the brand.
Fast-forward to a few weeks ago at the annual Brewbound Live Conference where Girl Beer took home First Place in their Pitch Slam competition, designed to encourage entrepreneurship and build awareness for startups within the alcohol space. Past winners include Chicago’s Hopewell, Funkytown Brewing, and Braxton Brewing, creators of Garage Beer. Girl Beer takes home an industry awareness advertising package with Brewbound and free registration to Brewbound Live Winter 2025, one year of data and consulting from Nielsen and 3 Tier Beverages valued at $35,000, they'll also be interviewed live on Brewbound.com, and receive their own engraved trophy.
I’m disappointed that Brewbound Editor and pro wrestling aficionado Justin Kendall hasn’t fought for a title belt instead of trophy, but I digress. Congrats to Ray first and foremost on the impressive presentation and thank you to Dan for making me look good by convincing me to give Girl Beer another shot.
Ohio Light Joins The Fight In the Buckeye State
Throughout the year I’ve been covering the New, Old Look American Lager trend, with so many interesting examples coming out of Ohio especially, including: Garage Beer, Rhinegeist’s Cincy Light, Great Lakes’ Cold Rush, Fat Heads’ Leaf Man Lager & Yinzer Lager, and introducing Columbus Brewing’s Ohio Light:
Quick observations:
The can and box hit those antique gas station vibes you get while watching Mike and Frankie go hunting on American Pickers.
Despite the brewery being named Columbus Brewing, the brand aims for statewide adoption and pride with its name, symbol, and tagline.
They do not refer to it as a Lager, opting with Beer instead, potentially because some groups do not view the Lager as premium. On that note, they do opt to call it Premium.
The decision was made to go Light at 4.2% ABV, calling out the associated calorie count of 105 as well, and even using the term back-to-back in both the brand name Ohio Light and style name Premium Light Beer.
Truth Bomb 💣
I don’t get too excited over an Imperial IPA release these days, but I DO get excited when a family of brands cleverly links their names in an intuitive manner. Cincinnati’s Rhinegeist has always held the championship in this category from my vantage point and they continue to defend their title with Truth Bomb, an Imperial IPA building on their best selling IPAs: Truth & Juicy Truth. Given the size of Rhinegeist and the positive trends toward Hazy Imperial IPAs, I would have assumed this would be the flavor-driven, fruit-forward type, but I scanned its Untappd page where the photos all appear crystal clear.
Go Brewing In Da Club
Go Brewing is one of the most fascinating brewery stories happening out of the Greater Chicago Area right now. As a younger entrant to the NA Beer category, they’re going about things differently than industry leading Athletic Brewing. The brand has fun, high energy to it and they’re gotten aggressive by hitting local Costcos with an attractive looking 24 can / 4 flavor Variety Pack for a pretty solid price ahead of Dry January. For as big and wide as Athletic has become, I don’t think I’ve seen a Variety Pack from them yet, which is surprising. I have to assume that’s coming.
Probably one of the best free pieces that I published in 2024 came about after I met Go Brewing’s owner Joe Chura in late August at the finish line of the Chicago Triathalon. We started talking marketing activation strategy and he generously let the conversation spill over into a Beer Crunchers post. Check it out if you haven’t already.
And here’s Joe getting in on the social media promotion. You can see why we got along so quickly 😎
Suarez Family Brewery Offers Dry January Alternative
Speaking of Dry January, I look forward to this time of year to see how breweries combat the worst selling month of the year. New York’s Suarez Family Brewery offers an interesting alternative with a fresh case of their Palatine Pilsner shipped right to your door, thanks to the state’s liberal shipping laws.
Their rationale is that it’s:
A.) super fun, B.) a great way to support a small brewery/biz during a challenging sales month, C.) helpful in Re-evaluating your relationship with drinking beer/alcohol, D.) an amazing way to go deep on the beer that is literally the reason we opened Suarez Family Brewery, E.) the best gift you could bestow upon a lager-obsessed loved one.
Pizza Wine Wars 🍕🍷🍿
I don’t write about wine, but I do have my popcorn ready for the pizza wine wars.
Being Mindful With Contract Partners
Recently I heard someone say “getting a quote is free” in regards to a project that I’m not quite sure I can afford and would take a lot of effort just to scope out. They meant no harm and are technically correct, but the day prior I read the LinkedIN post below from Julie Rhodes, who makes a career out of consulting for breweries. While not necessarily the point she was emphasizing, it was a good reminder of the people behind the small businesses that help make our industry stand out. It heightened my sensitivity to wasting anyone’s time on proposals that we’re perhaps unlikely to follow through on, or to at least be conservative in our communications around the realistic chance of pursuing. Thanks to Julie for her openness around the challenges of running a small business and making myself more mindful of partners’ time when asking for a proposal.
The Full Pint Podcast Appearance
In case you just can’t get enough of me, I joined Danny and Andy on the Full Pint to hit on some year end topics. We spend a lot of the time talking IPA and its current state.
Honorable Mentions
Beer Crunchers received a few flattering shoutouts lately, including this one in The New Brewer’s November/December Issue, by Paul Gatza in reference to The Hazy Mendoza Line. I’m currently in the process of outlining a sequel to this post called The West Coast Mendoza Line so stay tuned for that.
Lots of good stuff coming down the pipeline, some of which will be for premium subscribers who help fuel the work behind Beer Crunchers. Here’s a few headlines that are currently in the works:
State of Beer Crunchers
Craft Beer Industry S.W.O.T. Analysis
Cocktail Winds
Nostradouglas’ 2025 Preview
The West Coast Mendoza Line
And More…
Thanks for all your support during a massive year of getting this blog to the next level. I’m just getting started and I hope that’s how you’re thinking about your ventures. Cheers 🍻