All About Beer Returns
Legacy beer publication All About Beer was resurrected this week when beer journalists Andy Crouch and John Holl announced they acquired the outlet’s intellectual property and archives from its former owners.
“We are proud to add All About Beer to our media network and excited to uphold its legacy as a critical voice covering beer’s history while reshaping its role in the present-day beer culture,” Crouch said in a press release. “Stewardship of this esteemed and much beloved media publication remains central in our minds while we’re also energized to put our stamp on it.”
The pair acquired All About Beer’s assets from Daniel Bradford and Julie Johnson, who owned the publication from 1992 to 2014. Bradford and Johnson sold All About Beer to All About Beer LLC, which filed for bankruptcy in July 2019. As secured creditors, the publication’s assets were returned to Bradford and Johnson as part of the bankruptcy process.
Crouch, who will serve as publisher, and Holl, who will be the site’s editor, agreed to acquire All About Beer in late January and the deal closed in March. All About Beer’s website was revived yesterday.
“The response online and in my text messages and phone calls has been fantastic,” Crouch told Brewbound. “We always knew that this was a strong brand that had a lot of love behind it, but I don’t think either of us were really prepared for the outpouring of happiness that we saw from people.”
All About Beer will remain a drinker-centric publication with occasional jaunts into trade journalism. It will be distinct from the Beer Edge, Crouch and Holl’s business-focused publishing and podcast platform. An All About Beer podcast is slated to launch later this spring.
“All About Beer has always been a consumer-focused publication that is of interest to a broader audience, including the trade, but it will remain consumer focused and bring knowledge and information about beer to everyone from the beer-curious novices to jaded old experts,” Crouch said.
“It was one of those publications that was not afraid to talk to people who are just getting into beer. There was a lot of Beer 101 and talk about styles and flavors in a way that was always very accessible to audiences that weren’t necessarily familiar with beer, or just wanted to learn more about it,” he continued. “That was always a core tenet of the brand and the magazine, and we certainly want to continue that, but it also was able to talk to a broader audience, including the trade about business issues or industry issues.”
All About Beer’s records – which includes 40 years’ worth of magazine stories and nearly 5,000 pieces of content overall – is being restored to the website.
Crouch and Holl have not finalized the outlet’s business model yet, but it will remain paywall free and primarily digital. Crowdfunding through platforms such as Patreon and sponsorships are a possibility.
“We’re very excited to tell all the colorful stories that the beer industry has to offer,” Crouch said.
Marcus Baskerville and Rahr Malting Launch Harriet Baskerville Incubation Program
Weathered Souls Brewing co-founder Marcus Baskerville and Rahr Malting have partnered to launch the Harriet Baskerville Incubation Program, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based educational and mentoring platform aimed at diversifying the craft beer industry.
Applications for the program’s first year-long, 12-person cohort will be accepted in August for a November launch. The program aims to prepare people who are underrepresented in the beer industry – women and Black, Indigenous and people of color – for careers as professional brewers and brewery owners.
“Even with the unprecedented growth and popularity of the craft beer movement, women and people of color continue to be left out,” Baskerville said in a press release. “Named after my grandmother, the Harriet Baskerville Incubation Program will provide opportunities for those who are underrepresented in our industry to gain hands-on training and education in brewing – hopefully jump-starting incredible careers.”
Participants will travel to Charlotte for a month-long immersion in professional brewing, brewery maintenance, yeast propagation, and financial sustainability.
Shakopee, Minnesota-headquartered Rahr has pledged $100,000 to support the program’s inaugural year.
“Our company believes that fostering a more diverse and inclusive industry is not only morally imperative but can also be a driver of growth for craft beer,” president and CEO Willie Rahr said in the release. “Through this partnership, we can help build a stronger and more sustainable brewing industry for future generations.”
Baskerville, a Brewers Association board member, became a national name in the beer industry in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police Department member, when he launched the Black Is Beautiful collaboration beer to raise money for organizations that work to end police brutality or promote equity and inclusion. More than 1,200 breweries in 50 states and 22 countries have participated.
Brooklyn Brewery to Match Donations to Michael James Jackson Foundation Up to $100,000
ProBrewer and the Michael James Jackson Foundation (MJF) are co-hosting a virtual fundraiser to raise money for brewing and distilling scholarships for Black, Indigenous and people of color.
As part of the fundraiser, New York-based Brooklyn Brewery has committed to match donations made through May 1 – leading up to the Brewers Associations (BA’s) Craft Brewers Conference next week – dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000.
At press time, the fundraiser had raised $58,925 of its $100,000 goals, from 36 supporters, since its launch on March 22. Athletic Brewing, the Stratford, Connecticut-based non-alcoholic beer maker, donated $50,000. Other brewery donors include: Portland, Maine-based Allagash Brewing Co.; Boston-based Harpoon Brewery; and Oaklyn, New Jersey-based Tonewood Brewing.
MJF’s two named scholarships – the Sir Geoff Palmer Scholarship Award for Brewing and the Nathan Green Scholarship Award for Distilling – are awarded to several recipients pursuing brewing and distilling education each year. The first round of scholarships were announced in April 2021, followed by a second round in October.
The foundation also facilitates mentor partnerships with scholarship grantees for “professional development and career advancement.” It was founded by Brooklyn Brewery head brewer Garrett Oliver in 2020.
50% of Hard MTN Dew Buyers Purchase ‘Impulsively,’ 70% Would Buy Again
RBC Capital’s Nik Modi did a deep dive on the early days of Hard MTN Dew, the collaboration FMB from Boston Beer and PepsiCo, that is available in Florida, Iowa, and Tennessee, with expansion to Arkansas, Oklahoma and Minnesota on the way to 15 states later this summer. Modi noted Boston Beer management calling out Hard MTN Dew’s 27% share of the total FMB category in those states.
Citing Numerator data, Modi wrote that more than 50% of Hard MTN Dew buyers decided to buy the product “impulsively, which supports the strong levels of trial we have seen in the early weeks of the launch.” Of those buyers, 70% said they’d buy it again.
“Purchasers of the Hard Dew significantly over index to Gen Z relative to the core MTN Dew brand with Gen Z making up 13% of Hard Dew buyers compared to only 5% for traditional MTN Dew,” Modi wrote. “The Hard Dew buyer also over indexes to a higher income consumer (+$125k), bringing a younger, higher income consumer to the brand. Numerator data suggests the brand has been incremental to the entire MTN Dew franchise, with Hard MTN Dew shoppers buy rate on CSD Mtn Dew up +20% since purchasing the brand.”
Looking at the latest one-week period, Hard MTN Dew accounted for 3.1% of Boston Beer’s total beer sales, Modi wrote. He added that in its three-state footprint, Hard MTN Dew velocities have outpaced Mike’s and Twisted Tea since March, with Florida accounting for 90% of the total Hard Dew sales in tracked channels. ACV (all commodity volume) of the brand is at 50.4%, compared to 79% for Twisted Tea.
In Tennessee, sales have improved week-over-week since March as points of distribution grow. And in Iowa, Hard MTN Dew accounts for more than 50% of Boston Beer’s total beer sales in the state for the latest week, with the brand posting more sales than Twisted Tea despite 35 fewer ACV.
Across those three states, Hard MTN Dew’s household penetration is up to 0.3% and has increased in recent weeks, besting Mike’s Hard, Twisted Tea, and Smirnoff Ice, according to Numerator.
“While the brand’s strong initial trial is encouraging, it remains too early to meaningfully judge repeat rates or how these initial markets will project to the rest of the country,” Modi noted.
Torch & Crown Receives C&D From Sazerac
Manhattan, New York-based Torch & Crown was on the wrong end of a cease-and-desist letter late last year in regard to its one-off coffee porter Grind, the craft brewery revealed in an eblast to its customers this week.
In what Torch & Crown described as “the dumbest cease and desist of all time,” the company said it received the letter from Sazerac on December 28 in regard to its Grind Espresso Shot brand claiming it was “confusing its customers in New York and infringing on the pedigree, heritage, and sales of their arabica-infused and artificially sweetened coffee liquor, Grind.”
In Torch & Crown’s press release, co-founder and CEO John Dantzler said he then went on a search for a bottle of Sazerac’s Grind, which he found “in the back of a liquor store in Woodside, Queens” and noted his personal lack of confusion during his “shopping experience at the liquor store, which is not legally allowed to carry beer due to New York State law.”
“While [Sazerac] admitted in their letter that their trademark, in fact, expressly does not pertain to beer, they held fast to their claim on the Grind name itself, citing Sazerac as the ‘exclusive source of high quality coffee-flavored spirits’ – a dubious crown which Torch & Crown has no interest in wearing,” he continued.