Steven Pauwels Joins Great Lakes as COO
Cleveland-headquartered Great Lakes Brewing Company has hired long-time Boulevard Brewing brewmaster Steven Pauwels as its first chief operations officer, the company announced Thursday. Pauwels’ first day with Great Lakes will be April 4, a Great Lakes spokesperson shared with Brewbound.
In his new role, Pauwels will be tasked with leading Great Lakes’ “brewing, quality control, production, maintenance, engineering, operations and supply-chain teams,” according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Pauwels worked for Kansas City, Missouri-headquartered Boulevard for 22 years.
As for Boulevard, EVP of sales and marketing Bobby Dykstra shared that the company will lean on its “veteran team leaders” and brewing staff “on day-to-day brewing operations and innovation brews” in the interim.
“In addition, our team is fortunate to have brewing experts from our other Duvel USA sister breweries, Firestone Walker and Brewery Ommegang, to run ideas by and collaborate with as needed,” he continued. “We look forward to sharing who will lead Boulevard’s next chapter of our brewing department as plans finalize.”
Owls’ Brew Beefs Up Sales & Ops Teams
Hard tea maker Owl’s Brew has made several additions to its sales and operations teams over the last two months.
The new hires include:
- Lynn Mayugba, as director of sales;
- Cindy Whitaker, as director of national accounts;
- Karl Knoop, as director of operations.
Mayugba, who started in March, brings 25 years of sales and marketing experience to Owl’s Brew, after working at Molson Coors and the now defunct Saint Archer brand.
“Based on Owl’s Brew distribution partners, I believe Owl’s Brew is going to become a global brand defining and leading a clean boozy beverage movement,” Mayugba said in a press release.
Whitaker joined Owl’s Brew in February, and brings more than two decades of experience in the industry, with stints at Pernod Ricard, Molson Coors and Mike’s Hard.
Knoop started in February and brings 18 years of experience, having worked at Brooklyn Brewery, Flying Dog Brewery and Original Sin Hard Cider.
Owl’s Brew also promoted Sel LeFever in February to the role of director of business development. LeFever previously served as senior director of sales.
Owl’s Brew Boozy Teas (4.8% ABV) are available in six flavors in 18 states.
Pabst Labs Opens Cannabis Beverage Facility in California
Cannabis beverage firm Pabst Labs — which licenses the Pabst Blue Ribbon moniker from the namesake brewery — opened a manufacturing and distribution facility in Desert Hot Springs, California, this week.
The firm said the new facility will triple its production capabilities and give the company “total control” of the product, improving quality and innovation efforts. The company added that it will be able to produce for other brands via co-packing relationships.
Pabst Labs, which is not affiliated with Pabst Brewing Company, licenses the PBR name from the brewery in order to produce cannabis beverages, including Pabst Blue Ribbon’s 10mg High Seltzer, Not Your Father’s Cannabis Infused Root Beer and ST IDES Cannabis product lines, including 100mg infused 4 oz. shots.
Citing Headset data, Pabst Labs said cannabis beverages accounted for 3% of sales in dispensaries in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
California Craft Beer Consumers Express Overall Satisfaction with State of Craft Beer
A majority of California craft beer consumers are satisfied with their access to local and national craft brands, according to a survey by MFour Research, on behalf of the trade association California Beer and Beverage Distributors.
The survey gathered responses from 1,527 California residents, 354 categorized as “local craft beer enthusiasts” and 1,173 as “general beer enthusiasts.”
Nearly three-quarters of craft enthusiasts expressed satisfaction with the state of local craft beer (72%) and national craft brands (73%), based on a composite score of their satisfaction ratings for preferred brand access, availability and price. Craft enthusiasts were less content with commercial beer, with 64% expressing overall satisfaction.
About three-in-five general beer drinkers were satisfied with local craft (61%) and national craft (60%), while 75% were overall satisfied with commercial beer in the state.
Of the craft enthusiasts, 78% said they were very or somewhat satisfied with their ability to get the local craft brands they want, and 81% were very or somewhat satisfied with the variety of local craft beer to choose from.
Commercial beer drinkers were more satisfied with the price of their preferred beer (67% satisfied) compared to craft drinkers (58%). One-in-five (22%) craft consumers said they were very satisfied with the overall price of local craft beer, while 38% said they were somewhat satisfied.
When asked how they would rate overall access, variety and price of other beverage alcohol, craft consumers were significantly less satisfied with ready-to-drink canned cocktails (RTDs), which did not include hard seltzers. Just under half (49%) said they were satisfied with the ability to get the RTD brands they want, while half said they were satisfied with the variety of RTDs to choose from. More than two-fifths of craft drinkers (42%) were satisfied with the price of RTDs in California.
When separated by race, the majority of Black (87%) and Caucasian (80%) general beer drinkers were satisfied with access to their preferred brands, compared to Black (71%) and Caucasian (75%) craft consumers. On the other hand, the majority of Hispanic/Latino (85%) and Asian (83%) craft consumers were satisfied with access to their preferred brands, compared to Hispanic/Latino and Asian general beer drinkers (78%).
Of the respondents identified as craft enthusiasts, 62% were Caucasian, followed by 20% Asian, 15% Hispanic/Latino, 7% Black and 5% “other.” Of the general beer consumers, 47% identified as Caucasian, followed by 32% Hispanic/Latino, 15% Asian, 10% Black and 7% other.
The majority of craft enthusiasts (71%) identified as male compared to 67% of general beer consumers. The majority of craft consumers (72%) said they make over $50,000 a year, compared to just over half (52%) of general beer consumers.
The survey comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s report on competition in the beverage-alcohol marketplace, as well as comments submitted in the lead up to its release from the Brewers Association and California Family Beer Distributors on the state of competition in California. Those comments led to a rebuttal from Reyes Beer Division CEO Tom Day, challenging the notion that competition in California’s beer market has suffered due to his company’s expansion efforts in the state.
Detroit’s First Black-Owned Brewery to Open Later This Year; New Brewing School to Launch in City
Despite having a majority Black population, Detroit does not have its own Black-owned brewery. That will change this year, with a yet-to-be named brewery by Michigan-native Brian Jones-Chance, according to Eater.
Jones-Chance is the COO and part-owner of 734 Brewing Company in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which opened in 2018 as what he says was the first Black-owned brewery in the state. His new brewery will be the anchor tenant of a 8,000 sq. ft. building near the University of Detroit Mercy, Bridge Detroit reported.
Jones-Chance told Eater that the new brewery would be “tailored to the surrounding Black community.”
Additionally, the city of Detroit will be getting a new brewing program, with an aim at “diversifying the local beer space,” Eater reported.
Cory Emal and Gregg Wilmes, professors at Eastern Michigan University’s Fermentation Science program, have partnered with Jon Carlson, owner of Detroit-based Nain Rouge Brewery, to create Nain Rouge Brewing School.
Launching in April, the school will offer a 12-week program in which students can have a “practical training in skills like brewing, packaging, inventory, canning and marketing,” Eater reported. Half of the program’s trainer spots will be reserved for low-income, minority Detroit brewers.
The program’s founders told Eater they anticipate the program will serve as a “pipeline” to brewing employment and entrepreneurship, as well as further education at Eastern Michigan.
Mockler Beverage Acquires Buquet Distributing in Louisiana
Two distributors of Anheuser-Busch products are consolidating in Louisiana, according to Houma Today. Mockler Beverage in Baton Rouge is acquiring Buquet Distributing in Houma.
“This transaction will provide our employees with a larger, more stable and geographically diverse company,” Buquet president JJ Buquet said in a release. “The Mocklers will be acquiring our facility as well and plan to continue our operations out of Houma, which means continued employment for the majority of our people.”
The transaction expanded Mockler’s distribution territory “from St. Bernard Parish to St. Mary Parish and from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Pontchartrain and Pointe Coupée Parish on its northern end,” the outlet reported.
In addition to A-B products, Buquet’s portfolio included Constellation Brands’ Mexican imports (Corona, Modelo, Pacifico), Founders Brewing, Shiner, Saint Arnold, Urban South and SweetWater, among others.
January 2022 Imports -3.7%; Mexican Imports +7%
January 2022 imports were down -3.7% compared to January 2021, the Beer Institute reported. Although overall imports were down for the month, several countries reported growth compared to 2021, including Mexico (+7%), Germany (+18%), Czech Republic (+9%), and United Kingdom (+44%).
For perspective, BI VP of research Danelle Kosmal noted that if Mexican importers were taken out of the equation, “total imported volume would be down by 30%.”
“So while total imported volume was down, the downward trends would have been significantly more drastic if it were not for the growth of Mexican imported beer in January,” she continued.
January 2022 domestic tax paid shipments were also down -6.2% compared to January 2021.
The BI will share the February 2022 import/export report on April 5.