Molson Coors, Deschutes Brewery and Taco Mac Representatives Discuss Beyond Beer Innovations

Dec. 20, 2019 at 5:17 PM

Flavored malt beverages have delivered more dollar sale growth in the off-premise retail channel than any other segment in the beer category in 2019, adding more than $1 billion in sales over the first 11 months of the year, according to market research firm IRI. Innovation leaders from Molson Coors, Deschutes Brewery and beer-driven on-premise chain Taco Mac discussed the shifting beer category earlier this month during the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica. Molson Coors vice president of innovation Sofia Colucci and Deschutes Brewery director of product development Veronica Vega discussed their companies’ respective approaches to creating new beyond beer products and how those offerings can add incremental drinkers to their businesses. “We have a very clear mandate from our marketing team that we are all about recruitment,” Colucci said. Taco Mac beverage director Ryan Blevins also shared how he plans beer menus for the chain’s two dozen Georgia locations, balancing new offerings with standbys, and full-flavored beers with low-calorie hard seltzers. Blevins said he expects the wave of hard seltzers that flooded the off-premise channel in 2019 to rush into on-premise accounts in 2020. Watch the discussion above, and subscribe to Brewbound on YouTube to see more presentations from the conference.