beer distribution

Teamwork makes the dream work at Bevana

It's not easy to build and grow a brewery.  Starting small can make expansion hard, and costly.  Distribution adds it's own challenges and even just getting your name out there is a struggle amidst 9,000+ breweries.  That's where Bevana comes in.

Originally founded as Community Brewing Ventures, the company rebranded this year as Bevana to represent their growth in non-beer beverages.  Sr. Director of Business Development Aaron Gore joined us this week to share what Bevana does for brewers and where they're headed in the future.  It's all about joining forces - for brewing, distribution, and marketing.  Bevana helps smaller brewers grow while minimizing the cost and effort to do so.

If you're a small brewer looking to grow, maybe finding Bevana is just what you need.

The Beer List

• Halfway Crooks Farina
• SweetWater 420 (Tis' the season!)
• Sixpoint Pineapple Resin
• Southern Prohibition Spoils of War (Milk Stout with Maple)
• Weldwerks Coffee Coconut Stout (Imperial Milk Stout)

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In today's podcast we dive into the wonderful world of beer distribution with Laura Lodge from Customized Craft Beer Programs. Laura has a tremendous amount of experience with beer distribution and in our conversation she shares her knowledge freely.

Key Topics

• Benefits of working with a wholesaler
• Pitfalls to avoid in the brewery-wholesaler relationship
• Distribution contracts: What you need to know
• Key elements to a good brewery-wholesaler partnership

Resources

• Laura's book: Distribution Insight for the Craft Brewer
• Listen to our first podcast: StartABrewery.com with Laura Lodge
• The Finance Newsletter for Craft Breweries

What if there was a place where you could learn everything about starting a new brewery? And what if that place was online, accessible to anyone, and totally free?

No need to think about the 'what ifs' because Laura Lodge and attorney Candace Moon have built such a place, and they call it StartABrewery.com.

In today's podcast you'll hear from Laura Lodge about why she co-founded StartABrewery.com, who the site is for, and what resources you'll find there. 

Key Topics Covered

• Tips on where to begin: Starting points for starting a brewery
• The four stages of StartABrewery.com: Plan, Act, Open, Grow
• Fundamental principles for your distribution contracts and relationships

Resources

• Learn more about StartABrewery.com
• Check out Laura's book Distribution Insight for the Craft Brewer
• Need a REAL business plan for your brewery? Check out the Brewery Business Plan course

Sign Up for the FREE and World Famous Craft Brewery Financial Training Newsletter

Our Inability to Predict Demand 

• The National Retail Federation predicts a whopping 10.5% increase in holiday spending this year.
• Maybe supply chain issues are overblown? 
• Moselle is on a mission to provide e-commerce businesses with everything they need to create stable and scalable supply chains.
• The Beer Distribution Game is really just supply chain 101. If you have shortages or additional lead time in this game, you'll basically run into supply-demand issues. A lot of what's happening now is on the extreme end of it, where there's a lot of individual things in the chain failing or slowing down immensely.
• “Unless you have your own boats or private shipping method or have an exclusive way to bring your goods from one part of the world to another, you end up having to work within the existing system. And then when you work in that existing system, it's all about how can I get an edge?” -Lakhveer Jajj
• “The inability to predict demand in the physical supply chain is this thing that will never be overcome, our expectations are skewed by online services and that's just not how the physical world works.”- Phillip

Associated Links:

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• Learn more about Lakhveer Jajj and Moselle
• Our episode with Stephan Ango
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• Listen to more episodes of Future Commerce

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In this week’s segment we discuss the inner workings of Beer distribution and how Breweries work with distributors and retailers to send their beer far and wide into bottleshops, pubs and clubs. 

In part 1 of the segment, I talk with Founder and Director Andy Harris from Motus Transport. Being a family owned & operated transportation and logistics company, Andy and his Wife Emily started the business back in 2016 and have grown to become one of the largest cold storage warehouse and distributors of Craft Beer in NSW. 

Andy having a background in Sales within the beverage industry, he saw a gap in the distribution market and began to concentrate on building a solid network of customers within the craft beer space. Having over 100 breweries within their portfolio they work with, Andy is very well placed to share his insights on what Breweries need to be considering when dipping their toes into the wholesale distribution space. 

EPISODE LINKS:
Motus Transport Website

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When the big production volume talks start, most brewery owners’ eyes light up. But with great distribution volume comes great responsibility… and some key make-or-break decisions for the brewery’s future. 

And that’s exactly what we cover in this episode of The True Craft Podcast.

Chris and Brandon explore the pro’s and con’s of choosing either an independent distributor or a larger distributor, how to become a leading local brand, and how the scope of distribution changes as the brewery grows.

In the interview portion of the episode, we talk to Dave BuShea from Sailfish Brewing Company in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Dave talks about his distribution journey, the changes they made when they moved up to a bigger brew system, and the thinking behind Sailfish’s product portfolio.

Enjoy!

Links:

Premium Distributors of Washington, D.C.

Southern Eagle Distributing

DC Brau

Sailfish Brewing Company

In the first episode of 2021's fresh start, we're joined by John Squadrito of Vacationland Distributors. John got his start selling stainless brewing equipment for TigPro (having sold Bissell Brothers about half its current lineup), but transitioned into beer sales for Vacationland  - a "boutique wholesaler" -  about five years ago. Since then, he's helped build "V-Land" from a tiny startup operating out of a storage unit to one of the most respectable craft distributors in New England, with warehouses in both Maine and New Hampshire. 
We talk about how Vacationland's unprecedented decision to offer fixed-length disto contracts since opening has set them apart and how nine months of COVID looked from through a disto lens. We also dive into the battle of balancing sociability with authenticity in a sales role as well as John's cameos on two of the best labels ever created. 
Lastly, we finally deliver what you ALL have been waiting for: shoe talk, and plenty of it.    ...................    ................................. Music: "Mountain Climb" by Jake Hill

Matty and Noah are talking remotely with the Kryptic Kid, the Vibe Valet, or simply the current head brewer at Twelve Percent Beer Project: Zac Ross. Though he and Noah are the same age, Zac's worked in 500% more breweries, including Voodoo, Kent Falls, The Answer. These days, while he's keeping the day-to-day in order at Twelve Percent's largely contract-based production facility, he's also producing beers for his own brand, Marlowe Artisanal Ales. His interesting arch in the industry isn't neglected from the conversation, but all roads of dialogue keep leading to Marlowe - a brand named after the proverbial Boss Ross (Zac's grandfather) that produces almost exclusively on sessionable, lower ABV beers. Zac breaks down the particular advantages Twelve Percent provides people like himself, who want to eventually open a brick-and-mortar brewery, but are getting their beers into the world at scale, in a way to give their goal steam. 
Brewing philosophy dominates most of the conversation, with Zac's admittedly vague and "vibe-focused" approach providing a fun contrast to Noah's more obnoxious and verbose angle to discussing the profession they both love so much. This was a fun one, and ultimately takes a long look at the relationship between the place a beer is produced and the person that conceived of it. Also, tacos ............................................................................................................Music: "Mountain Climb" by Jake Hill

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17018 E Sprague Ave Unit 101

Greenacres, Wa. 99016

We're making reparations for past auditory and conversational wrongs by welcoming our FIRST REPEAT GUEST EVER, the BBB's own Josh "Sniff" Schlesinger, former owner/operator of Sleek Machine Distro. A hell of a lot has happened since the last time we spoke with mics on, almost exactly a year ago, so we get right into the most obvious - Sleek Machine being absorbed by Bissell Brothers at the beginning of 2020, after law was passed to significantly raise Maine's self distribution cap. We naturally unpack how beer distribution has adapted to selling beer in a pandemic, what lasting imprints COVID-19 will have on that facet of the brewing industry moving forward, and how the experience of running a business himself has helped Josh navigate the landscape shift with what appears to be a very laudable degree of ease. 
More importantly, however, we revisit Project Serpo and get caught up to speed on Sniff's current feelings towards extraterrestrial life, and touch on the state of conspiracy in general (Pulitzer-level stuff, to be sure). Jokes aside (save for the many weaved throughout the episode), this may be to most diverse conversation we've had to date...fittingly had with the man Noah's dad still considers to be exactly one half of "Coolest Guys on Earth" (see Episode #38 w/ Baxter Key). Listen along, and join us in washing away any memories of the travesty that is Episode #2, with a chat of quality much more befitting one of the hardest working dudes in beer.

Music: "Mountain Climb" by Jake Hill

It's finally time to share our conversation with Genevieve Richardson, which was recorded over a month ago on a day marked by broken pipes and an extremely smoky wood stove. In addition to being extremely funny, Gen is the sales manager of Sleek Machine, and our conversation touches on how she manages over 300 accounts, the evolution of what defines "representation" in beer, how Matty would fare in sales, and how seemingly everything in life comes back to the possibilities created from the good ol' genuine human connection. Genevieve's husband (Evan Richardson, #08) and boss (Josh Schlesinger, #02) have both been on the podcast as well, and there's a lot of implications behind what the blatantly superior audio quality of her episode means on a broader scale. Beyond that, there's a lot to be learned from the meticulous concern she applies to her job without ever taking things too seriously. Also: cans, kegs, bottles, and TEMPTATION ISLAND.

Music: “Mountain Climb” by Jake Hill

SESSION SUMMARY: When Prohibition came to an end, the federal government left it up to each individual state to decide how they would handle the sale and distribution of beer and other adult beverages. What this led to was a tapestry of laws that saw each state operating very, very differently from one another. To this day, many laws that made next to no sense when they were put into effect back in the 1930s still exist...making even less sense as the beer world and alcohol culture as a whole has evolved.

In Session 23 of the Breaking Brews Podcast, Jason Cercone is joined by Lauren Baker, current General Manager of The Harmony Inn and former Production Manager at North Country Brewing, to discuss some beer laws across the country that help the growth of beer in some states, but hinder others. In addition, Jason and Lauren talk about beer distribution and how that model has changed over the years.

One topic of discussion on today's show is a new law that was going to be passed in Pennsylvania in July of 2019. This law called for the addition of a 6% sales tax on every pint sold across the bar at brewery taprooms throughout the Commonwealth. But, thanks to the efforts of the Brewers of Pennsylvania, brewery owners, and beer enthusiasts, a compromise was reached that will make this new tax much more manageable for small breweries who stood to lose upwards of $100,000 a year in revenue if they absorbed the tax and did not pass it on to their customers. Click here to read about the tax and the compromise that was reached on the Brewers of PA website.

Another big topic covered on this episode is beer distribution. When does it make sense for a beer brand to sign a wholesaler agreement? Why are these agreements so iron-clad in that they do not allow a brewery to transition out, even if a wholesaler is not living up to their end of the agreement? There is a lot to be considered for brands of all sizes in this area and, as mentioned before, laws and regulations are different in each state and dictate how a brewery can grow their distribution footprint. 

Lauren has worked for breweries in Texas, Colorado, and Pennsylvania and brings knowledge about how a brand can be successful when it comes to expanding their footprint. She and Jason cover when and why a brewery may want to venture down that path and, when weighing the options, doing it so all parties involved can win.

Connect with North Country Brewing:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

And The Harmony Inn:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

MUSIC CREDIT: All music heard on today’s session of the Breaking Brews Podcast is courtesy of purple-planet.com

We’ve got some great guests joining us tonight including Qurban and Peter from Crafted Exports and Patrick, Patrick, and Keir from Alewife Brewing!

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