Nearly a year on the job, new-ish Lagunitas CEO Bernardo Spielmann is seeing opportunities for the legacy California craft beer brand.

 

Those opportunities include expanding Lagunitas Hazy IPA from a draft-only release to package, building on the successful launch of 9% ABV Hazicus Maximus hazy IPA, which now boasts 20,000 points of distribution, and revamping the packaging for non-alcoholic hop water Hoppy Refresher. 

 

On the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast, Spielmann shares that it's also about listening to consumers, who demanded the return of seasonal Unrefined Shugga', the 10% ABV strong ale that returned this year as a national play in bottles and club packs. 

 

Spielmann tells Brewbound managing editor Jess Infante that the goal is to see what resonates and respond quickly. 

 

"More and more as the craft segment matures, we're going to have to be sharper per channel, per market, per SKU how you want to build your proposition," he said. "There will be a rationalization and that's the expected approach. We need to facilitate that for retailers but also our distributors. It's also part of our strategy to be very sharp on how we launch or roll out innovations and the tradeoffs." 

 

Spielmann also discusses the beer category's need to bring back socializing and capture those occasions. He explains how Lagunitas is doing its part with its "Party Legend" brand activation, which celebrates consumers who are the life of the party. 

 

But first, Brewbound editor Justin Kendall and managing editor Jess Infante discuss the sudden closure of Rogue Ales & Spirits and why the shuttering of a top 50 craft brewery is jarring for the public and industry. They also dig into the rumored sale talks of party punch maker BeatBox to Anheuser-Busch InBev. 

 

Jess and Justin also share their experiences, including a visit to Tree House's country club/golf course/taproom and the scuttlebutt from the California Craft Brewers Association's Summit and the Iowa Craft Brewers Guild's I-Best meeting.