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Craft Beer sales up 12% in 1st half of 2010! We are seeing massive growth at @napasmith as we roll it out across the US.... Napa Smith, Flat 12, Pelican Brands - more to come!

The Beeradvocate published this fine update the other day about Craft beer sales being up 12% in dollars and outpacing last year’s impressive growth.  Also showing the 10 year growth in numbers of breweries.  

This is perfectly consistent with what we are seeing on Napa Smith Beer as we are rolling out the 4 packs of Organic IPA and Lost Dog Red Ale along with the traditional lines.  We got authorized in all the Bay area Whole Foods and just got authorized in Safeway as well.   We are currently launching Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas and Florida to name a few markets.  Should have Napa Smith in 50 states by this time next year as well as select European and Asian markets.   Very exciting stuff.

Here is a shot of the new four packs…

Organic IPA 4-pack

Lost Dog 4-Pk

I was hanging with Don Barkley who is one of the most respected and earliest craft brewers in the US having done New Albian in the 1970s and then going on to co-found Mendocino Brewing and Red Tale Ale (which btw, is not what it used to be if you ask me).  He is great to drink beer with and has more great stories around beer than a week of sitting drinking beers could allow.  Anyway, discussing the amazing growth in the business and the numbers of new brewers, I mentioned our latest beer brand, Flat 12 Beirwerks founded in Indianapolis this year and launching this Fall…  its a cool project and the guys behind it are successful entrepreneurs in other industries with a ton of enthusiasm and drive. I think they have a great shot based on the early buzz around the brand and the liquid itself.  Pelican will manage their brand launch and grow it when appropriate to surrounding markets.

Will update soon on new spirits brands and some other exciting news on the Pelican front…

Until next time, Kind Regards,

Smoke

Exciting new brand - Elderflower Liquor - Pelican Brands and Chase Distillery partnership...

I’m very pleased to announce our partnership with William Chase and his distillery… as laid out below, William has created an exciting brand platform and everyone at Pelican Brands is very excited to bring these hand crafted brands into the US.  I look forward to tasting you on the Elderflower Liquor… you won’t believe it!

FOR [...]

Pelican - Altamar Brands Strategic Partnership, Anchor Brewery Acquisition

Well its been a busy couple of weeks since I posted my thoughts on the growth in Craft Brewing.  Since then, Tony Foglio and Keith Greggor of Griffin Group (Formerly Skyy and in the old days Diageo/UDV/Paddington) purchased the Anchor Brewery from Fritz Maytag.  Wow!  I’d like to say they read my post, and went [...]

Craft Beer Continues to Lead Beverage Alcohol Industry Growth

All the feedback on Craft Beer has turned incredibly positive.  Now that Pelican Brands is fully in the Craft Beer Segment with our outstanding beer, Napa Smith and legendary brewer Don Barkley, I thought I’d highlight some of the recent quantitative and qualitative information we are seeing in the market.  In just the past two [...]

The Margarita King Debuts Across the U.S. With Pelican Brands As the Exclusive Brand Manager For the Award Winning Margarita Cocktail In a Bottle

Today, Pelican Brands and The Margarita King announced their exclusive partnership across the US.  I am very excited by Pelican’s progress in attracting distinct brands with a real place with the consumer.  More to come!

Kind Regards,

Smoke

The Margarita King Debuts Across the U.S. With Pelican Brands As the Exclusive Brand Manager For the Award Winning [...]

Artá Holdings Appoints Pelican Brands As Exclusive U.S. Brand Manager For Its Award Winning Artisan Tequila Portfolio

Latest new brand for Pelican Brands – very exciting – more later, Smoke

FOR RELEASE April 7, 2010

Media contact:

Megan Hochstetler

001-317-574-6407

Artá Holdings Appoints Pelican Brands As Exclusive U.S. Brand Manager For Its Award Winning Artisan Tequila Portfolio

Artá Hand Crafts Ultra Premium Tequila with a Conscience

Las Vegas, NV, San Francisco, CA & Carmel, [...]

J Smoke Wallin interviews Michael Gelb Author of Wine Drinking for Inspired Thinking

Coincidentally, I was in NY last week for meetings and Marvin Shanken’s industry CEO Impact Seminar and found out my friend Michael Gelb was also in town to promote his new book, “Wine Drinking For Inspired Thinking”.   We arranged to meet up at the London on 54th street and I taped our brief interview (link [...]

Napa Smith Appoints Pelican Brands As Exclusive U.S. Brand Manager For Its Award Winning Craft Beer Portfolio And Its World Class Napa Wine Program

I’m pleased to share with you our latest announcement from my Pelican Brands company.  In 2009 the craft beer segment outpaced all others and grew on a volume basis over 5%.  We have been looking for the right premium craft brands to fit into our growing brand platform.  Napa Smith is the perfect fit!  More [...]

Remembering Ray Tye and Dustin Drapkin

I usually try to keep this focused on relevant issues I see in the industry that deserve being called out or discussed in some greater detail.  Those of you who have read my posts will know that once in a while I will reflect on something or in this case, someone, who has made a [...]

Is anyone serious in Washington?

Alas, given the current state of the US Budget and the latest one submitted by the Obama [...]

Commentary on the US Beer Market 2009 results and 2010 thoughts...

I’d thought I’d share some thoughts on the US beer market based on the 2009 results (starting to be published broadly) and my own insights calling on the distributors and retailers at Pelican Brands representing  Singha Beer.

First, the 2009 beer market was characterized by tough trading conditions overall, consumers trading down from a number of [...]

Pelican Brands and Singha Beer - Now managing 50 U.S. States

Our first major brand, Singha Beer from the Boon Rawd brewary is fantastic. I have been eating in Thai restaurants for 25 years and enjoyed Singha all along. The beer is perfectly matched to food. The brewery named us Brand Manager earlier in 2009 and in January 2010 we took over for all 50 U.S. [...]

I was saddened to hear Fred Joseph passed away

I met Fred through my high school friend Scott Isherwood who worked with Fred for many years. Scott graduated 2 years earlier than me from Bayshore High School in Bradenton, FL and went on to Dartmouth. I followed to the north to Cornell two years later. We stayed in touch over the [...]

Wine 2.0 New York was terrific! Catch the overview here!

This is the first footage from Wine 2.0 packaged up to give a flavor for the event.  Overall a great success and positive feedback from our wineries, trade and consumers! More to come!

Wine 2.0™ Announces Presenting Wineries And Partners In Wine 2.0 Expo New York @Webster Hall Presented By Wine Tasting Network November 18th

Event Showcases World Class Wines and Leading Edge Technology To Learn About and Interact With The Wines You Love

New York, NY (NEWSWIRE) November 16, 2009 – Wine 2.0, the innovator in social networking and events in the wine industry, announced a selection of the presenting Wine 2.0 wineries for its upcoming Wine 2.0 [...]

The Fall Season Shapes Up: Thoughts on online and offline Wine market...

My friend Liza has a nice piece in Winebusiness.com today on the Fall selling season.  Reports from Nielsen, Bill Cascio at Glazer’s, Wilford Wong at Beverages and more! all point toward improvement over last year, though value driving business.

Yesterday, another Wine 2.0 friend, John Corcoran’s blog “Think Wine Marketing” had a well [...]

New York Wine industry booming

I just saw this report which points out what many of us have known for some time, that NY has a thriving wine industry. I thought it worth highlighting as we have a handful of NY based wine companies (some producers, some importers) joining our many other fantastic wines from CA and around the world [...]

Smoke Wallin, Wine 2.0 Chairman Interview with Carla De Luca on new film: ‘AMERICAS WINE: THE LEGACY OF PROHIBITION’

J. Smoke Wallin, Chairman of Wine 2.0, had the opportunity to interview filmmaker Carla De Luca Worfolk, Director, EP/Producer, and Writer of an amazing new wine film. Carla is an Emmy award-winning television and documentary producer. Her new DOCUMENTRY FILM ‘AMERICA’S WINE: THE LEGACY OF PROHIBITION’ is an amazing look at the history of the [...]