🏈 How DESTIHL is Gearing Up for College Football Season

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Normal, Illinois-based DESTIHL will roll out a pair of beers in support of 7University of Illinois Fighting Illini athletes as the college football season officially kicks off this weekend. Partnerships aren’t anything new for the craft brewery, which operates a robust contract brewing operation in addition to collaborations with the family of Evel Knievel and former pop stars Hanson. 

DESTIHL founder and CEO Matt Potts shares the opportunities these partnerships create in the latest edition of the Brewbound Insider exclusive A Round With Q&A. 

You announced a couple of partnerships around the University of Illinois athletics. One is a pair of collaboration beers with the ICON Collective, which supports Fighting Illini athletes through name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities. The other is a sponsorship with Illinois Athletics. What opportunities do those partnerships unlock for the brand?

Matt: These dual partnerships between DESTIHL and both Fighting Illini Athletics and ICON (for Fighting Illini student-athletes) are providing an awesome opportunity from a marketing and volume growth standpoint. Specifically, teaming up with the Fighting Illini and ICON introduces our brand beyond the traditional craft beer consumer market, wherein we have grown a lot since 2007, and into a new or at least bigger and broader audience of sports enthusiasts and University of Illinois supporters, fans and alums. 

Plus, Illinois has a huge fanbase, media network and number of alums around the country and over a million social media followers of Illinois Athletics alone that we can now reach more directly with our DESTIHL brand and our beers than we could otherwise. 

For the beers themselves, in order to appeal to the broader demographic of Illinois fans and craft beer lovers alike, we are producing two very different beer styles: A premium light lager called OSKEE LIGHT, and a West Coast-style IPA named ILL-IPA. Ideally these partnerships will also introduce Illinois fans, by extension, to our other growing beer brands as well, such as our award-winning DeadHead IPAs, Wild Sour Series, and other brands.  

And, as an added bonus, by working together with both U of I Athletics and ICON, we are also helping, in the way that we can, to forge the bond between Illinois Athletics and ICON’s NIL efforts for Fighting Illini student athletes, culminating into a winning athletic program for years to come.

Brewbound Insiders can read more from Potts on DESTIHL’s other partnerships, what he’s learned from them, the biggest challenge the brewery is facing and a surprising win. 

Brown-Forman – the maker of Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve and Herradura Tequila – recorded a -1% decline in net sales, to $1 billion, in Q1 2025 fueled by lower volumes of whiskey as well as the company’s recent Finlandia divestiture.

Meanwhile, Pernod Ricard posted a -1% net sales decline, to $12.8 million (€11.59 million) in FY 2024, saying it achieved “robust results” in a “normalizing spirits market,” the company shared during its own earnings call yesterday. 

Insiders can read more from both calls here.

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What legal issues should be on brewers’ radar? Nichole Shustack and Isabelle Cunningham from the bev-alcohol practice team at law firm Nutter, McClennen and Fish join the Brewbound Podcast to share what to watch out for this year and beyond.

The team discusses the impact of non-alcoholic brands crossing over into bev-alc, direct-to-consumer sales, potential regulations on adult non-alcoholic beverages and other state legal updates. 

Plus, the Brewbound team reconvenes to break down the latest headlines, including Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing’s efforts to raise money for a brewery platform, another sale of San Francisco’s Magnolia Brewing and BeatBox Beverages’ big deal with Shaquille O’Neal. 

Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform. 

The Brewbound team is hosting a free beer industry happy hour on Sunday, September 29 from 4 to 6 p.m. PT at The Church by The Lost Abbey in San Diego! Kick off NBWA with us in downtown San Diego with industry networking, Lost Abbey beers and light appetizers.

Industry professionals within the beer and beyond industries are invited to attend the free happy hour. Prior registration is required.

Here are the details:

Date: Sunday, September 29, 2024 

Time: 4–6 p.m. PT

Location: The Church by The Lost Abbey (1313 J St, San Diego, CA 92101)

Learn More + Register for Free >>

Headed to NBWA that week? The Brewbound Podcast hosts, Jess, Justin, and Zoe, will be recording podcast interviews on the show floor. Visit our Brewbound Podcast studio located in the Product Showcase area for a unique opportunity to connect with our Brewbound team in-person as they discuss the latest trends, industry insights, and interview key players in the world of brewing.

Want to schedule some time to chat during the show? Email us at [email protected].

Brewbound announced the addition of several new speakers for its Brewbound Live business conference December 11 and 12 in Marina del Rey, California.

The two-day conference will bring together leaders from all three tiers for business-focused conversations on driving the bev-alc industry forward, data presentations, networking and brand building at the Marina del Rey Marriott.

Joining the speaker roster are:

• Rebecca Maisel, Gulf Distributing SVP legal and government affairs;
• Lauren Doll-Sheeder, Doll Distributing managing partner;
• Jennifer Grant, Markstein Sales general manager and VP;
• Zech Francis, BeatBox Beverages SVP of global marketing;
• Rebecca Dye Yonushonis, New Belgium Brewing CMO;
• Lindsay Kunkle, Foresight Factory director, head of U.S. Consultancy.

They join a growing speaker roster that includes:

• Arthur Moye, owner and CEO of Full Circle Brewing;
• Kaleigh Theriault, director of thought leadership, beverage alcohol vertical, NIQ;
• Brian “BK” Krueger, VP of business development and portfolio strategies, Bump Williams Consulting;
• Natalie Cilurzo, co-owner, Russian River Brewing;
• Peter Skrbek, CEO, Deschutes Brewery;
• Lester Jones, chief economist and VP of analytics, National Beer Wholesalers Association;
• Jennifer Hauke, founder and president, Draftline Technologies.

Additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. Interested in speaking? Follow this link to see our speaker guidelines.

In addition to the mainstage programming and networking parties, Brewbound Live will feature opportunities for one-to-one conversations between brewers and bev-alc brands and retail buyers from chains such as Whole Foods Market and ExtraMile Convenience Stores. Registered attendees will be considered for meetings with buyers, as space is limited. Find out more details here.

Register for Brewbound Live >>

Brewbound Live is sponsored by John I. Haas, NIQ, Crafted ERP, Strike Visuals, Fast Track Packaging and Abstrax Hops.

The Brewbound team will be off Monday for some Labor Day R&R. We’ll be back Tuesday with the next daily newsletter. 

If you are craving some content, we’ll still have our Insider’s Week In Beer newsletter from GIF master Sean McNulty in your inboxes Saturday. 

We hope you enjoy your holiday!