Few spirits brands cater to the entrepreneurial spirit like the Bardstown Bourbon Company. In a category that generally requires a massive investment on the part of a founder to launch a brand, Bardstown's unique model has found a way to lower the barrier of entry into the whiskey for aspiring entrepreneurs. And while almost every spirits brand will claim to incorporate tradition and innovation, you'd be hard-pressed to find a company that balances these two principles like Bardstown Bourbon.

The Park Street Insider Podcast welcomes Mark Erwin, the CEO of Bardstown Bourbon Company, for an in-depth conversation on the development of the Kentucky-based distillery. He and Andres Correa will discuss how the brand initially developed its collaborative distilling model and grew it into a platform that could support the needs of its partners while growing its own brand. The two map out the series of expansion plays the company made over its decade in business, including the investment from Constellation Brands and its acquisition of Green River Distillery.

Key Topics

• The importance of collaboration

From working closely with founders and distillers producing custom-made spirits to partnering with well-known beverage-alcohol brands to introduce unique products into their line of SKUs, Bardstown is a company that's success has been found by reaching into the community around them.

• How to scale and increase capacity

Throughout its history, Bardstown has made several strategic moves that have allowed it to increase capacity and scale its business. Learn about how they leveraged their founder's initial investment into additional funding and why the purchase of Green River Distilling supported many sides of their business.

• The value of transparency

From it's all-glass infrastructure to selling its competitor's spirits in their own retail shop, Bardstown;s investment in transparency has made them a compelling brand for consumers and industry members alike to engage with.

Featured Guest:

Mark Erwin, CEO, Bardstown Bourbon Company

Mentioned in this episode:

Bardstown Bourbon Company
Green River Distilling
Constellation Brands

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E-commerce in beverage alcohol has historically lagged behind traditional CPG sectors, but thanks to the pandemic and the gradual loosening DTC shipping laws, we're seeing this channel assume a meaningful share of alcohol sales for the first time.

In this episode, the Park Street Insider Podcast welcomes ReserveBar CEO, Derek Correia. He and Emily Pennington evaluate how bev-alc e-commerce has progressed to where it is today, how ReserveBar was able to scale its business to sit at the center of online bev-alc sales, and how brands can build e-commerce into their strategy. They also explore key insights regarding how consumers behave online and the spirits categories/price tiers that are currently trending.

Key topics mentioned:

• What will the future of bev-alc e-commerce look like?

Millennial and Gen-Z consumers have an increasing interest in buying alcohol online. Correia posits the concept of "e-commerce everywhere" and offers a profile of how the modern shopper behaves. Doing an on-site brand activation? Derek sees a world where the time between a consumer trying a product and subsequently purchasing it online shrinks to a matter of seconds. He and Emily discuss how e-commerce is set to influence industry dynamics down the road.

• What does Uber dissolving Drizly mean for bev-alc e-commerce?

With Uber shutting down Drizly at the beginning of 2024, questions were raised about what the future of the sector would look like. Correia offers his thoughts on how this move alters the bev-alc e-commerce landscape. ReserveBar is attempting to fill the void for brands whose money was tied to the known depletions of Drizly. "Brands don't enjoy the same ability to influence purchase in that last mile digitally as all other CPG does, so platforms like ours have become very important"

• What strategies can brands use to implement e-commerce capabilities?

Correia gives his best practices for using an online presence to leverage sales. He emphasizes the importance of building out a frictionless path to purchase across all online consumer touchpoints. He also offers his take on the mistakes he sees brands making when constructing their e-commerce presence.

In this episode you'll hear from:

Derek Correia, CEO, ReserveBar

Mentioned in this episode:

ReserveBar
Minibar Delivery
GetStocked

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Brand building in the spirits industry is always context dependent. What might drive sales in one market may have little relevance in another. The result is a necessity for brand's to understand the performance drivers, consumption habits and key trends in their target markets and channels.

On this special crossover episode, Chris Maffeo, host of the Maffeo Drinks Podcast, joins the Park Street Insider Podcast's Emmett Strack for a wide ranging chat on the key consumer trends propping up the U.S. and EU markets in 2024. The two explore the categories in demand in both sectors, the consumer behaviors driving purchasing in 2024 and considerations with brands to align with them.

In many ways, the compatibility between the U.S. and EU beverage-alcohol markets has never been stronger. With the U.S. on-premise at the frontier of the global cocktail scene, bars in major European cities are taking their cues from leading programs in New York, LA, and Miami. At the same time U.S. consumer's hunt for authenticity and new flavor profiles have made European spirits an object of desire. Emmett and Chris explore how key industry trends resonate with both the U.S. and EU markets.

Key topics mentioned:

The Intersection of Category and Flavor

• Emmett and Chris explore the key drivers of consumption for the average consumer in 2024. They dive into why SKU innovations along the lines of flavor are making it more likely than ever for consumers to drink across categories.

U.S. vs EU On-Premise Trends

• Four years on from the start of the pandemic, what's the pulse of the on-premise? The two explore the visitation levels and cocktail trends the industry can expect in the coming year from both U.S. and EU perspectives. They chat about the influence of the U.S. when informing the direction taken by the EU bar scene.

Categories on the Rise

• Emmett and Chris compare the different phases of adoption agave spirits have reached in the U.S. and EU. They'll explore the spirits categories set to gain the most traction between the two regions in the coming year.

In this episode you'll hear from:

Chris Maffeo, Founder, Maffeo Drinks

Mentioned in this episode:

The MAFFEO DRINKS Podcast

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