Beer Marketer's Insights - Rhinegeist STRs Up 7% in 2024; Truth Family & Cincy Light Fueled Growth; Truth Bomb IPA Its Largest Launch Yet

OH's Rhinegeist Brewing posted standout growth in 2024, impressively bucking industry trends while maintaining its tight 9-state footprint and culling brands/SKUs in the process. Rhinegeist depletions rose 7.3%, CEO Adam Bankovich shared with CBN, suggesting shipments nearly reached 120K bbls in 2024 vs 2023. Its beer biz grew strong double-digits, driven by flagship Truth IPA depletions up 1%, Juicy Truth IPA up 13% and Cincy Light lager flyin' up 270%. In Nielsen scans, Rhinegeist beer $$ grew 18%. Trend was dragged by discontinued RG Bevs line which still made up 7% of Rhinegeist's all-channel volume in 2023, approximately 7,700 bbls. Yet revamped Rhinegeist Bubbles line had a solid reintroduction, achieving over 93% of RG Bevs volume in year one including 38.5% growth in Q4. Focus and prioritization are the key drivers of Rhinegeist's success, Adam underscored. Everyone in the industry talks about those buzzwords these days, he acknowledged, but "I do believe we've done a good job staying true" to that and "not getting in our own way," "not over-innovating" and "launching too many things" that end up "leapfrog[ging] priorities." Growth drivers in 2023 were the "same things" in 2024 and "the same things we're focused on" in 2025, Adam continued. Rhingeist didn't enter any new mkts in 2024 and both OH and KY grew, representing ~90% of co's total volume, he noted. While there will still be plenty of smaller one-offs in core mkts, Rhinegeist will "spend most of our marketing supporting" its core brands and priorities.Truth IPA 11th Yr of Growth; Juicy Truth Strong Year-2; Truth Bomb Imperial IPA Could Be Largest New Brand Yet Truth IPA family still makes up around 60% of Rhinegeist's biz. Flagship Truth IPA managed to grow for its 11th consecutive year, Adam highlighted. And after Juicy Truth IPA's strong launch in 2023, brand nearly reached 150K cases in its 2d year. It was "important" for co to not "innovate over the top of Juicy Truth," and "invest in year two," said Adam. Some incremental growth was baked in with the launch of 12pks, he acknowledged. But co didn't want to add more extensions to the Truth family until Juicy Truth established itself as a sustainable growth brand. To have both Truth IPA (+1%) and Juicy Truth (+13%) growing "speaks to the power of focus," said Adam. Now, the family is ready to add a 3d leg in 2025, Truth Bomb imperial IPA. That brand's already on track to become Rhinegeist's "largest new brand launch" in its history, Adam stated, starting with just 6pks, 19.2oz cans and draft. But "just like Juicy Truth," Rhinegeist aims to be "slow" and "methodical" with Truth Bomb, he assured. There's a lotta energy behind the whole Truth family again in 2025 with new campaign "Tried and Truth."Cincy Light Has Legs; Already #2 Brand by Volume; Available Across the Footprint Cincy Light lager had a "banner year," becoming Rhinegeist's #2 brand by volume, Adam shared. In NIQ, Cincy Light is already listed as #1 craft light lager in the country. Tho Adam acknowledged NIQ excludes some larger brands from that substyle (i.e. 10 Barrel Pub Lager), for Cincy Light to stand out nationally amid "hundreds of entrants in the space" speaks to its strength, he noted. Recall, Cincy Light's sold at domestic premium price, averaging ~$25/case in scans. Co's "bullish" on Cincy Light's ability to grow while speaking to "new customers" outside of core craft. There's opportunity to grow "beyond Cincinnati" too, he stated, and "if any of the 9 states want it, we can get it to them." But there's especially more oppy in the rest of OH, IN and KY, Adam and co believe. "Taking the authenticity" of Cincy Light lager and bringing that "new nostalgia to the campaign" makes it "easy" and "approachable," said Adam. Campaign is "Your New Ol' Reliable," supported by "Tastes Like Home."Adding Imperial Bubbles to the Bubbles Family While Bubbles accelerated in Q4, co's adding a new high-ABV play to the mix in 2025. Here comes Imperial Bubbles, launching primarily in 19.2s. As co builds out its 19.2oz can portfolio, adding a fruit-forward brew to the mix was an "obvious play," Adam stated. So after selling over 7K bbls of Bubbles in 2024, the brand fam's positioned for growth in 2025.Steve Fechheimer Joined as Advisor to Board of Directors Rhinegeist also bolstered its board of directors as it entered the new year. Ex-NBB ceo Steve Fechheimer joined as an advisor to Rhinegeist's board, Adam shared. This marks Steve's 2d industry board position announced since leaving NBB, also joining Jiant as an investor and board member. Rhinegeist reached out to Steve and "we're pretty honored he picked up our phone call," said Adam.

Rhinegeist STRs Up 7% in 2024; Truth Family & Cincy Light Fueled Growth; Truth Bomb IPA Its Largest Launch Yet

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