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Fiddlehead Brewing's transformational growth since Covid is one-of-a-kind in craftland and still goin' strong in 2025. Volume is on pace to grow around 13%, 14K bbls to 122K bbls vs yr ago, founder Matt Cohen shared with CBN. That's approaching 100K bbls gained since 2019. Among craft brewers, only New Belgium and Athletic added more bbls in that time. So Fiddlehead is the #2 indie craft gainer going by Brewers Assn's standards, despite selling in just 10 full states plus part of MD, providing max 15 days of inventory on hand to distribs and mandating cold storage thruout the supply chain process. And it's growing in 29 outta 30 distribs this yr. Back in 2019, Fiddlehead was entirely sold on draft, managing to methodically rise to 26K bbls, Matt reminded. When Covid came around, co hadda buy back and "promptly dump" over $1 mil worth of draft beer that was in the mkt. Matt hadda make a call on whether they were gonna wait it out for the on premise to reopen or rapidly jump into cans. They chose the latter, "quickly pivoted" and managed to get into grocery sets, salvaging their year, growing revenue by 25% in 2020 vs 2019 even as volume grew just 8%. That laid the groundwork for major expansion in cans for the first time and a big brewhouse expansion. When co launched 12 pks of Fiddlehead IPA and added Second Fiddle double IPA, "that's when the big growth" hit, said Matt. Volume jumped from 28K bbls in 2020 to over 50K in 2021, 73K bbls in 2022, 90K bbls in 2023 and 108K bbls in 2024. Now on track for 122K bbls, Fiddlehead will be a top 20 craft brewer in the country.Draft Still 40% of Fiddlehead's Mix; Thinking In Numbers of Draft Handles Yet "we don't give up on draft," Matt stressed. Draft is still about 40% of Fiddlehead's mix, nearly 2X the size of Fiddlehead's draft biz pre-Covid. In a tuff on-prem environment, Fiddlehead draft is up 3% this yr, Matt noted. As brand awareness has grown, co's now able to "play in much larger venues" like Fenway Park in Boston, Citizens Bank ballpark in Philly, and larger concerts & fests.When asked about Fiddlehead's top mkts, Matt thinks in number of draft handles. For last 52 wks, Fiddlehead is at 555 draft handles in VT, covering a huge chunk of the state's accounts. But in MA, across 3 different distribs it has over 1400 handles, he shared. That's co's largest state. NY is now #2, and Matt shouted out DeCrescente Dist for extra strong draft presence, racking up over 600 handles in that territory. "They absolutely kill it," he underscored. Other parts of NY, including NYC, aren't as developed but that remains a big oppy in Matt's view. Same goes for much of the rest of its footprint too, including "a lot of potential" in Philly, where it has 350 draft handles, and NJ where co recently moved to AB network, he noted.Launching Mkts with Draft-Only Approach; MD with Buck Dist; Remaining Disciplined People often ask Matt "how did this happen?" and "how do you do this?" But "it's all about remaining disciplined and having a plan," he thought. "Not overloading your manufacturing as well as your distributor partners with too much noise," keeping an "oversimplified playbook" with "limited SKUs," and knowing where you stand within distrib and retail partners' books. When you're a "tiny part of their business&hellip;news flash, that means you're only entitled to a small portion of their time," he said, taking this methodical approach, learning from his days with Magic Hat. It's "an uphill battle" to "get discovered" in the off-premise these days. So Fiddlehead continues to place "more energy and effort into the on premise," he shared. "What we've found" is "there's a lot of real estate." Co just opened part of MD with Buck Dist, launching in 50 accounts draft-only for starters, using its playbook to identify key draft accounts, seed the brand with "the right amount of energy and right amount of time," and build organically from there.Affordability Key Since Day One; Lost Money on Distributed Kegs for 3 Yrs to Maintain Price Point Matt's ethos about maintaining an affordable price to consumers "started on day one," he shared. In 2012, he was dead set on maintaining $5 per pint price point in VT when first making the shift from self distribution to partnering with Farrell Dist. But after working out the costs of what Fiddlehead would charge Farrell per keg, he realized "I'm losing money on every keg to go out the door." But with experience of scaling Magic Hat in mind, Matt bet on Fiddlehead's ability to scale and reduce costs. "I knew the price was right to consumer," and "I needed to get there." He was losing money "for the first three years" in distribution but gaining money in the tasting room to offset that. Then, lo and behold, Matt and co started placing larger orders of hops and malt, and was able to flip Fiddlehead IPA into a profitable proposition across the supply chain, aiming to be an "affordable luxury, the best quality beer for the money."When pricing pressures arose coming out of the pandemic as inflation skyrocketed, and distribs wanted to take price, Fiddlehead chose to lower its price to distribs instead in order to maintain price to retailers and consumers. That's "how important it is to us," said Matt. Of course, pricing landscape has changed considerably since 2012 and varies by mkt. But goal is to keep 12pks under $19.99, and most mkts "are able to maintain that," he noted. If you "deliver great product at a great price&hellip;I don't care what industry" it's in, "you're going to be successful," he added.180K Bbls/Yr Capacity w/ Room to Run; Expanding South, If At All, but Gotta "Maintain" Parameters Fiddlehead has room to grow from here, Matt acknowledged. After spending $4 mil on equipment this yr, it's at 180K bbls/yr of capacity. In peak summer mos, the brewery's running pretty close to its peak, so co's upgrading from a 250 cans-per-min canning line to a 500 cpm Krones line to "keep up with the demand" on 12pks and increase efficiency. It owns more adjacent land and already acquired a permit to build another 30K sq-ft on it, "poised and ready" to do so if needed. Co bought a bunch of tanks for good deals thru recent Smuttynose facility auction and previously from Brooklyn Brewery, Matt added."If I were a little bit younger, I would be buying breweries all over the country to grow," Matt thought. But after just turning 50, that's not where his head's at, believing that the mkt will "tell me how far I'm going to sell beer." It's "gotta be fresh," stored and sold cold, at a maintained price point. "If we move [at all], we're moving south, but we have to maintain all those parameters" and "work with retailers and distributor partners that accept that." Yet "we're not giving up on the territory we&#39;re in," Matt emphasized. Co's "invested heavily" in its facility, sizable sales team, and increased support for each mkt. They're "patient," willing to keep taking "smaller bites" at the apple. But "[we] plan to finish that apple."

Fiddlehead to Surpass 120K Bbls This Yr; Up Nearly 100K Bbls Since Covid; Room to Run w/ Disciplined, Draft-First, Affordable, Tight, Cold-Stored Approach

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