Liquid Assets: A Beverage Industry Podcast
102 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 122 ratingsRabobank’s global beverage team offers insights, analysis, and a bit of entertainment for your morning commute. Liquid Assets will help you tackle the latest trends, introduce you to industry leaders, and prepare you for what’s next in the beverage world.
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Episodes
Beer, Hard Seltzer, and One Crazy Year — featuring Lester Jones
March 11, 2021 11:00 - 42 minutes - 60.4 MBOn March 11, 2020, the WHO officially designated the Covid-19 crisis a pandemic. One year later, we’ve asked NBWA chief economist Lester Jones to help us reflect on how beer – or should we say hard seltzer – consumption has changed and ask for an update on the recovery of bars and restaurants. Lastly, we have a lively debate about the most important trends facing America’s beer distributors: hard seltzer, RTDs, and digital transformation.
SPACial Report: Pat Roney on the Vintage Wine Estates Merger
February 19, 2021 12:28 - 36 minutes - 49.9 MBOur guest this week is Pat Roney, CEO and Founding Partner of Vintage Wine Estates. Pat’s company is going to merge with Bespoke Capital Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The USD 690m deal may not be the biggest we see in 2021, but it is super important and could set off a new trend in M&A, with massive repercussions for the wider beverage industry. For more on the latest trends in the wine and spirits industry, check out Rabobank’s latest Wine Quarterly report:...
The 2021 Economic Outlook
January 25, 2021 11:00 - 39 minutes - 56.5 MBFollowing a tough year, 2021 hasn’t had the most auspicious beginning. Will things improve? To better understand the economic outlook for the year ahead, we invited Rabobank’s Senior Markets Analyst, Christian Lawrence, and Rabobank’s Head of FX Strategy, Jane Foley, to discuss markets, the economy, and what a new US administration could mean for beverage companies.
An Episode Not About Covid-19
December 22, 2020 12:00 - 36 minutes - 52.7 MBLuckily for you, our last episode of 2020 is totally Covid-free. No mention of 'unprecedented times,' 'uncertainty,' or 'trying times,' and definitely no use of the phrase 'the new normal.' Steve, Jim, and Bourcard break down three stories that caught their attention and are (mostly) not Covid-19 related: Bang! and PepsiCo’s tumultuous first year of marriage, the growing investments in alcohol e-commerce, and what beverage M&A trends tell us about how companies are thinking about innovation.
Can Bars and Restaurants Recover by 2022? (featuring the Consumer Foods To Go podcast)
November 30, 2020 09:00 - 44 minutes - 61.7 MBThis week we partnered with our sister podcast, Consumer Foods To Go, to discuss how bars, restaurants, and manufacturers have survived Covid-19 thus far and how quickly they can recover (fingers crossed) once the pandemic is over. Listeners of Liquid Assets will love the work done by the team at Consumer Foods To Go. If you are interested in trends in retail, foodservice, or packaged foods, you can subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app.
Seedlip and the World of Non-Alcoholic Cocktails
November 04, 2020 12:00 - 46 minutes - 66.5 MBWe tour the world of non-alcoholic spirits and cocktails through the eyes of the people who built its most recognizable and pioneering brands. Ben Branson, CEO and founder of Seedlip, and Claire Warner, co-founder of Aecorn, discuss their brands, how the industry should approach the non-alcoholic spirits category, and their partnership with Diageo.
Covid-19 Couldn’t Kill Coffee
October 14, 2020 11:00 - 39 minutes - 57.4 MBA few months back, the outlook for specialty coffee was dire. Industry leaders feared that more than half of the coffee shops in the US would permanently close. To our delight and surprise, small coffee shops and roasters have proved far more resilient. Peter Giuliano, Chief Research Officer for the Specialty Coffee Association, shares how coffee shops have pivoted and become more digital and community-focused to not only survive but thrive in the current environment. We also discuss how the...
The Race for White Space
September 24, 2020 16:52 - 43 minutes - 62.4 MBThirsty for growth, beverage companies are shrugging off the yoke of tradition in search of greener pastures. Whether invading adjacent categories or creating new ones, big companies are pouring investment into new spaces where their skills and distribution offer them a distinct advantage. In this episode, we take a look at these ‘white spaces’ from four different angles.
Social Commerce: The Basics With Rachel Tipograph
September 02, 2020 10:00 - 37 minutes - 54.5 MBSocial media is starting to blur the lines between marketing and e-commerce. Rachel Tipograph, a leader in the digital marketing world and CEO of MikMak, helps us breakdown the basics: what social commerce is, why it's important to your business, and how you can use it to grow your brands.
News Roundup: Earnings, Innovation, and Building a Long-Term Plan
August 20, 2020 11:00 - 43 minutes - 62.3 MBLiquid Assets gets newsy! Instead of covering one topic this week, we help you catch up on some of the biggest news from recent weeks – accompanied by our expert commentary, of course. Later, we spend some time with Rabobank senior analyst Sudip Sinha on his playbook for capturing attention and sales from consumers stuck at home.
Pubs in the UK: What to Expect as Things Reopen
July 21, 2020 11:00 - 40 minutes - 58.7 MBJust days before pubs were set to reopen in the UK, we caught up with Steve Alton from the British Institute of Innkeeping. As CEO of the leading membership organization supporting on-trade establishments in the UK, Steve has a unique perspective on the well-being of the UK pub scene and how it is changing as a consequence of Covid-19. We talk about the role of the pub, digital transformations in hospitality, the impact on big beer vs. craft, and more. It’s bigger than just a UK story and wi...
The Future of Distribution with RNDC's Tom Cole
July 02, 2020 11:00 - 40 minutes - 58.2 MBTom Cole is CEO of RNDC, one of the largest distributors in the United States. Tom came on the show to discuss how his company is helping bars and restaurants navigate the reopening process, how distributors are supporting growth of e-commerce, and the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the wholesaler business (hint: more consolidation). This episode was recorded on June 17th.
Can You Do Well... Without Doing Good?
June 17, 2020 13:29 - 38 minutes - 52.3 MBHistorically, companies could choose between two things: making lots of money or making the world a better place. Our guest, a leading voice in the world of marketing for over two decades, would argue that the opposite is true. If you want your business to do well, then you've got to do good – not just talk about it. We are seeing an example of this play out in real time. People around the world are pushing back against systemic racism. Consumers are demanding companies and brands do more th...
Beyond the Numbers With Nielsen’s Danny Brager
June 03, 2020 14:06 - 47 minutes - 68.4 MBThe data provided by Nielsen is a critical asset for the beverage industry, helping leaders understand and plan around the impacts of the current crisis. Our guest, Danny Brager, is SVP of Nielsen’s US Beverage Alcohol Practice. In this episode, Danny takes us beyond the headline numbers to answer some pressing questions about the recent dynamics of consumer behavior and how past recessions have impacted consumption, and he offers a framework for how he is looking at the future. Note: This...
Will Covid-19 Crisis Crush Craft Beer?
April 30, 2020 19:44 - 50 minutes - 70.3 MBA recent survey of US craft brewers suggests that 60% of US craft breweries will close if severe social distancing guidelines aren’t lifted by June. As chief economist for the Brewers Association, Bart Watson (Dr. Watson, actually) was one of the people who produced that survey. With help from Bart, we take the pulse of the craft beer business and discuss whether we will recognize it after the Covid-19 crisis is over.
The Covid-19 Economy: How Bad Is It?
April 22, 2020 12:53 - 45 minutes - 64.9 MBWhat will US and global GDP growth look like in 2020? What will the recovery from the current recession look like? What indicators should we be watching to know if things are getting better or worse? Rabobank’s fantastic Markets Strategist, Christian Lawrence, sits down to answer these questions and more as we discuss the macroeconomic impacts of Covid-19. This episode was recorded on April 17 and features Rabobank’s Senior Market Strategist Christian Lawrence, Senior Beverage Analyst Jim W...
Covid-19: How Each Region Is Dealing With the Crisis
March 24, 2020 20:10 - 43 minutes - 60.7 MBWith the Covid-19 pandemic disrupting every aspect of daily life and business around the globe, we turned to our international team (Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America) for a briefing on how Covid-19 is impacting consumers and businesses in their regions and what steps governments are taking to control its spread. We recorded this episode early morning on Monday March 23rd.
What Is Driving M&A in the Wine Industry?
March 03, 2020 12:00 - 36 minutes - 52.8 MBFor the third and final episode recorded onsite during the Unified Wine Symposium, we were lucky enough to sit down with the one and only Mario Zeponni to discuss all things related to wine M&A. There’s probably no one better to talk about the M&A scene in the California.
What a Tough Bulk Market Means for US Wine
February 26, 2020 12:00 - 23 minutes - 34.8 MBFew people know the bulk wine market better than Glenn Proctor. Glenn is a partner at Ciatti, a global bulk wine brokerage firm. We bumped into Glenn at the Unified Wine Symposium in Sacramento and convinced him to sit down for an impromptu podcast recording on how the bulk wine market is affecting both growers and wineries – and how some companies are taking advantage of the current low-cost environment to innovate, build relationships, and create new brands.
Can US Wine Win Back Its Mojo?
February 18, 2020 13:45 - 36 minutes - 52.2 MBWith help from the wine industry legend, Dr. Mike Veseth, we debate how the US wine industry can overcome recent challenges and return to growth. Mike is an author, academic, lecturer, and editor of the popular blog, The Wine Economist. This is the first of three episodes we recorded on-site at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium and features Rabobank’s Global Strategist Stephen Rannekleiv and Analyst Bourcard Nesin
E-Commerce Strategy With Constellation Brands: Part II
January 21, 2020 12:00 - 36 minutes - 52.5 MBWayne Duan and Ben Galvin from Constellation Brands return for the second episode in our two-part series on e-commerce. This time around, we look at the future of e-commerce in the alcohol industry – and how brands can take an active role in shaping what the industry will look like in 2025.
E-Commerce Strategy With Constellation Brands: Part I
January 20, 2020 15:19 - 56 minutes - 79.9 MBWayne Duan and Ben Galvin help lead Constellation Brand’s digital strategy. In this episode – the first in a two-part series – Wayne and Ben share their thoughts as we breakdown the biggest trends in alcohol e-commerce and discuss the most urgent challenges the alcohol industry faces in the digital world.
E-commerce Strategy with Constellation Brands: Part I
January 14, 2020 13:11 - 56 minutes - 79.9 MBWayne Duan and Ben Galvin help lead Constellation Brand’s digital strategy. In this episode – the first in a two-part series – Wayne and Ben share their thoughts as we breakdown the biggest trends in alcohol e-commerce and discuss the most urgent challenges the alcohol industry faces in the digital world.
A 2020 Recession: How to Prepare for a Downturn
December 20, 2019 06:00 - 51 minutes - 73 MBRabobank’s team of economists says there is an 80% chance of a recession in 2020. For our last episode of 2019, we sat down with our Senior Market Strategist, Christian Lawrence, to talk about the economic outlook for 2020. Then we discuss what a downturn could mean for consumer behavior, investor behavior, and, ultimately, food & beverage companies. Recorded: December 10, 2019 This episode features Senior Market Strategist Christian Lawrence, Global Beverage Strategist Stephen Rannekle...
Deal and No Deal: Beverage M&A in 2019
December 03, 2019 12:00 - 43 minutes - 61.8 MBIt’s been a big year for M&A in the beverage alcohol industry. In this episode, we review the most important deals of 2019: the big, the small, and the unexpected. From the surge of craft-beer and spirits acquisitions to blockbuster, billion-dollar deals, we tell you what happened, how it affects your business, and what it means for the future of the industry. Please note: this episode was recorded on Nov. 22nd 2019. This episode features Rabobank’s global beverage strategist Stephen Ranne...
Eric Ottaway and Brooklyn Brew Up Something Special
November 06, 2019 12:38 - 59 minutes - 83.9 MBBrooklyn Brewery has just launched their first non-alcoholic beer in the US, called Special Effects, after its resounding success in Europe. Non-alc beer may often be seen as an alternative to traditional beer, but our guest, Brooklyn CEO Eric Ottaway, insists that Special Effects offers incremental sales, bringing “more places, more occasions, and more people” into the beer category. In the US, non-alc beer sales are tiny but growing quickly, and despite large brewers reportedly prioritizin...
Hard Seltzer Storms the Light-Beer Fortress
October 15, 2019 11:00 - 32 minutes - 47.7 MBHard seltzer brands like White Claw and Truly have stormed onto the scene, injecting growth, excitement, and more than a little anxiety into the struggling US beer industry. Light and bubbly, and imminently 'sessionable,' hard seltzer has become a category unto itself. Its viral popularity offers big brewers an opportunity to draw female consumers away from the wine & spirits category – something they’ve struggled to achieve for decades. But, in order to do so, they face an unfamiliar challe...
¡Viva la Revolución! Coffee Drinkers Take to the Streets
September 18, 2019 11:00 - 32 minutes - 47.5 MBAll around the world, the growth of out-of-home coffee consumption has attracted a wave of investment from coffee players and non-coffee players alike. Coffee companies are facing new competition from all sides. Startups like Luckin’ are using tech and delivery to take new business models from zero to V60 in no time flat. Quick-service restaurants, supermarkets, and convenience stores are using coffee to attract new consumers throughout the day – often at the expense of established players. ...
Joining Forces: How ZX and Kombrewcha Work Together
August 20, 2019 12:46 - 42 minutes - 61.4 MBKombrewcha, a hard kombucha company, joined the ZX Ventures portfolio in 2016. Kombucha is now a billion-dollar global industry. And while the famously tart, probiotic beverage has naturally occurring alcohol, Kombrewcha (4.4% ABV) was the first brand to take things one step further and introduce hard kombucha to the alcohol space. In this episode, Liz Tomic from ZX Ventures makes an encore performance alongside Kombrewcha CEO, Garret Bredenkamp, to explain how they work together to perfect ...
ZX Ventures: Inside AB InBev’s Growth and Innovation Group
August 13, 2019 11:00 - 33 minutes - 49.3 MBZX Ventures is AB InBev’s global growth and innovation group. They are best known as a corporate venture fund, boasting an impressive and far-reaching portfolio that includes Swish Beverages (Babe Wine), Hiball Energy, RateBeer, Master of Malt, and Tripel Karmeliet, among others. But ZX Ventures is much more than a corporate VC. Their 1,500-person team is tackling everything from e-commerce and brand experience to international craft. In this episode, Liz Tomic, Global Director of ZX Venture...
The Triple Bottom-Line With Jackson Family Wines
July 24, 2019 11:10 - 20 minutes - 30.4 MBJackson Family Wines has achieved a 33% drop in greenhouse gas emissions and a 60% reduction in the water required to produce a bottle of wine over the last decade. In February, the company, together with Familia Torres, announced a new working group, International Wineries for Climate Action, with a mission to decarbonize the wine industry. On this episode, Katie Jackson and Julien Gevreau from Jackson Family Wines share their bold vision for a more sustainable wine industry and the progres...
Lessons in Craft M&A with Pernod and Park Street
June 25, 2019 11:55 - 53 minutes - 75.9 MBThis week, two fantastic guests help us understand the drivers of M&A in craft spirits and what both founders and investors must do to create a successful long-term partnership. We highlight best practices – and potential pitfalls – in executing an acquisition. Nick Papanicolaou, VP at Pernod Ricard’s New Brand Ventures division, offers buyer insights. He helped execute investments in Smooth Ambler Spirits, mescal brand Del Maguey and, most recently, Rabbit Hole Distilling. Emily Penning...
Low-End Brands: Buy, Sell, or Hold?
May 23, 2019 10:30 - 34 minutes - 48.1 MBBack in November, Diageo sold 19 low-end brands – what they called 'non-priority' brands – to Sazerac for USD 550m. Then last month, Constellation Brands sold 30 of its own wine and spirits brands to E&J Gallo for USD 1.7bn. These transactions share a lot of similarities – both involve public companies selling low-end assets to a privately held competitor. Could this kind of shake-out of the bottom shelf become a trend – not only for alcohol, but for the entire beverage category? Today's e...
Can CBD Live up to the Hype?
April 24, 2019 11:00 - 32 minutes - 45.3 MBCBD is the most exciting and perhaps controversial new ingredient in decades. Despite a government crackdown on illegal sales, consumers are clamoring for CBD-infused products. On this week’s episode, we explore what is driving demand for CBD, and we lay out the best- and worst-case scenarios for the development of the CBD market. This episode features a full house for the first time since December: Global Strategist Stephen Rannekleiv, Senior Analyst Jim Watson, and Labradoodle Analyst Bo...
Sustainable Innovation With FoodBytes!
March 25, 2019 12:00 - 30 minutes - 44.5 MBNimble, fast-to-market, passionate, and ready to drive positive change, startups are disrupting every aspect of the food & beverage industry. Small companies represent an endless resource for innovative ideas that can help established brands adopt new technology and reconnect with consumers. The question is not should you work with smaller companies, but how? Nina Meijers and Anne Greven are trying to answer that question. They manage FoodBytes!, a global pitch competition where innovative...
E-Commerce Comes to Alcohol Distribution
February 26, 2019 12:00 - 33 minutes - 46.3 MBThis week, we welcome two guests from Chicago-based startup Provi to discuss ways in which e-commerce could change the distribution of alcohol. Open e-commerce platforms like Amazon have reshaped the consumer shopping experience, but the concept of an open marketplace like Provi is new in the USD 160bn world of beverage alcohol distribution. Provi VP Nathan Mansperger and Founder & CEO Taylor Katzmann help us explore how the broader shift towards digitization could impact marketing, data, an...
The Biggest Trends in 2019 – With Wall Street Journal Reporter Jennifer Maloney
February 05, 2019 12:00 - 36 minutes - 52.4 MBThe Wall Street Journal’s beverage reporter, Jennifer Maloney, helps the Rabobank team unpack a busy 2018 and predict the most important trends for 2019. In this fiery episode, everyone gets to choose one major story from 2018... then the group debate how it will impact the future of the beverage industry. At the end of the episode, we vote for our 'Story of the Year.' Will it be cannabis and Constellation Brand’s USD 3.9bn investment in Canopy Growth, or will it be e-commerce, soft drinks c...
Ready-to-Drink, Ready-to-Grow: How Rise Brewing Wants to Reboot Coffee
January 17, 2019 12:00 - 25 minutes - 35.1 MBReady-to-drink coffee has changed the way coffee companies can connect with consumers. Rather than brewing at home and waiting in line at a coffee shop, people can now buy coffee the same way they buy soda or energy drinks, unlocking enormous growth opportunities for the industry. The US RTD coffee market is worth around USD 4bn, and our analysts believe it could double in the next five to seven years. Our guests on this episode come from Rise Brewing Co., one of the fastest-growing, most in...
The Secret of El Silencio’s Success: Hell’s Angels and Molotov Cocktails
December 21, 2018 10:42 - 23 minutes - 34.4 MBFausto Zapata is Co-Founder and CEO of El Silencio- one of the largest and fastest-growing ultra-premium mezcal brands in the United States. Since starting the brand in 2013, Fausto and his team of master storytellers have overcome fierce competition by using innovative, experiential marketing campaigns, infused with art, and driven by creative ethos. In this episode, Fausto sits down with the Rabobank Beverage team to discuss the secrets of his success and the wild ideas that are propelling...
How BrewDog and Naked Wines Stand out in a Crowded Market
December 04, 2018 15:59 - 23 minutes - 32.6 MBThe beverage market is more crowded and fragmented than ever, and building a long term relationship with consumers can feel, well, impossible. In this episode we explore two companies that beat the competition and built a dedicated consumer base doing something innovative: let people buy-in to their business… literally.
Premium Coffee Is Key To Small Farmer Sustainability
November 15, 2018 11:30 - 28 minutes - 39.3 MBDespite producing 80% of the world’s coffee, smallholder coffee farmers are struggling to survive. Smallholders are key to coffee sustainability and a core component of the third wave coffee movement and premiumization. How can the industry help smallholders improve yields and coffee quality? And then how does that benefit larger roasters and traders? To answer these questions, we recruited Isabel van Bemmelen, managing director of the Progreso Foundation, to discuss smallholders, big roaste...
Mixed Drinks and Creative Juices
October 11, 2018 11:50 - 28 minutes - 40.3 MBWhat’s going on in the beverage world? Our coffee comes in a can, our seltzer is spiked, and our beer is aged in whiskey barrels. Consumers are fervently demanding more products that blur category lines. If beverage companies want a piece of the pie, they need to re-evaluate their historical product portfolio, their structure, and their strategy for product development.
Digital Strategy with Constellation Brands: Part 2
September 12, 2018 12:35 - 26 minutes - 36.9 MBIn part two of our recording with Wayne Duan, VP of ecommerce with Constellation Brands, we dive head-first into the deep-end of digital strategy. What is search engine optimization and how can beverage companies make SEO work for them? How can small organizations thrive in a world of big data? And how can marketing teams and product development teams use data to supercharge performance? We answer all this and more in this week’s episode. In addition to our fantastic guest, this episode fe...
Digital Strategy with Constellation Brands: Part 1
September 05, 2018 11:49 - 32 minutes - 45.1 MBHow should alcohol companies approach the e-commerce challenge? Wayne Duan, VP of ecommerce at Constellation Brands, joins us for back-to-back episodes to discuss digital commerce and the lessons he’s learned as an executive at both a national retailer and a beverage alcohol supplier. In this week’s episode, the team digs into digitally influenced sales, content management and how to hire and build an ecommerce team from the ground-up. Warning: the phrase “hipster, hacker, hustler” is u...
US Beer Has a New Mainstream
August 22, 2018 11:00 - 20 minutes - 29.1 MBThe price of mainstream beer has been falling for decades, and consumers increasingly see brands like Bud Light and Coors Light as value brands. As these iconic brews decline (in price and volume), they leave a USD 7 billion hole in the US beer market. At the moment, this mutli-billion dollar whitespace is being filled by aspirational, light lager brands like Michelob Ultra, Corona, and Modelo, but these represent a fraction of this new segment’s potentional. Tune in to learn how macro-beer,...
LibDib and Innovation in the Three-Tier System
July 31, 2018 11:00 - 29 minutes - 44.2 MBCheryl Murphy Durzy is the founder and CEO of Liberation Distribution (LibDib) and she joins the RaboResearch Beverages team to discuss the future of the three-tier system. Cheryl started LibDib after years of frustration finding distributors for her family’s wine label. LibDib is a web-based distribution portal that ensures every “maker” in the US has access to distribution and brings suppliers and retailers closer together. In addition to discussing LibDib’s impact on the beverage alcohol ...
Spirited Away
July 05, 2018 12:16 - 20 minutes - 28.3 MBCraft spirits are an explosive trend across the world. The craft spirits movement is just starting to emerge, but in virtually every developed economy, there are more distilleries and more craft brands than ever before. Can craft spirits follow the path of craft beer and seize a huge share of the market from mainstream distillers? On this week's episode of Liquid Assets, the team explains why craft spirits will continue to grow, but won’t to be as disruptive to large distillers as craft be...
Global Beer Markets: Growing Without Growth
June 14, 2018 11:09 - 25 minutes - 35.8 MBRabobank’s resident beer guru Francois Sonneville and the rest of the team sit down to discuss the future of beer and how breweries can deliver for stakeholders and consumers in the face of stagnating volumes. This episode features: Stephen Rannekleiv, Global Strategist for Beverages; Francois Sonneville, Senior Beverage Analyst; Jim Watson, Senior Beverage Analyst; and Bourcard Nesin, Beverage Analyst.
Bonus Episode: Online Grocery Doesn't Deliver
June 05, 2018 11:49 - 19 minutes - 26.4 MBBy 2022, grocery retailers stand to lose USD 3.9bn in annual alcohol revenues if online sales continue to lag behind as the rest of grocery goes digital. In this bonus episode of Liquid Assets, the team dissects the future of beverage alcohol sales in supermarkets as consumers move their grocery spending online.
The Next Generation of Coffee
May 24, 2018 13:39 - 18 minutes - 25.7 MBWhere do you see the coffee industry in ten years? On this week’s Liquid Assets, the team tackles some difficult questions. Could bean-to-cup machines overtake pods and capsules in the next decade? Where does unbranded coffee belong in a world of branded beverages? NEWS UPDATE: Nestle and Starbucks reach a USD 7bn deal. What does this mean for the industry? This episode features: Stephen Rannekleiv, Global Strategist for Beverages; Jim Watson, Senior Beverage Analyst; and Bourcard Nesi...