Q&A: Steven Pauwels of Boulevard Brewing

CBB // Through the COVID-19 era, we’ve seen an interesting dynamic, especially with larger legacy craft brewers where brands that were not necessarily growing have now found a new life. Does that square with what you’ve seen in Boulevard’s core brands? And what does that mean for the brewery?

[PAYWALL]

SP // Yes, we saw the same thing. We saw it mainly in our staples—basically Unfiltered Wheat, Pale Ale, Space Camper, Tank 7— all the beers that we have in big box stores and in big packages. For us, it’s 20-packs, and all of a sudden we saw a big increase. I think people just ran into stores and said, “Okay, I’ve got to get out of here as soon as possible. I know these brands. Let’s do it, let’s go and get it.” We launched a beer at that time also, and we basically decided to discontinue it because no one had a chance to go and taste it. There was no chance to go and taste it in bars. And it was in stores, but people were like, “I don’t know that. I don’t have time to look around and decide what I want to do. I’m just going to go in and pick up what I want.”

CBB // It’s interesting that it’s not aligned by style, per se, and that Tank 7—as a farmhouse ale—has seen the same effect that Pale Ale has seen, which is seeing the same effect that Unfiltered Wheat has seen. It simply boils down then to what you were producing in larger packages?

SP // Exactly. For us it was. Even though Tank 7 is a four-pack of 16-ounce cans, it’s a brand that people know. People are moving fast while shopping—that’s what we attributed it to.

CBB // How has that continued? Obviously, there was an immediate effect in March, April, and May. But now that you also have June, July, and August under your belt, are you seeing that trend continue or are you seeing it soften? And are you now seeing more consumer demand for new products again?

SP // To be honest, I have not looked at the numbers recently. I’ve been busy making a lot of seltzer. But from what I can tell from June and so on, it’s definitely continuing. In our case, a lot of the seasonals and the innovation that we were going to put on the market got held back because usually they go hand-in-hand with a bottle, can, or draft release, and all these draft releases were stacking up. So we’ve had to push some of those back. I really don’t know what the impact is on new development and whether people are open for it or not.

CBB // You still, through this, have released some smaller projects, particularly collaborations with other craft brewers. How have you made the decision from a company standpoint as to which of these innovative programs to move forward with and what to put on hold?

SP // A lot of it had to do with how much of that release was draft because we knew draft was not going to go anywhere. So if it was a package-only beer then we said, “Okay, it’s a collaborations package only.”

CBB // Let’s talk about seltzer since you brought it up. You launched Quirk hard seltzer in May, mid-pandemic, and have been growing the brand through the pandemic. How impactful is it, in terms of how much you’re brewing and how much it has become a part of the brewery’s production?

SP // We launched it in six-packs, because we said, “We’re not going to do mixed- packs. We’re going to launch each of the different brands in six-packs and see how they do.” Quickly, it became clear to us that one was a winner compared to the other ones. And then the demand from our wholesalers and our retailers and our consumers was to make a mixed- pack—six of one of the brands and then three cans of each of the other ones. The one that outsold the others 2:1 is the one with six cans in the mixed-pack. When we made those mixed-packs, the initial request was to make about 30,000 or so cases. In the end, it grew to 60,000 cases—30 truckloads, is how I look at it. Really, if you think about it, it’s just an insane amount for us. And they’re all sold. We have some still in our warehouse, but we’re getting to the second wave of that, and we just put it on the market three weeks ago.

Why is it going like this? I think, one, it’s cans-only, so it’s not on draft. From that perspective, you don’t have to rely on the on-premise again. Two, it’s [a] heavy social-media-using crowd. I’m not on social media; I just have one that I use. But I just look at it, and the likes that I see for beer are like a couple hundred. And then when I look at the ones when we do something with Quirk, it’s over 1,000. So it’s the perfect way, I guess, for that kind of person who really is looking for it.

We’re looking at what it’s going to be for next year, and I think seltzer for us is probably going to be brand No. 3. That’s how big we see it becoming. And that’s only in the Midwest. We don’t sell it outside the Midwest.

CBB // Do you foresee a dip in demand through the winter season due to seasonality? There are a lot of question marks out there. Forecasting for this is becoming a difficult thing for breweries to do.

SP // We don’t have any experience. We know what other producers do, and they seem to see no drop at all in sales. But that’s, of course, Year One to Two. We’re now in probably Year Three of seltzers, so who knows? The beauty about these things is that they have a long shelf life. They’re pretty bulletproof. They’re not beer—there aren’t any proteins, there are polyphenols in some of them, but there’s not a lot of stuff that can age. So that’s the beauty about these things—you can make them in advance, or somewhat in advance, and stock up during low season just to make sure you make it to summer.

CBB // How long do you label it for shelf life?

SP // We do a year and a half. So far we’ve been tasting, and even the test batches that we made late last year didn’t seem to change too much.

CBB // That’s incredible, and a great thing for breweries to even out some of the short-term risk of overstocking.

SP // Absolutely.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.