Against all odds, most big brewers were able to grow their business and expand margins in 2022. Can they do it again in 2023, or will lagging cost pressures and backlash from recent price increases come back to bite them? The authors of Rabobank’s latest Beer Quarterly report share how brewers are working to control costs, boost revenues, and present their outlook on big-brewer balance sheets for the year ahead.

Click here to read Rabobank’s latest Beer Quarterly report: “Have Cost Increases Finally Stopped?”

At Liquid Assets, we take pride in avoiding “how-I-built-this” stories. But once in a while, a brand comes along whose path to success is so unique, so unexpected, that the best and most insightful question you can ask is: “How?” Beatbox Beverages is one of those companies. Cofounders Aimy Steadman (COO) and Brad Shultz (CMO) share the origins of the brand, how they stay connected to young 21+ consumers, how they leverage beer distributors to get more attention and find the right accounts, and why they talk sustainability to the trade and not consumers.

Economist power duo Jane Foley and Christian Lawrence return to discuss the most important economic trends heading into the new year and what a potential recession, persistent inflation, labor shortages, and a cost-of-living crisis for lower-income consumers could mean for the beverage industry. 

In a show packed with passionate debate, fierce competition, and even mutiny, journalist Kate Bernot (Good Beer Hunting, Craft Beer & Brewing magazine) and Brewbound Managing Editor Jess Infante help us process the most important stories from 2022. Kate and Jess also do a bit of a takeover, hosting the second annual Liquid Assets Quiz-of-the-Year. Happy holidays, everyone! Thanks for tuning in and supporting yet another year of the show!

Using recent industry headlines for inspiration, we break down three big questions on the minds of many beverage executives:

1. Could a change in investor mindset brought on by the collapse of cryptocurrencies be good for the beverage business?
2. What new brands and partnerships are working best at big beverage companies?
3. Has the hype surrounding marijuana and CBD finally burned out?

An energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine is devastating the European economy. There is a global shortage of diesel, the go-to fuel source for the trains, trucks, and ships that support economic activity around the world. And greenhouse gas emissions are rising as households, governments, and businesses scramble for affordable, yet dirtier, sources of energy. Rabobank’s energy strategist Joe DeLaura and head of FX strategy Jane Foley join us to explain how we arrived at this crisis and why it might take a decade to address the underlying causes.

E-commerce and digital marketing are blurring the lines between sales and marketing, but sales and marketing teams don’t always get along. Carolyn Brown, Head of Commerce Marketing at AB InBev, and Rebecca Christiansen, AB InBev’s Director of eCommerce, see this as an opportunity to help their sales and marketing teams better understand each other and increase collaboration, setting up the world’s largest brewer for success in the digital age.

While many CPG companies are still keeping records on clipboards, new technologies like cloud computing, connected factories, and AI are helping more innovative firms capture and analyze the data they need to navigate disruption, reduce waste, optimize operations, and ultimately improve their margins. Alongside two guests from Amazon Web Services, Justin Honaman and Michael Connor, we explore how CPG companies are taking advantage of these new technologies and the digital revolution that is reshaping supply chains around the world. 

The 100+ Accelerator is a partnership between AB InBev, The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, and Colgate-Palmolive that allows sustainability-focused startups to pilot their innovations within the supply chains of these four multinational CPG companies. In an unmissable conversation, Molun Zhang of The Coca-Cola Company and Carolina García Arbeláez of AB InBev discuss their companies’ biggest sustainability challenges and how this new collaborative approach, the 100+ Accelerator, is helping to solve them.

Rabobank clients can sign up for our research via this link: Research.Rabobank.com

As the world braces for recession, Rabobank’s world-class economists Jane Foley and Christian Lawrence join the Liquid Assets team to dissect the most recent economic news and share what indicators they’ll be watching in the months ahead.

Check out our 2022 economics preview from January: The Most Important Trends of 2022.

Rabobank clients can sign up for our research via this link: Research.Rabobank.com