Welcome to Issue #32 of The Quench Report, the newsletter that raises a glass and delivers the latest and greatest in Beverage Alcohol and the broader Beverage category.

What’s on tap for today:

• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 An Analysis Of Beverage Marketers - Where Do Leaders Spend Their Careers?

• 🆕 George Clooney’s New NA Beer - Introducing Crazy Mountain

• 🔥 Hot Jobs Worth Applying To

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Wine Marketing Has a Talent Blind Spot. The Data Proves It.

Last week I was in New York meeting with major wine investors from Australia and Europe. Someone at the table asked a question I couldn't shake: "Why is wine so slow to leverage newer marketing tactics and strategies?"

My instinctive answer was that it has something to do with how wine brands are built, the category rewards tradition and terroir over disruption. But as I sat with it longer, another hypothesis emerged: wine tends to attract “lifers”. Leaders who have spent almost their entire careers inside the category. And if that's true, it might explain a lot.

So I went to LinkedIn and started pulling data. Do wine marketing leaders spend a disproportionate share of their careers in wine compared to leaders in other high-growth beverage categories?

The answer is yes. Check it out below 👇️ 

🎯 THE BIG TAKEAWAYS

• Wine leaders spend the most time in category, by a lot. Senior marketers in wine have spent an average of 73% of their careers inside the wine industry. That number should stop you in your tracks. Nearly three quarters of a career, in one category, before reaching a senior leadership seat.
  

• Spirits and beer hire more broadly. Spirits leaders clock in at 63% in-category. Beer is at 52%. Both categories pull more regularly from companies like General Mills, P&G, Clorox, and increasingly, tech.
  

• The fastest-growing brands hire like tech companies, not beverage companies.
  This is where it gets really interesting. There is virtually no difference in the hiring profiles between fast-growing Bev Alc brands like Surfside and Beatbox and fast-growing CPG beverage brands like Alani Nu and Celsius. Both groups are stacked with experience from high-growth CPG companies, but also firms like Apple, Uber, Amazon, and top ad agencies. These brands aren't just out-spending the competition. They're out-hiring them.
  

The "So What" For Every Bev Alc Leader, Not Just Wine
If you're a brand struggling to crack younger consumers or figure out why your growth marketing isn't landing, the problem might not be your strategy. It might be who's building it.

To be clear, there's no shortage of exceptional wine marketers. But talent density isn't the issue, perspective diversity is. The brands pulling ahead aren't necessarily hiring better marketers. They're hiring more varied ones. Wine would benefit from considering the same philosophy.

And for any Bev Alc or CPG brand reading this: the brands winning right now share one thing in common beyond great products and good timing. They've built marketing teams that don't look like traditional beverage org charts. That's not a coincidence. That's a hiring philosophy and it's worth stealing.

🆕 The Casamigos Crew Is Going Sober with Crazy Mountain.

George Clooney, Rande Gerber, and Mike Meldman, the trio who built Casamigos tequila from a personal house brand into a billion-dollar Diageo acquisition, just re-entered the beverage arena with Crazy Mountain, a premium non-alcoholic lager launching in 2026. Two SKUs: Original and Lime. Tagline: Live Wide Open. Aesthetic: rugged Americana with a cowboy on the can and enough Yellowstone energy to make Beth Dutton reach for one.

The question isn't whether they can launch a brand. We know they can and they have proven it. The question is whether the Casamigos playbook translates to a category built around health-consciousness rather than indulgence. Those are different consumer occasions with very different purchase drivers. If nothing else the can is certainly colorful (or at least the mockup is - I doubt that is the final design.)

Check it out below 👇️ 

🎯 THE BIG TAKEAWAYS

• The Category Tailwind Is Real, But So Is the Competition. The opportunity here is hard to argue with. NA beer now accounts for over 5% of total beer sales, up from just 0.3% seven years ago, and sales of non-alcoholic products surged 26% between 2024 and 2025. The Casamigos team is smart operators and they clearly see the wave. The more interesting question is whether lightning can strike twice.
  

• The leader behind the curtain - Most sites are grossing over the fact that former New Belgium CEO and Beam Suntory executive Steve Fechheimer has been cryptically posting about "Project Zero" on LinkedIn for over a year, including announcing himself as CEO. It’s interesting that such an experienced team felt like they needed a beer leader.

The category is getting crowded, and fast. Worth watching this one closely.

THIS WEEK’S HOT JOBS IN BEVERAGES

These roles came to us via ThirstyTalent.ai. Want your open role featured? Email: [email protected] 👇️ 

• Director Brand Management Spirits - Gallo - NY, NY

• General Manager Lingua Franca - Constellation - Salem, OR

• Sr. Manager Innovation Commercialization - Beam - Chicago, IL

• Sr. Manager Marketing Communications - LALO - Austin, TX

• Associate Brand Manager - Sazerac - Louisville, KY

• Director Strategy & Performance - Bacardi - Jacksonville, FL

• Brand Manager Patron - Bacardi - Miami, FL

• Senior Research and Insights Manager - Surfside - Trevose, PA

• VP Procurement - Pernod Ricard - NY, NY

THANKS FOR READING

The Quench Report is a free weekly newsletter from Thirsty Insights, a beverage alcohol consulting company that serves top clients in data, strategy, insights, and analytics.

Any questions, please email us at [email protected]