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Hurray's Girl Beer spent much of 2025, its first full year in biz, grinding it out in SoCal mkt, self distributing for the first 8 mos, "hyper-focused" on driving sales velocity and "quality data to pitch to large format grocers," founder Ray Biebuyck shared with CBN following co's $5 mil capital raise announcement. That was a useful time to learn the ropes, develop a narrative for its brand positioning, and better understand distribution before partnering with AB house Straub in July followed by Heimark a bit later. Co leveled up as the yr progressed and SoCal proved to be a strong "testing ground," said Ray. "What we've learned" is that "we work really well" with LDA Gen Z and Millennial cohorts around college campuses, matching the brand's irreverent social media mktg presence and flavor-forward products. The brand is "R&D'd to be very shotgunnable (but don't overdo it, please, or legal won't let us have fun anymore)," its website proudly proclaims. "Why" Girl Beer? "Because not everything has to be a f***ing seltzer, that&#39;s why." Now co's ready to scale up and seeing "strong" buy-in from key retailers like Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and more, launching big mkts like AZ and NM with Hensley and parts of TX (so far) with Reyes and Glazer's Beer & Bevs in Austin and San Antonio. Honing in on Midwest and Southeast expansions next, co's thinkin' of some SEC and Big 10 school mkts as guiding lights for expansion plans. Large format is "where we'll build the brand," in Ray's view. "Having that coordinated approach across multiple markets is critical." And co's lookin' to get "really dialed in on pricing promo strategies" in this next phase. C-stores are "a separate beast" as Girl Beer's low-ABV stature is less geared toward the hottest subsegments in that channel. But so far the brand's "dipping our toe in very lightly," running a launch thru 100 SoCal-based 7-Elevens to see what sticks, and figures there will be highly "geotargeted" accounts near college and beach communities that work well. On premise is a much smaller portion of Girl Beer's volume and viewed as "a marketing channel," focused on "accounts where we can activate" thru on-brand events like Reality TV show nights with a female-leading audience.65% of Volume in Pineapple Yuzu and Blueberry Lavender; "More Straightforward Flavors" as it Scales Pineapple yuzu has been "for sure" the lead flavor so far for Girl Beer. About 65% of its volume is pineapple yuzu and blueberry lavender. But co's "discontinuing blueberry lavender in favor of those kind of citrusy, straightforward berry" flavors as it looks to "scale and go mass." Yet its line of "double flavor profile" brands will maintain their place in the portfolio, doing "really well" in specialty grocers like Trader Joe's where consumers "want that discoverability." It'll have two variety pks where Girl Beer expects most of the volume to come from. This is a brand still very much learning as it's growing, launching seven new flavors &mdash; strawberry, mango, tangerine, peach, passionfruit orange, strawberry watermelon, and grapefruit guava &mdash; as it scales. Each beer clocks in at just 95 calories, 4.2% ABV, and no added sugar.Going with Multiple Contract Partners After "Unfortunate" 21A Fallout As it expands, Girl Beer is locking in multiple contract partners across the country. Originally, co went with 21st Amendment which took an "unfortunate" turn as it went out of business, leading Ray to realize she would welcome some redundancy in the brand's supply chain to guard. Girl Beer primarily switched to CO-based Prost Brewing, which built out a sizable facility in the last yr that's laid out "in such a phenomenal way," Ray touted. It's also workin' with San Diego-based AleSmith and "working toward a third manufacturer" further east.Investors Bring Key Expertise, Not Just $$ Thruout the capital raise process, Ray was really focused on finding partners that "had deep consumer expertise" and "operated predominantly in retail" with a "baseline understanding" of distribution dynamics. At an early stage, "there are certainly wrong partners to have," so co hadda be "really diligent." Lead investor John Neamonitis of Lakehouse Ventures was an early investor in Hop WTR and "has seen how that played out," and "how it was built," Ray explained. So "John clearly has an understanding" and has been "a great mentor to me." Maya Bakhai, founder and managing partner of Spice Capital and former investor for NBA player Kevin Durant, is "a longtime colleague and friend," Ray shared. She credited Maya as possibly "the first person to push me over the edge to start" Girl Beer, and touted her ability to have a "deep pulse" on consumers. Former MC exec Jeff Agase has already been "instrumental" in building out the brand's distribution relationships. Matt Webster from JuneShine was "a very early employee there" and "built and grew that operation" from the beginning, now at Girl Beer to help "avoid the mistakes&hellip;other brands have made" as they scaled. And Elisha Sevier's experience at Walmart and Red Bull will be instrumental in co's large format push.

Hurray's Girl Beer Focused on Large Format Grocery Push, College Mkts, Straightforward Flavors as It Expands in Year 2; Multiple Contract Producers

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