Central States Beverage sells one million cases of Boulevard Brewing in 2014

“We’ve had our eye on this goal for the last couple of years,” said John Kane, vice president and general manager.

Central States Beverage will put a new definition to the term “that’s a lot of beer” when the Kansas City distributor does something never before accomplished by a wholesaler in the Boulevard Brewing Co. network: Selling one million cases of Boulevard beer in a year. While Boulevard beers are distributed in 29 states, Central States Beverage sells Boulevard beer in the Greater Kansas City Area, making the occasion that more monumental.

“We’ve had our eye on this goal for the last couple of years,” said John Kane, vice president and general manager for Central States. “We’ve come close, so close, but always narrowly missed the mark until now.”

Since acquiring distribution rights in 2007, Central States has more than doubled sales of Boulevard in the Kansas City area. Focusing on high volume sales in local stadiums and entertainment venues to making the beer a tap-handle necessity in the majority of local bars and restaurants. These efforts along with a strong local partnership with the team at Boulevard Brewing Co. have been crucial to achieving the goal of officially selling one million cases of Boulevard Brewing beer in 2014.

A celebration marking the occasion is took place Tuesday, Dec. 30, at Kelly’s Westport Inn. When asked how to describe the feeling of having a distributor sell one million cases of Boulevard beer, Boulevard’s Vice President of Sales, Steve Mills, replied: “This is a great achievement for both Central States Beverage Company and Boulevard Brewing Company. It just goes to show that when distributors and brewers work together and execute against a plan, you can achieve special things together. One-million cases of Boulevard sold in a single year, that’s a lot of beer.”