In 2009, Charlotte had the distinction of being the largest city in the United States without a single brewery. Most people would look at that and see opportunity. Ryan Self did, and built his entire career from that moment forward. He spent thirteen years at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery — from self-distributing kegs to Charlotte bars to statewide distribution across North Carolina. Building something from nothing, rooted in German brewing tradition, earning gold medals at the European Beer Star along the way. Then he made the move to Triple C Brewing — Craft, Community, Charlotte — right in the heart of South End, steps from the Rail Trail. And now Ryan has crossed to the other side of the industry, joining Carolina Premium Beverage and Caffey Distributing — an 80-plus-year-old, family-owned distributor that sits in the top one percent of beer wholesalers in the entire country. He’s spent a career watching how brands rise, stumble, and earn their place on the shelf. And along the way, he landed on one of the sharpest observations I’ve heard about where craft beer is actually headed: “Only good beer equals good.” Ryan, welcome to The BrandBuilders Podcast.

461: Ryan Self, Chain Business Manager, Carolina Premium Beverage

BrandBuilders

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** BrandBuilders

## Participants

- **Scott Dunstan** (The Dunstan Group)
- **Brian Young** (The Dunstan Group)
- **Ryan Self** (Carolina Premium Beverage)

## Transcript

You're listening to the Brand Builders Podcast with your hosts, Scott Dunstan and Brian Young. Welcome to another episode of the award-winning Brand Builders Podcast powered by the Dunstan Group. My name is Brian Young. We are here with the president of the Dunstan Group, Scott Dunstan. And we are here with Ryan Self, who not only is a beer guy, but he's also a good friend of mine. Currently now he is the Chain Business Manager for Carolina Premium Beverage.

And if you could believe it, back in 2008-2009, Charlotte had the distinction of being the largest city in the United States without a single brewery. Most people would look at that and see opportunity. Ryan did. And has really built his entire career on that movement forward. Now he spent 13 years at Old Mecklenburg Brewery or OMB as everybody would call it. We were just talking about this. We used to go in their first space, which is now Sugar Creek Brewery. And who would have thought that OMB would grow to be as big as it is?

But let's talk a little bit about Ryan's career. Now OMB, you know, from self-distributing kegs to Charlotte bars to statewide distribution across all of North Carolina, building something from nothing, rooted in German brewing tradition and earning gold medals at the European Beer Star along the way. You know, Ryan spent a ton of time there. I never thought there would be a time that I wasn't seeing Ryan Self at OMB. And I enjoyed all of the OMB beers that he brought me.

But he did make the decision to move to Triple C Brewery, which is craft community in Charlotte, right in the heart of South End, steps from the rail trail. And spent a couple of years there really redefining how they went to market, how they brought beer into grocery stores, into different establishments, and did an amazing job. And now he's taken the leap to Carolina Premium Beverage. And he's crossed to the other side. Now, Carolina Premium Beverage and is it cafe distributing? So it's funny.

To give you a sense of how fast the beer industry is still moving, even though it's plateaued a bit, my bio from two weeks ago is already outdated. Carolina Premium Beverage is now United Carolina Beverages. We have merged with United Beverage up in Concord and Hickory. So Caffey Distributing. Caffey, there it is.

Founded and owned by Chris Caffey, who owns both companies, is still an independent entity up in the Triad area. And United Carolina Beverages covers everything from Hickory through Mooresville, obviously Charlotte, through Concord. That is insane. And this is a company that's been around for over 80 years, family-owned distributor. Ryan spent a career watching how brands rise, stumble, earn their place on the shelf.

And along the way, he handed one of the sharpest observations I've ever heard a...

461: Ryan Self, Chain Business Manager, Carolina Premium Beverage

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

461: Ryan Self, Chain Business Manager, Carolina Premium Beverage

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.