Look out King of Beers ... the Queen has Arrived!

December, 2003

On a recent trip to Atlanta to review the local bar scene for mygayweb, we had the pleasure to meet and interview the owner of Edison Beer, Rhonda Kallman and to sample (actually several bottles) of Edison Beer.

mygayweb: Do you feel like an anomaly, being a woman in this business?

Rhonda: I feel like a pioneer. I've been where few have gone, regardless of gender.

mygayweb: Have you had a lot of people who haven't taken you seriously?
Rhonda: Some, for sure. People who haven't tasted Edison yet, bars that haven't agreed to stock it yet. Fortunately I'm blessed with a classic selling personality; I thrive on turning no into yes.

mygayweb: How do you convince people that things shouldn't stay the same?
Rhonda: With blood, sweat, and persistence.

mygayweb: You had so much success with Boston Beer; why did you leave?
Rhonda: I practice what I preach, and I preach change.

mygayweb: How long do you expect to stay in the beer business?
Rhonda: For as long as the beer business stays in me. It's not really optional. I follow the idea, and my ideas tend to come in a bottle. I love fun, and beer is fun. And so is change. So, I try to change beer.

mygayweb: What did you change at Sam Adams?
Rhonda: We changed big to little. Millions of people started drinking fewer big beers and more little beers.

mygayweb: What about Edison, what is the idea there?
Rhonda: Edison is the little light beer that could. I came up with Edison on vacation, lying on a beach in the Caribbean thinking, where's a market here? Where's an opportunity? It was clearly light beer. Because it's a segment that's growing, and the giants dominate it, and that's what I like to do, is find a different way to do it than them. For instance, we have a patent on our process at Edison, a process that makes Edison taste better than any other light beer.

mygayweb: Is that unusual, to have a patent in this business?
Rhonda: I only know of a few.

mygayweb: What do you say to people who say light beer is just for women?
Rhonda: Light beer today outsells regular beer. Younger beer drinkers only know light beer. It's actually become an emblem of youth and modernity. The low calorie aspect is now a distant second to the young image.

mygayweb: How's Edison doing so far?
Rhonda: It feels a lot like Sam did in the very early days. Relatively few people have discovered it, but the right people.

mygayweb: And how are you doing it differently?
Rhonda: By putting it in places where discovery-driven people hang out and share their discoveries. The best new restaurants, clubs, the most modern places in the scene. These are few and far between, but they are the breeding ground for the power brands of tomorrow.

mygayweb: Now that you've got Edison and Boston Beer has Sam Light, do you feel like you're competing with old friends?
Rhonda: No, because they're so different. Edison is for the Bud/Miller/Coors Light drinker ... it's a better tasting light beer. Sam Light is a lighter craft beer—big difference, and one that favors Edison in the long run.

mygayweb: So what's next? What's the strategy from here?
Rhonda: Keep building it, keep focused. Next stop is New York City, because I think they're ready for Edison, especially in the Village, Chelsea, Tribeca — the places I like to go.

mygayweb: What do you think you'd be doing now if you hadn't gotten into the beer business?
Rhonda: Oh my. I've been so fortunate, beer was such a good fit for me. It's fun; it's a really good business, good people. They know how to have fun, but yet be professional too. I'll stick with beer.

mygayweb: What does your husband do?
Rhonda: He does me! Seriously, he's a serial entrepreneur. He's very supportive. I think he likes having a wife who owns a beer company.

mygayweb: Do you remember your first taste of beer?
Rhonda: I choose to exercise my rights under the Fifth Amendment on that one.

mygayweb: Obviously you drink a lot of beer. How do you keep from getting a beer gut?
Rhonda: I'm on the Edison diet. Eat whatever you want but work twenty hours a day.

mygayweb: What's your best cure for a beer hangover?
Rhonda: Have another beer. I mean, you have to. In fact, make it an Edison!

mygayweb: How often do you get drunk?
Rhonda: Again, I'll take the Fifth.

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