Paul Meade, chief financial officer, Columbia Distributing

When you go to the store to buy a beverage – whether it’s a nonalcoholic drink or a six-pack of beer – you’re aware of the brand you’re buying, obviously, as well as the store at which you’re buying it. But what you don’t see is the distributor that brought that beverage to the store – and probably stocked the shelf. Beverage distributors play an important but largely invisible role linking manufacturers to retailers.

In this episode, Oregon Business Matters host Angela Wilhelms talks with Paul Meade, chief financial officer at Columbia Distributing, one of the largest beverage distributors in the country. Columbia Distributing handles a broad mix of beverage brands, including Molson/Coors, 7-Up and many craft beers and other brands. The company's many Oregon partners include Deschutes Brewery, 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Migration Brewing and Del Rio Wines. Columbia Distributing is also the nation's biggest distributor of Red Bull.