A few weeks ago I was in the Bahamas with my family for Spring Break, staying at the Atlantis Resort. While I was mostly content to sip on Piña Coladas by the pool, the itch for a good beer eventually came over me. I wasn’t expecting anything too adventurous, but the options at the hotel were less than ideal. We walked into the resort’s Shake Shack one day for lunch, conveniently located near the pool, and I saw a co-branded beer with Brooklyn Brewery on the menu. While I was was trying to avoid “work” on vacation, my inner beer cruncher came out as I examined the can design, thinking through all the variables that must have gone into this beer’s existence.
In the last few years at Revolution, I’ve gotten to work on a few relatable projects and they are my absolute favorites. Two big examples were our co-banded beer with the Chicago Fire MLS team called Hazy Pitch and our Caramel Popcorn Ale made with Garrett Popcorn. Challenges are bound to pile up when navigating an uncharted venture with a company in another industry with its own brand, processes, and priorities. By learning to adapt, compromise and make decisions with new people and personalities, you come out a hell of a lot smarter on the other side and have the chance to create bonds with new allies that could last far longer than the product you’re creating.
This post is the chance to experience every thought that went through my mind as I ordered and enjoyed my first Shackmeister Ale.
1. WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)
When starting down the path of a co-branded beer, both sides need to be thinking about the other’s best interests and what they’re trying to get out of it. A long-lasting union happens when all the goals and expectations are laid out on the table and talked through openly. If you’re both working toward the others’ goals, great things tend to happen.
Shake Shack’s ambitions for example could have originally included the lure of an exclusive beer with an authentic New York tie-in. Later, the goals may have expanded into getting the Shake Shake brand within the dining experience onto the bottle and can just like it would the cup for a fountain drink. Perhaps as Shake Shack scaled, the ability to get an aggressive price on the beer by effectively guaranteeing so much business would help their margins.
For Brooklyn, their goals likely evolved as well as this project scaled from the original Shake Shack location, now achieving volume at a meaningful scale and fantastic brand awareness around the world.
2. Logical Fit
When you consider Shake Shack’s New York origin, home to approximately 50 of their 400+ locations, can you name another local brewery with the sophistication and logistical power to get fresh, shelf stable beer around the world on a consistent year round basis? Brooklyn Brewery checks all the boxes having just been ranked the #8 largest craft brewery in the US by volume with a global presence including distribution to thirty countries.
3. Category Exclusivity (Sort of) & Price
While waiting in line and gazing up at the menu, the ShackMeister Ale jumped out immediately because for starters, it was the only option in the beer & wine section. It took until I was writing this post and adding the photo below before realizing that there was an option to “Ask about their local beer + wine selection”, so technically not exclusive but I’d hate to see the code dates of those hidden options 😬 . Most people probably miss that like I did and just order the Shackmeister Ale. If I’m Brooklyn Brewery, I’m very much appreciating that push from my co-collaborator to help fuel volume.
The $9.50 price tag may sound expensive for a beer, but around the corner at the pool’s snack bars they were charging more for 12oz macro light beers. This was the cheapest beer I found at the resort all week, had the highest ABV, and was in a 16oz can.
4. The Can Design, Layout, and Beer Style Choice
Upon looking at the can art, I was able to get a heavy dose of Brooklyn Lager vibes along with the necessary feeling that this was different at the same time. I like the Shake Shack logo’s ability to be in the background since its a Brooklyn beer first and foremost, yet still be the foundation of the design. The color matching behind the Brooklyn “B” to the hamburger logo really ties it together nicely.
I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some debate had around the style name used on the can over the years. Shackmeister Ale tasted like a pretty clear cut American Pale Ale recipe and a very solid one if I do say so. It even punched above it’s 4.8% weight class in body to the point that if IPA were used, I wouldn’t have been offended. In fact, I would have had a better idea of what I was ordering at the time. IPA understandably scares a lot of people off these days, so I am guessing that using the generic term “Ale” was deemed safer in order to achieve a wider willingness to trial.
If I’m being honest, I thought the rest of the can had an overwhelming amount of copy, which included:
The tag line Brewed for Burgers
Two line mission statement for the beer in a small font
Tasting notes Hoppy | Balanced | Crisp in a table
Brooklyn’s tagline, website, plus address.
I stared at the bottom half wondering why they made the can so busy before finally realizing that I was looking at the back of the can. Upon spinning it around, I realized that the front face is the bolder, more simplified version I that I prefer. Personally, I've become a “less is more” kinda guy preferring to pare things down and keep the language simple on both sides, but that’s just a personal preference. This is a lot easier said than done when you have two brands with two different sets of goals and messages to accomplish. Either way, it’s a great looking can and I’m jealous AF.
5. Distribution
My beer fanboy instinct was to think about how cool it is that Brooklyn gets to have an exclusive beer at the Atlantis, in the Bahamas, and how great that must be for business. But having dealt with these situations before and the fact that I didn’t see Brooklyn Lager anywhere else on the trip, I also considered the possibility that the cost of logistics to get this one beer to this one location on an island and keep it fresh, which probably requires shipping it to Miami, then getting it onto a boat, might actually be more of a loss leader than a money maker.
When you partner up with a company with Shake Shake’s reach, you have to/want to service all (or most?) of the locations and some will come easier than others. Some locations will drive a lot more volume and margin, where as others are more about marketing and completing the story. You accept the entirety of the pie as part of the deal and for the sake of the partnership.
Now I’m Hungry…
Craft Beer is still small, all things considered. While yes, people go online and to social media to argue about it, flavorful beer can’t compete with bigger interests like sports, music, and food. Co-branded beers present an exciting opportunity for breweries to expose their name and quality to new faces and occasions, going well beyond the walls of “craft beer”. While most breweries don’t have the scale and reach to work with a company the size of Shake Shack, every city has awesome beloved restaurant chains and groups who can match their scale and geography. I’d love to hear about some of the best co-branded beers you’ve come across over the years.