The beer industry could use some fresh energy. New perspectives who may lack in beverage-alcohol experience, but come to the table having conquered relatable challenges and stereotypes in other spaces. The men’s shorts market admittedly isn’t where my mind went first, but after after last week’s Nostradouglas piece on mid-strength beer, the co-founders of Small Beer, not to be confused with the like-named UK brewery, were happy to fill me in on their plans. I explained that the Beer Crunchers reader likes to go deep and behind the scenes, so co-founder Mason Robinson generously put their cards on the table.
Can you provide the backstory of how Small Beer went from an idea to a business with you and your co-founders?
Absolutely – As Co-Founder and Director of Brand at Chubbies Shorts, Tom and I spent a decade working towards a singular goal: create a brand so rad that even the staunchest of calf-length cargo short loyalists would be forced to consider the possibility of one day wearing shorts above-the-knee.
It wasn’t easy - 5” inseam men’s shorts were remarkably polarizing in 2011 - but over time, we built a brand that began to embody levity, confidence, inclusion, and that oh-so-important “Friday at 5 Feeling.” In fact, a common refrain was:
“We’re building a beer company that just happens to sell shorts.”
Fast forward to 2021, and not only are 5” shorts ubiquitous in the men’s fashion (Gap, Nike, Uniqlo, J.Crew, you name it), but Tom and I were on the floor of the NYSE after a successful acquisition and IPO.
Then in 2024, Jess Thomas — Tom’s first cousin and the only Co-Founder on this project with actual Bev-Alc industry experience — came to us with the following pitch:
“Instead of building a beer company that sells shorts, how about we build a beer company that sells beer?”
He had been kicking the tires on the idea for about a year after spotting what appeared to be a massive whitespace in mid-strength beer — one that could benefit from some creative energy —and with that, Small was born.
When you sold Chubbies Shorts in 2021, did you expect to be back in start-up mode this quickly and in such a different industry?
Oddly enough I didn’t expect to be back in start-up mode ever again. Chubbies IPO’d on a Thursday – I put my notice in on Sunday, and then I threw a ~150 person “Retirement Party” effectively announcing my departure from the 9-5 forever.
For the next three years, I traveled the world—golfing, surfing, partying—got engaged, married, and even spent six months backpacking through Southeast Asia with my wife.
If I didn’t believe Small was such a phenomenal opportunity, my wife and I might still be lounging in El Nido - but the idea, the timing and the team made it impossible to say no.
And just to brag quickly on behalf of my counterparts - Jess, Tom, and our Creative Director Jon Vallance are three of the most talented people I’ve ever worked with.
So that, plus the fact that we love beer, really made this a no-brainer.
Who produces Small Beer?
We developed it in partnership with Lincoln Beer Company in Burbank, then pretty quickly moved production to Prost Brewing Company just outside Denver as we encountered demand to produce significantly larger quantities.
What was the liquid formulation process like? Did you know how challenging it would be to balance flavor and low ABV heading into Small Beer’s development? Any interesting learnings?
We got lucky. One of the only breweries bold enough to take on this project also happened to be one of the best in solution engineering and product development. Led by Head Brewer Patrick Dunn, Lincoln Beer Company took our vision and turned it into reality—crafting our flagship Small Lager from the ground up.
We (Mason, Tom, and Jess) had no idea how challenging it would be. Patrick did. He and his team pulled off something remarkable: reducing the alcohol by half while preserving the full, crisp flavor of a Mosaic-hopped pilsner.
The most interesting learning? Brewing a 2.5% beer with backbone isn’t about watering down a 5% pilsner—a shortcut macro-breweries often take for their 3.2% beers. It requires precision, intention, and a custom approach, just like any great craft beer. That’s what surprises first-timers the most: it doesn’t taste like a watered-down light beer—it drinks like a crisp, citrusy, hop-forward pilsner.
And the best part? Half the alcohol. Half the carbs. Half the calories. And believe it or not, no hangover. At under 3% ABV Small actually hydrates you more than it dehydrates you.
How would you describe your go-to-market strategy?
We launched the brand online in May of 2024, and have only been selling wholesale to retailers for about 1 month (started in January), so we're early days. That said, our GTM strategy consists of building a digital and physical footprint simultaneously with a focus on Denver, Austin and So Cal. Tom Montgemery (3rd Co-Founder) and I built the brand Chubbies Shorts into a millions-of-subscribers, billions-of-views brand (which was novel at the time for a clothing startup) that became known for its engaging content as well as its marquee 5" men's short-shorts. We're taking the Chubbies playbook and applying it to another product that's polarizing to some, but frankly a godsend and a game-changer to most. Leveraging a strong brand around a novel, useful (and delicious) product in a bev-alc whitespace has made conversations with distributors, retailers and investors really exciting. We know 2025 will bring a lot of learning, but we also anticipate a lot of growth.
Is Denver and Colorado Springs an accurate as far as where your beer can currently be found?
Yep we're in ~68 stores in Denver, ~9 in CO Springs, and then about 11 more sprinkled through the rest of CO. We're also in about 15 stores in Austin, but that number is growing rapidly by the week, and just launched in Palm Springs. Hopefully we'll have this Store Locator updated before Tuesday to reflect the most current locations.
Denver, then Austin…sounds like Nashville is next ammiright?
Almost! We’re launching in SoCal first, but you’re definitely onto us. Active lifestyles, parents of young kids, "social athletes," cali-sober festival-goers, mindful drinkers, early risers—those who love to have a great time without compromising their well-being.
In short, we’re targeting major DMAs that skew towards fun loving + health-conscious consumers.
The plan within these three key markets is to prioritize on-brand awareness, representation, education, and experiential events. But perhaps most importantly, focus on gathering insights and refining our approach before expanding—ensuring we grow intentionally, without spreading ourselves, or the brand, too thin.
What are the most common questions you get from perspective distributors and retailers?
Just when you thought I couldn’t toot our own horn any louder—here we are. One thing that has genuinely surprised us is how little we’ve had to explain or justify our product to distributors and retailers before they’re eager to get on board.
I think the brand and the visuals certainly help, but at the end of the day, it’s a half-beer. We’re not out to convince them that we, out of all the brewers in the world, have the absolute “haziest IPA”, or the “tastiest” pastry-stout, or the “hardest-seltzer”, or pitch another celebrity-laden over-branded RTD. Small is just good beer, that has half the alcohol of a standard beer.
Distributors and retailers see where the market is heading—toward health-conscious alcohol moderation—and they immediately understand what we’re doing. More importantly, they’re excited to be part of it.
That said, we’ve hit the classic “chicken-or-the-egg” dilemma—distributor or sales first? Fortunately, everything we’ve seen so far suggests we’re moving in the right direction.
What marketing strategy would you say will be the most crucial to your success?
I know you said most crucial, but I'll give you two: 1) our strategy for translating online awareness into on and off-premise sales. It's one thing to build digital affinity, but converting that affinity into customers will be paramount. In our experience, once people try Small - they're hooked. 2) Building out a scalable DTC program. There are challenges, particularly for beer, but we have a strategy we're eager to employ (launching first in CA) that may enable us to deliver Small beer directly to your door and do so cost-effectively for both us and the consumer.
How painful has that DTC dynamic been with alcohol and state-by-state shipping laws?
Absolutely brutal. But hey—we love a good challenge, and I’m confident we’ll get this ironed out.
We’re now available online in California and have been shipping out orders to new customers all week. The opportunity to:
1. Ship Small Beer directly to people’s doors, and
2. Overcome the existing consumer aversion to ordering beer online by providing a fast, seamless, and affordable solution is something we’re incredibly excited about—especially with our DTC experience at Chubbies.
Beer remains one of the last holdouts to e-commerce—a product consumers still can’t quickly, easily, or affordably have delivered to their doorstep. We think we can be the ones to change that.
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How would you describe your brand and social presence now, versus where you want to take it in the future?
Great question. Right now, our focus is on setting the tone—humorous, confident, playfully self-deprecating, and absolutely not ashamed to admit that our days of getting obliterated off 32 Bud Lights, puke-and-rallying, or waking up at 3:44 PM with a multi-day migraine are long gone.
That part of the brand will never change. What we will evolve is how we frame the use cases—because there are so many lanes that lead to Small.
From new moms who enjoy a beer after bedtime duty to Gen Z’ers who claim it’s the ultimate Beerio Kart or Beer Dye beer (because you can play for hours without passing out in a bush). Run clubs, yoga studios, pro-skiers, and rugby teams have all reached out about partnerships, even people attempting to ease off alcohol entirely who are not yet ready to make the leap to full NA have expressed interest.
There’s the grandparent who craves the beer experience without the IPA gut punch, the yard-work warriors, sport fishermen, even the HR Director at Dude Wipes—who wisely noted that corporate parties are much safer when people are sipping Small instead of pounding full-strength.
Bottom line: there’s a lot of work to be done in communicating all the benefits of Small beyond just building an online community of beer-meme enthusiasts—but we’re excited to take that next step.
Do you have a name for your front man in a lot of these photos?
That fine gentleman is Will Cheesebro. We've been best friends since ~6th grade. In high school everyone referred to him as "The Legend," because, well - just look at the guy. Our plan is to make him the face of the Small.
There's a lot of good dad humor and references here, not exclusively of course, but out of curiosity are any of the founders parents themselves?
Yes! We've got one father of 2 kids under 5. And yes, as I'm sure you've experienced, kids waking you up at 5:45am regardless of whether you're hungover or not was just one of the many motivations for creating Small.
Are any of the billboards that you've shared on social media actual ad buys, or are those all mock-ups?
A magician never reveals his secrets ;)
Do you expect additional variations of Small Beer any time soon? or are you focusing on the original recipe for the immediate future?
Absolutely. We get a lot of inbound about a Small IPA, we're excited to roll that out this Summer and are targeting ~2.9% ABV.
Any plans to move to a printed can or do you prefer the label look?
Yes we are now in brand new digitally printed cans that come in retail-boxed 6-packs. We're really happy with the re-design, certainly feels more elevated but still a ton of fun and eye-catching on the shelf/in the fridge. I sent you the new packaging so you'll be able to experience them soon!
Which do you think is more true, if you had to choose only one? Small Beer is a brand that you're building or a category that you're creating?
Small is a category that we're creating. That's not to say that sub-3% ABV beers do not exist (I know you're aware they've been around for centuries), but it is to say that no beer company has dedicated their entire focus exclusively to the <3% craft beer category. Typically if you do find a <3% beer it's a long forgotten / abandoned / watered-down SKU from a beer company that focuses all their time and effort on their dozen other >4% SKUs. We will be the first to create this category properly, and that's something we're really excited about.
Is there a question that you wished I’d asked you because you’ve got such an interesting or fascinating take to share?
These questions have been fantastic, and I’ve really enjoyed answering them. I hope I’ve given your audience a clear understanding of what we’re hoping to build, and if you’re in California, I’d love for you to give Small a try HERE.
One shamelessly self-serving question I’ll answer without being prompted: “Do we have any new content we’re especially proud of?” The answer is yes—we’re trying to redefine the typical content experience on LinkedIn, starting with THIS PIECE we posted last week. Please enjoy.
Thank you Doug for your time and attention. For a SMALL startup like us, it truly means the world.
Creating a brand is one thing, but building an entirely new category requires an even deeper level of investment and education. The angle of extra low ABV (2.5 - 2.9%) beers that Nostradouglas previewed last week isn’t some completely new concept. In the UK and elsewhere, session beers have always been around, but often lean on darker malts or are blended down with juice to provide more substantial flavor. In Australia though, mid-strength beers not dissimilar from Small Beer are growing significantly and represent a major portion of the market.
In the US, lager and IPA reign supreme, which have a high degree of difficulty in achieving both flavor and shelf stability along with the low calories often expected with low alcohol. Miller64 has recently rebranded itself as Miller64 Extra Light weighing in at 2.8% with Bud Select 55 undercutting them at 2.4% ABV. The fact that the two largest breweries are in this space should tell you that there’s a market forming.
Unlike these macro options that riff off well-known brands, Small Beer has a chance to build an entire craft portfolio around the concept of Small. Is it craft beer that is tapped right now? Or is it “local” that’s more so saturated. As we’re seeing play out, the next frontier appears to be building brands with their sights on going national, around the who, where, when or in the case of Small Beer, the what.
Thoughts? Drop a comment 👇
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enjoyed your interview and story!