Small Bytes: The Mighty Duck, Jungle Juice, Diversey House, Track 7 Goes Viral, Soccer Collab, and More.
It’s hard to believe that we’re two-thirds of the way through beer’s toughest month, now with more NA and THC-themed campaigns pushing consumers toward their New Years resolutions than ever. While January is moving fast, not nearly as fast as TikTok’s ban, which lasted a little over half of a day. It’s like in the show The Office when Dwight would “shun” and then immediately “unshun” Jim. Despite some trending public doubt, the beer industry remains a fascinating place full of opportunity. Competition and evolution are fueling new forms of innovation, creativity, refreshed models, and an overall raising of the bar. These newsletters that I dub Small Bytes are where I highlight the news and announcements that stood out to me for one reason or another, but might not have hit your radar.
Tiny Bytes:
The U.S. Surgeon General issued a new advisory on the link between alcohol and cancer risk on January 3rd. Here’s an interesting essay from the Wall Street Journal sharing a doctor’s counter approach to the fear generated by this warning.
Dave Infante thinks Hop Water is poised for break out year in 2025. Can’t say I’m ready to defend his take, but I am 100% here for it.
Now is a good time to make sure the marketing and taproom teams have their ducks in a row for any Super Bowl-themed to-go beer specials planned for next month. Speaking of ducks…
Lost Abbey Teases Secret Weapon 🦆
Barrel-aged sours have become an endangered species in craft beer after riding a euphoric high from 2013-2015. Ten years later, there’s no momentum behind these styles, but the pendulum is starting to swing back to the beginning of craft’s rise for many styles. Sometimes a hibernating beer category just needs a nudge from the G.O.A.T. to rekindle the magic and I couldn’t think of a better candidate to rejuvenate the appreciation for a little funk.
The Lost Abbey out of the San Diego-area has always been one of the premier stewards of barrel-aged sour ales, helping define the entirety of the spectrum it can span. Their business has undergone a series of changes to its model of late, but that won’t impact my favorite of their many traditions. The brewery teased that this Spring would see the 6th iteration of Duck Duck Gooze since 2009. The blend of three years of red wine barrel-aged American Wild Ale pays tribute to the great Lambic brewers of Belgium. With the prior release happening during the pandemic, it’s been six years since a proper celebration could be had.
I’ve always admired how, despite its national appeal, founder Tomme Arthur maintained the discipline to only release DDG once every three years as intended, while maintaining his belief that it shouldn’t have opportunistic variants like a kriek or framboise version. If I told you that you that Duck Duck Gooze changed my life, you’d probably think that was hyperbole, but I actually went on a podcast themed “A Beer That Changed My Life.” Guess what beer I chose:
Fat Heads Releases Orange-Infused Head Hunter
Not dissimilar to the accidental discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 by German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, New Belgium began experimenting with natural flavors in IPAs, while also exploring the Hard Seltzer category. The trials eventually led to the invention of the top-selling [Juice] “Force” line of Voodoo Rangers. These natural flavors can be derived from a vast range of ingredients, but can include potent terpenes and other water soluble products derived from hops and botanicals that add big impact without nearly the cost of boxes of hops. This new layer does not replace that authentic dry hop flavor, but instead takes it in a new direction that’s more likely to appeal to IPA’s non-traditional fans.
Fat Head’s, for example, is releasing an “orange infused” version of Head Hunter, their gold medal winning IPA at both the 2023 World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival. While the brewery did not confirm the specific source of the fruit flavor, they did share with me that the blood orange and orange blossom are in fact natural flavors, versus say a puree. These decisions are always fascinating from a marketing standpoint, especially since Fat Head’s makes a variety of IPAs, some of which don’t use their top seller Head Hunter’s name and likeness. Their new release Jungle Juice does, which has obvious benefits, but leaves the challenge of how to deliver something that’s both new and worthy of the Head Hunter name. In Fat Head’s I trust, so I’m excited to see how they threaded that needle.
Two Chicago Beer Companies Launch Next Phase Together
Damon Patton, co-founder of Moor’s Brewing, is tired of being asked “where’s your location?” Beginning February 5th, perfectly timed with Black History Month, one of the rising Black-owned breweries in the country will have a space that includes a 4-vessel, 20-barrel brewhouse as well as a THC infusion system to complement their larger contract brewed batches. Moor’s isn’t going to be at it alone, partnering with the original inhabiters of the space, Steep Ravine Brewing Company (formerly Ravinia Brewing Company) relaunching the space as Diversey House. An “alt-prop” arrangement will allow the two companies to share in the Taproom’s revenues and expenses.
Features will include:
A reimagined, elevated sports bar and brewery
Personalized table audio for watching one’s preferred game and programming such as resident DJs, movie nights and trivia
Exec Chef and Partner Marc Anthony Bynum, a three-time Chopped Champion serving up elevated comfort food.
Outdoor Beer Garden & Inside Out Brewery (Indoor Beer Garden)
Walking distance from Beer Cruncher’s residence 🤓
Reimagining a space as a sports bar might not excite craft beer purists, but it’s a solid move toward what works in 2025. In this crazy world of fantasy sports, betting, and staying home, going out to watch the game with friends is a major occasion that’s still working. Very few Chicago brewery Taprooms are building around that experience which gets visitors to often stay for 3+ hours, with above average-sized tabs. With all that upside, contains some downsides though as sports bars nearby by are unlikely to want to carry the beer of a business competing with them. As long as that’s not the goal, this parlay’s odds don’t look so bad.
Opening Day: February 5th, 12pm - 11pm
Garage Beer Hits the Squared Circle
Anytime beer and wrestling cross paths, it’s going to get my attention. Spun out of Covington, KY’s Braxton Brewing, Garage Beer knows (I assume) that to make it as an 'underground' light lager, creative media spending will be key to moving up the ranks. They are not stopping with the Kelce brothers as their investors, having added Ronny Doitche chug competitions during tailgates, and now sponsoring a top wrestling podcast and youtube show called The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. The channel has 113,000 YouTube subscribers and I thought this hype video to announce the partnership was pretty slick.
I Like It When You Hand Me ‘The Big Poppa’
Happy Dad Hard Seltzer is a pretty massive brand that mostly flies off my radar screen. I have to tip my cap to their decision to name their giant 24oz single serve cans: “The Big Poppa”. I am not a fan of the name 'Stovepipe,' which I think is Oskar Blues’ to own for the more common 19.2oz size in craft beer. I say “Nineteen Point Two” and “Twenty Four Ounce”, but that’s industry lingo. I think naming giant cans in the way New Belgium named their 7.5oz cans Mini Rippers, is both a fun and wide open opportunity to explore.
Track 7 Brewing’s Dog Joke Goes Viral
Track 7 Brewing is one of the original breweries in Sacramento, CA’s craft beer scene. I’ve been there quite a few times so it caught my eye when I saw an Instagram Reel of theirs get 1.2M views and over 41K likes, compared to their 38.7K followers. The post probably took about 1 minute to make and reinforces a message that pups are welcome. If this was me, my only regret would be how their logo is hidden behind Daniel Day-Lewis’ head. I’d want to position the background photo just a few clicks to the left to subtly sneak my branding in there. These types of posts are not the type of strategy to hang your hat on, but they can provide an occasion, low effort source of rocket fuel that could land hundreds of new followers in your lap for little effort. Nice work!
Pizza Pizza!
Over Thanksgiving, I visited a brewery outside Sacramento called Slice, which shares a wall and a founder with the adjacent Old Town Pizza. Upon returning, my neighbors at The Beer Temple announced a new partnership with Middle Brow that will bring Detroit-style pizza to one of the city’s premier beer bars, along with delivery. Then that same week, I saw the announcement that St. Louis’ Side Project Brewing is launching their own pizza concept. Move over Pizza Wine—Pizza and Beer are heating up.
Allagash Hits the Pitch
The World Cup is coming to the US in 2026 and there’s no better time for breweries passionate about the world’s game to find ways to connect to the soccer’s passionate communities. One of my all-time favorite projects to work on at Revolution is our partnership with the Chicago Fire, so I nerd out every time I see another brewery engage with their local club.. Here’s a cool video of Allagash Brewing bringing the Portland Hearts of Pine (USL League One) supporters to their brewery to taste and choose between four lager recipe candidates, one of which would become their official collaboration beer. Involving the fans on the ground floor of the decision process, adding an element of education to that process, is going to lead to a stronger loyalty and tie between the two fan bases and merge them into one.
Coming Soon To Beer Crunchers…
Lots of fun stuff coming down the pipeline, but most of the energy is currently going into this four part series, with Part 2 coming later this week. Cheers!
I'm curious why you think Oskar Blues should own the term "stovepipe"?