Let your team help come up with new ideas and you have no idea where you could end up. For Hi-Wire recently, it ended with a partnership with an Alabama-based pickle-making company.
“Our Regional Sales Manager came to me one day and said that we needed to make a pickle beer with the Wickles (Pickles) folks,” recalled co-owner Adam Charnack, “‘I’d kill it,’ he said.”
It also turned out one of the owners of Hi-Wire had a distant connection to the founders of Wickles and, coincidentally, one of Wickles’ leaders happens to live in Hi-Wire’s home of Asheville, North Carolina as well.
“All signs pointed to a wickedly good partnership from there,” Charnack said.
Brian Laggis, Hi-Wire Brewing’s sales director, pointed out that the company always is on the lookout for creative partnerships where it can make sense.
”We’re huge fans of Wickles and feel our companies share a lot of the same values, specifically a commitment to quality, approachability, and fun factor,” he said.
READ MORE: Asheville Ambassadors: Hi-Wire an Agent of Advertising for Hometown
So Hi-Wire’s Wickles Pickle Beer (5% ABV) is an easy-drinking sour brewed with all the pickle-making ingredients you would expect including cucumbers, dill, coriander, Himalayan salt, and black pepper. The beer is refreshingly tart with notes of fresh dill and subtle spice reminiscent of Wickles Pickles’ famously sweet, sour, and spicy brine.
The brewery started from scratch in making the Gose base, said Head Brewer Luke Holgate.
“While we used our experience brewing Gose and other kettle sours, the pickle flavors required a new approach,” he said. “We tested different dosing methods with the pickle-making ingredients in bench trials and landed on a recipe we felt had a great pickle flavor but kept the brew approachable.”
The mutual benefit from this release is tremendous as Wickles fans who might not be craft beer drinkers will get exposure to Hi-Wire and vice versa, Laggis said.
“Obviously ‘Pickle Beer’ is not a standard style, so there is no doubt that it piques curiosity and provides something unique for the adventurous drinker or those wanting to pick up something different and fun,” he said. “It also helps that the beer is delicious!”
A limited number of cases were made available for shipping directly to consumers in 34 states but Hi-Wire said they sold out on the day of the release.
“Approachability is in our DNA, but creative partnerships like this are a unique avenue for exposing drinkers, both self-identified craft beer drinkers and non-craft beer drinkers alike, to our brand,” Laggis said. “Additionally, these types of partnerships are a great way to create buzz and drive sales for both companies.”
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