News broke via Twitter (how else) on Friday afternoon of a possible Super Bowl wager forming between two of the country’s largest craft breweries: Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing Co. and Boston Beer Co., colloquially known as Samuel Adams. The initial flurry of smack-talking tweets between the two breweries about Sunday’s Falcons/Patriots title game seemed to suggest something special might be on the line, by way of wager. Several ideas were bandied back and forth, but the final is especially intriguing: The loser must “rename” their flagship after the winning team, presumably in very limited capacity.
Wanting to confirm whether this wager was legitimately going to happen, or if it’s just a bunch of hot air, we reached out to SweetWater and Boston Beer Co. reps, and guess what? It’s on. The bet is on, people. If Atlanta wins, Boston Lager will hereby be known as “Dirty Bird Lager.”
.@SamuelAdamsBeer Let’s #riseup the stakes and force the loser to rename a beer after the winners team. Dirty Bird Lager has a nice ring
— SweetWater Brewery (@sweetwaterbrew) January 27, 2017
If New England wins, meanwhile, SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale would apparently be dubbed “New England Patriots Extra Pale Ale.” As an aside: I really must note here that the latter is a far less catchy name than “Dirty Bird Lager,” regardless of my obvious prejudices as an Atlanta resident. Step up your name game, BBC.
.@Sweetwaterbrew New England #Patriots Extra Pale Ale it is. Sales, through the roof. ????#SB51
— Samuel Adams Beer (@SamuelAdamsBeer) January 27, 2017
We were even able to get a quote from Jim Koch, iconic Boston Beer Co. founder and American craft beer spokesman. Suffice to say, he sounds confident:
“We’re behind New England as they head to the big game. To put our beer where our mouth is, we accepted a friendly bet with SweetWater Brewing Co. We’re confident that we’ll be kickin’ back at the Boston brewery, enjoying southern grits while SweetWater’s brewers wear our patriot colors in the ATL. At the end of the day, New Englanders just want to see Roger Goodell put another ring on the fingers of our favorite Patriots.”
Well, Koch didn’t get where he is today by being timid, I suppose. Meanwhile, SweetWater founder Freddy Bensch is also confident that the Falcons won’t be letting the brewery down.
“South got something to say. Get ready to do the dirty bird! Watch this, Koch, #RiseUp!”
There you have it. Which hometown brewery will bask in the reflected glory of their sports team? And which will be humiliated? We’ll find out Sunday.