You’re going to start seeing a new look for Garage Beer very soon.  This new appearance also brings with it a new outlook on Garage Beer’s place in the current craft beer community.  Oh, and it also brings with it a new company (we’ll talk about that).  There’s a lot to unpack with this one – we’ll certainly need to crack one open and dig into this together.

The New Garage Beer

Let’s start simple.  Let’s take a look a the beer and have a new taste.

The beer should certainly still taste and look familiar to those of you who, like me, have been fans of it for the long haul.  The can itself is a little cleaner, it’s gotten a bit of a “refresh” with this change.  On a shelf, the bright, bold artwork pops next to all the other beers it shares its space with.   The new 15-pack cases are a real standout for me – black with a bold, bright font that shouts Garage Beer.  The new look is unpretentious and clean.  Its message is really clear, front and center: This is a beer for folks who just sort of “want a beer”.

That brings us to the liquid itself.  It’s gotten a little bit of a refresh – though, again… not straying too far from its roots.   The beer is light and refreshing.  Any hint of bitterness that it used to have has been dialed back into a super-crushable, light lager that knows exactly what its role is in people’s beer fridges.  Make no mistake, the beer is still incredibly tasty.  Just don’t think you’re getting a beer that’s been dry-hopped or is meant for someone who looking for an uber-traditional German-style lager.

Garage Beer is a beer meant for drinking.  It’s for filling your fridge and sharing with your friends when you just want to sit around with a beer while you watch a game, or play cards.  It’s for mowing the lawn, for doing projects around the house.

It’s Beer.  Which… is exactly what Garage Beer has always been.

Why Does Garage Beer Exist?

Garage Beer doesn’t exist for the same reasons that Braxton’s Switch, Dark Charge, or any one of the other “typical craft beers” that we love exists for.  Garage Beer exists for the same reasons that the beers that my Grandpa sat with his buddies around a poker table in their basement with existed.

This new move for the brand, and for the beer, solidifies that even more now than ever.

It exists to create a space for a local brand, and a local product to fill fridges. It opens up a spot for a local brand to become the lighter option on tap handles.

The New Company And Its Role

I know for a lot of you, this is the part that you’re most curious about. Garage Beer is still brewed by Braxton. They’re making a ton of it, actually. The brewery has partnered up with Andrew Sauer, who has spent some time with some pretty big brands in the marketing and entrepreneurship world. With his help, they hope to turn Garage Beer into something a lot bigger than what it currently is.

Picture a world where the light beer tap handles start to be taken over by a local brand. Imagine a life where when people are tailgating, sitting at their local sports bar, or just hanging out in the driveway on a summer evening, it’s a local brand that is in their hands. This is the vision for what Garage Beer can be. From there, the sky is the limit and things can keep growing.

This isn’t a move that is unusual in the beverage space. The liquor industry has been doing stuff like this for a long time, but it’s an unusual approach for a craft brewery. This makes it really fun to watch if you’re nerdy about this stuff like I am. Bringing in new faces, and splitting off one of the brands into its own company enables a different type of attention to be paid to it. Different ideas can push it in ways that Braxton alone might not be able to – and I’m really excited to watch how they do that.

Let this be a chance for you to revisit Garage Beer, and see how it fits into your life. The new packaging, and the new beer in it, should be hitting shelves all around town within the next month or so. The company and Braxton will be hosting a release party in the Braxton taproom on February 18th, but in the meantime, stay tuned to their website – or to Garage Beer’s new Instagram for the latest! For your first taste of the new, refreshed beer, look out for them this weekend at Cincy Beerfest!