Despite its co-founder’s penchant for wearing a Stetson hat, Revolver Brewing is going metal.
The Blood & Honey brewer has been busy installing a new canning line in its Granbury, Texas, brewery in a bid to bring four of its year-round beers into cans.
Blood & Honey, Sidewinder, Full-Tang IPA and a new beer, Long-Range Pils, will be available in six-packs of cans starting later this month.
“Texas is a big, hot outdoor-friendly state, and there are a lot of opportunities here where we think cans will go that bottles can’t,” says co-founder Rhett Keisler, who is known for his signature hat. “Texans like cans, and they’re the fastest-growing segment of the market. They’re lighter, easier to transport and they give us the ability to get into venues where we previously weren’t able to go.”
Revolver, which until now was packaged exclusively in glass, missed out on sales in places like sports stadiums, golf courses, beaches, lakes and rivers where glass didn’t fit well, Keisler says. “Look, we’re in bottles and we love bottles. This just gives us another package that really opens up new avenues. Cans are a very popular choice right now and we’re excited to get them in there.”
Revolver, which is majority owned by MillerCoors, will continue offering its flagship beer, Blood & Honey, in six-packs and 12-packs of 12-ounce bottles, but the rest of its lineup will move exclusively into cans packaged in paper cartons.
The move into cans comes as Revolver expands its portfolio of year-round beers beyond its flagship, Blood & Honey, and its pale ale, Sidewinder. The additions include its top-selling seasonal, Full-Tang IPA, a 7.2-percent alcohol-by-volume IPA brewed with tangerine peel, and Long-Range Pils, a German-style Pilsner that becomes the brewery’s first true session beer.
Long-Range Pils, which checks in at a sessionable 4.8-percent ABV, is an all-malt lager with an American twist. Brewed with German Saphir, Czech Saaz and American Mosaic hops, the beer has a bright nose and a malty finish.
Revolver will continue making its draft-only barrel-aged beers as well as two specialty brews packaged in 22-ounce bombers: a wheat wine called Anodyne and an English double IPA called Mullet Cutter.
Revolver, which posted growth of nearly 50 percent in 2017, is projecting even more growth in 2018, helped by increased market penetration in its home market of Texas and a planned launch in neighboring New Mexico this spring.
"We spent 2017 pushing out to all of the distributors in the state and learning to work together," Keisler says. "The fruits of our labor are really starting to show in 2018."