Niche Sports and Games Are Helping Breweries Score Big

One midnight during fall a couple of years ago, Highland Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina, opened online sign-ups for its sand volleyball leagues. Teams could register at their leisure, maybe over morning coffees or evening beers. Instead, the night owls got the net: Every league slot vanished within 30 minutes, and the waiting list ballooned with players seeking to serve and spike on the three courts. “We couldn’t accommodate everybody that wanted to play,” says President and CEO Leah Wong Ashburn, who has played volleyball since high school.

Many breweries are maxed out on square footage, but Highland has abundant acreage—40, to be exact, including an 18-hole disc golf course. So the brewery, located about five minutes outside downtown Asheville, built two additional sand courts this year. The courts bustle daily with a blend of league play, tournaments, and pickup games that attract area athletes. That’s a boon in tourism-driven Asheville. “We’ve been able to augment our local guest attendance with the leagues because you’ve got to make that commitment every week,” Ashburn says. Wipe off the sweat, then wind down with a cold Gaelic Ale. “It’s deepening the experience at the brewery.”

Sports and beer have long occupied intersections of perspiration and spectatorship. Beer is a reward for exertion, or what fans grip and sip while rooting for home teams and underdogs. I’ve long argued that local breweries can cultivate similar levels of fandom. Customers wear brewery merch and congregate in taprooms, bantering about smash-hit IPAs and others that swung for the fences but fell short. “People attach themselves to sports the way they’ve attached themselves to beer,” Ashburn says.

Breweries are finding that hosting tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons can bring in big crowds on quiet evenings.

That bond is deepening as breweries seek to reach customers through sports and tabletop games, no fan base too tiny. Dropping millions to become a Major League Baseball team’s official beer is a fiscal daydream. Breweries are instead sponsoring Little League baseball teams, logos plastered on outfield scoreboards, and up-and-coming sports such as pickleball, a hybrid of ping-pong, tennis, and badminton. Now that student athletes can make money off their names, images, and likenesses (NIL), nonalcoholic brewery Athletic is signing college basketball and football players to sponsorship deals. And breweries are finding that hosting tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons can bring in big crowds on quiet evenings.

Breweries have historically been centers of industrial production, not pastoral recreation, producing the lagers enjoyed alongside America’s pastimes. The lines sometimes blurred as beer barons bought sports teams—August Anheuser Busch, Jr. notably owned the St. Louis Cardinals—but few drinkers visited breweries to blow off steam or join a league team.

“We started out purely as a manufacturing brewery,” Ashburn says of Highland, which opened in an Asheville basement in 1994. In 2006, Highland relocated to the former Blue Ridge Motion Picture Studio, and eventually purchased the property overrun with invasive thickets of multiflora rose and smothering bittersweet vines. “You could not walk two feet into the woods,” Ashburn says. Taming flora for recreation was never top of mind until the pandemic created an urgent need to congregate outside. Ashburn’s husband, Brock Ashburn, the vice president of facilities, led the project to create the disc golf course (the final nine holes were finished this year) and built the adjacent volleyball courts that opened to the public in September 2020. People now play sports “pretty much from sunup to sundown,” Ashburn says. Integrating activities creates “a healthier approach to alcohol.”

Not everyone wants to spend afternoons analyzing tasting flights. To attract active crowds, breweries are entering the field of play. Last year, Tree House Brewing Company purchased the Tewksbury Country Club in Massachusetts, including a nine-hole golf course. MashCraft Brewing in Fishers, Indiana, has two outdoor pickleball courts. Forgotten Star Brewing in Fridley, Minnesota, runs summer bocce and winter curling leagues.

Installing a soccer field can help breweries tap a multicultural audience. In 2018, former Marine Sergio Manancero, the son of Uruguayan immigrants, opened La Doña Cervecería in Minneapolis, with a three-on-three soccer field installed outside. “Soccer represents a more worldly culture than any other sport,” says Manancero, the president and general manager. “There are so many different ways to display culture and invite people in.” La Doña’s soccer field, which the brewery temporarily took down in 2022 to accommodate construction, hosts leagues and instructional classes for young children on weekend mornings. Parents invite grandparents and other family members to watch kids play, complemented by the brewery’s tacos and beers like Doña Fría, a Mexican-style lager. “The field creates its own business-generating environment.”

“You’ve got breweries, you’ve got people that like to be active and do things. Let’s put them together.” —Morgan Jappe

Taprooms have also become starting lines for brewery running clubs. Wooden Robot hosts Tuesday-night Run Bots meetups in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Notch Brewing’s weekly Meters for Liters runs take place at its Massachusetts locations in Salem and Brighton. In 2012, Morgan Jappe co-founded the Brewery Running Series, whose first event was a five-kilometer run in Minneapolis that began at Fulton Beer. “It was a natural fit,” says Jappe, currently the organization’s CMO. “You’ve got breweries, you’ve got people that like to be active and do things. Let’s put them together.”

The company and its independent chapters annually offer more than 300 races across 21 states, with events most weekends virtually year-round. The low-stakes fun runs are tailored to a taproom’s size and might draw from 100 to 500 participants. Finishing a run just starts the fun. “Our joke is that we want to enjoy both the run and the beer.”

Since 2019, Nocterra Brewing in Powell, Ohio, located about 20 miles north of Columbus, has incorporated adventure into its arithmetic mission: Beer + Outside = Nocterra. The brewery has a ski club at a nearby Ohio resort, invites customers on an annual whitewater rafting trip, and hosts biweekly mountain-bike rides. “We’re just at party pace,” says director of marketing James Knott, who leads the ride. After unclipping helmets, “we have some quote-unquote recovery beverages.” Later this year, the brewery will open a second location in downtown Columbus by Scioto Audubon Metro Park, on the bike path near the kayak-friendly Scioto River. Oh, and the brewery’s neighbor is a climbing gym. “Our downtown location will be this great community hub for outdoorsy people that just happen to have an urban life,” says Knott.

Playing games doesn’t mean stocking up on Spandex. To quicken customers’ pulses and keep them entertained, breweries are embracing board, roleplaying, and arcade games that appeal to broad age ranges. Wallenpaupack Brewing opened in 2017 in Hawley, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains, a popular family vacation destination. “So many people would come into the brewery and say, ‘This is awesome. What else can we do?’” says Becky Ryman, the president. Cornhole alone couldn’t cut it. “We didn’t have a lot of options, so we created one.”

In summer 2021, Wallenpaupack opened the WakeZone, its second location, in nearby Tafton. The taproom’s six simulators offer interactive golf and sports experiences like Skee-Ball and bowling. “I can come up here and golf on one simulator and my kids could be in the simulator next to me throwing frisbees,” says director of business development Brad Beneski, a dad to four boys. The brewery “can be a family-inclusive opportunity.”

For Thomas and Dez Solar, the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons doubles as business and family time for the parents of two. The couple began playing D&D in 2020 while living in Orlando, Florida, and working at Castle Church Brewing. Playing at someone’s house meant someone hosted what always became a “bottle sharing night,” Thomas says. If everyone was drinking beer, why not meet at Castle Church? Local interest led them to launch Dungeons n’ Drafts at Castle Church (followed by invites from several area breweries), bringing on Dungeon Masters to lead games and teach players. “Guests would walk by and be shocked that we were playing D&D at a brewery,” Thomas says.

“Our goal is to increase taproom sales by showing up on a Monday night and giving them 40 players.” —Thomas Solar

The family relocated to Philadelphia in 2022 and relaunched last August, rolling the dice at local bars and taprooms. The company now has around 60 Dungeon Masters in its Rolodex; host regular events at Philadelphia breweries Cartesian, Love City, and Neshaminy Creek; and recently expanded to New York City. “Part of my pitch is, ‘Hey, what is your slowest night?’ That’s when I want to come in,” Thomas says. “Our goal is to increase taproom sales by showing up on a Monday night and giving them 40 players.”

Putting fantasy games front and center can foster the rare reality: a more inclusive brewery experience. In fall 2023, Elliott Kaplan, Jessica Hardie, and Dana Ebert turned a former bakery in Portland, Oregon, into TPK Brewing, with tabletop roleplaying games on deck. (TPK stands for “total party kill,” or when a group of players are eliminated.) “We wanted a place where we could have craft beer and be able to play games that are important to us,” says Kaplan, the CEO of the primarily queer-run brewery owned by people of color. TPK was initially planned for terrible, horrible, no good 2020. Stay-at-home orders strangely expanded the potential customer pool. “Many people got into playing D&D during the pandemic,” says Hardie, the head brewer, who met Kaplan while working in the video game industry. “It was a way to connect with friends over Zoom.”

TPK facilitates IRL meetups for extrovert and introvert gamers, including a private room downstairs and secluded space upstairs. “Do you want more private space, or do you want to be the center of attention in the middle of the room pretending to be an orc?” Kaplan says. Customers can settle in to play TPK’s custom ongoing post-cataclysmic fantasy campaign, The Leyfarer’s Chronicle, written by the creative director Ebert. Each quarter, Hardie will brew two beers to complement Ebert’s evolving storyline, the beers inspired by new characters or settings.“ When we announced the brewery, someone called it narrative drinking,” Kaplan says. “That summed it up so much better than we ever could.”

To minimize interruptions, TPK allows guests to order via QR codes. “For the gaming side, that has actually been a really cool technical innovation to come out of 2020,” Kaplan says.

Sports and beer sponsorships and advertisements go can-in-glove, a financial partnership built upon a bubbly truism: People like drinking beer while watching sports, in stadiums and on screens small and big. Consider the lager commercials that dominate football broadcasts, NFL analyst John Madden and boxer Joe Frazier flogging Miller Lite, and Narragansett sponsoring the Boston Red Sox for more than three decades.

Hitching marketing to marquee athletes and Super Bowl ad slots is prohibitively expensive for the average craft brewery. Forget the major leagues: Flagship Brewing sponsors the Snug Harbor Little League in Staten Island, a few miles from the brewery, its name plastered on stadium fences. “We grew up on the north shore of Staten Island and our families have been there forever,” says Jay Sykes, a co-founder. Sykes and co-founder Matt McGinley both have children that play baseball and softball at Snug Harbor, and the dads swap team naming rights. “Last year my son was team Flagship Brewery, and this year his daughter is team Flagship Brewery,” Sykes says.

Times have evolved, and today’s pee-wee athletes can unwind at taprooms. “The kids love our waffle fries,” says Paul Reiter, the CEO of Great Notion Brewing.

I have sticky memories of Dairy Queen ice cream after my childhood soccer and baseball games. Times have evolved, and today’s pee-wee athletes can unwind at taprooms. “The kids love our waffle fries,” says Paul Reiter, the CEO of Great Notion Brewing in Portland, Oregon. The brewery sponsors the North Portland Little League, where the offspring of Great Notion owners play baseball. During games, “parents will be drinking Great Notion beer,” says Reiter, a parent of two. “And then we make sure that all of the end-of-the-season wrap-ups get held at Great Notion.”

A cherished local brewery can help a sports team deepen its regional roots. Major League Soccer team Chicago Fire relocated from the suburbs to the city’s Soldier Field in 2020. The following year, the team reached out to Revolution Brewing, Chicago’s largest independent brewery, about teaming up on a beer. “They were using this move as part of an overall strategy to reestablish their identity with the city,” says Doug Veliky, Revolution’s chief marketing officer. Celebrating all things Chicago is central to the brewery, from videos highlighting the city’s history to collaborations with local institutions like Garrett Popcorn.

In early 2022, Revolution released year-round cans of the tropical Hazy Pitch pale ale, its moderate 5 percent ABV ideal for drinking into overtime. The labels featured the signature light blue and red colors of the city of Chicago and the soccer team, highlighting the beer’s geographic appeal. “We’re only able to sell it within 75 miles of Chicago,” Veliky says.

Thinking smaller for sponsorships helps breweries target niche sports like the World Axe Throwing League, which counts Pabst Blue Ribbon as its official beer. New Belgium prioritizes pickleball. “I can’t tell you how many emails I get a week from someone asking us to sponsor a tournament or partner on a new pickleball idea. The sport is growing so quickly, and it’s amazing to see how many people know to come to us when it’s time to look for a beer partner,” says community market manager Joanna Laubscher. Even if it’s a 25-person tournament, the answer is yes. “We don’t need to just support the big names.”

College teams have huge fan bases, and savvy universities are working with breweries to create tailgate-friendly branded beers. In late 2021, Two Roads Brewing in Stratford, Connecticut, began making the Two Conn Easy Ale in conjunction with the University of Connecticut. This year, the University of Wyoming created Wyoming Golden Ale with Black Tooth Brewing. To support student-athletes at the University of Cincinnati, Rhinegeist Brewery teamed up with fundraising platform Cincy Reigns for the Cincy Light lager, set for a fall release.

Tied to college football season, nonalcoholic brewing powerhouse Athletic is kicking off its Game Changers campaign focusing on offensive linemen at the University of Southern California, Florida State University, and the University of Texas. The hope is that student-athletes can connect with consumers who aren’t receptive to traditional commercial advertising. After all, armchair athletes are a huge potential audience. “The number one occasion for consuming nonalcoholic beer is while watching sports,” says marketing director Rosalie Kennedy.

Done well, an alliance between breweries and sports of all sorts can taste great and fill the bottomline.

Done well, an alliance between breweries and sports of all sorts can taste great and fill the bottomline. But betting on sports isn’t always a sure winner. Great Notion partnered with the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team for the 2021–2022 season, selling a custom-label edition of its Ripe IPA at home games. However, a subpar record and the erratic nature of pandemic recovery made it a “bad season to sponsor,” Reiter says, and Great Notion ended the relationship.

The eternal story of sports is giving everything your best shot. We play and watch games to unleash the adrenaline-driven rush of victory, tense nerves unclenching in celebration. Defeat and dismay are the costs when emotional gambles backfire, or when our mental and physical skills are far from par. A beer can be both a cold consolation prize and a frosty trophy. Everyone’s a winner with a favorite IPA or lager in hand.

To help manage its growing recreational side, Highland hired additional staff and is considering expanding into shuffleboard, mini golf, or even indoor pickleball. Adding additional sports should help Highland attract more people, a more sustainable approach than chasing the latest beverage trend, be it smoothie hard seltzers or a sparkling CBD tonic. Says Ashburn, “Our property has allowed us to evolve our business model while staying very focused on beer.”