Wiley Roots opens drive-through beer slushie bar

By Dan England

Kyle Carbaugh wasn’t worried about the beer connoisseurs who flocked to Wiley Roots in Downtown Greeley. He worried about the people they brought with them.

Beer lovers already targeted Wiley Roots as one of the best breweries in the region, competing with their friends at WeldWerks, the nationally ranked beer makers right down the street. Carbaugh wanted something to serve their friends and family as well. He said some of them may not be fans of craft beer, or beer at all, really.

Carbaugh, who founded Wiley Roots with his wife, Miranda, in 2013, was contemplating making another batch of blood-orange gose. Maybe they could make a cherry limeade version to tempt the hops-averse crowd And that’s when the idea bubbled up, starting with the phrase that sparks a lot of good ideas, as well as a lot of bad ones: “Hey, do you know what would be funny?”

His idea, a slushie made from beer and maybe some Kool-Aid, got a few laughs at first, before they began to really think about it. WeldWerks brewed 125 beers in 2019, but Wiley was known for its creativity as well. Why not?

So Carbaugh rented an actual slushie machine, aka a “frozen drink” machine, and served the beer — really a Gose with serious modifications (no sea salt or coriander) — Slurpee-style. The reaction surprised Carbaugh, who thought he was wasting his money on the slush machine.

‘”People lost their minds about it,” he said. “Mostly in a good way.”

Yes, Carbaugh took a lot of crap too, he said, including internally. Some people just didn’t think it was right to run a beer through a slushie machine. But most of Wiley’s beer drinkers loved the idea, especially his targets, the ones who didn’t like beer.

Wiley had just released a new line in late March, its third season of the slush, when everyone had to shut down because of the virus. But even that couldn’t slow sales: A steady stream stopped by during the week to buy the canned versions.

The cans aren’t the same, however, as it’s impossible to can the “75 percent frozen” feel of a Slushie, so the brewery planned to offer it in to-go cups as well at its new drive-through. The brewery even made a line of glasses featuring Bart Simpson drinking a slushie (although fans know he drinks a “Squishee”), a nod to the traditional drink’s important place in the long-running series.

That wasn’t the series’ only salute to pop culture. The 2019 line included Blue Slush and Purple Slush, both sour ales mixed with Kool-Aid packets in blue raspberry and grape — flavors sure to strum a few nostalgic heartstrings.

“I love to make something that’s akin to all these other memories and connections that I personally have, and put it in a can and share it with someone else,” Carbaugh said.

Another salute, however, merely annoyed the muse. The Sonic fast-food chain’s line of slushie drinks helped spark the idea in the first place. As a tribute, Wiley made commercials that resembled the long-running Sonic ad campaign, with the two guys at a drive-in, adding a slush logo that resembled Sonic’s famed trademark. Sonic wrote Wiley a letter — a nice letter — asking them to please stop.

The Slush line was so successful and, yes, quirky that Wiley even offered a slush beer with pickle brine from the Real Dill in Denver. It also sparked other lines, including the Boat Drinks, a series of sour IPAs inspired by classic Tiki cocktails, and the Visit from the Fruit Lady brand, with 40 percent of the drink volume featuring fruit puree. That brand was inspired by Source of Nature of Wellington, a company started by Alex Leedy and Lavelle McGovey to supply product for craft brewers.

“That’s an amped-up version of slush,” Carbaugh said. “The fruit is not fermented, It’s a smoothie-style beer.”

All of it inspired by nostalgia, Slushies and a drink that they thought might make people laugh.