Stem Ciders aims to bring Howdy Beer to the masses

By Jay McKinney

There’s something about the Howdy Beer brand that just seems destined for greatness. At least the leadership at Stem Ciders in Lafayette certainly believes so. The ever-expanding beverage company recently acquired the western pilsner that was launched by The Post Brewing Co. in 2014. Stem Ciders hopes to bring Howdy Beer to a national stage.

Howdy Beer is the latest addition to Stem Ciders’ exploration into other beverages outside of cider. The cider company made headlines a couple of years ago when it notably kept the Boulder Beer Company brand operational after word got out that the brewery owners were looking to wind down production in 2019.

Stem Ciders Founder and CEO Eric Foster grew up in Boulder and refused to see his hometown’s iconic craft brewery disappear. With the help of Sleeping Giant Brewing Company, a production brewery in Denver that brews beer for several companies, Stem Ciders was able to successfully relaunch Boulder Brewing Company during the tough times of the pandemic.

Now Stem Ciders plans to build a portfolio of high-quality craft beverages that will thrive nationwide.

“Our thesis is that a well-built, thoughtful platform of brands that ideally exist in different consumer spaces, especially brands that hail from the same place, is a very compelling model moving forward in this industry,” says Dave Duffy, chief commercial officer at Stem Ciders. “I can go to different distributors across the country, and I can provide Stem Ciders operating in the cider space, I can provide Boulder Beer Company operating in the craft beer space and now we can have Howdy Beer, which will operate in the domestic specialty beer space.”

For years, Foster of Stem Ciders has maintained a relationship with Dave Query, founder of the Big Red F Restaurant Group, which operates Post Brewing. After learning of the sales and marketing partnership between Stem Ciders and Boulder Beer Company, Query pitched Howdy Beer as a possible addition to the lineup. However, Stem Ciders wanted to focus its attention on Boulder Beer Company’s revitalization and not bite off more than it could chew. Fast forward a couple of years with freight costs going through the roof, and the company is now confident that a business model of localized, craft brands under one partnership, will appeal to distributors across the nation.

“We have always believed that Howdy Beer is an incredible beer with awesome potential,” Query says. “The partnership with Stem will allow Howdy to reach its brand and distribution potential. They have a skilled sales team and a strong knowledge of the industry needed to launch a brand across several regions.”

The company will test the waters with campaign launches in Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Colorado (all states that embrace the western lifestyle to a certain extent). However, Howdy’s easy-drinking flavor and reputation as being the friendliest beer in America could make it a staple in bars and restaurants everywhere.

“The ultimate question that I ask is can a brand travel?” Duffy says. “For Howdy, it was really about the brand. That feeling of Western Americana really comes through in that brand. We think it can travel anywhere in the country.”

While Post Brewing did a fantastic job crafting the recipe for Howdy, Stem Ciders plans to make some minor adjustments. Most notably is the decision to reduce the hop content nearly 25 percent to make the beer approachable to a broader audience. Between Howdy’s flavor and branding, there’s no question that this beer will appeal to a wide audience and Stem Ciders is pleased to have secured it as part of their platform of craft beverages.

With the Sleeping Giant partnership, the sky's the limit. Sleeping Giant’s production facility can continue to brew beers or seltzers that may be acquired in the future, while Stem Ciders’ production facility (which is licensed as a winery) can produce ciders, wines and non-alcoholic products. For being a small company from Boulder County, they are paving their own road in an industry that is often dominated by giants such as Anheuser Busch.

“We’re excited about what this is, which is a somewhat unique model where we are trying to build a really elegant group of brands that do different things,” Duffy says. “And we need to become experts in all categories. It’s exciting and I love that it’s a little bit of a different model.”