After conquering the worlds of tequila, rum and craft cocktails, Sammy Hagar is in the beer business. The veteran rocker and Van Halen alumnus celebrated his new Red Rocker Lager brand in Detroit this week, home of the Red Rocker Brewing Co. that was established specifically to make the brew. Hagar tells us that he's been wanting to make a beer for decades, since even before he launched Cabo Wabo tequila during the mid-90s, and he feels Red Rocker is a good fit with his audience:
“My fans are frickin' beer drinkers, man. When I was pouring, trying to pour, when I started Cabo Wabo and I'm trying to pour tequila down their throats, they're standing with a beer going, 'Eh, I don't drink tequila anymore…'” :15 OC: don’t drink tequila anymore
Red Rocker Lager is inspired by Mexican beers that Hagar likes and is described in the company's materials as “golden, medium-bodied…light, crisp and refreshing, with just a touch of sweetness.”
The beer is currently available in parts of Michigan and Wisconsin. Red Rocker Brewing CEO Eric Schubert says the company has also applied for licenses in nine other states and hopes to be in “approximately half of the United States” by next summer.
Hagar and his band the Circle played a celebratory concert on Monday, October 23rd, at the Fillmore Detroit at which 400 cases of Red Rocker Lager were consumed — doubling the record for most sales ever by one beer brand at the venue.
The company plans to make additional Hagar-branded beers, including a Light and possibly an IPA.
Red Rocker Lager joins a Hagar alcohol portfolio that includes the tequila, which he sold to Grupo Campari in 2007, Sammy's Beach Bar Rum (in partnership with fellow rocker Rick Springfield), Santo Spirits with food celebrity Guy Fieri and Sammy's Beach Bar Cocktail Co.
