Hop View Brewing Company will release its latest Bernie Beer, Quarterback Hoption, by July 4, according to Northeast Ohio Media Group.
The beer, named after former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, is the second one produced by the Ohio-based brewer at Cellar Rats Brewery under the name Bernie Beer Co. Last fall the company debuted Bernie Beer Brown Ale.
Quarterback Hoption will come in a green-and-white can featuring a cluster of hops drawn to look like a spiraling football. The beer is an India Pale Ale seasonal release and checks in at 5.5 percent alcohol.
“It says it’s a seasonal,” Joel Sandrey, who is involved in the brewing endeavor, told Northeast Ohio Media Group. “The season is the football season. It will be out through the Super Bowl.”
In addition to lending his name to the beer, Kosar will personally sign a select number of cans, which will be placed randomly on the company’s canning line. Once the beer is shipped to stores, anyone buying a six-pack also buys a chance at finding a can with Kosar’s autograph.
Bernie Beer Brown Ale was first released in kegs in time for the 2014 NFL Draft (no word if the selection of Johnny Manziel that year increased sales among Browns fans), and was then rolled out in can form last fall.
“We’re really, really thrilled with the final product,” Sandrey told NEOMG at the time. “We used the draft release to get some feedback from consumers. This (canned) beer is slightly different; we made a little tweak to it. People tried it and thought it was a little on the sweet side. So it’s still a brown ale, but we pulled back on the malts and we pumped up the hops just a bit.”
To find out if either Quarterback Hoption or Bernie Beer Brown Ale is available near you, visit beermenus.com.
Have you tried Bernie Beer Brown Ale? If so, what did you think?