Did you know MKE Brewing had a hard seltzer? I bet you didn’t. It is hard to know that when the name of the hard seltzer isn’t anything close to its actual brand. The name of the hard seltzer is Tierra Buena. The brand features four Latin American flavors and it is the first climate-neutral alcohol product offsetting all their emissions to reforesting efforts in Latin America. The gesture and thought of the hard seltzer is a good one. But it is apparent given the recent marketing of the seltzer is not doing well in the marketplace.

MKE Brewing sent out an email to their newsletter a couple of days ago offered a free four-pack of Outboard if you bought a six-pack of Tierra Buena on July 1st. Outboard is one of MKE Brewing’s most popular beers. It is a cream ale similar to what you get from Spotted Cow. It is no surprise that people enjoy that beer. Now it’s one day but it is evident to anyone that they’re trying to push their seltzer brand. Why is it having so many problems?

For starters, MKE Brewing should have called it Hard Seltzers by MKE Brewing or MKE Brewing Hard Seltzers. Eagle Park Brewing dipped their toes in the seltzer game last week and sold out their product within a week. They did not change the name. The climate change efforts that MKE Brewing is making could still be done without having the name Tierra Buena. It is hard to break through in the seltzer game right now. White Claw owns the space with Truly and High Noon due to their partnership with Barstool Sports being the challengers. Locally, all three are popular then add Press, a local seltzer brand to the mix, and things get harder on MKE Brewing.

We’ll see what the outcome is for MKE Brewing, but this should serve as a lesson to other brewers in the city that just because something is wildly popular, it doesn’t always equal sales.

Charlie.