Some stories deserve to be told over and over again. There’s an enchantment to hearing about a Bigfoot siting in the forests of the Northwest while gathered around a camp fire. Or keeping an eye out for Lake Champlain’s most famous monster while paddling around Button Bay.
That’s indeed what makes a good story, a legend. Passed on from generation to generation the most inspiring, humorous, or just plain unimaginable tales combined with some sort of historical significance become what legends are made of. The allure of a legend is easy to imagine, but how do you tie in some of the most outlandish and out-of-this-world myths to a new brewing company in the crowded marketplace of craft beers? Introducing Stuff of Legend Brewing Company with its four signature beers: Hit the Road Jack, Sewer Gator IPA, The Champ, and Sasqu-Amber.
The Jackalope, a mythical animal of North American folklore known as a jackrabbit with antelope horns, is the inspiration for an American Pale Wheat Ale Hit the Road Jack. This legend seems to be more firmly rooted in the art of taxidermy than actual real sightings of a Jackalope. The story goes that in the 1930’s two brothers who appreciated hunting and taxidermy grafted deer antlers into a jackrabbit carcass and sold the combination to a hotel in Wyoming. Perhaps the new Hit the Road Jack is the perfect beer to cap off a day searching the valleys of Wyoming for that rascally rabbit.
Here’s a legend that we aren’t in any hurry to run across, Sewer Gators. This may be one of the oldest urban legends to come out of New York City. There have been numerous stories over the years of how these reptiles could have ended up in the sewer systems of Manhattan. The legend goes that families would purchase baby gators as pets while vacationing in Florida, but upon returning to city life they would quickly realize that maybe a gator isn’t the ideal pet and the owners would flush them down the toilet. The stories have persisted because there seems to be legitimate accounts of New Yorkers seeing gators lounging on river banks or nosing their way out of manholes. Stuff of Legend Brewing Company offers their take on this mythical creature with an IPA flavored with white peppercorn and orange peel, Sewer Gator IPA.
Now on to one of the most famous water creatures to become a legend over the last few centuries, the Lake Champlain Monster or locally known as Champ. Legends of a serpent-like creature living in Lake Champlain date back to Native American tribes in the region. Even Sameul de Champlain, the founder of Quebec and the lake’s namesake, is often recorded as having seen Champ in 1609. What seems to be fact is that the lake is home to many large fish, which may account for why people have seen something serpent like in the cold waters between Vermont and New York. The Stuff of Legend Brewing Company gives a nod to this mythical lake monster with The Champ, an American style sour beer.
And who doesn’t love a good Bigfoot story? This hairy, upright-walking, ape-like being is said to live in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, thanks to what many have claimed are the presence of huge footprints and numerous sighting. Over the years, the Sasquatch has inspired funny commercials, characters and even hoaxes. But all joking aside, the Sasqu-Amber, the fourth edition to the line of up beers from Stuffs of Legends Brewing Company, is a refreshing amber ale with a solid malt and hop balance. This is the beer you’ll want to grab before you start that camp fire and get ready to tell your Sasquatch tale.
Keeping with the theme of legends, you actually won’t be able to find these beers anytime soon at your favorite bar. This brand, Stuff of Legend Brewing Company, is a legend of its own and is the creation of Skillet Creative’s graphic designer, Kelsey Gugliuzza. Sometimes as a design and marketing firm, we like to take a break from the daily workload and stretch our creative muscles for a project that we have been kicking around for a while. Plus it’s always a fun way to demonstrate how we can help to build your brand through creative and marketing. Have a new project that you’ve been thinking about? We’d love to hear about. Cheers!