EDITOR’S NOTE (7/18/18 - PETE SWEENEY): AP film analyst and beer expert Craig Stout wrote this article about the Kansas City Chiefs creating a “Kingdom Blonde Ale” back when the organization filed the name in mid-May.
On Wednesday, the team tweeted the following from its official Twitter account:
Kingdom Blonde Ale: Arriving at Arrowhead Stadium on August 9
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) July 18, 2018
Brewed for #ChiefsKingdom @goldenroadbrew pic.twitter.com/GUcTrc5LAw
Old friend BJ Kissel of Chiefs dot com added the beer will be brewed by Golden Road Brewing, which is located in California. Kissel notes that the brewers are from Kansas City but I couldn’t find anything about Kansas City on their website.
Now, on to Craig’s article from May 21...
Early this morning, attorney Josh Gerben tweeted out the following filing that looks to be from the Chiefs organization.
@Chiefs have apparently entered the beer market. On May 16 the organization filed a #trademark application for a brand of beer... KINGDOM BLONDE ALE.
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) May 21, 2018
The application was filed based on an "intent to use"... perhaps coming to Arrowhead this fall? pic.twitter.com/C4HA7n1BxX
There’s a little bit to unpack here. First of all, they’re filing it as “intent to use”, which would seem to indicate that they’re planning on putting this on tap at Arrowhead, and probably not planning to distribute it outside of the Truman Sports Complex.
Second of all, the Chiefs are also probably not brewing it themselves. They’d have to certify a specific location in the building as a microbrewery, then either sell it specifically in that location, or sell it to their distributor to put on tap throughout the rest of the building. It probably makes more sense from the Chiefs point of view to have a Missouri brewery make it, sell to the local distributor, and put on tap all over the building. Then the Chiefs don’t have to allocate valuable space in that building for the equipment required to keep it on tap throughout.
Third, it will be interesting to see if this conflicts with the current beer sponsorship for the Chiefs. Currently, ABInBev sponsors the Chiefs with Bud Light being the “official beer of the Chiefs” (Gross. Do better.) If they add a “personalized” beer to the tap listings throughout the building, they surely would have had to discuss that with the marketing departments at ABInBev, right? I suppose it’s possible that ABInBev could be behind making the beer, and they could send it off to one of the multitude of smaller breweries that they’ve bought and have an operating stake in, but I’d imagine they’d pursue that league-wide to maximize their efforts and marketing for those beers.
Finally, this seems like a missed opportunity. A Blonde Ale is certainly an easily approachable beer for most beer drinkers in Arrowhead, but c’mon! A Red Ale is RIGHT THERE. Regardless of your beer taste, having a Red Ale in Arrowhead just sounds even more appealing than having a Blonde Ale. As a matter of fact, I happen to know a guy with a slightly hoppy Irish Red that can easily wear the “Arrowhead Ale” moniker if the Chiefs needed it. (My email is in my profile, Mark Donovan. You know what to do.)
What do you think, Chiefs fans? Are you excited about picking up a “Kingdom Blonde” this fall? Should we hope for more styles going forward?
Poll
What do you think of the Chiefs’ Kingdom Blonde Ale?
This poll is closed
-
36%
Love it
-
47%
Neutral
-
16%
Hate it