The Yellowstone universe has expanded into the cold boxes and warm shelves of Texas – with more states to follow – in the form of craft beers and ranch waters from 6666 Grit & Glory.
The products are the result of a collaboration between Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, 101 Studios CEO and producer David Glasser and beverage incubator L.A. Libations.
A line of craft beers – a pilsner, a hazy session IPA and an amber lager – and sugar brew-based ranch waters rolled out in the Lone Star state last week. 6666 Grit & Glory is expected to launch in California, Georgia and Florida by the end of the year, with the goal of a national footprint in 2023.
“There’s a lot of retailers that would love this to be national right now, but we’re trying to stay really disciplined and be measured on how we do it and walk before we run,” L.A. Libations co-founder and CEO Danny Stepper told Brewbound. “It’s still huge. I mean, Texas is huge. Obviously, California is huge. But we’ve had just incredible retailer and distributor adoption of this thing. Everyone seems to be a huge Yellowstone fan.”
Due to L.A. Libations’ partnership with Molson Coors, which acquired a minority stake in the incubator in 2019, 6666 Grit & Glory will flow through the Molson Coors distribution network.
The brand already has chain authorizations at Albertsons, H-E-B, Kroger, Market Street, Randalls, Sprouts, Target, Tom Thumb, Total Wine, Walmart and WinCo. Access to grocery and convenience stores was key in deciding to use a fermented base for the ranch water, L.A. Libations operating partner Tom Larsen said.
“You get much broader distribution based on state laws,” he said.
The ranch waters are available in variety 12 oz. can 12-packs, and each craft beer is available in 12 oz. can 6-packs and on draft with branding iron tap handles – a nod to the ranch.
“Kegs is a big part of our business because brands are built on-premise,” Larsen said. “Brands are built with tap handles.”
6666 Grit & Glory was born after Sheridan, Glasser and a team of investors acquired the famed Guthrie, Texas-based 6666 Ranch (Four Sixes) earlier this year following the death of its former owner Anne Marion in 2020. The 152-year-old, nearly 300,000-acre ranch is featured in Yellowstone and will star in its own spin-off show 6666 on the Paramount Network.
Marion granted Sheridan permission to shoot Yellowstone there “as long as he did everything the right way, with the authenticity that he does in his storytelling,” Glasser told Brewbound. As the Four Sixes enters this new chapter of its story, Sheridan is dedicated to preserving its grit and soul, he added.
“He explained to me his vision of basically maintaining the authenticity and the culture of the ranch, while at the same time expanding some of the brand opportunities and really keeping the legacy of the ranch alive and he has this incredible story and only Taylor could,” Glasser said.
A ranch water – the classic Texan cocktail of tequila, soda water and lime designed to slake the thirst of ranch hands working on John Dutton III’s Montana ranch – made perfect sense, as did a beer (Molson Coors products are often featured on the show). Glasser reached out to Stepper (“my first call, my only call”), a former film industry colleague who decamped for beverages.
The L.A. Libations team developed three craft beers and four flavors of ranch water (original; Spicy Habanero and Juicy Mango; Prickly Pear Margarita; and Blackberry Pomegranate). All of 6666 Grit & Glory’s offerings check in at 5% ABV, except for the 4.8% ABV hazy session IPA.
“We’re going down the path of crushable beers, we want beers that everybody can enjoy, if you will, on a weekend all day long, versus that ‘I’ll have one high ABV beer’, kind of that corner shop craft brewery,” Larsen said.
The plan is to keep 6666 Grit & Glory’s main portfolio sessionable and approachable, with seasonal limited release offerings that venture into higher ABV territory.
“Our idea is to have beers you can share with friends, families, parties, tailgates – that’s kind of our going-in thinking,” Larsen said. “Destinationally, you can envision a Mexican lager, that’s very on-trend today.”
A michelada style is forthcoming, as are spirits-based ready-to-drink cocktails, including classic drinks such as old fashioneds and palomas starting at 15% ABV.
“We’re going to enhance this range of ranch waters with a range of these RTD cocktails that are going through a tremendous amount of consumer testing as we speak and then they’ll be commercialized by the end of October,” Larsen said.
As the craft beers and ranch waters roll out, Glasser said he’s fielding calls from friends and colleagues who have tasted the products and deemed them “absolutely phenomenal.”
With the connection to Sheridan’s western content world come opportunities for on-screen engagement, and 6666 Grit & Glory products will be featured “where it’s authentic and where it’s real,” Glasser said. However, the brand is grounded in its ties to the Four Sixes, which provides a destination for wholesalers and retailer visits.
“Yellowstone is not a real ranch, right? Taylor made it up,” Glasser said. “This is about the real ranch. If you go there, it’s about real cowboys. It’s about honoring a way of life that has existed for years.”
“This is so powerful, but this is not a product placement deal,” Stepper added. “This is not a brand integration deal. This is about the ranch.”
6666 Grit & Glory launches with a ready-made 360-degree marketing support system. Wholesaler partners and consumers may be able to visit production sets for Yellowstone or its spin-offs, 1883, 1923 and 6666.
“There could be some walk-on roles on the show, which literally money can’t buy,” Stepper said.
So far, the combination of enthusiasm for Yellowstone, the Texan authenticity of the ranch and the quality of the products has unlocked door after door for the brand, said Larsen, who serves as CEO for 6666 Grit & Glory.
“Nothing’s ever easy to see, but if there is such a thing as easy, it’s this,” he said. “Our range of beers and ranch waters are as good as it gets. All the customers, specifically Texas customers, have said our ranch waters are absolutely best in class, bar none.”