The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has announced a new UTRGV-branded drink called Los Vaqueros beer.
The drink will be available at the UTRGV baseball final home series starting May 12 and in most Rio Grande Valley H-E-B food stores, Spec’s, El Tigre and Total Wine & More locations, according to an Athletics news release issued April 12.
The drink will be served at restaurants and future UTRGV Athletics events where alcohol is sold.
Jonah Goldberg, senior associate athletic director of Communications & Championships, said in an interview April 17 the idea for a college-branded drink had been on their minds for a while.
“There were about 25 universities who had their own branded beer,” Goldberg said. “And now it’s in the 30 t0 40 range. … There just seemed to be a lot of potential to turn that into both a strong marketing and a strong revenue line.”
He said as of right now, there is no projected revenue for the beer sales.
Goldberg said UTRGV is the first school in the University of Texas System to have its own branded beer.
“I like to look at New Mexico State, because they’ve been in the Western Athletic Conference with us the last few years,” He said. “… Their initial sales were actually slow and the beer was only available by keg. That’s not going to be an issue here, where we have it available by can as well as it will be on tap at some restaurants.”
Goldberg said such products expand the brand of the university as well as give UTRGV more exposure.
Seth Jones, associate athletic director of Revenue Generation, said they encourage responsible drinking.
“We’re going to partner with L&F [Distributors] to provide Uber codes to all that are involved with the launch,” Jones said. “Our messaging throughout will always be to drink responsibly.”
He said the drink would allow UTRGV to be present in ways it might not have been without it.
“Let’s say we’re at Walk On’s [Sports Bistreaux] and they see this product and all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Hey what’s going on with UTRGV?’”
UTRGV is partnering with a Mission brewery to create the beverage.
In an April 17 interview, George Rice, co-owner of 5×5 Brewing Co., said it started with him calling UTRGV about 18 months ago to thank them for supporting them by having their beer available at their games. That is when the idea for a UTRGV-branded beer was first mentioned between them.
5×5 Brewing Co. is owned by six U.S. military veterans: George Rice (Army), Ray Franklin (Army), Marine Corps veteran and state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen), Jorge Gonzalez (Marine Corps), Sean Downey (Marine Corps) and Alex Gelman (Navy).
Rice described the beer as a blood orange Kölsch, saying it is a light beer with a citrus flavor to represent the Valley’s history with citrus.
He said the alcohol content for the beer will range from 5.1% to 6.2%.
Rice said the can was designed by Sara Longoria, their graphics design artist who earned her degree from UTRGV.
“It was helped and assisted by people from UTRGV,” he said. “This was a collaborative effort, pretty much everyone that had their hands in it were either alumni or affiliated or worked for UTRGV.”
Rice said there are a lot of Easter eggs in the overall design of the beer.
“From the final product of the beer, from the intent of the beer, to the flavor profile, from the color of the beer, everything was [with] UTRGV in mind,” he said.
The beer will debut during a tailgate, scheduled at 4 p.m. May 12, before the UTRGV baseball game against Grand Canyon University. The beer will also be available at concessions during the game.
