Craft beer label idea of the week: Each can in this Wiley Roots mixed six-pack combines to build a board game

Wiley Roots Brewing Co. is releasing nine new beers this Friday, December 13, which includes a special mixed six-pack that creates a board game from six individual beer can labels when placed inside of a case tray — the cardboard box included when buying a case of beer. Wiley Roots hopes that by creating a fun board game from beer labels and offering so many different beers to-go this weekend that people will make the trip to Greeley, Colo., to check out the brewery during the holidays. The brewery will have over 20 beers on tap and over 30 beers to-go this weekend, ranging from IPAs and sours to traditional German lagers and seltzers. 

“When we started talking about what to do with this year’s series, we decided that we wanted to showcase the fun and playful side of these adjunct heavy beers that we’ve become known for. Since we only release this series once per year around the holidays, we thought, what better way to do this than to actually make a game out of the labels?” said Kyle Carbaugh, Wiley Roots cofounder.

Story of Imperial Somethin’

Every December, Wiley Roots releases an imperial porter series named Imperial Somethin’. The series was named after Something Came for You in the Mail Today, a viral Youtube video released in 2015. The original Something Came for You in the Mail Today release in 2016 was an almond and hazelnut variant to the brewery’s Deep Roots chocolate porter. Over the years, the series has grown into an opportunity for the brewery to experiment with different spices and flavors, like coconut, coffee and candy canes, all using a higher alcohol version of the original porter. The brewery renamed the series in 2017, after creating an imperial version of the porter.

This year, the team at Wiley Roots decided to release nine new beers, six of which are Imperial Somethin’ variants. These six beers will be sold as both single variant four-packs and as mixed six-packs with six individual Imperial Somethin’ variants that create a board game, with a set of special labels. This will allow fans to buy one mixed six-pack of all of the Imperial Somethin’ variants and will provide the option of buying more single variant four-packs. Owners Kyle Carbaugh and Miranda Carbaugh said that they thought it would be fun to create a board game as the perfect beer gift for any beer loving friend or family member.

Imperial Somethin’ mixed six-packs will be available directly from the brewery, which will include: Hazelnut Express, an imperial porter with hazelnut; Graham Cracker Forms, an imperial porter with graham cracker; Cinnamon Postcards, an imperial porter with cinnamon; Chai Stamps, an imperial porter with chai; Next Day Vanilla, an imperial porter with vanilla; and Certified Sugar Cookie, an imperial porter with sugar cookie.

Along with these six Imperial Somethin’ variants, Wiley Roots is also releasing Swatches: Snowdrift Vibes, an East Coast IPA with Amarillo, Mosaic and Motueka; Pastels: Alpenglow, a milkshake IPA with puréed pineapple, toasted coconut and milk sugar dry hopped with Vic Secret and Cascade; and Coffee Combos: Maple Glazed Donut, a blonde stout with cold brewed coffee from Blue Mug Coffee Bar and Roastery, maple syrup and milk sugar.