Flamin' Hot Cheetos Beer Helps Brewery Make It Through Pandemic

FORT WORTH, TX — A Fort Worth brewery that's known for its quirky beers has upped its game during the coronavirus pandemic. The beers released at the Martin House Brewing Company on Sylvania Avenue over the past few months has not only kept the business afloat, but has them thriving amid a trying time in the beer-making industry, a feature from the Dallas Eater highlights.

"Even in hard times, you can still count on people to drink beer," Shugg Cole, marketing director for the brewery, told the Eater.

Even before the pandemic began, Martin House was known for its quirky brews like the Salty Lady, which the Eater described as a German gose with "a serious saline punch," and a sour beer spiked with pickle juice.

“Every social media message and every phone call was from people trying to find this beer that we had no intention of keeping around for more than a couple of weeks,” Cole told the Eater of the pickled beer. “We had people calling from across the United States, from Australia and Scotland. It just took on a life of its own. It was like a train, and we had to hop on.”

Martin House got even more creative when faced with pandemic-spurred difficulties. Since last March, they've released brews tied to the Little Debbie's Cosmic Brownies and Christmas Tree Cakes, a pizza beer, cheesy popcorn beer, and even a Flamin' Hot Cheetos beer. All beers take like the flavors on the can, the Eater reports.

The Flamin' Hot Cheetos beer, "Fiery Crunchy Cheese Bois," which is less likely to stain the couch than the snack with the same name, is a 5.2 percent alcohol by volume sour beer brewed with the snacks.

"This is a liquid Flamin Hot Cheeto," the brewery said in a news release. "There's not much else to say. You be the judge."

It's one of the beers that, while subject to criticism by others in the brewing industry, has brought joy to drinkers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“We have a lot of loyal, loyal fans, and they’ve given us that opportunity to experiment with some different flavors this year," Cole told the Eater. "So yeah, I’d say we made the best of it.”

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