The Seattle Seahawks’ success should translate in a positive way
The Seattle Seahawks just posted the best regular-season record the franchise has ever seen, cruising to a .824 winning percentage, snagging the division and NFC titles along the way, and now punching their ticket to the Super Bowl. Cue the celebrations—and, ideally, a few extra rounds of beer. For craft breweries across Washington, this kind of success is very welcome news if it translates to beer sales.
January may be behind us, but let’s be honest: beer drinkers don’t exactly come roaring back the moment the calendar flips. Dry January rolls right into Frigid February. If Dry January is a punch in the gut, Frigid February is a slap in the face. It usually takes a while for things to warm up.
It’s been a season for the history books. That is, if you’re not a brewery.
“While January is Dry, February is Frigid,” said Daniel Olson, executive director of the Washington Brewers Guild. “Local craft brewers see sales down both months. It’s hard for these businesses to survive winter. Brewers used to plan for a slow winter, but we’re still not seeing customers return even in warmer months the way they did pre-pandemic.”
That’s where the Seahawks come in. With a huge and passionate fan base across the Pacific Northwest, the hope is that Seahawks fever—and Super Bowl parties—might help thaw things out as we roll into February. If even a fraction of that Seahawks-fueled excitement translates into fuller taprooms and stocked fridges, brewers will happily take it.
Don’t forget to check. Maybe one of your favorite breweries is hosting a watch party for the big game on Sunday. Maybe it’s offering a special deal on beer to go. Help them out. While Big Beer spends bazillions of dollars on Super Bowl ads, our local breweries are just asking for a little piece of your beer-buying action.
Right now, brewing is not for the faint of heart. Getting ahead in the brewery business these days is like trying to mount a successful passing attack against The Legion of Boom. Amid inflation, tariffs, supply chain headaches, staffing challenges, and some beer consumers generally consuming less, Washington’s brewers are navigating some formidable business conditions.
Giving it their all
Like the Seahawks’ offensive line, which relentlessly pounds an opponent’s defensive front, Washington breweries are relentless. The state’s more than 400 breweries are doing some heavy lifting these days—supporting over 57,000 jobs, generating $3.7 billion in wages, driving $12.4 billion in economic activity, and contributing more than $1.5 billion in annual tax revenue.
According to the Brewers Association, nearly half of all breweries report January or February as their slowest month of the year. Add November and December to the mix, and about two-thirds of breweries experience their quietest stretch between November and February—until things finally pick up again in March with the arrival of St. Patrick’s Day, longer days, and warmer weather.
Let’s help our breweries break into the secondary a bit early this year. Let’s commit ourselves to craft beer for the big game and any other Seahawks-inspired celebrations. (Not counting any chickens). Let’s make the Seahawks brewery bump a real thing.
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