How does roulette, one of the most elegant table games, relate to craft beer? After all, this isn’t poker. It is precisely because of roulette’s elegance and precise craftsmanship for the playing table that pairs it beautifully with artisan and craft beer.
With roulette being one of the oldest casino games that dates back to the mid-1600s, it has had plenty of exposure to high society and alcohol. With its origins in France, specifically French nobility, it didn’t take long for the roulette table to be paired with fine wine and artisan drinks.
Come the 20th century, with roulette firmly being associated with sophistication, it didn’t become a stretch for craft beers to become quickly synonymous with gaming excellence. To discover the ins and outs of how craft beer and roulette have become inseparable, especially in the digital age, continue reading further.
1. Craft Beer and Roulette: An Exceptional Duo
Beer, one of the oldest drinks in history, traces its origins to ancient Mesopotamia, where it was brewed for both daily consumption and religious rituals. During the Industrial Revolution, beer production was industrialized to meet the growing demand of urban workers, transforming it into a global commodity.
With beer becoming the “working man’s drink,” its relationship with backroom entertainment soon took off. Before 1932, casinos were outlawed in the United States. However, that didn’t mean that establishments didn’t find a way to get casino games on board.
Before we go further into the relationship between the unlikely bond of craft beer and roulette, roulette has an interesting itself, especially in America.
2. The Birth of Roulette
Roulette’s origins trace back to 17th-century France, where Blaise Pascal’s experiments with perpetual motion inspired the game’s iconic wheel. By the 18th century, French Roulette gained popularity among the nobility, paired with fine wines and luxury.
French immigrants later brought roulette to America during the Gold Rush, where the double-zero version—American Roulette—emerged to boost house profits. Although legends connect roulette to ancient Greek and Roman games, its modern form is undeniably European.
3. The Relationship Between American Roulette and Craft Beer
At the time, speakeasies and saloons had backrooms where gambling took place. Gathered around the tables were players, other members, and free-flowing beer and whiskey. With the rise of legal casinos in Nevada starting in the 1930s, roulette became mainstream.
Casinos, of course, use celebrities and the prestige of Hollywood films to make playing roulette cool and desirable. With iconic casinos like the Monte Carlo, it was common to see luxury drinks around the roulette table, with famous stars like Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca” drinking and spinning the roulette wheel.
After World War 2 ended, ingenuity and innovation shifted to developing more custom products. Beer was at the top of the list to become more modernized and enjoyable. With the rise of Anchor Brewing in the 1960s, the shift towards craft beer was in full swing.
When President Carter signed legislation to sanction home brewing in the late 1970s, craft beer sales began to leapfrog traditional beer sales. With craft beer finding its way into Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos, roulette, and craft beer didn’t take long to team up
4. Craft Beer and Roulette Go Digital
The 1990s brought the internet into homes with the dial-up modem. In 1994, the first wave of online casinos came online. New generations of players fell in love with online roulette. As broadband internet expanded in the 2000s, so did the profile of online casinos.
With greater bandwidth and more households having internet, craft beer makers took advantage of e-commerce to push and sell their products. With so much technology at their fingertips and understanding the successful relationship between casino games like roulette and drinking, many craft breweries modeled and named their beers after roulette games.
For example, some of the top craft beers like “Red 7 IPA” and “Black Stout 22” are references to roulette games available at premier real money and sweepstakes casinos. Of course, “Black Stout 22” is also a reference to the famous movie “Casablanca.” To help a desperate Romanian couple raise money to escape to the United States, Humphrey Boggart suggests betting everything on number 22 on the roulette wheel. The tip paid off!
Even with roulette thriving on digital forms, craft beers, and mobile roulette play also have a successful relationship. With mobile apps offering 24/7 online roulette access, many craft breweries are designing their seating areas and tables to resemble an actual roulette table. To encourage customers to bond and mingle, what better way than to play mobile roulette with a craft beer inspired by roulette?
