Turn on, tune in, drop beer. Great Notion announces that it is expanding the merriment to encomass the entire month of April.
There’s a reason the brewery is called Great Notion. It’s named after a famous novel by Ken Kesey: Sometimes a Great Notion. Moreover, the brewery’s name and general vibe pay homage to the particular brand of merriment that Kesey and his followers gifted to the American hippie culture of the 1960s. I explained all of this in a previous post. You can read it here. You really should know that history: it will help you understand what Great Notion has going on between its ears.
Great Notion Brewing just announced that it is expanding its Get On The Bus campaign. For beer consumers, that means more beers drops and more merriment will fill the entire month of April, beyond the magical date of 4/20. Here’s the announcement with all the details
GREAT NOTION’S GET ON THE BUS CAMPAIGN RETURNS FOR ALL OF APRIL!
Pacific Northwest-based brewery Great Notion (GNB), best known for its hazy IPAs, “culinary-inspired” beers, and fun, direct-to-consumer business model is excited to announce the brewery’s GET ON THE BUS (GOTB) campaign is expanding to the whole month of April! GNB fans and new fans alike will get to taste a ton of trippy beers, check out new cannabis-friendly merchandise, and have the chance to win a ton of far-out prizes.
Owners Paul Reiter, James Dugan and Andy Miller are big fans of Oregon legend Ken Kesey and his
band of Merry Pranksters, thus the brewery name and beer references stemming from Sometimes a
Great Notion. With that culture in mind, GNB is celebrating its third annual Get on the Bus campaign
with special beer, merch drops and prizes throughout the month of April.
What does Get on the Bus mean one might ask? Well to us, it’s GNB’s celebration of the fun annual Bicycle Day (the first recorded LSD “trip” by Albert Hoffman on 4/19) and 4/20 cannabis celebration holidays honoring the Merry Pranksters and their Further Bus! New and unique beers that only appear annually around this time to look out for and try in beer flights, regular draft pours or packaged 16oz cans to go include:
April 5th Drop:
● Roach Clip – Don’t waste a sip of this hazy IPA dry hopped with HBC 586, Idaho 7, Galaxy,
and Mosaic Lupomax. 7% abv.
● Wake & Bake – A whale of an Imperial Pastry Stout finished with Mostra Coffee, Vanilla,
Cacao, Graham Cracker & Marshmallow.11% abv. (Finback Brewery Collaboration)
● Reeferm Madness – Remember the old Reefer Madness movie?!?! Smoothie-style tart ale
with Strawberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry, Mangosteen and Marshmallow. 6.3% abv.
April 11th Drop:
● Knife Hits – Take a breath of our West Coast IPA dry hopped with Simcoe, Superdelic, and
HBC 586. 6.8% abv. (Ghost Town Brewing Collaboration)
● Bubble Bag – Hazy DIPA brewed with a heavy amount of oats and milk sugar for a kushy body,
and dry hopped with Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, and Nelson Sauvin hop kief. 8.5% abv.
● Munchies – An Imperial Pastry Stout ready to lock you to the couch with Cacao Nibs, Peanuts,
Marshmallows, Pretzels, Potato Chips, Graham Crackers, and Caramel. 9.1% abv.
April 18th Drop:
● Aura – Hazy IPA modeled after our Ripe IPA featuring a double dry hop of Citra, Citra
Lupomax, and Citra Spectrum. 7.2% abv.
● Bicycle Day – Fruited Sour Ale with Peach, Apricot, Pineapple and Orange. You’ll be surprised
by the mixed berry aroma and unexpected color to help you celebrate the trip! 7.5% abv.
● Electric Headband – Tart Ale with blue raspberry sno-cone syrup and key lime juice. 7.1% abv.
● Merry Dankster – Our dankest haze for days. This hazy Double IPA is dry hopped with
Columbus, Simcoe, Vic Secret, and Motueka. 8.1% abv.
April 25th Drop:
● Micro Dankster – This West Coast Pilsner is no micro-dose when it comes to flavor. Dry
hopped with New Zealand Cascade and Simcoe. 5.6% abv (Cellarmaker Collaboration)
● Baked & Stuffed Berry Danish – Breakfast is served with this smoothie style tart ale with
raspberry, banana, hazelnut, marshmallow, and graham cracker. 6% abv. (Claim 52 Brewing
Collaboration)
● Triple Dank Shark – You’ll need a bigger boat for all of the Strata, Nelson Sauvin, Citra, and
Galaxy we hauled into this Hazy Triple IPA. 10% abv. (Alvarado Street Brewery Collaboration)
Two other fun notables during Great Notion’s GOTB month include:
● Prizes!: Beginning on our 2nd GOTB drop day (4/12), guests can order a GOTB beer flight of
their choice depending on availability at each taproom. Each flight purchased will earn a
scratch off ticket with a variety of prizes ranging from penny pints to 12 Notions (GNB monthly
beer sampler subscription program) and Timekeepers (GNB Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial
Stout bottle club) Subscriptions to an incredibly sick hand-blown “Fritglass.” Full pours of any
of the GOTB beers will also earn a scratch off ticket (tickets issued while supplies last).
● 4/20 pm on 4/20: Bourbon barrel-aged (BBA) 4PM from GNB’s super limited Timekeepers’
Club will be pouring at 4:20 pm on 4/20 at GNB taprooms. BBA 4PM is an Imperial Stout aged
in Blanton’s and Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrels for two years. Madagascar vanilla beans,
marshmallows, flaked coconut, pretzels, caramel, potato chips, and strawberry wafer cookies
were used to finish the April installment of our Timekeepers project.
“For the past couple of years, our guests have been so hyped on the trippy Bicycle Day beer and Get
on the Bus theme,” says GNB CEO Reiter. “We wanted to really blow their minds in 2024 by making
the proverbial trip last longer and increasing the amount of fun beers to try tenfold!”
Customers can purchase GNB’s Get on the Bus beers at greatnotion.com, on the GN mobile App, or
in-person at one of Great Notion’s 7 locations in Seattle, Portland, Sacramento or Berkeley.
To learn about other recent beer releases, visit our New Beer Releases page.