Blue & Gold Brewing LLC, a student-run business venture launched as part of an undergraduate applied learning program in Marquette University’s College of Business Administration, has announced it will release The Beer Can, a cream ale named after the iconic former McCormick Hall residence hall, in time for National Marquette Day on Saturday, Feb. 10.
The Beer Can, with the tagline “The Can, the Myth, the Legend,” is a cream ale with fruity and citrusy notes, featuring Michigan-grown Chinook hops and a smooth mouth feel. The beer will be available beginning Thursday, Feb. 8, at partner breweries Good City Brewing, Broken Bat Brewing and Gathering Place Brewing. The Beer Can will hit retail shelves on Friday, Feb. 9, and will be available at Fiserv Forum on National Marquette Day when the men’s basketball team hosts St. John’s.
For a complete list of retail locations, visit bandgbrewing.com.
“We decided to honor McCormick Hall in a beer not only because of its nickname and shape, but because of its influence on Marquette University history,” said Sarah Richardson, Blue & Gold Brewing spokesperson. “We wanted to continue the legacy by giving it a new form of life within the Marquette community — beer.”
McCormick Hall opened in 1968 and housed more than 36,000 freshmen over the years before closing in 2018. Its cylindrical shape led to its affectionate moniker, “The Beer Can.”
Blue & Gold Brewing LLC was launched in 2022 as a first-of-its-kind pilot program with four undergraduate students chosen to lead a student-run venture. That first team released ’77 Golden Ale, a private label, Marquette-affiliated craft beer for National Marquette Day 2023. A coffee partnership with Stone Creek was announced and released its first product line in late 2023, giving Blue & Gold a second team and a year-round product line.
An additional batch of ’77 Golden Ale was rereleased in December and purchase locations can be found on the Blue & Gold Brewing website.
Students on the Blue & Gold teams are involved in every aspect of the business, leading market research, product selection and naming, supply chain and logistics, finance, graphic design, advertising, marketing, distribution, and entrepreneurial/start-up processes. Revenue from product sales will be split among the student-run venture and the industry partners, with proceeds benefitting Marquette’s student-run ventures program.
This year’s beer team consisted of D’Angelo Alvarado, Lisa Gandolfi and Owen Krappman of the College of Business Administration, Sarah Richardson and Stella Quinlan of the Diederich College of Communication. They were mentored by Dick Leinenkugel, Bus Ad ’80, past president of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company; Joe Yeado of Gathering Place Brewing Company, Bus Ad ’07, Grad ’10; Tim Pauly of Broken Bat Brewing, Bus Ad ’10; Dan Katt of Good City Brewing. The team also received business-related counsel from Kevin Brauer of Draught Guard, Bus Ad ’19, and JP Graber of Beechwood Sales, Arts ’02.
As a required element of this initiative, members of the student team must be 21 years of age and develop a public service campaign with the participating breweries to promote responsible decisions around alcohol consumption.
Marquette’s student-run ventures program is designed to transform students into leaders of positive change by providing them with hands-on experiential learning opportunities to launch, manage and lead business ventures profitably. Students are paid for their roles.
