Red Robin Debuts New Beer and Salt at Great American Beer Festival

Chain restaurants are not often the places craft beer fans turn when they want the latest in crafted beer and compatible pub grub, but Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews is, once again, showing it knows a thing or two about food and beer, serving up its latest food and craft beer creation/pairing at this year’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado.

Attendees at last year’s Great American Beer Festival might recall that Red Robin debuted a burger inspired beer at the festival, complete with beer samples and burgers to match. This time around, Red Robin is again serving a special beer but rather than focus on the burgers, the restaurant chain will turn its attention to the most popular burger companion: French fries. The innovative product this year is Red Robin Hop Salt, a special seasoning developed in partnership with Boston Beer Company and ideal for adding to a serving of steak fries. The new beer this year is 1969 Lager, a beer that makes reference to the year that Red Robin opened its first restaurant, in Seattle, Washington.

Johnathan Muhtar, Red Robin Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer, says the goal at this year’s Great American Beer Festival is to drive home the point that Red Robin is a great place not just for burgers, but for all things beer.

“Red Robin has been synonymous with great burgers since our first restaurant opened in 1969, but we’re also a destination that offers an expansive selection of draft and bottled beer,” said Muhtar. “We wanted to build on the positive response from our first burger-inspired beer, which we introduced at last year’s festival, and know our 1969 Lager and Red Robin Hop Salt are menu additions that will resonate at the festival and in restaurant.”

1969 Lager is a beer brewed in partnership with Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing. It’s an easy- going beer in every sense, containing only 4.7 percent alcohol by volume and 18 IBU of bitterness. But don’t let its session qualities fool you- 1969 Lager is still a beer packed with a good deal of flavor and made to match perfectly with one of Red Robin’s many burgers. And to make a great pairing even better, order a side of steak fries topped with the new Red Robin Hop Salt- a special seasoning made using Hallertau and Tettnanger hops along with orange peel and brown sugar. Rather than dip in ketchup, Red Robin has a special citrus ale dressing that features flavors such as citrus, onion, garlic and chives. A glass of 1969 beer, a Red Robin burger, and fries seasoned with hop salt and dipped in the citrus ale dressing make for a taste combination unmatched at any other chain restaurant in America.

Hop salt will be rolled out nationally in the summer of 2018. If you’re attending this year’s Great American Beer Festival, be sure to stop by Red Robin’s display and get yourself a first taste of this special seasoning and a sample of 1969 beer. It’s going to be another amazing event thanks to Red Robin and so many other sponsors and attendees. I hope to see you in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival 2017!

For more information on Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews, visit www.redrobin.com. To follow on social media, link up with Red Robin via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.