Red Rocks sells more White Claw than anywhere in the U.S.

Enjoying Rocks Amphitheatre could be the top of a musician’s profession. However the world-famous venue additionally presents a thirsty, hungry mass marketplace for manufacturers which are making an attempt to achieve the almost 2 million folks anticipated there this season.

As an all-day, every-day operation from April via November, the crews at Crimson Rocks are continuously prepping for and cleansing up after reveals, 200 of that are scheduled for 2024 — a brand new file. Most are offered out, or anticipated to promote out, and with a 9,545-person capability, that’s loads of meals and drinks being served.

For White Claw, the ever-present exhausting seltzer model that blazed into the native market in 2016, Crimson Rocks is a major concern. White Claw just isn’t solely the official exhausting seltzer of Crimson Rocks, however the venue is the corporate’s greatest “on-premise” account within the U.S., in response to Denver Arts & Venues, town company that owns and operates the world.

Crimson Rocks offered 254,640 cans of White Claw in 2023, the company mentioned, which is greater than 25% of the entire variety of malt drinks offered there, in response to a current research by the company. All advised, greater than 400,000 exhausting seltzers had been offered at Crimson Rocks.

Serving them, nonetheless, presents distinctive challenges in comparison with different music venues.

“Folks don’t understand the concessions stands are about one-third of the way in which up, so it’s actually folks relaying from individual to individual up from the underside of the steps,” mentioned Brian Kitts, director of promoting for Denver Arts & Venues.

“To see that occuring is fascinating, and that’s once you understand what a ache within the ass this place could be,” he added.

In different venues, employees can use elevators and carts with wheels to maneuver meals and drinks via the grounds. At Crimson Rocks, it’s worker energy shifting drinks case by case up the steeply tiered rows. Or, typically, tossing them to 1 one other, Kitts mentioned.

“It’s actually cool to see,” he mentioned as he surveyed the empty amphitheater final month. “It doesn’t even should be an enormous present as a result of they’re all the identical once you’re doing that sort of stuff. Huge or small, beer and drinks stand up there the identical method that individuals do.”

And but, it’s nonetheless spectacular that Crimson Rocks is White Claw’s greatest U.S. gross sales website, given the ubiquity of the drink at different bars and festivals.

Final 12 months, White Claw was offered at greater than 200 occasions – music fests, film fests, and different cultural gatherings — and this 12 months it’s already proven up at (or plans to go to) Sundance Movie Pageant, South by Southwest and the Kentucky Derby, in response to market-research agency The Harris Ballot. The corporate has additionally provided ticket sweepstakes to Crimson Rocks, final summer season writing in an Instagram put up: “White Claw summer season appears to be like like yoga and live shows at Crimson Rocks.”