Working at Dick’s Drive-In on Capitol Hill in 1988, Scuttlebutt Brewing’s head brewer Matt Stromberg remembers fondly the day when Sir Mix-a-Lot shot his famous video for “Posse on Broadway.” It was a seminal moment in West Coast hip-hop and would go on to launch the career of one of the most influential Seattle hip-hop artists of the 1980s and ’90s.
So it’s no surprise that when Stromberg was approached to make a beer commemorating West Coast hip-hop he chose to name it in honor of Anthony Ray, better known as Sir Mix-a-Lot.
“I knew we had to do Sir Mix-a-Lot,” Stromberg said. “He was a great guy. I remember he’d drive up (to Dick’s) in one of his two Mercedes and just hang out. He’d buy people burgers. He was never too big for his britches.”
The beer, named after Sir Mix-a-Lot’s biggest claim to fame, the song “Baby Got Back,” is a hoppy hefeweizen brewed in collaboration with Vancouver, B.C., brewery Parallel 49. The beer is one of four collaboration beers Parallel 49 brewed with American breweries to celebrate West Coast hip-hop.
Stromberg had a connection with the Parallel 49 brewers through a mutual distributor in Canada and agreed to the concept after they approached him. He worked closely with the Parallel 49 brewers to create Baby Got Back ale. Using Hull Melon hops as a starting point, Stromberg said they added a little Vienna malt to give the hefeweizen a little more “oomph” in order to support the added hoppiness.
The beer was brewed at Parallel 49’s facility in downtown Vancouver, B.C. Stromberg said he made three trips up to the brewery throughout the process, including for the release party last month.
“I’m proud to say that our keg was the first to blow at the release party,” Stromberg said.
The four beers are sold together as a four-pack of 22-ounce bottles. Along with Scuttlebutt’s beer, Parallel 49 collaborated with San Diego’s Green Flash Brewing on What’s Golden, an East meets West IPA, Anchorage’s 49th State Brewing on Gettin’ It, a farmhouse-style ale made with Nordic yeast strains, and Gigantic Brewing on Blazing Arrow, a tawny IPA.
The music theme extends to the packaging as well. The bottles have mixtapes on them emblazoned with the name of the beer, and the actual cases the beer comes in have speakers, equalizers and controls to give it that classic 1980s boombox look. Bonus: Put three of the boxes together and it turns into a full-on boombox.
“They really hit the packaging out of the park,” Stromberg said.
One drawback for local fans: The beer is only for sale in Canada. Parallel 49 doesn’t have distribution in the U.S. and Scuttlebutt can’t sell beer that isn’t exported to the U.S. Parallel 49 brewed 80 barrels of each of the four beers and sent bottles and kegs throughout British Columbia and Alberta, including to most liquor and wines stores in the Vancouver area. The four-pack is retailing for about $25.99 Canadian (about $19.50 in U.S. dollars).
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