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Wheaties General Mills Craft Beer

Wheaties branches out from breakfast and taps into craft beer trend

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By Natalie Mortimer, N/A

August 13, 2015 | 3 min read

It may position itself as the Breakfast of Champions, but cereal brand Wheaties is looking to push a different kind of 'champion' product after teaming with Minneapolis craft brewery Fulton to create a limited-edition branded beer named HefeWheaties.

The Hefeweizen, a south German style of wheat beer typically brewed with over 50 percent malted wheat, makes it a "natural fit" for the Wheaties brand according to a blog post posted by owner General Mills.

"Wheaties is not actually in the beer, but there is wheat. And that connection helped both brands try something interesting," wrote Kevin Hunt, social media manager for global communications at General Mills.

The two companies collaborated on each stage of the process including the recipe for HefeWheaties to the design of the can. It's a partnership that was forged in part due to the connections between Fulton’s team and employees at General Mills.

Tony Libera, social media account manager for Wheaties, spoke about the possibility of a beer partnership for the brand with a sales representative friend at Fulton, and plans were then put in motion.

“We were intrigued from the get-go on this idea for many reasons, including that we’re both Minneapolis companies, and that the beer and the cereal both started from the same place in terms of raw ingredients and the same city,” said Ryan Petz, president and co-founder of Fulton.

“We had been sampling a number of Hefeweizens, so we had been discussing with the Wheaties team what we liked. Someone on the team said HefeWheaties, and it kind of sprung out from there".

Typically served in a traditional Weizen glass, HefeWheaties will be the first beer of this style brewed by Fulton.

“We’ll see how people react to it,” added Petz. “If it’s something everybody loves, we’ll obviously consider doing it again in a bigger and more widely distributed way in the future".

The beer will be available for a limited time only from 26 August at Minnesota's Twin Cities market in a 16oz tallboy can. 4-packs will be sold at limited retailers in the area, while quantities last. It won't be available for shipment or purchase outside of Minnesota.

Wheaties General Mills Craft Beer

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