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Metro Bus wins award
We Got Billy!
Metro Bus Mobility & Training Center was named the first
The quest to brew a national beer turned fatal for one regional brewery.
winner of the TripSpark
By Eric Cheever
Community Partner of the Year Award. The award recognizes a transit agency that is most proactively improving community access and implementing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging initiatives.
SCSU library staff earn award Staff members of the St. Cloud State University library recently received the 2023 Minnesota Academic Innovator’s Award by the Minnesota Library Association. The team of Robin
Promotional sign for BILLY Beer
Ewing, Jennifer Quinlan, Tom Steman, Melissa Prescott and honored for making course materials and scholarships more affordable and accessible for SCSU and the Minnesota State University system.
Several businesses named Top 200 Workplaces Nineteen Chamber members were recognized by Star Tribune as Minnesota’s Top 200 Workplaces. Ranking in the top 20 include: Bell Bank, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, Edina Realty, Frandsen Bank and Trust, Bolton & Menk Inc., Capital One, and Compeer Financial. For the full list, visit BusinessCentralMagazine.com.
Visit Greater St. Cloud promotes, adds staff Olivia Way, previously in the information specialist role, has been promoted to marketing and services coordinator, and Craig Besco, formerly a sales manager, has been promoted to sports director. In addition to these promotions, they welcome Sumer Hagar as sales manager and Melissa Ludwig as administrative assistant.
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nitially, sales of BILLY Beer were gangbuster. Stores couldn’t keep it on the shelves, and the breweries producing it couldn’t keep up with the orders. A year later BILLY Beer could not be given away. Millions of unfilled cans had to be sold back to the can companies for recycling, and one of the four breweries involved with the project went bankrupt. How did this happen? In the late 1970s, when giant brewers like Schlitz and Miller were infiltrating local markets, midsize regional brewer Falls City Brewing Co. in Louisville, Kentucky, needed a home run. Its once stable sales area had been taken over by the big boys and its market share had plummeted.
At the same time, the newly elected American president’s little brother had become an overnight sensation. Billy Carter was an attention hound who was wellknown for his love of beer. He called himself a professional redneck, and Americans found him refreshing – or at least entertaining. Why not have this self-proclaimed redneck, who came to represent good times, endorse a Falls City beer? A deal with Carter was signed. It was rumored that he earned $50,000 per year for attaching his name to the new product. Falls City created several new brews and Carter picked his favorite. A new label that was distinctively late–‘70s in nature was designed and it was off to the races.
As a regional brewer, Falls City didn’t have the capacity to make or distribute a national beer. To solve this, they leased the name and recipe to three other regional breweries. The first company to join in was the Cold Spring Brewing Co., in Cold Spring, Minnesota, followed by West End in Utica, New York, and Pearl Brewing in San Antonio, Texas. It was hoped that this new brew would ease a bit of these firms’ financial woes. Amidst much fanfare, BILLY Beer debuted in early November of 1977, in Plains, Georgia – hometown of the Carters. The first batch of beer sold like hotcakes. Cold Spring Brewing Co. worked around the clock to get BILLY ready for its Midwest release. The morning
Courtesy of the Stearns History Museum
The BILLY Beer can included an endorsement from Billy Car ter stating that it’s the best he’s ever tasted.
Missy Northenscold were