Beer Girl Brewing Co., the Laguna Beach-based low-ABV, gluten-reduced beer brand co-founded by Caroline and Griffin Foulk, has signed its first national brand partnership — a collaboration with country artist Mackenzie Carpenter timed to the brand's expansion into Nashville and continued U.S. growth.
The deal pairs Beer Girl with an artist on a clear upward trajectory. Carpenter was recently nominated for ACM New Female Artist of the Year and is currently touring with Riley Green, with dates alongside Jason Aldean on the horizon. For on-premise operators eyeing the low-ABV segment, the alignment is notable: attaching a sessionable, gluten-reduced product to a high-visibility country music audience is a calculated move to build brand awareness in a region where beer culture and live music are deeply intertwined.
Nashville's hospitality scene — from honky-tonk strips to upscale hotel bars — presents a distinct distribution opportunity for brands in the better-for-you alcohol space. As beverage industry trends continue to favor lower-alcohol options, Beer Girl's positioning as both approachable and health-conscious gives it a natural hook with the festival and venue crowd that follows artists like Carpenter on tour.
The celebrity-brand partnership model has become an increasingly common growth lever for emerging beverage labels seeking national shelf space and on-premise placement without the marketing budgets of legacy brewers. By anchoring to a touring artist with a dedicated fanbase, Beer Girl gains organic exposure across multiple markets simultaneously — a strategy worth noting for buyers and program directors evaluating new craft additions.
Industry observers tracking restaurant and bar beverage programming have noted that low-ABV and gluten-reduced products are no longer niche menu additions but are becoming standard considerations for operators seeking to serve a broader, health-aware guest mix. Beer Girl's move into Nashville, backed by a national partnership, positions the brand to accelerate trial and placement across the region's dense bar and venue ecosystem. Food & Beverage Magazine has also tracked the wider rise of better-for-you alcohol as a defining category trend heading into the latter half of the decade.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
