'Coming Back to Beer'

By Eric Decker,
of Small Business Times
Published December 7, 2007

...Earlier this year, Peterson created Buffalo Water Brewing Co., a new beer brand brewed and packaged in Milwaukee. The company’s first beer, Bison Blonde Lager, is being introduced to the marketplace this month.

Peterson concocted his brewing venture when he was leasing office space for Zigman Joseph Stephenson at the intersection of Water and Buffalo streets.

The Buffalo Water name was too good to leave alone, Peterson said, and begged to be developed into a beer brand.

“I talked to my friends in the brewing business, and they said the name is ingenious,” he said.

The first beer produced by Buffalo Water is Bison Blonde Lager, beer specifically formulated to be paired with Buffalo wings, Peterson said.

“The No. 1 finger food is Buffalo wings,” he said. “And we want the name to be synonymous with wings and hot foods.”

To create his new beer, Peterson sampled 30 different beers he thought would match well with spicy foods such as Buffalo wings. He eventually found a profile that matched well, and he then tracked down its recipe online. With the help of a master brewer, that recipe was tweaked to create Bison Blonde Lager.

While Bison Blonde Lager is a craft beer, it’s different from most microbrews, Peterson said. Bison Blonde Lager is relatively low in alcohol and light in color and in flavor. Many other microbrews have higher alcohol content, heavier flavors and use larger amounts of hops.

“This is what I’d call a crossover beer,” Peterson said. “A lot of women don’t like the hops, heaviness and alcohol content. This beer appeals to people who don’t have an appreciation for big beers. And bartenders like it (Bison Blonde). They can sell twice as much of it (because of the lower alcohol content and lighter flavor).”

Bison Blonde Lager was formulated for easy drinking – what Peterson calls “poundability.” One of the marketing slogans Buffalo Water Brewing is using to promote the beer is “Slam a Blonde Tonight.”

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