And Finally Brands & Merch

Hanson officially launch badly named beer

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 30 May 2013

Hanson have officially launched their own ale, a year and a half after the new brand extension was originally announced. Clearly a lot of time was needed to refine the product – for example, the India pale ale is now called MMMhops, rather than its original name MMMhop. It’s all about the refining. Also, it probably took a while to come up with the tagline, ‘From the guys that invented ‘MMMbop'”.

The launch of the beer coincides with the band’s 21st anniversary, and comes just weeks after this year’s Hanson Day (which I see from their website is a thing). And, somewhat irritatingly given the cynical tone I’m enjoying employing here, proceeds from the sale of the beer will be donated to the Red Cross tornado relief effort in Oklahoma, where the beer’s brewery Mustang Brewing is based.

Announcing this bit, the band’s Taylor Hanson said: “The tragedy hits close to home, especially since this community was among the first places our band performed together, including schools which were lost in the storm. We are hopeful that the proceeds we can galvanise will play a lasting role in the recovery efforts. We have loved bringing people together around music for the last 21 years, and ‘Mmmbop’ which inspired the beer’s name is a song about holding onto the friends and moments that count. We want to use this opportunity to make the release of MMMhops one of those moments”.

The beer will officially go on sale at the same time as the release of the band’s sixth album, ‘Anthem’, on 18 Jun in the States. Apparently you need to drink at least seven bottles before listening to the album becomes enjoyable.