Deschutes Brewery Launches Fresh Haze IPA By Making It Rain...Beer

To introduce its new Fresh Haze IPA, Deschutes Brewery has partnered with creative experience agency Digital Kitchen to make it rain beer. And so far, people are enjoying the weather.

The stunt-led social activation includes a "beer cloud” and a comedic weatherman who delivers live weather updates on Instagram and Facebook. The beer cloud—which stands nine feet high and can empty a 50-gallon keg in under 3 minutes—has so far traveled to Portland, Oregon and the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

The cloud is making it rain more than just Fresh Haze IPA. Blurring the lines between stunt and social activation, it has generated over 2 million impressions on Facebook and Instagram—and hundreds more in-person interactions. Leading up to the stunt, localized weather reports were launched on social media to tease the “brewing storm,” and the live reporting around it.

“We knew that a cloud raining beer would be a hit, but we needed to give it legs to really make an impact,” said Aaron Feiger, Group Creative Director at Digital Kitchen. “For a brand to break through with a stunt, it needs to be leveraged beyond just its physical location. We used social media to turn a weatherman getting drenched in beer into a live, comedically newsworthy event.”

During its Portland debut, the stunt stopped at five locations around the city—including the iconic Portland waterfront and Burnside Skate Park. The tour ended at the Deschutes Portland Pub, where bar patrons posed for selfies with the beer cloud, raising pints of Fresh Haze IPA for friends on Instagram and Facebook.

Founded in 1988, Deschutes Brewery is Oregon’s largest craft beer producer, headquartered in Bend, Oregon.