Virginia-based Duke’s Mayonnaise is partnering with Champion Brewing Company to produce a new beverage collaboration, Tailgate Twang.
This is the second collaboration between the two Virginia-based brands. In 2021, they launched Family Recipe, a lager that pairs with a BLT sandwich.
The new drink, an American pilsner named Tailgate Twang, pairs with game day dishes like sliders, dips and potato salad. The beverage is a light biscuit-flavored malt with a hint of hops. The beer is available throughout college football season at Champion’s taprooms, restaurants, webstore and distributed via retailers across Virginia and North Carolina.
“It’s not a Southern tailgate without Duke’s condiments and college football,” said Rebecca Lupesco, Duke’s brand marketing manager. “Champion has again perfected the art of beer and food pairings with Tailgate Twang – it’s tailgate-friendly, light and highly crushable – and was made for drinking with game day spreads.”
Since the company became the title sponsor of the Duke’s Mayo Classic and the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in 2020, the brand has been named the “Official Condiment of the Tailgate.” Earlier this year, the brand was also nominated for “Sports Sponsor of the Year” by Sports Business Journal for its sponsorship of college football’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We’re stoked to partner with Duke’s on another collab,” said Hunter Smith, Champion’s owner. “Not only is Duke’s the only mayo we use in our restaurants, but the Champion crew knows how to tailgate.”
Champion will release Tailgate Twang on Oct. 20 at Champion’s Charlottesville taproom. The Virginia Cavaliers versus Georgia Tech Yellowjackets game will play on a big screen, and customers can order from the tailgate-inspired menu developed by Champion’s culinary team.
Duke’s Mayonnaise was created in 1917 in Greenville, South Carolina by Eugenia Duke. In addition to the flagship mayonnaise, the company offers light, olive oil and flavored mayonnaises, tartar sauce, sandwich relish and regionally inspired Duke’s Southern Sauces, dressings and mustards.
Champion Brewing Company is a Charlottesville-based craft brewery with a three-barrel brewery and taproom downtown, and its production brewery shared with Reason Beer, a 30-barrel production facility recently expanded to 15,000 barrels of capacity.
