Droolius

Hanson, the popular music band from the 90′s, has created their own Mmmhops Pale Ale beer and debuted it at this year’s 2014 Epcot Food & Wine Festival. The craft beer is named after their hit song, “MMMBop” and is brewed at their Hanson Brothers Beer Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the first time Mmmhops is available in Florida and the craft beer can be found at the Epcot’s Festival Center. Hanson recently presented Mmmhops at a beverage seminar at the Festival Center to an excited crowd of fans.

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The beverage seminar was a talk on how the brothers came up with the beer idea and how they designed this beer to be an introduction to drinking a hoppy beer. The goal was to make it a drinkable full bodied beer with a hoppy flavor, but not go overboard with a hoppy bitter flavor. They were very knowledgable talking about craft beers and brewing, dropping some beer knowledge to the crowd, while keeping it entertaining for the fans. An autographed beer signed by Hanson was available for purchase with a quick meet and greet, plus a photo opportunity.

Afterwards I got a chance to interview the band about their Mmmhops beer and we talked about craft beers, what food to pair with Mmmhops, and discovering craft beer and food while traveling. These guys are super chill and were great to interview. Watch the video interview directly below…

Video:

Please excuse the loud waterfall sound in the background

Link to video on YouTube:
Later that evening, Hanson performed at Epcot’s Eat to the Beat Concert Series:

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Hanson performing songs from the past to new songs on stage.

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Isaac Hanson on guitar

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Taylor Hanson on keyboard and piano.

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Zac Hanson on drums.

After watching Hanson perform, I must admit they are a talented group of singers, performers, and musicians. Their fans have so much energy to sing and dance to every song. According to Hanson, this is Hanson’s forth or fifth year performing at Epcot Food & Wine Festival.

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I actually tried the Mmmhops beer during a media event a few weeks ago and it’s as the band describes it, an introductory hoppy beer and full-bodied Pale Ale. It was paired with the Florida Grass Fed-Beef Slider with Pimento Cheese (from Hops & Barley marketplace) and the beer went really well with the flavors of the slider. Mmmhops with a burger would be a great combination together.

Hanson is definitely serious about their craft beer and Mmmhops sounds like it’s only the beginning for Hanson Brothers Beer Company. They mentioned in the interview that they are hoping to see more craft beer presence at the festival, which you definitely can see this year with an entire room dedicated to craft beers at Epcot Food & Wine. Hopefully the festival will have Mmmhops served at one of the marketplaces in the future.

Mmmhops beer is currently available at the Epcot’s Festival Center and select locations in the Midwest. Since the brewery is based in Oklahoma, that Midwest area of the U.S. is where the concentration of distribution is right now. Hanson mentioned that Mmmhops would be available later this year in select locations around Florida. You can always buy the beer online on the websitewww.mmmhops.com.
Find out more about Epcot Food & Wine Festival: droolius.com/tag/epcot-food-wine-festival/

Epcot International Food & Wine Festival continues until November 10, 2014.
Words and photos by Julius Mayo Jr.
Content and photos © Droolius.com 2014

Droolius with Hanson (photo op with the band).
Disclaimer: I was invited as media to interview Hanson. I was not compensated to write this post and all opinions are always my own.

Tampa Bay Times 

LAKE BUENA VISTA — Fans started lining up at 6 a.m. to see Hanson talk beer.

Yes, beer. Yes, Hanson. The towheaded brothers behind the earwig [sic] MMMBop have come to the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival to play music for the past five years. But this year, they had a brilliant business tie-in.

They were legal now, way legal, producing a brand of pale ale aptly named Mmmhops. The beer is making its Florida debut at the festival, sold in cups at the Fife & Drum kiosk at the American Adventure pavilion and in bottles in the festival center.

That’s where Isaac, Taylor and Zac gathered in September for a “beer seminar” and to sign bottles for fans. The brothers formed their beer company in 2013, their 21st year as a band (get it?). The song MMMBop has almost come of age, too, they said.

“If you play that song backwards, it says ‘Drink more beer,’ ” middle brother Taylor quipped to an adoring crowd of hundreds.

Confession: I was fangirling with them. I merrily accepted an interview with the band, because my Hanson hang-up is no big secret. In the 1990s, Hanson was mine. My David Cassidy, my Justin Bieber, my One Direction. My friends and I wrote them mail with glitter stickers down the side. I was sure I’d marry Taylor. Can we call that institutional knowledge?

Alas, time has passed: Isaac is 33; Taylor is 31; Zac is 28.

The Hansons are all married with a combined 11 children. They’ve produced 10 albums and toured the world. Surely they needed a hobby, or at least a drink. Backstage, I tried to find an elegant way to ask Hanson if the beer meant they were in the baby stages of a midlife crisis.

“I don’t know if this is what you’re extrapolating,” Taylor said, my eyes shooting with cartoon hearts. “But I think that if you look, there are a lot of people our age and younger that are really passionate about the craft beer scene. For us, part of what we’re able to say with our interest in beer is, we’re much like many people of our generation. …

“Sometimes what you’re really excited about happens to be on the right curve, where it’s lining up with the cultural movement. And in this case, I would say that’s very much true.”

They partnered with the Mustang Brewing Co. in Oklahoma and started producing a pale ale with Zythos, Centennial and Willamette hops, plus a potent 7.5 percent alcohol content (it really mmm-bops you). They formed a beer and music festival in Tulsa called Hop Jam.

The beer is available around Oklahoma and the Midwest, and online. They say there will be more varieties.

“A good pale ale is an anchor to put in the ground and build around,” said Taylor. “Ours is the kind of pale ale that we think introduces you to higher flavored beers.”

The brothers’ interest in beer feels legitimate. They’re into brands like Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, Dogfish Head and 3 Floyds. They tossed around terms like “malty,” “triple IPA” and “IBU,” or International Bittering Units.

As for the name, they’re not worried it’s gimmicky.

“We always felt like if we want to move forward, we need to take our past with us,” Taylor said. “You can’t wipe things out. And we’re proud of MMMBop.”

It was nominated for Grammys, licensed in everything from The Hangover Part III to Despicable Me 2. And the brothers are sincere when they talk about the message, that it can help people navigate life, even through those prickly thirties.

“That song talks about how, over time you’ll discover that very few things in life last and that you have to consciously define that for yourself,” said Zac, who was 11 when the brothers recorded the song. “When we see the audiences at shows and see these people who have been with you for 20-some-odd years, it rings true what that song is saying. But I think the beer … it’s like the toast to that.”

“To the ones who really care,” added Isaac, quoting the song.

Well, I cared. I bought two bottles of Mmmhops for the Disneyfied price of $15.45 and cracked one open at dinner.

It was a little bitter going down. But the longer it lasted, the more it kept opening up.

Contact Stephanie Hayes at shayes@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8716. Follow @stephhayes.

.if you go

Drink some Mmmhops

The 19th annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival runs 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily through Nov. 10 at Walt Disney World. Included with daily admission: $94, $88 ages 3-9, 2 and younger free. Some events may also require a special event ticket. Food and drinks range from $3 to $8 at each stop along the tour of countries. Epcot at Walt Disney World, 1515 N Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista. Call (407) 939-3378 for more information or go to disneyworld.com/foodandwine.