St. Elmo Brewing Company teamed up with Zilker Brewing Company to create a new hard seltzer for Labor Day weekend. Slush Buddies is a seltzer collaboration that neither brewery really saw coming, but both breweries loved the lighthearted approach to making something delicious.

Each brewery expressed how fun collaborations can be, and this experience was regarded as favorably as any collaboration either group has done. Both take brewing seriously, but neither entity takes itself too seriously. The resulting seltzer is a fun callback to a childhood treat. For both breweries, though, it’s still somewhat new territory.

“Normally, we make what we like, what people want and what style it would be in competition,” said Tim Bullock from St. Elmo. But St. Elmo wants an option for everyone in the taproom. This led them to seltzers. Zilker had a similar progression.

“Creating hard seltzers was a lighthearted way to slightly make fun of ourselves,” said Rachael Hackathorne from Zilker Brewing.

This mentality and previous success led to the Slush Buddy concept. About a year ago, Zilker produced its first hard seltzer, Black Fang. It was successful, which led them to release a new seltzer. Tiger’s Blood, their most recent solo project, was a popular Sno-Cone flavor among the staff and fell in line with their approach to seltzers.

“Our first seltzers brought back the nostalgia, and it was something we wanted to continue,” said Hackathorne. “Slush Buddies started as an art idea.” From there, the idea took off.

For Slush Buddies, there will be a Red and a Blue flavor option. Yes, the options will be based on the actual colors of the seltzers. Both taprooms will offer a liquid and slushie version of the seltzer for on-site consumption as well as to-go options beginning today (Friday, Sep. 4).

Neither St. Elmo nor Zilker know how often they will continue to produce seltzers, but they really enjoyed this process. They’re both confident in their seltzer base, and it offers a different avenue of creativity.

At the very least, Slush Buddies, both the liquid and the accompanying slushies, will provide delicious alternatives for those looking for something different in Austin’s dynamic craft beer market.

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