Taco Bell is now selling its own beer
Taco Bell, is that you?
We hardly recognized you without your signature drive-thru and the addition of a cool new beer fridge!
The fast-food taco chain has announced that it’s partnered with a Huntington Beach, California brewer to make its very own Taco Bell beer. Since Taco Bell is good eating after a night of drinking, I guess they figured they’d cut out the middle man.
Dubbed the Beach Bell, the beer is a Mexican-style amber lager brewed by Four Sons Brewing, a family-owned brewery. Taco Bell itself described the beer this way: “The light, crisp and refreshing beer has a smooth and robust taste with a clean finish that makes it the perfect beverage to pair with a Taco Bell meal.”
The catch? You need to be at the new Taco Bell Cantina in Newport Beach, California, to get your hands on this beer. And it’s a limited-time release with no word from Taco Bell on how long Beach Bell will be available.
The Newport Beach Cantina opened Dec. 15 and also features murals from local artists, a walk-up order menu, alcohol-optional frozen drinks called Twisted Freezes and an open-kitchen concept. Oh yeah, and it has an ocean view.
Wait, this sounds a lot fancier than I remember from my college years. Do we need a reservation, Taco Bell?! (Thankfully, the answer is no).
The beer-slinging Newport Beach location is part of Taco Bell’s expansion with drive-thru free restaurants that will be opening across the United States. Taco Bell has already opened these cantina-style restaurants in Wabash, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Additional locations will include Manhattan, Brooklyn, Chicago, Boulder and Madison, Wisconsin. In all, Taco Bell plans to open 300 drive-thru free restaurants in the next five years.
Maybe these changes will help Taco Bell climb up the (fast) food chain? A poll found that Taco Bell ranked No. 14 on the list of Americans’ favorite fast-food restaurants.
Beer and fancier restaurants aren’t the only bold moves Taco Bell has made recently.
Earlier this year, the fast-food chain ventured into fashion by collaborating with Forever 21 for a clothing collection. Some of the line’s graphic T-shirts are quippy and incorporate icons of hot sauce packets. Much of the collection is sold out, but, if you love Taco Bell, you can shop what’s left of the collection here.
I guess it’s more stylish than the last time I tried to eat Taco Bell in my car and LITERALLY wore it on my sleeve.
Taco Bell also began holding weddings at its Las Vegas restaurant this past summer, offering a $600 wedding package that came with, yes, tacos, but also an officiant.
It’s fair to say they’ve given us a lot to taco ’bout in 2017!