Team members of the brewer handed out cans of its beer then arrived at Bison Beach Bar @ Sea Lanes seafront bar, which is located to the east of Palace Pier in the Sussex city, in a Mash Gang-branded hearse emblazoned with the slogan ‘Death to boring Januarys’ on the side windows.
The company’s motto encourages people to get ‘Mashed not smashed’ in 2025.
The hearse trawled through city centre roads with Mash Gang ‘undertakers’ handing out the cans of beer – along with the ‘Grim Reaper’ – from a coffin on board the vehicle before heading to the independent bar on Madeira Drive.
Safe Nath
The evening reached its peak at the ‘wake’ at the Bison bar where about 200 guests came to ‘pay their respects’ to the death of boring Januarys and were treated to live performances by up-and-coming rapper and Brighton resident Safe Nath, a buffet and a eulogy delivered by Mash Gang co-founder Mike Baggs on “the monotony of dull Januarys”.
Baggs said: “We wanted to prove January doesn’t have to be boring. This event wasn’t just about surviving dry January – it was about thriving. Ditching the booze doesn’t mean cutting back on fun and we’re thrilled to have shown that to so many people… who will all remember it the next day.”
Redefining social occasions
Mash Gang said it is committed to “redefining social occasions” and paid tribute to “the rise of sober curiosity and more people choosing alcohol-free lifestyles” adding “non-alcoholic drinks can be just as exciting and flavourful as their alcoholic counterparts”.
Mash Gang, which recently launched in the US, began as a homebrewing experiment during the pandemic and its core range includes:
- Chug – “Expect big tropical hops, assertive but round bitterness, and an extra pale base, with fluffy body. Easy drinking, crowd-pleasing. Even people who don’t usually like non-alcoholic beers have given it a thumbs up.”
- Cult – “A super modern pale ale showcasing the best of radical southern hemisphere hops using a heavy-handed cold side dose of Superdelic, Nectaron and Nelson Sauvin for notes of red fruit, candy, ice lolly, sparkling wine and Kool-style-Aid.
