Ford and non-alcoholic brewer Days
have teamed up for one of the stranger collaborations of the year, creating a trio of city-inspired 0.0% beers with help from the all-electric Ford Puma Gen-E.
Yes, really.
The idea was to capture the character of three British cities in beer form, using the Puma Gen-E’s GigaBox — a 145-litre waterproof storage area underneath the boot floor — as a kind of rolling mixing chamber. Kegs were secured in the back of the car, then driven through Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh, with the motion of each journey said to help finish off the final flavours.
It’s gloriously daft, but also quite a good fit.
Ford calls the Puma Gen-E a “car for doing”, while Days has built its brand around the idea of its 0.0% brew being a “beer for doing” for people who still want to get out, be active and enjoy themselves without the alcohol. Somewhere along the line, somebody decided the obvious next step was to make beer in the back of an electric car. Obvs.
The three flavours created through the partnership are all linked to a different city. Manchester gets Hushed Honey, somehow inspired by the cobbled streets of the Northern Quarter. Bristol’s contribution is Electric Apple, apparently shaped by a run up the famously steep Vale Street. Edinburgh rounds things off with Bold Berries, influenced by the tight wynds and closes of the Old Town.
According to Days co-founder Mike Gammell, the whole thing started with a fairly simple question: how do you capture the spirit of a city in a beer?
The answer, it turns out, was to physically drive the beer around in the back of a Ford Puma.
Gammell said: “Here’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d be writing this year: we just made a new range of non-alcoholic beers in the back of a car.
“Partnering with Ford to use the Puma Gen-E to physically infuse our brews with the spirit of a city was a perfect match. It’s a celebration of local discovery, and the result is a range of genuinely unique 0.0% beers that taste of their hometown.”
There’s clearly a lot of marketing fluff wrapped around the idea, and nobody should pretend the roads of Bristol are secretly a new brewing technique. But as brand collaborations go, this one is at least memorable. It also gives Ford a neat way to draw attention to one of the Puma Gen-E’s more unusual features, while Days gets to position alcohol-free beer as something a bit more fun and adventurous than the usual worthy messaging.
The beers were launched this week at The Film Shed at MC Motors in Dalston, where guests were able to try the three flavours and hear how they were created. Ford and Days say the brews will also tour the country during the year, with the beers being served from the GigaBox of a Puma Gen-E.
So, if you’ve ever wondered what happens when a car brand and a 0.0% brewer get together and have an idea that probably sounded even better after a long meeting, this is your answer.
It may be a stunt, but it’s an entertaining one.
He is the founder of Huff Media, publisher of Professional Pickup, Professional Van, Average Janes, Average Joes, and CALIBRE. His work focuses primarily on light commercial vehicles, pickups, and real-world vehicle use, with much of his time spent on manufacturer launches, industry events, and long-term vehicle testing.