Beer Zombies - Chris Jacobs, Founder

Utah Beer News

Chris Jacobs grew up 45 minutes from Sierra Nevada Brewery in Northern California. He moved to Las Vegas in 1995 and immersed himself in the bar and cocktail scene on the Strip, working in various service industry positions.

A few years passed and he started focusing on the craft beer aspect of Las Vegas — which proved to be minimal at the time. Chris began developing beer programs centered on higher-end beers and worked to educate Vegas beer drinkers on the merits of craft beer.

At the same time, Chris’s artistic venture — We Are Zombies — continued to thrive. One day he drew a hop beard on his existing zombie logo and voila — Beer Zombies was born — sort of.

“There was no game plan, no marketing. I didn’t write a business plan,” he says. “It was just an organic idea that turned into a company.”

Beer Zombies, described as a “craft beer lifestyle brand, brewing project, and all-around craft beer ambassador,” hit Vegas in 2013. Since then the brand has expanded and on New Year’s Eve 2019 it opened a location in downtown Salt Lake City.

Utah Beer News caught up with Chris via Zoom as he busily worked on a variety of projects in Las Vegas. He just broke ground on a brewery. He’s preparing for a smaller-scale COVID-era event in mid-November. And he’s planning to open another Beer Zombies location on Black Friday.

During our conversation we discussed:

• The history of Beer Zombies as a craft beer brand
• Two beers brewed under the Beer Zombies brand that are available now in Utah
• And the interesting approach Beer Zombies takes to getting beer into the market while its brewery is under construction
• How Beer Zombies is weathering 2020 and making plans for 2021

Please take a few minutes to listen to what Chris has to say about beer and the role Beer Zombies hopes to play in Utah’s vibrant craft beer scene.

Thank you to Chris for taking the time to talk with Utah Beer News. And thank you for listening. If you enjoy this type of storytelling, it would mean a lot if you could please leave a review on your podcast platform of choice. The Salt Lake Beer Zombies is located at The Gateway inside HallPass.

Enjoy the episode!

Episode 40 | October 30, 2020