In the summer of 2017, Dr. Mary Ann Childs found herself in a boat on Lake Keowee wishing she liked beer.
“I never could find a beer that I liked,” the former Upstate dentist explains. “I don’t like the aftertaste or the smell, and it’s hard to drink wine on the water all day.”
A friend on the boat happened to mention Wicked Weed had created a beer aged in wine barrels that was flying off the shelves. For Mary Ann, this begged the question—could you combine wine and beer, creating a drink that had the complex flavors of wine with the light, refreshing crispness of beer? And what would you call this wine plus beer concoction?
Insert WI’ER (pronounced we’re), a 4.2 percent, 100-calorie hard-seltzer beer infused with wine flavors, which hit South Carolina shelves this past November. But for Mary Ann, the catalyst behind the product runs deeper than a quirky idea on the lake. A few years ago, after twenty years in dentistry, Mary Ann began considering the next chapter of her life. Instead of asking, “What can I do to succeed?” she started to ask herself, “What can I do to contribute?”
At the time, several connections in Greenville brought to her attention the rising prevalence of sex trafficking in South Carolina, specifically the Upstate. As a mother of two teenage girls, this was concerning, and Mary Ann wanted to provide them an example of female empowerment, not exploitation. So why not create a successful product that would set aside a portion of its proceeds to benefit organizations actively addressing this issue?
“I wanted my girls to see the process of what it’s like to have an idea and to have a mission behind it, and what it takes to take something from idea to on-the-shelf,” Mary Ann says.
Joined by close friend and commercial lender Lisa Shelnutt, the two began experimenting on how to remove the malty, hoppy aftertaste of beer. After discovering that mixing aftermarket beer and wine was not a possibility, they settled on a three-part formula consisting of wine flavor and a sugar-cane base. While technically considered hard seltzer, not beer, Mary Ann says a can of WI’ER absolutely fills the beer gap she felt was missing out on the lake.
Currently WI’ER offers two flavors, a pinot grigio and a cabernet, with hopes to add a rosé in the future. Mary Ann says that while the taste is light and refreshing, the colors are beautiful too, and mix well in a mimosa or bloody Mary. The red heel in the branding is a nod to the WI’ER name, which also stands for “Women in Empowering Roles.”
As fall approaches, Mary Ann, now in Hilton Head, hopes WI’ER will become a go-to choice for tailgate season. “After all,” she adds, “why not do a little good while you’re drinking?”
For more information, visit wier.rocks, or pick up a pack at stores like Bouharouns, Total Wine, and Lowes Foods.
Photography provided by WI’ER
