Brewer's Cow Ice Cream: Here's What Happened After Shark Tank
Who doesn't like a cheeky sweet treat spiked with a splash of booze? Hot chocolates laced with baileys, icy popsicles made from vodka gummy bears, cakes infused with bourbon — the possibilities are utterly delicious and endless! That was precisely what Steve Albert, Larry Blackwell, and Jason Conroy thought when they combined ice cream with beer to launch Brewer's Cow Ice Cream.
Albert was neither new to the world of ice cream nor was he a first-time entrepreneur when he appeared on season 3, episode 10 of "Shark Tank" — he was already the owner of Old Lyme Ice Cream Shoppe. The idea for Brewer's Cow was born when his customers came in looking for a beer ice cream to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at his shop. At the time, though, such desserts were made by simply emptying a bottle of beer over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. However, Albert found the flavor of these crude treats rather disappointing. He spent the next decade working on ways to actually infuse the beer into the ice cream rather than pouring it on top.
In the end, he reduced beer and reverse-engineered it to get rid of its alcohol content, whisking in cream to turn the drink into an ice cream. Using this method, Brewer's Cow could essentially turn any beer into a delicious frozen dessert. But to make that possible, the entrepreneurs needed a $125,000 investment from the Sharks and were willing to part with 15% of equity in exchange.
What happened to Brewer's Cow Ice Cream on Shark Tank?
Brewer's Cow's ice creams were not a hit in the Tank. Two of the five Sharks in the room — Mark Cuban and Daymond John — were lactose intolerant. While Cuban didn't mind the dairy and polished off the treats because they were just that good, John didn't share the same enthusiasm. He was the first Shark to back out, leaving the entrepreneurs with just four potential investors mere minutes into their pitch.
Next came Kevin O'Leary: Though he wasn't lactose intolerant, he told the trio that he was intolerant to their lack of sales and proceeded to grill them on the company's numbers. Brewer's Cow was a young business when it appeared on "Shark Tank" and had made only $5000 in sales since it launched a year before. While that certainly put a damper on the Sharks' moods, things only went downhill when it became apparent that the entrepreneurs weren't clear about their company's finances.
Brewer's Cow was set to expand into the retail sector and had a Whole Foods' order. However, further probing revealed that the deal with Whole Foods was only for 50 pints of ice creams in four stores — making the order worth no more than $400. To make things worse, the entrepreneurs weren't sure about how much Brewer's Cow would need to become a profitable business. Without any clarity on their numbers, the entrepreneurs ended up leaving the Tank without a single offer on the table.
Brewer's Cow Ice Cream after Shark Tank
Despite the lack of an offer, Steve Albert, Larry Blackwell, and Jason Conroy were confident about Brewer's Cow's future. While being grilled in the Tank, they reiterated that they made ice cream, and it wasn't their job to be accountants. As they left, they stated they were going to succeed anyway. As it turns out, the business owners did benefit from the publicity that the show gave them, at least for a little while.
Blackwell told Patch that there was interest in their ice creams from across the globe once the episode aired. However, shipping chilled ice cream containers was a tough and expensive affair — a problem that O'Leary has frequently warned entrepreneurs about since his own experience with another Shark Tank business, Wicked Good Cupcakes. This is why the entrepreneurs were focused on getting Brewer's Cow into brick-and-mortar stores instead. After all, a pack of six pints cost an extra $12 for shipping on top of the $67 price tag.
The beer-infused ice creams also piqued the interest of local pubs, such as New York-based Growler & Gill. Brewer's Cow was invited to host a tasting and received positive reviews from patrons of the pub. There were also talks of Growler & Gill stocking Brewer's Cow's icy treats; however, there's no update on whether or not that actually came to fruition.
Brewer's Cow Ice Cream is no longer in business
Some businesses thrive despite walking away without a deal on "Shark Tank," but sadly Brewer's Cow wasn't one of them. Despite the trio's conviction, Brewer's Cow is no longer in business. The company's website has been taken down, there are no signs of it on Instagram, and its Facebook page has been dormant since January 22, 2016. There's no word on whether the founders fulfilled their order with Whole Foods or not, and it doesn't seem like they were able to expand Brewer's Cow's retail presence as they intended to.
The trio had claimed inside the Tank that their only limits were how many quality beers they could get their hands on. At the time, Brewer's Cow had three flavors: the somewhat controversially named Black and Tan made from Guinness, Bavarian beer brittle infused with Samuel Adams, and Ten Penny beer nut parfait made from Ten Penny Ale. The entrepreneurs had plans of rolling out more flavors, and there was also word of a new chocolate truffle stout ice cream made from Thomas Hooker Stout launching soon after "Shark Tank" in 2012. However, there's been no update on what happened to the new addition, or whether it was released at all.
What's next for Brewer's Cow Ice Cream?
Brewer's Cow may have shut shop for good, but it's quite likely that the company was a few years ahead of its time. According to data released by InsightAce Analytic, the global alcohol-infused ice cream industry was valued at $881.49 million in 2023 and is on track to nearly double by 2031. Even within the industry, ice cream infused with beers is a particularly popular category, as is any treat that contains less alcohol and can be served at family events — both things that Brewer's Cow's treats nailed.
It may be that Steve Albert, Larry Blackwell, and Jason Conroy's shaky business acumen was the cause of Brewer's Cow's downfall as the Sharks predicted. But considering this growing trend, it's likely that Brewer's Cow may have a better future if it is relaunched again — perhaps with a savvy investor to help them this time. However, if their LinkedIn pages are any indication, the entrepreneurs seemed to have moved on from beer-flavoured ice creams for good.
There's no news on Blackwell's current doings, but Albert now works as the Respiratory Services Manager at Connecticut-based Hospital for Special Care, and Conroy has spent the last five years working at American Cruise Lines. It sure looks like the end of the road for Brewer's Cow Ice Cream and those hoping to try such a treat will only have to make their own boozy ice cream at home.