How Evil Genius Tapped Turn It Up Media to Orchestrate 21st Amendment's Triumphant Homecoming
- Aug 14
- 2 min read
With the 2026 Craft Brewers Conference just a week out and set to land in their hometown, Evil Genius Beer Company turned to Turn It Up Media to help tell the most important story in the brewery's history: bringing 21st Amendment Brewery home.
In April 2026, Philadelphia's own Evil Genius Beer Company pulled off a strategic brew-ha-ha: reviving San Francisco's beloved 21st Amendment Brewery. The deal closed just ahead of the 2026 Craft Brewers Conference and with CBC landing in Evil Genius' hometown, the tight timeline turned into a home-field advantage. It was the perfect stage to toast 21st Amendment's resurgence and introduce the news to the entire industry, with 21A beer poured at select Philly locations and sampled on the CBC floor.
The Challenge
Evil Genius knew this was more than a transaction, it was a story that needed to land with several audiences at once, from industry insiders to local beer drinkers in both Philly and the Bay Area. They needed a fast, comprehensive announcement strategy that captured the full narrative and resonated uniquely across each vertical.
The Strategy
Leveraging nearly 20 years of beverage industry media relations experience (including work shaped by the evolution of the CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective (now Monster Brewing)) the Turn It Up Media team built a targeted, multi-market strategy to tell the collaborative Evil Genius and 21st Amendment story. The goal: reach distributors, retailers, business partners, and beer drinkers coast to coast with one cohesive narrative, not a fragmented set of headlines.
The Coverage
The resulting media mix spanned industry, business, local, and national consumer outlets:
Local Philly Coverage — The Philadelphia Inquirer: Spotlighting Evil Genius' acquisition and its growing impact on the local craft beer scene, in collaboration with Aversa PR
San Francisco Local News — KRON4: Tapping into 21st Amendment's deep Bay Area roots and legacy
Industry Trade — Brewbound and Craft Business Daily: Delivering in-depth business analysis and industry context for distributors, retailers, and business partners
Entrepreneurial/Business Consumer — Inc.: Showcasing the strategic rationale and crafty pivot behind the acquisition
National Consumer — Men's Journal: Elevating the resilience and comeback narrative of 21st Amendment
The Result
This multi-layered approach ensured 21st Amendment's homecoming resonated authentically at every level, industry buzz built through CBC, followed by a focused consumer-facing push in the months after. Rather than a handful of disconnected headlines, Evil Genius got one coherent story: a brand steward bringing a beloved name back to the drinkers who missed it.
The Takeaway
Comprehensive media strategies that span industry, business, local, and national outlets are essential for capturing a brand's full story and resonating authentically in each vertical. As Cincinnati Beverage Company's Elliott Culter put it in a recent VinePair feature on brand revivals, the goal of a heritage relaunch isn't to help people relive old memories, it's to create new ones drinkers will be telling stories about for years to come. Partnering with seasoned media relations professionals is often the difference between a fragmented announcement and a cohesive, coast-to-coast win.
Looking to tell your brand's full story from the local taproom to the national stage? Get in touch with Turn It Up Media to talk Media Relations strategy.
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