Bemidji State launches Beaver Brew to support Beaver Athletics

Bemidji State University has partnered with So Fresh Farms on Beaver Brew, a new beer that sends $1 from each sale to Beaver Athletics. The product will be sold at home football and hockey games and at select Bemidji locations this season, tying a campus brand directly to game-day spending in Beltrami County.

The arrangement is built less like a novelty release than a small recurring revenue stream. Every pint or can sold adds a dollar to athletics support, while So Fresh Farms gets its name carried into the busiest season for Beaver fans and into the local market beyond campus. For a department that depends on a mix of donations, sponsorships and ticket-driven activity, that kind of branding can matter because it gives the farm repeated exposure where people are already spending money.

Beaver Brew also fits into a larger fundraising push already underway around Bemidji State athletics. On Aug. 7, 2024, Bemidji State Athletics said Beaver Pride had been revamped as “The Team Behind the Teams,” sharpening the school’s donor identity around direct support for athletics. Before that, the Bemidji State University Alumni & Foundation launched a 3-Year/$150K Giving Challenge in November 2023 to back BSU Athletics, a sign that the department has been building a wider base of seasonal and annual support.

That strategy expanded again on May 6, 2026, when Bemidji State Athletics announced new corporate partnership opportunities tied to its Division I hockey programs. Beaver Brew sits in the same lane: a local product, a local brand and a local crowd, all linked so each sale turns into athletics revenue. If the beer catches on with fans heading to football and hockey games, it could shift some concession spending toward a product that feeds back into the department instead of only covering standard refreshments.

The deal also offers a template for other Bemidji partnerships. A business gets visibility at campus events and across town; BSU gets a defined dollar amount per sale; and fans buying on game day can see a direct line between their purchase and the teams they follow. In a city where BSU athletics is constantly looking for new ways to deepen community backing, that is the kind of small, practical partnership that can be repeated if the numbers work.