When A-State fans get the opportunity to taste their first Howlin’ Red Wolves Pilsner at the Red Wolves’ football games this season, they can thank one of their own.

A-State alumna Blair Perry is the co-founder and CEO of Soul & Spirits Brewery of Memphis, which created the “Howlin’ Red Wolves Pilsner.” The lager launched Aug. 31 as the official craft beer of A-State Athletics at the football season and home opener against Central Arkansas.

Perry graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in radio/television. She co-founded the brewery approximately five years ago.

“My partner, Ryan Allen, who is our master brewer, and myself opened our brewery in October 2021,” said Perry. “We started construction in 2019, but needless to say, it took us a little longer than we anticipated to get open due to a global pandemic. We persevered through and in less than three years, we have won back-to-back Tennessee Championship of Beers (TCOB) Brewery of the Year in 2022 and in 2023. We were recently voted the ‘Best Beer in Memphis’ by the Memphis Flyer with our Hoochie Coochie IPA, which was a bracket-style competition with the other local breweries here in Memphis. We have our fingers crossed that the third time will be the charm this year for another win at TCOB Brewery of the Year for 2024.”

Perry said the idea for A-State’s first craft beer surfaced earlier this year.

“We hosted an A-State event here at the brewery this past spring, and we got to talking about a beer for the university with some of the event staff,” said Perry. “They set us up with who we needed to speak with to get the ball rolling, and now here we are.”

Perry said it didn’t take long for Soul & Spirits to come up with a concept for A-State’s craft beer.

“We knew we wanted a light, easy-drinking beer that a lot of people would like to drink, but it does take a little while to produce it, as it is a lagered beer, which means it spends anywhere between six to eight weeks in a tank before it is ready to consume, and this is after it has been brewed and spent time fermenting, which could be two to three weeks of extra time,” she said. “This beer is definitely a labor of love.

“The Howlin' Red Wolves Pilsner is brewed with rice grown in Jonesboro, which makes this beer as local and fresh as possible. At Soul & Spirits, we like to utilize as many local ingredients as possible in our beers.”

Soul & Spirits branding company, Harvest Creative, is also owned by an A-State alum, she said, and created the design work for the can.

“We absolutely love the way the can art turned out, and when paired with a black can and black lid, it just screams A-State,” said Perry.

Perry was involved in several activities as an A-State student and says she has fond memories of her time at Arkansas State.

“I was a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority, a cheerleader for two years and I was also Miss ASU in 2002,” she said. “I loved attending A-State, and my best friend to this day – I met on bid day.”

Perry is also a 1924 Sustaining Life Member of the A-State Alumni Association.

The brewery often employs other A-State alumni and natives of Northeast Arkansas, says Perry.

“I currently do not have any A-State alumni on my staff, but I do have a Jonesboro native, Mary Hollis Inboden, who bartends part-time for us,” she said.

Soul & Spirits Howlin’ Red Wolve Pilsner debuted at A-State’s first home football game on Aug. 31. The stadium will have exclusive 16-ounce cans, and the beer will also be available on draft. Following its debut, Perry says the beer will hopefully be available soon after in local restaurants and in 12-ounce cans in liquor stores outside the Craighead County line.

Perry is ecstatic about the opportunity to create the first craft beer for A-State.

“It truly is a full circle moment for me, as literally 20 years almost to the date of graduating from A-State, I am now creating the official craft beer for my alma mater,” she said. “I’m not going to lie – it’s pretty freaking awesome!”