Troy Aikman Served His New Beer, Eight, at Katy Trail Ice House Yesterday

Just before the rain and ice rolled through Dallas yesterday afternoon, former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman was at Katy Trail Ice House to roll out his new light beer, aptly named Eight for his former jersey number.

Aikman explained to the crowd that he actually has quite a long history in the beer business; he worked for a Miller distributor when he was in college and also "drank a fair amount of Miller Lite when I was in college."

When Aikman originally moved to Dallas, he became good friends with Barry and Lana Andrews, the founders of Andrews Distributing. So, when he came up with the idea of creating his own beer line that worked with his active lifestyle (follow Aikman on Instagram for more on that), he knew who to call.
He and his team connected with brewing scientists at Oregon State University to create an all-malt lager made with organic grains and antioxidant-rich hops. Each serving has about 90 calories (88 for Micheal Irvin seems like it could have been attainable) and 2.6 grams of carbs (3 for the triplets seems within reach too).

"We view this as a lifestyle brand. It [the beer] is real simple. We name our target consumer the 'early risers' and what we mean by that — it doesn't necessarily mean that you wake up at five in the morning, but that when you do wake up, you have a purpose, you have something that you're shooting for and that you're willing to put in the work and time to do it," Aikman said.

Eight is brewed in New Orleans at Faubourg Brewing, which was historically Dixie Beer, one of the oldest beer brands in the nation. The brewery was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and their sales were shrinking dismally anyway. You can read more about the history and comeback of Faubourg Brewing in this article, which also explains why they dropped the name Dixie.

The Benson family who own the brewery also own the New Orleans Saints and the Pelicans.

When asked why he chose that brewery to make his beer, Aikman said that they toured a lot of breweries in Texas, but Faubourg's new facility won them over. "It's a state-of-the-art brewery. It's also not an easy beer to make and we felt they were the best aligned to be able to make that happen."

Eight is now pouring at Katy Trail Ice House and is also available at Boomerjacks, Walk-Ons and Sidecar Social. Six-packs should be in stores in a few weeks. Aikman says he plans on selling throughout Texas but doesn't have much interest in expanding outside of the state.