TRU Colors is ready to launch its beer TRU Light next week.
The brewery’s beer will be available at grocery stores and bars throughout the state starting next Wednesday, Chandler Hatch, vice president of sales and marketing with TRU Colors said in an email Thursday.
“Announcing our beer, TRU Light—it’s almost here and it’s so much more than beer,” the company’s Facebook post stated earlier this week. “It’s bringing jobs to our communities. Making opportunities for our people. Working to end gang violence. TRU Light drops in One Week.”
TRU Light will be available at Harris Teeter, Lowes Foods, Food Lion, Whole Foods and more than 50 bars, restaurants and bottle shops around Wilmington, he said.
Currently, the company is working with seven distributors across the state, including Pender County-based Coastal Beverage Co.
While this launch will be in North Carolina only, the goal is to expand to other states.
“We have plans to continue to grow outside of the state of North Carolina post the initial launch of TRU Light,” Hatch said.
The company was slated to launch TRU Light in July, but had to delay it due to “unforeseen complications while working with our new brewing systems,"
company officials stated at the time.
Headquartered in Wilmington, and with a strategic partnership with Chicago-based Molson Coors, TRU Colors has undertaken the goal of addressing gang-related violence in the region by hiring gang members and helping them develop their leadership skills and promote their personal and professional growth.
The company was recently in the spotlight due to a double homicide on July 24 at CEO George Taylor’s son's house that included a victim who was connected to the brewery.
George Taylor participated in
a WilmingtonBiz Talk interview where he defended TRU Colors' mission and actions after doubt from the public following the deadly shooting.
According to the TRU Colors website, TRU Light combines two specialty, two-row malts to create “subtle flavors of baked bread and caramel sweetness.”
“TRU Light is the premium light beer on a mission to make our world a better place and we look to continue to make Wilmington proud as we accomplish that goal,” Hatch said.