“Say you had three drinks and you’re like, ‘Alright, I want to kind of take my foot off the gas a little bit.’ Perfect occasion for a Not Beer.”

Dillon Dandurand
Founder
Not Beer
.…on how his beer can-resembling Not Beer sparkling water is designed for drinkers and non-drinkers alike, via the Dallas Morning News.

Last April, Dallas Innovates told you about Not Beer, a newly launched no-buzz beverage that “looks like a beer, feels like a beer, tastes like premium American sparkling water.” The brand’s Dallas-based founder, Dillon Dandurand, launched his product just one month after Liquid Death—another sparkling water brand with attitude—got a valuation of $1.4 billion after announcing $67 million in new funding.

Not Beer is marketed as if it were, well, beer. [Photo: Not Beer]

Dandurand—whose parents are the founders of Jack Black, the premium men’s skincare line—told us last year that Dallas was “the perfect place to launch Not Beer.”

“For Dallas’ size, there aren’t that many great CPG brands,” he said. “I think Not Beer can seize this opportunity and galvanize the people of Dallas to become THE CPG brand of Dallas. Plus, I was born and raised here, so it’s authentic to my roots.”

The Dallas Morning News’ Sarah Blaskovich has definitely caught the buzz, writing this week that Not Beer “has some of the most provocative marketing we’ve seen.”

“I felt like I had given up on having fun,” Dandurand told Blaskovich, recalling a night at the Granada Theater when he found himself drinking an Ozarka water at a concert. 

That’s when the idea for a product like Not Beer struck him.

Photo: Not Beer

“It was really at that moment that I was like, man, what a difference in the consumer experience based on the psychology—which is driven by the packaging, the ritual, the marketing, the branding,” he told the DMN.

For more on Dandurand’s entrepreneurial journey—including how he raised $2.45 million from family and friends to get Not Beer off the ground and onto grocery store shelves—read the DMN story.

For more of who said what about all things North Texas, check out Every Last Word.

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