Tennessee fandom had been interwoven into Jessi and Joe Baker, de facto DNA for East Tennessee natives from the Foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains who grew up around University of Tennessee athletics.
They graduated on Rocky Top and eventually launched their burgeoning beer brand, Yee-Haw, with a vision that folks might come together to share their suds while watching their beloved Volunteers.
Brick-and-mortar expansions followed, and Yee-Haw, along with sister brand Ole Smoky Moonshine, has emerged as a Southern force with taprooms and multi-purpose facilities in Nashville, Greenville, S.C., Johnson City, Tenn., and, newest of all, downtown Knoxville mere minutes from Neyland Stadium.
In football terms, it’s been a perfect game plan.
Now, the brand is forming a synergistic partnership with the University of Tennessee – in liquid form, as well as merchandising.
All-new Vol Lager is being rolled out this month – the only beer licensed to carry Tennessee’s iconic ‘Power T’ logo and a checker-boarded design on the cans.
Bigger still? The new beer – a 4.2% ABV lager made 100 miles from UT’s flagship campus in Johnson City – has been fast-tracked for distribution at University of Tennessee events.
“The biggest days we see at our Yee-Haw locations are always centered around Tennessee athletics, be it basketball, our baseball national championship or football games,” Kimberly Wunderlich, Yee-Haw’s marketing director whose own family season tickets stretch back decades into Vols football history, told FootballScoop. “We’re founded by UT alums and we have many UT alums in the organization and everybody kind of shares that love for UT.
“As we started working with the University of Tennessee Institute for Agriculture and helped open a Hop Yard, we wanted to try to help support them in any way we could. And it happened organically that if there was ever going to be a beer that was a UT beer, we knew we wanted to be it because we all share that love and passion for Tennessee.
“We felt we could bring that passion more than anybody else here on earth; we’re proud beermakers.”
The Vol Lager, which the Bakers ensured would send derivative portions of proceeds directly back to the University of Tennessee, will be prominently featured inside Neyland Stadium later this month when Josh Heupel’s preseason-top 25 Vols open against Chattanooga.
Neyland Stadium outposts will have both 19.2-ounce cans and draft offerings of the all-new “beer flavored beer,” as Wunderlich described it.
Additionally, Vol Lager has been designated by UT Athletics as the program’s official craft beer, and Yee-Haw has secured rights as the official host site for all Tennessee watch parties.
Hats, T-shirts and additional branding items are soon to follow.
The North End Zone Social Deck inside Neyland Stadium is expected to carry the Yee-Haw/Vol Lager moniker this season, and the new UT-specific beverage is going to be stocked inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium’s left field bar for the 2025 season – the program’s first-ever baseball campaign as reigning national champions. Vol Lager also will be available inside the Food City Center for men’s and women’s basketball games, as well as concerts, and also at Lady Vols softball contests.
It’s an exciting opportunity for both parties, Wunderlich said, but one envisioned as only the next step in an ongoing, growing partnership.
“We wanted to make sure that we are providing some benefit back to the University of Tennessee,” said Wunderlich, who noted the Bakers prioritized ensuring full licensing of the product to generate revenues back to Vols athletics. “We didn’t want to just stick our logo somewhere and have it not mean anything.
“We want purpose and meaning behind what we’re doing, and we are thrilled to be able to contribute that for the University of Tennessee.”
After all, Rocky Top’s long had its moonshine stills. Now, it’s got an official beer to match.