Watch: Combining beers with bouncing basketballs produces its own sort of March madness

Adam Shay didn’t invent the idea of bouncing beer cans off basketballs, but the game he started at a brewery in Sumner, Washington, has inspired dozens to stretch out their arms in hopes of being a winner of the Beer Bounce challenge.

Videos of brewery and taproom staffs around the Puget Sound with basketballs and open beers proliferated on TikTok and Instagram along with the NCAA March Madness tournaments, which culminates with the men’s Final Four this weekend.

The first one, posted by Half Lion Brewing Co. where Shay is the operations director, starts with success: A bearded man in a red hat and a blue Christmas hoodie stares intensely at the orange rubber ball. It hits the ground, flatly due to the 12 ounces of fermented barley, hops and water. The can flips up and a few feet in front of him, foam cascading through the air. He leaps forward and snags it with his left hand. He takes a swig, as Shay proclaims in the background, “Yeah, buddy!”

In the next scene, an equally focused fellow — Half Lion Brewing Co.’s sales director Steve Cook — sets up just the same. The beer runs a straight arrow to Shay, the cameraman.

Another failure follows, with a leap out the garage door over a precariously wet brewery floor. Then there’s another success, this one with more ease.

They head outside: success times two followed by failure, then success and “too easy!” to the guy who barely moved to catch his beer mid-air.

No beer gets left behind. Players pick up their downed cans and start drinking.

“Worst-case scenario, you spilled a little beer — but you still get to drink a beer,” laughed Shay.

“It is fun to watch, and it is fun to do,” he said. “They can’t help but smile when they’re doing it.”

He’s seen videos of beers bouncing off basketballs in the past — bottles, in some cases, which is admittedly dangerous. Plus, hardly any craft brewery in the region uses glass anymore.

This year’s unofficial competition took off when a regular customer tagged Half Lion, which has a production brewery and taproom in Sumner as well as a brewpub in Kent, on Instagram. Santa Fe Brewing in New Mexico shared a video of its staff attempting the feat on March 1, to the ‘90s-era “Space Jam” theme song (otherwise known as “Y’all Ready For This” by 2 Unlimited).

The customer, recalled Shay, said, ‘“I would love to see this trend make its way to our neck of the woods.’ I thought, ‘This is fantastic. Why not?’ It’s a perfect plug — come down to the brewery or public house and watch March Madness. I replied to her and said, ‘Challenge accepted.’”

They decided it would be even more fun if they challenged other breweries to try it, too. Taprooms, including The Beer Vault in Gig Harbor and Peaks and Pints, have also joined the fray.

At the beginning of 7 Seas’ video, co-owner Travis Guterson says, somberly, “In honor of March Madness, it’s the Beer Bounce Challenge.” He has to move a little to grab the beer, but he succeeds.

“The trick is to keep your eye on the beer, not the ball,” he told The News Tribune when asked about the skill involved.

Half Lion also challenged Rainy Daze Brewing in Poulsbo, and its video features perhaps the most talented beer bouncer of the bunch.

E9 Brewing Co. then accepted 7 Seas’ bet, mostly with success despite its larger 16-ounce cans — or so it seemed. The next day, the Tacoma brewery posted a sad compilation of dropped cans and discouraged players. Beer was spilled; sound effects were added.

That was “our next idea — the blooper reel,” said Shay. “I told everybody they didn’t get a chance to try it — one and done. Leave the failures in there; it’s not as easy as it seems.”

Still, he admitted, “Some people make it look crazy-easy, and if you do it just right, it can just bounce right to you.”

It’s all in good fun, just as all is fun in love and beer.

“We’re all competing for shelf space and tap handle space, right? But we’re still like a fraternity, a brotherhood, a real tight-knit community,” said Shay. “So if we can have some fun with each other, then let’s do it. That’s why we’re in it — have fun and drink beer.”

Scroll through the comments on any of the breweries’ #WABeerBasketballChallenge posts, and you’ll notice a pattern of moral support.

“This challenge just showed us again how fun the Washington beer industry and community is,” said 7 Seas Tacoma taproom manager Whitley Van Donge. “Happy to be a part of it!”