Hulk Hogan already sells an array of products bearing his name or likeness: Hulkmania onesies. Replica championship wrestling belts. Bright yellow bandanas emblazoned with “Hulk Still Rules.”

Now, he’s selling a beer and Missouri stores are among the first to carry it.

Real American Beer is a way, Hogan said, to bring “America back together one beer at a time.”

Hogan said he saw an opportunity to enter the beer industry when Bud Light lost consumers over a 2023 marketing partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney that sparked a boycott by conservatives upset by the LGBTQ connection, and tanked sales.

“I see this open lane right now,” Hogan said. “This open lane is saying, ‘We’re American and America’s been waiting for this beer.’”

Industry experts, however, warn that the breaking into the beer market isn’t easy, and celebrity-based products often don’t have a long shelf-life. The Real American Beer marketing leans heavily on Hogan’s personality and popularity.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, rose to fame as a powerful larger-than-life professional wrestler in the 1980s, and frequently competed in St. Louis. He’s a 12-time world champion and has appeared in movies, TV shows, commercials and a video game. He was inducted in the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame, but was suspended for three years after recordings of him making racist comments surfaced. He apologized, and was reinstated in 2018.

Real American Beer is currently rolling out to retailers, restaurants and bars across the state. And though consumers are turning away from beer overall, Terri Francis, Real American Beer CEO, said they believe the product can bring drinkers back to light beer.

“There is plenty of space in the market to grow the beer industry,” said Francis, a former vice president of the investment and innovation group within Anheuser-Busch InBev. “What we would love to be able to say is that we were able to bring people back to the category.”

Dave Williams, president of Bump Williams Consulting, which analyzes the alcoholic beverage industry, said he’s heard of a few beer brands that have popped up in the wake of the initial Bud Light stumble, but none have made a notable splash in terms of size, presence or increased competition.

“It is certainly an uphill battle for anyone looking to take a brand like Bud [Light] head on,” Dave Williams said.

Bump Williams Consulting CEO David “Bump” Williams called Hogan’s “open lane” sentiment wishful thinking, given the scale needed to challenge a global brand like Bud Light. And, generally speaking, he said, celebrity products risk running aground if the brand relies too much on the personal association instead of building a solid business plan.

Real American Beer will be available in 21 states by the end of summer, Francis, the CEO, said.

Hogan said his goal is for Real American Beer to become an industry leader that will eventually grow into a beverage company with things like non-alcoholic options.

“It’s middle America, it’s NASCAR, it’s wrestling, it’s country western, it’s purple mountains majesty, it’s the American flag. It’s God, it’s country — all of the above is what America is all about,” Hogan said.

Hogan will be in St. Louis on July 19 to promote Real American Beer. He hasn’t announced a schedule.

St. Louis was a significant player in the rise of WWE, often hosting championship events and airing television programs like Wrestling at the Chase via the St. Louis Wrestling Club.

Hogan said he remembers wrestling at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel as “insanity.”

“All the great wrestlers would come to St. Louis once a month and if you were on the card in St. Louis it was like being in Madison Square Garden,” he said. “If you got the opportunity to wrestle in St. Louis that meant you were really something and you made it.”

Hogan said he is excited to return to St. Louis and meet his Hulkamaniacs. And he’s glad he doesn’t have to fight anyone.

“Usually when I’m coming there I land at the airport and I’ll go check in at the Marriott hotel or something by the airport. Then I have to work out. I have to go wrestle,” Hogan said.

“But this time, it’s almost like I’m on vacation because I don’t have to get kicked in the head, I don’t have to work out and all I have to do is meet my friends, so I’m just really excited.”