Kansas State Collective Supports NIL with Beer Launch

Wildcat NIL, Manhattan Brewing Company release new beer to support Wildcat student-athletes

Manhattan Brewing Company has partnered with Kansas State collective Wildcat NIL to support student-athletes through a new beer.

Since college athletes cannot endorse breweries or directly profit off alcohol sales, the brewery created a beer where a percentage of the proceeds go directly to Wildcat NIL. The money from Wildcat NIL will then be disbursed "indirectly" to the student-athletes. 

Former K-State football player Jake Voegeli is a co-owner of Manhattan Brewing Company and wanted to create a beer to support NIL initiatives at his alma mater. 

They created the "Wabash" beer - a cream ale, with a light and crisp profile that comes in cans featuring a vibrant K-State purple design - which will be available for purchase in liquor stores across the state. 

"We wanted to incorporate a lot of the lavender and some of the purple as well," Voegeli said. "The name, when we talked with K-State, Wabash is one of the names they allowed us to use. Wabash is a great name too, lots of roots with K-State."

Wildcat NIL posted an announcement of the partnership on its Instagram account. 

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Manhattan Brewing Company is based in Manhattan, Kansas, home of the K-State campus. All of its beers are brewed in-house in Manhattan. 

The Wabash beer is positioned to significantly boost branding for Wildcat NIL. 

"The label on the beer can is a really cool label and it has a bar code on it," said Curry Sexton, Co-Founder of Wildcat NIL. "So people who are drinking that beer can scan the barcode. It takes them directly to our website, and then they can either sign up for a membership or they can make a one-time donation."

Customers can purchase four-packs of the Wabash beer at the brewery for $12. Beginning next week, alcohol vendors can order the beer through the brewery's distributor.