Real American Beer Adds 8% ABV RAB MAX Flavored Line, Due in the First Quarter of 2027

Real American Beer will add RAB MAX, an 8% ABV flavored beer line, in the first quarter of 2027, the company said in an October 13 announcement. The line launches in Juicy Lime and Crispy Apple, in 16 oz singles and six-packs, and the company says the next flavors will be picked by a public vote.

The company said it previewed RAB MAX at the NACS Show in Las Vegas and came away with thousands of commitments and a waitlist. "We didn’t expect buyers to ask for exclusives," CEO Terri Francis said in the announcement. Per the company, RAB is sold in 30 states, with Kroger, Walmart, Total Wine & More and Albertsons among its retailers, and is brewed by a family-run brewery in Illinois.

MAX would join RAB LIGHT, a 4.2% ABV light beer, and RAB ZERO, a non-alcoholic beer announced in February with country artist Brantley Gilbert, who became an investor and equity partner. The company donates $1 per case of RAB ZERO sold to the USO. The brand launched in 2024 with Hulk Hogan as its founder, and Hogan died in July 2025, Fox Business reported. In February the company also began a relaunch with a new visual identity and a final run of the original cans featuring Hogan. Co-founder Chad Bronstein also co-founded Real American Freestyle, the wrestling league for which RAB is the official beer, per the company.

Why it matters

MAX takes a light beer brand into high-strength flavored beer, a shelf the company itself describes as "covered with spirits and FMBs." Its pitch is a beer-branded entry against those products, and the line would give RAB a three-tier range: non-alcoholic ZERO, 4.2% LIGHT and 8% MAX, which lets one brand block cover several occasions in a cooler door. The launch also continues a shift away from dependence on a single famous name. Since Hogan's death the company has refreshed its packaging, added Gilbert as an equity partner and leaned on its official-beer tie to Real American Freestyle on FOX Nation, per the company.

What to watch

Whether the commitments the company says it collected at NACS turn into shelf space at its existing chain accounts, including Kroger and Walmart, when MAX ships in the first quarter of 2027 is the clearest test of its leverage with buyers.

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Sources

• BevNET (Real American Beer press release): Meet RAB MAX: Real American Beer Enters High ABV With 8% Flavored Beer Line
• Fox Business: From 'bad decisions' to redemption: Brantley Gilbert launches late Hulk Hogan-inspired non-alcoholic beer
• Newsroom - Real American Beer
• RAB HITS DIFFERENT (Real American Beer): Brantley Gilbert Becomes Investor and Equity Partner of Real American Beer and Launches RAB ZERO
• RAB HITS DIFFERENT (Real American Beer): Real American Beer Reaches 10 Million Cans Sold; Unveils Strategic Relaunch and Shares Big 2026 Growth Plans