By Micah Friez
Published 12:00 pm on July 24, 2026
David Boehm knows what a great beer tastes like. And he knows what a spirited fan looks like.
With his latest concoction, he’s blending the two into Beaver Brew.
“We wanted to make a really good drinking ale, but the revenue also needed to support student-athletes. And this checks every box,” Boehm said. “It took a lot of hard work, but I think we were able to achieve that mission.”
Boehm is a 2013 Bemidji State University alumnus who also played on the men’s hockey team at BSU. Behind the scenes, he’s spent recent years working with university administrators in hopes of generating more support of Beaver Athletics, both in fan engagement and in revenue streams. After he purchased Southern Fresh Farms Co. — a family-friendly brewery in his native Florida — in 2025, he had found the perfect avenue.
“I wasn’t even thinking about anything in terms of a partnership between my brewery and Bemidji State,” Boehm said. “But we had just opened up, and I thought it would be a good idea to figure out a way to have a beer in partnership with Bemidji State.
“It’s something, through the NCAA, that really hasn’t been done all too often. It had a lot of hoops and hurdles, but this pie in the sky dream ended up coming to fruition.”
The BSU Athletics-branded alcoholic beverage will be on sale at all home games for BSU football and men’s and women’s hockey in 2026-27, and it’s available at select restaurants, bars, and stores across town. In partnership with Southern Fresh Farms and the Bemidji State Alumni & Foundation, $1 from every Beaver Brew sale will be directed to BSU Athletics.
“Pulling this off required getting through barriers that historically haven’t been broken through,” Boehm said. “I mean, when you talk about branding, the NCAA, and licensing with alcohol, it’s a little bit different. But again, the core foundation is still there: We’re supporting our student-athletes. And if you stick to that core, it’s a lot easier to have discussions with folks who might be naysayers about it.”
Jesse Katz, the Alumni & Foundation’s assistant director of athletics for development and sponsorship, said the collaboration with Boehm has proven not only successful but also promising for what’s still to come.
The easy-drinking golden ale is designed for alumni and fans of Bemidji State Athletics. It is brewed and canned on behalf of Southern Fresh Farms at Jack Pine Brewery in Baxter, Minnesota, and distributed by D-S Beverages.
And it’s already proven to be popular. At Beaver Brew’s soft launch during the Galen Nagle Memorial Golf Tournament on July 17, every can sold out.
“Beaver Brew gives ownership to the fanbase. It allows them to give back and support their local teams in a new way,” Boehm said. “It’s a good-tasting, crisp ale that we can have at sporting events and restaurants to cheer on our team, and the benefactor is the student-athletes. It's a win-win.”
For Boehm, Beaver Brew is about investing in Bemidji State in a way that inspires others to do the same — one drink at a time.
“This place changed the course of my career. I owe everything to BSU,” he said. “I believe in this institution. I believe in what they’re doing both academically and athletically, and I want to be a part of it. It’s a special group that we have here.”
