Entertainment

The Forecast For 'Shark Tank' Is A Beer Blizzard

by Laura Rosenfeld

Now in its seventh season, Shark Tank has had a lot of products come through its big, scary doors. In that time, we've seen some entrepreneurs pitch products that are so complex, even they had a hard time describing what they do. That shouldn't be the case for the entrepreneurs behind Beer Blizzard since their product has one function and one function only: keep your beer can cold. With that kind of description, how could you not want to know where to buy Beer Blizzard from Shark Tank ?

Lucky for you, I'm going to get into that very soon because who wouldn't want to get their hands on a Beer Blizzard if the product actually does what it says it does? Learning how to keep your beer as cold as possible is basically one of the great mysteries of life.

Beer Blizzard, $20, Amazon

Hopefully, the Sharks are as jazzed about this product as I am. I couldn't really gauge if they were big beer drinkers or not during last Friday night's episode when MobCraft Beer was in the Tank. To me, they didn't seem all that impressed with the company, but Mark Cuban did say that he's not really into craft beer, so maybe Beer Blizzard has a shot at a deal, after all.

For now, that is to be determined, but you can still get a taste for what Beer Blizzard is all about below.

This Is The Only Blizzard You'll Ever Want To Experience

Beer Blizzard, $20, Amazon

As the name of Beer Blizzard suggests, this product keeps your beer as cold as you feel in a blizzard, in the hyperbolic sense, of course. The Beer Blizzard is a plastic ice cube filled with thermal fluid that you pop into the freezer, pop into the bottom of a beer koozie, and then pop the ice-cold beer into your mouth, according to the product's website. The Beer Blizzard is molded to perfectly fit at the bottom of a beer can or bottle, and it's reusable. You may never have to drink warm beer again. One can only hope.

The Founders Are Surprisingly Straight-Laced

When I first heard about Beer Blizzard, I imagined that some young frat bros probably started this company. However, the company was actually founded by a couple of adults with real jobs. Tom Osborne, the director of food safety at AdvancePierre Foods, and his friend Michael Robb, an associate at the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania law firm Savinis & Kane, LLC, are the brains behind Beer Blizzard, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier and the Pittsburgh Business Times, respectively.

But don't expect these dudes to be too reserved and boring when they enter the Tank. For one thing, Osborne's nickname is Ozzy, according to Beer Blizzard's Kickstarter campaign, which definitely makes me think of a certain heavy metal rocker, so I can only imagine that this entrepreneur has a wild side as well. It also sounds like these two successfully entertained the Sharks. “The producers said we have great chemistry in front of the cameras and we are reality TV gold,” Osborne told the Cincinnati Business Courier of the duo's Shark Tank appearance. These entrepreneurs may just give a new meaning to Blizzard of Ozz .

The Can Is The Key To This Product

Osborne and Robb got the inspiration for Beer Blizzard basically just by staring at some beer cans. Robb noticed that the bottom of every can is the same size while shooting at some empty beer cans with his friends, Osborne told the Cincinnati Business Courier. Instead of putting actual ice cubes inside of a koozie to keep beer cold, as they had done before, the friends went into the garage and got out a molding compound to make a prototype for Beer Blizzard modeled right after the bottom of a beer can. They eventually brought that to a local manufacturer, according to the video on the product's Kickstarter page, and the Beer Blizzard was born.

Beer Blizzard Has A Lot Of Fans

Speaking of Kickstarter, that's where Beer Blizzard got its start in April 2014. The product was successfully funded, earning more than $43,000 — and the goal was only $5,000, according to the campaign page. Osborne and Robb then showed off the product at an InventHelp trade show in Pittsburgh, where it won the gold medal for product innovation, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported. Right after that, they got a phone call from Shark Tank, and you know what happened next.

You Can Start The Beer Blizzard Now

If you're curious to see this product work its supposed magic in person, you can buy it online now through Beer Blizzard's official online store, whether you live in the U.S. or are located internationally. Right now, Beer Blizzard comes in a six-pack for $12.99 or a 12-pack for $19.99. And don't worry. Each order comes with at least one complimentary Beer Blizzard koozie. So bottoms up!

Beer Blizzard Might Get Even Stronger In The Future

Since Beer Blizzard filmed its appearance on Shark Tank, the company has expanded quite a bit. It can now be made in a variety of colors and feature any logo, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier. Whether he invested in the product or not, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark has to be a fan of that. The product can also be sold in bulk and wholesale to large companies, and Osborne and Robb are working on developing other products similar to Beer Blizzard, the paper reports. But even with all of this growth, Osborne and Robb don't see themselves quitting their day jobs anytime soon to focus solely on Beer Blizzard. “We’re not old men, we’re older men,” Osborne joked to the paper. “We don’t want to have to step down from our jobs.”

But if they really want to make Beer Blizzard a multi-million dollar business with the help of the Sharks, they might need to reconsider that.

Images: Michael Desmond/ABC; Giphy (2)