The Olympics-bound Mewis sisters teamed up with Harpoon on a new IPA
Hanson's Kristie and Sam Mewis, playing together on the women's national soccer team at the Tokyo Olympics, teamed up with Harpoon to make a celebratory beer.
At this month’s Tokyo Olympics, Hanson’s Kristie and Sam Mewis will become the first siblings to represent US women’s soccer’s senior national team at a world championship.
Sam, who was an alternate at the last Olympics in Rio in 2016, was at her apartment in North Carolina when she received the call.
“The only thing that could have possibly made it better was hearing a half hour later that Kristie made it too,” she says. “We FaceTimed our parents then to tell them together.”
Kristie Mewis is older, by nearly two years, but her path to the Olympics has been less assured. She’s the only member of the Olympic team who wasn’t on the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Team. After tearing her ACL in 2018, she’s had to work her way back onto the top squad.
“It feels like a childhood dream come true not only to be going, but to be going together,” Sam says now.
Like any siblings, the Mewis sisters haven’t always seen eye to eye. Recently, on the Just Women’s Sports podcast, Sam was asked if she and Kristie remained friends as teenagers despite their intense competition and replied, “Oh, God no.” Over the years, they haven’t always agreed on usually unifying topics like Taylor Swift (Kristie was always pro-Taylor).
Still, sororal bonds are strong, and the sisters, now 30 and 28, are as close as ever, reciting each other’s Dunkin’ orders and pulling in the same direction for an American team who are gold medal favorites. Recently, the pair bonded over another shared interest of theirs — beer — while making a special brew for Harpoon.
Team Mew-S-A Citrus IPA is inspired by the Olympic journey of the soccer-playing South Shore natives. In May, Sam and her husband, Pat, made the journey to Harpoon’s South Boston brewery to participate in the brew day.
“Our family has always loved beer,” Sam says, admitting that they’ve long favored Bud Light but have started getting into IPAs and other craft beers. “We like to go to local breweries and try some of everything.”
The beer the Mewises and Harpoon agreed to make is a nod toward their athletic accomplishments. Team Mew-S-A Citrus IPA is brewed with lime peel, lemon puree, and sea salt (gotta replenish those electrolytes) and comes in at a sessionable 4.6 percent alcohol by volume. In a glass the beer pours a pale straw color; it drinks much lighter than a typical IPA, and the lime really comes through.
While it might be tough for the Mewises to do much beer drinking before the Games are over, they’re confident Team Mew-S-A Citrus IPA will be a solid brew for viewers toasting the opening ceremonies or any of the team’s victories in the soccer tournament. A portion of the proceeds from each 4-pack sold will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester, an organization Sam regularly works with in a community in which she and her husband live. The beer is available now throughout Harpoon’s distribution area.
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