Former Av Tyson Barrie Is Betting Colorado on 3% Beer

Tyson Barrie had a dozen or so beers with friends one night, pulled out his phone, and typed a note to himself. Something like: start a beer brand with your hockey guys. Call it Chilly Ones.

That is literally how this started.

The former Colorado Avalanche defenseman, who played here from 2011 through 2019, just launched Chilly Ones in Colorado a few weeks ago. The brand has been available in Canada since late 2025, but this is its U.S. debut. And Barrie is not just shipping product from across the border. He is moving to Colorado from Canada this fall to build it out in person.

So what exactly is a Chilly One? A 12-ounce can. Light lager. Zero sugar, low-carb, under 100 calories, and 3% ABV. That last number is the one that stops people. Three percent sounds almost novelty-level low to American beer drinkers. But Barrie says that segment is completely untapped here, while it is genuinely mainstream in Australia and parts of Europe.

"From what we can see in Canada, people question the 3%," he said with a grin. "They say it's not enough. Then in the U.S., people aren't questioning it at all. They really liked a little bit less and the moderation factor to it."

Right now Chilly Ones is in about 200 businesses across Colorado. Liquor stores like Bonnie Brae and Argonaut are carrying it. Oskar Blues has it on the food side. The beer is brewed at Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. right here in Denver, which matters. This is not some out-of-state brand parachuting into Colorado for the optics.

Barrie is pretty clear-eyed about why Colorado is the right first market. The craft beer culture here is well-documented. But also the active, health-conscious thing is real in this city. Low-carb, sub-100-calorie, lower ABV fits the person who just finished a trail run in Jefferson County or has two drinks after work and still needs to drive home on I-25. Barrie put it well.

"Every occasion is a little bit different, whether you're parenting or you're at a concert or you've got to get up early or you're having two after work and you want to drive," he said. "It's pick your own adventure. We're not going to judge you. If you want to celebrate and get absolutely hammered, we'll give you that option too. It's just you can do it a little bit healthier."

On that note, a nonalcoholic version is already done and sitting in the tanks at Sleeping Giant. Barrie expects it available by April. He called it one of the only booze-free options that could actually trick him. Given how crowded and honestly pretty bad the nonalc beer space still is, that is a real claim. A 4.5% to 5% version is also in the works for people who want a more traditional ABV, though that one is still months out.

The crew behind this brand is worth paying attention to. Avs star Nathan MacKinnon is a brand ambassador. Lumineers frontman Wesley Schultz is involved. On the advisory side, Dale Katechis, the Longmont-based founder of Oskar Blues, is in. So is Todd Anderson, who has credits at both White Claw and Mike's Hard Lemonade. That is a team that has actually built products here and taken them national. Chilly Ones raised an undisclosed amount from friends and family to get started and is currently in an institutional funding round.

For Barrie, the timing of all this is personal too. He retired from the NHL in 2024 after his final season with the Nashville Predators. He was 34. A lot of professional athletes hit that wall and struggle with what comes next.

"I have a lot of friends who have retired, and you struggle with a bit of purpose," he said. "You wake up and you're just kind of looking around, not sure what to do with yourself. So I feel grateful. I didn't even have any time to reset. I was just kind of thrown in the fire."

The plan right now is Colorado only. CEO Matthew Clayton, COO Kimberley Kainth, and Barrie want to actually test all three versions here, get real feedback, and figure out the market before expanding anywhere else.

"We want to get our feet under us in Colorado and then we'll start to really look at who's next," Barrie said.

Keep an eye on where Chilly Ones shows up this spring. If the nonalc version lands by April like Barrie expects, and the distribution keeps growing, this will be a genuinely interesting product to watch across Front Range bars and bottle shops. Most low-ABV stuff in the U.S. has been positioned awkward, like a compromise. Barrie is betting it does not have to be.