Ocean Ale House Issues 'Escape From Beertopia' Hoodies

Ingleside bar and grill Ocean Ale House and local artist Neil Ballard have teamed up once again.

The two neighborhood institutions put out limited edition hoodies that take from a weekly comic series Ballard produced from 2020 to 2023 that creatively portrayed funny and sometimes trippy adventures and exploits of Ocean Ale House co-owners Daniel Silberman and Miles Escobedo along with regular customers, employees and even pets.

The design takes from a storyline in which the co-owners enter an alternate reality called “Beertopia” that is ruled by an insect "Beer Queen." At the top it reads, "Escape From Beertopia," an homage to John Carpenter's seminal film Escape From New York starring Kurt Russell as all-around badass "Snake Plissken." A haggard-looking Silberman and nonplussed Escobedo appear running from the gigantic queen's clutches.

“We’re going to be here for a long time and figured anybody who patronizes us would want to have a piece of that and support us in the format of marketing us to the rest of the world by wearing our hoodie,” Escobedo said.

The hoodies were first announced on Dec. 15 on social media. They were printed by Established By Creators, a Black-owned screen printing boutique in the Bayview.

“It was definitely my favorite character from the comic strip that I made for them,” Ballard said. “We went through a couple of drafts of that design and there was one that would work for the printing process of getting the color transferred to the fabric. Now they’re here and they look great.”

In late 2022, Ballard put together a perfect-bound booklet of the weekly comics.

“It’s just a one-of-a-kind hoodie that you aren’t going to find anywhere else,” Escobedo said. “Those are special hoodies we have for sale while it’s still nice and chilly in this beautiful January 2024.”

The hoodies were printed in a limited run and cost $75 each. They can be purchased at Ocean Ale House, which is located on Ocean Avenue by Plymouth.