HOPS INSIDER: SELLING BEER:

CRAFT BEER & BREWING MAGAZINE® BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

CRAFT
NEW VARIETIES, THE CHANGING

BREWING INNOVATIVE
PROCESSES, AND
BETTER WAYS
NATURE OF
SALES CALLS

INDUSTRY
TO BREW WITH BARLEY: AVOID
FRESH HOPS THE CRUNCH

GUIDE 2022 SUMMER R

 EVIVING Q&A: ODELL’S
HISTORIC ERIC “SMITTY”
LAGERS SMITH & BRENDAN
MCGIVNEY

CASE STUDY

MAPLEWOOD
SUMMER 2022 | BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM | CHEERS!

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 CRAFT
CONTENTS BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

DEPARTMENTS
18 Q&A: ODELL’S BRENDAN
//
MCGIVNEY & ERIC “SMITTY” SMITH are
focused on their local and regional market
while empowering their team to tinker.

24 // BEHIND THE BAR

Variety is back. How will you communicate
it to your customers? Greg Engert lays out
a flavor-centric method.

SELLING AND MANAGING

28 PUTTING THE ROOM IN TAPROOM
//
The pandemic has permanently changed
the way breweries approach design.

32 // HOW TO MOVE MORE MERCH

Five strategies to sell more swag.

36 // THE CHANGING NATURE OF

SALES CALLS
88 In person or online? Success requires a
customized approach.

40 //A SMALL BREWERY’S GUIDE TO

INFLUENCER MARKETING

48 //“THE GREAT RESHUFFLING”

Adapting to the new labor market.

50 //CALL IT A COMEBACK
Reviving historic lager brands for the 21st
century.

PACKAGING
50 18 54 THE DIGITAL PRINTING
//
REVOLUTION
Digital can printing is a promising option
36 40 for craft breweries in the years to come.
Here’s why.

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

57 //BETTER BEER WITH HOUSE YEAST?
Ready to keep your own house strain? Here
are key factors to consider.

60 //TROPICAL TREND GONE WILD

How to get more tiki from mixed cultures.

63 // WHAT’S GOING ON IN THERE?

Looking at the tech that looks into your
fermentors.
BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 3
CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

MALT INSIDER 84
66 FAITHFUL TO THE FIELD
//
Brewing with raw grains for character 80
while connecting with local farms.

69 GET AHEAD OF THE SEASON

//
Poor harvests and war are constraining the
60
global grain market. Here’s what it means
for the price and supply of malt.
66
HOPS INSIDER
72 TRICKS OF THE TRELLIS
//
Claire Desmarais of CLS Farms on the
challenges of changing hop varieties to
meet shifting brewer demand.

76 READY TO TANGO?
//
From Anchovy to Vista, some interesting
hop varieties are on the horizon.

80 LESSONS IN FRESH HOPPING

//
For brewers far from harvest, wet-hopped
beers are more viable than ever.
72
84 WHAT’S NEW IN HOP PRODUCTS
//
Pelletized wet hops, concentrated Nelson
Sauvin, the arrival of Luminosa, and more.

CASE STUDIES
88 MAPLEWOOD
//
This Chicago brewery and distillery is
growing while staying true to the
quality-first principles that lit its spark.

92 FOX FARM
//
In rural New England, this family business
succeeds with traditional beer styles and a
welcoming customer experience.

MORE

6 // EDITOR’S NOTE

8 // CONTRIBUTORS & RESOURCES Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® Brewing Industry Guide Issue #19, June 2022
Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® Brewing Industry Guide (ISSN 2575-9140; online ISSN 2575-937X)
11 // INFOGRAPHIC is published four times a year in March, June, September, and December by Unfiltered Media
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4 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

Light Amber Clean Intense Low Moderate Delicate Intense-DMS
CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 // FROM THE
SUMMER
EDITOR

UNLIKE MANY, I didn’t come back from the Craft Brewers Editorial Director Jamie Bogner
Managing Editor Joe Stange
Conference with COVID. After escaping it for much of the pan- Contributing Editor Kate Bernot
demic—and dutifully getting vaccinated and boosted—it caught Writers Greg Engert, Stan Hieronymus,
up with me a few weeks before CBC, as things were once again Courtney Iseman, Ben Keene, Don Tse
“getting back to normal.” Photographers Matt Graves, Ash Patino,
Andrew Pytel, Jake Snyder
Many who attended weren’t so lucky (if you can call that luck) Illustrator Jamie Bogner
and returned from the conference with the virus—leaving an oth- Production Mark Dobroth
erwise successful event on a sour note. Yet, what we experienced Proofreader Lavon Peters
there was in fact one of many new “normals.” COVID isn’t going
Print Management Trish Faubion
away. A recent New York Times article sug-
gested that we won’t completely eradicate
Publisher Haydn Strauss
it—instead, it will reappear in a few major Director of Media Sales Blake Osmond
waves each year, perhaps in perpetuity. No FOR MEDIA SALES INQUIRIES, please call 888.875.8708 x2 or
end in sight. Great news, right? email advertising@beerandbrewing.com
Whether we want to or not, we’re going
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around COVID. There is no shut-down- Rachel Martin
and-wait-it-out option. Instead, we abso-
lutely must continue to look at strategies Find us:
to lower risk for consumers, lower risk for Web: brewingindustryguide.com
Twitter: @CraftBeerBrew
employees, and make hospitality and live Facebook: facebook.com/CraftBeerAndBrewing
events work despite the ongoing challenge. Instagram: @CraftBeerBrew
Running and hiding, putting life on hold for years to come, or Editorial and sales office:
pretending it doesn’t exist aren’t tenable or realistic answers. 1300 Riverside Ave., Ste. 206, Fort Collins, CO 80524
That, of course, poses a design problem. How exactly do we 888.875.8708
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and safe ways for consumers to develop relationships with brands? 888-875-8708 x0
The other new normal that we’ll grow used to seeing is busi-
ness churn. The days of nonstop upward trajectory are behind We invite previously unpublished manuscripts and materials,
us, and growing beer businesses has gotten harder. Creating but Unfiltered Media Group, LLC, accepts no responsibility for
unsolicited manuscripts and other materials submitted for
compelling reasons for consumers to visit taprooms is some- review. The editorial team reserves the right to edit or modify
any material submitted.
thing with which even the most hyped breweries now wrestle. Contents copyright © 2022 Unfiltered Media Group, LLC, All
Hiring in the hospitality world has become more difficult, as rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
in whole or in part in print or electronically without the written
many potential workers opt out of customer-facing positions. consent of Unfiltered Media Group, LLC. All items submitted to
Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® Brewing Industry Guide become
Meanwhile, manufacturing and shipping logistics issues appear the sole property of Unfiltered Media Group, LLC. The opinions
to be something we’ll deal with for years to come. and claims of the contributors and advertisers in Craft Beer &
Brewing Magazine® Brewing Industry Guide are not necessarily
We have plenty of work to do, but there’s also joy to take from that those of the Publisher or Unfiltered Media Group, LLC. Printed
in the U.S.A.
process. Events early this year, CBC included, have reminded me
of just how beautiful the world of craft beer can be when it’s at its
best—exploring creative brewing expressions; celebrating and en- Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® Brewing Industry
Guide is published by
couraging diversity and multiplicity over homogeneity; feeling the
energy at a festival as craft-beer fans reclaim their groove. Beer fos- Unfiltered
ters connection, and that’s the good stuff that powers us through. Media Group, LLC
We produce this Brewing Industry Guide to help you make bet- Cofounder & CEO John P. Bolton, Esq.
ter, savvier, smarter decisions about your brewing business, and Unfiltered
Cofounder & CCO Jamie Bogner
we’ll continue to do so through these new “normals”—because MediaStrauss
COO Haydn Group, LLC
CFO Kristi Avery
we make it for you.

Cover Photo: Ash Patino

UNFIL UNFILTERED UNFILTERED UNFILTERED
TERED MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA
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GROUP, LLC GROUP, LLC GROUP, LLC
GROUP, LLC

Cofounder & Editorial Director

Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® Brewing Industry Guide
jbogner@beerandbrewing.com

6 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

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BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

// MORE RESOURCES FROM CRAFT BEER & BREWING

THE LATEST FROM THE
CRAFT BEER & BREWING MAGAZINE®
PODCAST VISIT BEERANDBREWING.COM/PODCASTS
TO LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE.
EP.224 Julia Herz of the American Homebrewers Association
Connects the Dots Between Beer and Flavor
EP.225 3 Fonteinen’s Next Generation Is Going from Grain to Gueuze
EP.226 For Cantillon’s Jean Van Roy, Brewing Comes Naturally
EP.227 Tom Jacobs of Antidoot Is Searching For Simplicity
EP.228 Paula Yunes and Valéry De Breucker of Brasserie Atrium Are Shaking Things Up in
the Famenne
EP.229 Au Baron’s Xavier Ballieux Carries on the Family Farmhouse-Brewing Tradition
EP.230 The Bitter Truth About Belgian Beer, with Nino Bacelle of De Ranke
EP.231 Cameron Owen of The Eighth State Can’t Afford to Be Average
EP.232 Raf Souvereyns of Bokke Is Blending Lambic with Fruit and New Perspective
EP.233 Urbain Coutteau of Struise Brouwers Shares Some “Peasant Intelligence”
EP.234 Pierre Tilquin of Gueuzerie Tilquin Makes Lambic and Gueuze with Lively Spirit
and Mathematical Precision
EP.235 Barrett Tillman of BlackMan Brewing Tells Stories Through Beer
EP.236 Forager’s Austin Jevne Embraces Nuanced Flavor in Fruited Seltzers, Sours, and
Barrel-Aged Stouts
EP.237 Less is More for Surly’s Ben Smith, Pursuing Bigger Hop Flavor in Hazy IPA and
Refined West Coast IPA
EP.238 Laura Burns of Omega Yeast Offers an Expert Approach to Stable Beer Haze
EP.239 Roaring Table Brews for Elegance, Simplicity, and Texture
UPCOMING
CRAFT BEER & BREWING MAGAZINE®
EVENTS AND APPEARANCES
For timely updates, sign up for our newsletter at brewingindustryguide.com.
JUL 17–20 If you’re planning a brewery or have just opened one, the Brewery
Workshop: New Brewery Accelerator will help you build a
successful brewing business. In Portland, Oregon, learn through
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D of the Minneapolis Convention Center for a celebration
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// CONTRIBUTORS

KATE BERNOT is a STAN HIERONYMUS COURTNEY ISEMAN GREG ENGERT is DON TSE is an Author of The Great
contributing editor has been writing is a Brooklyn-based beverage director of internationally Northeast Brewery
for Craft Beer & about beer for journalist whose the Neighborhood recognized beer Tour, a contribu-
COURTESY NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANT GROUP; COURTESY DON TSE; COURTESY BEN KEENE
Brewing Magazine® more than 20 years, work has appeared Restaurant Group in writer and beer tor to The Oxford
PHOTOS: JESS SUWOROFF; COURTESY STAN HIERONYMUS; COURTESY COURTNEY ISEMAN;

and a Sightlines con- including three in VinePair, Good Washington, D.C., judge, working Companion to Beer,
tributor to Good Beer books popular with Beer Hunting, and cofounder and from his home and former editor
Hunting. She was homebrewers—For CraftBeer.com, and managing partner base in the middle of BeerAdvocate, BEN
previously the beer the Love of Hops, Brew Thrillist, among of restaurants Birch of North America’s KEENE has judged
editor at DRAFT Like a Monk, and others. She writes & Barley, Rustico, barley belt. He has beer competitions
Magazine and is a Brewing with Wheat. a monthly beer col- and Sovereign; the sampled nearly across the United
24,000 different States and has
certified beer judge. His most recent umn for the heavy- brewery Bluejacket;
beers in the 20-
She lives in Missoula, book, Brewing Local: metal mag Decibel and world-class beer spoken at numerous
plus years he has
Montana, with a American-Grown Beer, and produces a free bar ChurchKey. Rec- industry conferences
been working with
black lab and three is a field guide to newsletter called ognition for his work beer, and he has and conventions. He
backyard chickens. brewing with foraged Hugging the Bar, on as a beer professional admired the malt lives in Seattle, where
ingredients. beer and drinking includes a James in all of them. he is the marketing
culture. Beard Award nomina- coordinator for Reu-
tion, a “Sommelier of ben’s Brews.
the Year” honor from
Food & Wine Maga-
zine, and a StarChefs
Rising Star Award.
8 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
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INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

INFOGRAPHIC

Packaging Trends
Consumer preference around packaging format is a moving target. Over the past decade, we’ve watched trends fade
only to rise again (ahem, 16-ounce cans anyone?). Here, we visualize packaging on a global scale as well as recent
movement in consumer trends in the United States.

Beer Packaging Around the U.S. Packaging Volume Size

World, By Material and Format Dynamics
Bart Watson, chief economist at the Brewers Association,
produces some incredible resources on the directions in
which craft-beer trends are moving. In a January 2022 post,
he shared data that illustrate recent trends in package size
and format, and we chart that data here.

12 oz Bottle
25%
6-Pack
20%
MARKET SHARE

12-Pack
15%
Western Europe United States 10%
5%
24-Pack
0
2019 2020 2021

12 oz Can
25%
6-Pack
20%
MARKET SHARE

15% 12-Pack

Japan China 10%

5%
24-Pack
0
2019 2020 2021
Legend
16 oz Can
6% 4-Pack
MARKET SHARE

4%
Aluminum Glass
2% 6-Pack

0
Southeast Asia 2019 2020 2021
Source: brewersassociation.org/insights/
Source: Global Data 2022, via Rabobank Beer Quarterly Q1 2022 craft-beer-packaging-trends-recap-2021/

BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 11
CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
INDUSTRY NEWS & NOTES THE BEER TICKER
MIXED SIGNALS
BRUERY FOUNDER
BUYS HEINEKEN’S
HALF OF MOONLIGHT.
ON HIGHER CRAFT-
In 2016 Brian Hunt—who founded
Moonlight Brewing of Santa Rosa,
California, in 1992—sold half the
BEER PRICES
brewery to Lagunitas, which is
based in Petaluma. Heineken fully
took over Lagunitas the following
year, but the latter brewery
continued to manage Moonlight.
So, everyone’s input costs are up, with no return to However, the 30-year-old brewery
“normal” in sight. Big Beer is raising its prices and starts a new chapter with the May
profiting handsomely. Is it time to raise your own announcement that Bruery found-
prices? Not necessarily. BY JOE STANGE er Patrick Rue has purchased
Heineken’s half of Moonlight.
GIVEN RECENT INFLATION AND RISING input costs across the Rue, who founded The Bruery in
board—from packaging to fuel to barley malt—you might think Placentia in 2008, sold his stake
it’s a no-brainer that beer prices need to go up, too. to a private equity firm in 2017 and
However, that’s not necessarily the message that independent went on to found Erosion Wine in
brewers are hearing from experts and industry veterans. In fact, St. Helena. Now, Rue plans to be
they are pointing to the advantages that could come from holding actively involved at Moonlight and
prices right where they are—to the extent possible, as each brew- direct its barrel-aging program.
ery faces its own unique situation. Moonlight says the change will
For context, the reasons behind higher costs are many: allow for patient growth and great-
» Global, pandemic-fueled, supply-chain problems have had er availability of its beers.
ongoing domino effects, now further exacerbated by Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. A global index of supply-chain pressures NEW INJECTION
compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that FOR HOSPITALITY
pressures eased for a few months until March and then wors- BUSINESS FAILS IN
ened in April—likely because of the war and Chinese COVID-19 SENATE.
lockdown measures. The CEO of FreightWaves, which specializ- The U.S. House of Representatives
es in supply-chain data and analysis, argues that “supply chains approved $42 billion for the Restau-
are never returning to ‘normal,’” citing higher energy costs and rant Revitalization Fund (RRF),
geopolitical risk among the reasons for continued disruption. but its supporters in the Senate
Ultimately, this means that brewers should not see the costs and couldn’t muster the 60 votes
availability of raw materials return to what they were before 2020. needed to bring it up for debate.
» Another effect of the war in Ukraine is its impact on agricul- As a result, its chances are slim for
ture and the grain market. Russia and Ukraine normally account the rest of the year. Congressional
for more than a quarter of global barley and wheat exports. observers report that Senate
Besides wartime obstructions to shipping, there are reports that Republicans were reluctant to
the Russian army has mined millions of acres of Ukrainian support any new federal spending
farmland, making it difficult to return production to what it was that isn’t offset by cuts elsewhere.
anytime soon. North America’s poor barley harvest in 2021 adds The RRF was part of the American
further price pressure on barley as a global commodity, even if Rescue Plan enacted in March
growers are cautiously optimistic about supply later this year. 2021, but the $26.8 billion in grants
(For more about the 2022 harvest, see “Get Ahead of the Season only went to about one-third of
Ahead: Tight Barley Supply in 2022,” page 69.) However, analysts qualified applicants to the program.
say that weather concerns in France and North America have in- Businesses eligible for the grants
terfered with timely planting, and that may lead to supply issues included those that serve a signifi-
going into next year. cant amount of food and/or drinks
» Inflation is an ongoing problem, and it’s a global one, intercon- on-site, including bars, brewpubs,
nected with multiple issues. In the United States, inflation eased and breweries with taprooms.
slightly in April, increasing only 0.3 percent compared to a 1.2 per- The Independent Restaurant
cent jump in prices the previous month. Yet the consumer price Coalition reports that 52 percent
index was still at a 40-year high, up 8.3 percent over the previous of businesses that applied for but
year, amid fears that it could continue to spiral. did not receive grants say they will
have to close in mid-2022 without
With costs going up across the board, the biggest beer companies additional support.
haven’t been shy about explaining why they’re raising prices. In
12 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
AB INBEV AND
NEW BELGIUM
GET NEW SOLAR
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Eight of the breweries in AB
InBev’s Brewers Collective unit—10
Barrel (Bend, Oregon), Blue Point
(Patchogue, New York), Brecken-
ridge (Littleton, Colorado), Devils
Backbone (Lexington, Virginia),
Four Peaks (Tempe, Arizona),
Goose Island (Chicago), Karbach
(Houston), and Virtue Cider
(Fennville, Michigan)—now have
solar energy systems, according
to the company that installed
them. ForeFront Power says the in-
stallations will help AB InBev avoid
more than 2 million pounds of CO2
production per year. The solar sys-
tems are part of a company-wide
commitment to use 100 percent
renewable energy. Meanwhile,
in Asheville, North Carolina, New
Belgium also recently complet-
ed a solar system installed by
Renu Energy Solutions (pictured
above). The installation spans the
brewery’s 114,000-square-foot
roof and is expected to produce
about 620,000 kilowatt hours of
electricity per year.
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CONTAINERS.”
A new association aims to
promote the use of steel kegs
and the interests of companies
that produce and use them. “Most
people have never thought of
kegs as the ultimate reusable
PHOTO: COURTESY NEW BELGIUM
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draft from steel kegs, you’re mak-
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streams,” says Dan Vorlage, the promote more diversity in the

new group’s executive director industry by providing “structured
MIXED SIGNALS, CONT’D and VP of global marketing for mentoring and advocacy to those
February, Heineken said it would raise beer prices by “coura- MicroStar Logistics. Launched experiencing barriers to access or
geous” amounts because of inflation. The other big-beer makers in April, the founding members advancement.” Since the program
issued similar warnings. Two months later, Heineken, Carlsberg, of the Steel Keg Association are launched early last year, the BA
and AB InBev all reported better-than-expected first quarters, major suppliers, shippers, and says, 86 mentors have guided
saying that people appear to be accepting the prices even as manufacturers of kegs. 86 individuals to develop their
they drink more beer (and return to bars to drink it on draft). In knowledge and skills in the beer
Japan, Asahi recently said it would raise consumer prices for the NZ HOPS LAUNCHES industry. For more information
first time in 14 years, citing input costs. HOP-OIL EXTRACTS IN about the program, including how
So, where do all those global machinations leave smaller, indepen- NORTH AMERICA. to apply to be a mentor or partic-
dent breweries? The intuitive answer: If input costs are up across A partnership between NZ Hops ipant, check the BA’s website at
the board—and if drinkers are apparently willing to accept higher and British extract producer Totally brewersassociation.org.
prices—then craft beer should also get more expensive. Natural Solutions is making New
However, experts and industry veterans suggest a different Zealand hop-oil available in North
approach for smaller breweries. America for the first time. The com-
In their Beer Quarterly, beverage analysts at Rabobank say the panies say that their HopInspiration
industry faces a conundrum: Input costs are rising, but so are range of concentrated hop-oil ex-
the inflationary pressures on beer drinkers—thus, simply raising tracts provides an efficient option for
prices could do more harm to beer sales than usual. aroma boost during dry-hopping.
Put another way: If the grocery bill is getting too high, shoppers Source varieties include Kohatu,
may be less likely to reach for that extra craft sixer; or, when con- Moutere, Nectaron, Rakau, Taiheke,
sumers see what it costs to fill their gas tanks, they may be less Waimea, and Wai-iti.
likely to spend money on pints in your taproom.
Complicating the puzzle, the Rabobank analysts say, is their NEW IDEAS & GOALS
assessment that these higher input costs are not temporary “and will FOR DIVERSITY IN BEER RAISES
not disappear in the foreseeable future.” BREWING. AWARENESS FOR
So, what’s their recommendation? To get creative. They suggest The Brewers Association’s AUTISM.
exploring a range of options, such as cost-cutting, adjustments to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) A craft beer packaged by
packaging mix, and hedging, as well as possible price adjust- Committee announced new goals developmentally disabled workers
ments. However, the Rabobank report says, “accepting some level after meeting in late March. They is helping to raise awareness of
of margin compression may be necessary, or even advisable.” include supporting new breweries people with autism. Knee Deep
Others in the industry argue that the pressure to raise prices is led by underrepresented groups, Brewing in Auburn, California,
exaggerated, based more on “optics” than on the real, marginal in- realizing wider demographic hires developmentally disabled
crease in costs. In an op-ed for Culture Council on the Rolling Stone representation in the brewing people to help package its beer.
website, Kevin McGee—president and CEO of Anderson Valley workforce, and continuing to The brewery marked Autism
Brewing in Boonville, California—writes that smaller breweries may educate and advocate for DEI best Awareness Month in April with
indeed have to pass on some of their higher costs to drinkers. How- practices at breweries. They also an English-style pale ale called
ever, he argues, these costs “are nowhere near the level to warrant include the longer-term goal to Perfect Fit. The beer is an unusual
the scale of the intended price increases we’re seeing from big beer. become the alcoholic-beverage collaboration with Pride Industries,
“Large and generally publicly traded breweries seem to be using sector with the most demograph- a nonprofit enterprise that part-
the public perception of inflation to give them the opportunity to ically representative consumer ners with businesses to train and
grab more margin, and they’re planning to grab it from consum- base. DEI subcommittees now employ people with disabilities.
ers,” he writes. “They’re being surprisingly transparent about this.” go to work on tangible projects
Beyond Heineken claiming to be “courageous” with its price to help realize those goals. To BREAKSIDE TOPS
hikes, McGee cites a recent Constellation Brands earnings call, get involved, find out more at OREGON BEER
during which the CFO said they are going to “take as much pric- brewersassociation.org. AWARDS.
ing as we think the consumer can absorb.” Portland’s Breakside Brewery
McGee sees that, rather than creating pressure on independent BREWERS ASSOCIATION took home the largest haul from
breweries, the situation is a possible advantage: “For the smaller NAMES INAUGURAL the 2022 Oregon Beer Awards,
craft breweries facing this dynamic, this is an excellent opportunity MENTORS OF THE YEAR. announced in April, winning 11
to differentiate their brands by both managing pricing and clearly The Brewers Association has medals plus Large Brewery of
conveying priorities to the consumer,” he writes. “The most obvious named the first two recipients the Year. This year there were 123
tactic is to hold prices (or implement only slight increases) to create of its Mentor of the Year Award: participating breweries, which
an opportunity to increase market share through a comparable pric- Annette May, a founding faculty entered more than 1,200 beers in
ing advantage over the larger brewers [who] are grasping for margin.” member of the Schoolcraft all. Other big winners included 10
Whether or not smaller breweries choose to raise their prices, College Brewing and Distillation Barrel with seven medals; Way-
PHOTO: COURTESY KNEE DEEP

they are in a better position than many businesses—in their Technology program in Michigan; finder with five medals plus Best
taprooms, via social media, or even to local journalists reporting on and Ramon Tamayo, brewing Brewpub Experience; and pFriem
higher prices as the story of the day—to explain clearly to custom- manager at Magnolia Brewing Family Brewers with five medals,
ers what they’re doing and why. in San Francisco. The stated including the third gold medal in a
For many more factors to consider, see “So, You’re Thinking goal of the new program is to row for pFriem Pilsner.
About Raising Beer Prices,” brewingindustryguide.com.

14 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

IS AVAILABLE THROUGH
COUNTRY MALT GROUP
CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
FRESH DATA ON
DEMAND FOR DIRECT
BEER SHIPPING.
The Brewers Association and Sovos
ShipCompliant in March released
the results of their second annual
Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Beer
Shipping Report. The report is based
on a survey conducted in January of
more than 1,900 people who were 21
or older, about 29 percent of whom
say they drink craft beer at least
once per month. Among the report’s
key findings: Of those regular craft
drinkers, 92 percent say they would
like to order beer to their homes
every month, while 68 percent say
they would spend $50 or more per
month on such deliveries. About 96.7
percent of U.S. adults over age 21
have access to DTC shipping of wine;
however, due to restrictive state laws,
just 14.8 percent have access to DTC
shipping of beer. The full report is
available by request at sovos.com/
shipcompliant.
DREKKER SHARES NEW
DETAILS ON BREWHALLA
MARKET HALL PLANS.
Drekker Brewing in Fargo, North
Dakota—known especially for heavily
fruited beers such as its Braaaaaaaa-
ins series—announced several of
the businesses that will be part of its
Brewhalla market hall development,
a planned “food and entertainment
wonderland.” Offerings include
wood-fired pizza, a wine bar, coffee
shop, gelato, cheese, pottery, plants,
and pet grooming. “We’re building
a whole new neighborhood where
people can enjoy shopping at creative
local stores, share outstanding food
from some of Fargo’s best restaurants,
and come together as a community
in a space that is constantly activated
with events and energy,” says Mark
Bjornstad, president of Drekker and
Brewhalla. Drekker expects to open
Brewhalla late this year.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY
TO GET SHARED
BREWHOUSE/WINERY.
In California, Breakwater Brewing of
Oceanside and Laguna Beach Beer of
Orange County will share a 10-barrel
brewhouse with the new brewing arm
of the local Barrel & Stave beer bars.
16 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
That unusual arrangement is part of
the concept behind the CoLab Public
House, set to open in Vista, San Diego
County, in June. CoLab also includes
the new Propaganda Wine Co. and
Baby’s Badass Burgers, previously a
popular food truck.
UKRAINIAN LAGER
BRAND GOES
WORLDWIDE, AB INBEV
TO DONATE PROCEEDS.
AB InBev ceased production of
its national Chernigivske lager in
Ukraine after Russia invaded the
country. Now, the world’s largest
beer company is producing the
beer elsewhere, including in Leuven,
Belgium, and will distribute it to more
countries worldwide. The company
says that all profits from global sales
of Chernigivske, normally produced
in Chernihiv, will go toward humani-
tarian relief in Ukraine.
STEM CIDERS ACQUIRES
HOWDY BEER BRAND.
Post Chicken & Beer’s Howdy Beer
lager, which won GABF medals in 2014
and 2018, has been acquired by Stem
Ciders with plans for wider national
distribution. Big Red F Restaurant
Group, based in Boulder, Colorado,
owns Post Chicken & Beer—a Lafay-
ette institution featured on Diners,
Drive-Ins & Dives—and The Post Brew-
ing Company. Big Red F will remain
involved as a partner as Stem Ciders
more widely distributes the beer, to be
brewed at the Sleeping Giant contract
brewery in Denver. Stem distributes its
ciders in 22 states, while Howdy will
first launch in Colorado, Oklahoma,
Tennessee, and Texas.
D.C. GETS A NEW-OLD
LAGER BRAND.
In the nation’s capital, DC Brau in
early April launched a nostalgia
beer brand called Old Time Lager,
described as a “modern interpretation
of the Hopfheiser Brewing Company’s
American light lager from 1935,”
which was brewed in Baltimore. The
brand apparently aims to stand on its
own: Old Time’s website and promo
materials make no mention of DC
Brau or being brewed there. Old Time
is one of several old lager brands
that have been resurrected by inde-
pendent breweries in various parts of
the country. Locally, for example, Old
Time will be competing with Senate
Beer, brewed by Right Proper Brewing.
FLYING DOG WINS FIRST
AMENDMENT RULING ON
STEADMAN LABEL.
A federal appeals court ruled in favor
of Flying Dog of Frederick, Maryland,
in its case against North Carolina
regulators who banned Freezin’
Season labels for their cartoon
depiction of a naked man. Famously,
English artist Ralph Steadman—best
known for his work in collaboration
with Hunter S. Thompson—has been
drawing the Flying Dog labels since
1995. In mid-May, the U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of
North Carolina ruled against the
North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage
Commission and its policy allowing it
to ban labels that the commissioners
deem “undignified, immodest, or in
bad taste.” The judges wrote that the
state’s argument that, “absent the
challenged regulation, children will
be ambushed by vulgar and sexually
explicit alcoholic beverage labels
while ‘shopping for the necessities of
life’ with their parents’ rings some-
what hollow in this day and age.”   infringement trial. In early 2018, Stone
LALLEMAND LAUNCHES
SMARTPHONE APP FOR
BREWERS
The yeast company Lallemand
Brewing has released a new app
with various tools for brewers,
including specialized calculators for
yeast-pitching rates, caloric content,
bottle-conditioning, and titratable
acidity. The LalBrew app is available
in English, French, and Spanish in
the Google Play and Apple stores.
Besides the calculators, the app
also includes a Lallemand product
catalog and a tool for selecting the
right yeast strain for a beer.
INGREDIENT DISCOUNTS
FOR MENTAL HEALTH
COLLAB.
Sponsors of the open-source Hops
for the Day collaboration are offering
discounted hops, yeast, and labels.
Created by Roadmap Brewing in San
Antonio, the goal of Hops for the
Day IPA is to change the industry’s
approach to mental health issues,
proactively prevent suicide, and
“remind everyone it’s okay not to
be okay.” Last year, 204 breweries
in five countries made beers as
part of the collaboration. Suppliers
offering discounts to participating
breweries include Hollingbery & Son
hops, Community Cultures Yeast Lab,
and Blue Label Packaging. For more
information, see hftd.org.
NA BEER SUPPORTS
WOMEN BREWERS.
Athletic Brewing announced the
launch of a nonalcoholic helles,
Trailblazer, to honor and support
women in the brewing industry. The
beer includes hops from the annual
Pink Boots hop blend from Yakima
Chief. Athletic says that 100 percent
of profits from Trailblazer go to
nonprofits that support women in
beer, such as the Pink Boots Society,
Ladies Who Launch, and the Women’s
International Beer Summit.
STONE WINS
TRADEMARK SUIT WITH
MOLSON COORS.
A jury awarded Stone Brewing $56
million in damages in a trademark-
sued MillerCoors—now Molson Coors—
over its branding campaign that adver-
tised and sold Keystone beer as simply
“Stone.” Stone asked for $216 million
in damages; the jury ruled that the
infringement was not purposeful. “They
will put the ‘Key’ back in ‘Keystone,’
ending their hostile four-year co-op
of the Stone name,” Stone cofounder
Greg Koch said after the ruling.
Compiled by Joe Stange. Do you
have industry news to share? Email
jstange@beerandbrewing.com.
When we asked Alec at Founders Brewing Co. why he brews with Watch Alec tell us Why He Brews with Briess
Briess he replied, “To make the highest quality beer we need BrewingWithBriess.com/Founders
the highest quality of malt, and we know we can get that
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CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

Q&A
Odell’s Brendan
McGivney and
Eric “Smitty” Smith
Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, is “old guard” craft, founded in 1989— people are moving into Colorado, and we
and, at times, it flirted with becoming a major national player. These days, want to reach those customers. We want
McGivney as COO and Smitty as CEO are looking instead to dig deeper into to make sure we have a portfolio, not only
the local and regional market—aiming to appeal to a broader base of drinkers with IPAs and things like that, but also
there—while dabbling in wine and lager hops and in further empowering with brands like our Lagerado that’s com-
their team. AS TOLD TO JAMIE BOGNER ing out, that appeal to that broader base.
BM // And we’re seeing that shift in our
CBB // Let’s start by talking about how the To answer your question directly, COVID taprooms, too. With our two locations in
pandemic and what has happened in the reinforced that that is the way for us. That Denver, when we look at the numbers, our
beer world over the past two years has affect- is our future. Colorado is something we pilsners, lagers, and Kölsches are selling
ed how you view the business, your stomach can control. Our existing markets are as well as, if not better than, the IPAs.
for risk, and how that’s changed some of the something that we have more impact, There’s a consumer shift even in the craft-
ways that you are moving forward. more leverage over than going into new beer world to that lighter, more refresh-
BM // We were draft-only from 1989 to markets and spreading wide and thin. ing, more accessible style. That’s been a
1996. We built our business on draft, and CBB // Like you, more brewers are finding lot of fun to play around with, with some
that paced-growth approach is part of our ways to go deeper into their own markets. new hop varieties and new techniques.
evergreen vision. We want to make sure How do you look at how many more CBB // Is that a change in the existing craft-
we’re doing it right. It’s important to us to consumers you can become relevant to, beer consumer? Or does it reflect—especial-
stay independent and employee-owned. within the local and regional market? ly with lighter beers that people can drink
We can do that with paced growth. That’s ES // It’s really targeting that broader base. more of—consumers thinking, “I might
profitable, obviously, and takes people That happened because of the law chang- order one IPA, but I can drink two pilsners?”
into account first. But we were all-draft, es in Colorado in 2019, when full-strength BM // Beers like Lagerado are more flavor-
growing slowly, and then the craft indus- beer became available in grocery stores. ful, so I think it is a shift in the craft-beer
try exploded. We held off going to the East It became a matter of reaching those consumer. Everyone who was drinking—
Coast and being a national brand. I mean, customers who weren’t seeking out our maybe exclusively—IPAs, now folds in
PHOTO: COURTESY ODELL

the focus back then for the founders,
Doug and Wynne [Odell] and Corkie
[Doug’s sister], was to be a strong Rocky
Mountain regional brewery. There were
no aspirations to be a national brand.
beer but who saw it while shopping for
groceries and thought, “I might try that.”
We talked about that broader base, about
how we could introduce people to Odell
who still don’t know who we are. So many
a pilsner or lager here and there just for
refreshment and to break it up a little. And
there’s a newfound appreciation for what
you can do with lagers, much like what we
did with IPAs way back when. IPA was a

18 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
British, earthy, dark, very crystal-forward
beer that everyone kind of made the same.
It took American craft beer to start tweak-
ing that model and making it ours. We’re
doing the same thing with lagers right now.
ES // I think the craft-beer consumers have
changed because the industry is changing.
Brewers are changing. We’ve been here 28
years, and for a long time we just brewed
90 Shilling, Easy Street, things like that,
and then it changed to pale ales and IPAs.
But then there was that long period where
everyone was bringing out every kind of
style—oud bruins, gueuzes. They were
introducing all these styles from Germany
and Belgium and all that. All the breweries
got in that game, then they put them on the
shelves … and they didn’t sell. People were
interested, but then it was, “Yeah. I’ve tried
that.” Now lagers, pilsners not only sell, but
people like them and come back to them.
CBB // It is interesting that innovation
now is more focused on beer styles that
people will potentially drink a lot of.
No one was ever going to drink a ton of
heavily Brett-ed, pineapple, wood-aged
whatever. But a hoppy lager is something
that people can drink 12-packs of and keep
going back to.
ES // Definitely. We see it in packages like
our variety pack. People get to try some
things, and if they find something they
like, they might buy it in a six-pack or try
it on draft.
CBB // A lot of folks decide to start their
own breweries because they don’t see an
ability to achieve their own personal and
financial goals working within someone
else’s brewery. But you have both been
here 28 years, and you’ve got employees
who have been with you for multiple de-
cades. Odell has figured out how to keep
good people, help them progress in their
careers, help them realize those personal
goals without leaving the brewery.
ES // We say we act like owners because
we are, and I think we had that philosophy
as an employee-owned company before
we even became an ESOP company.
When people embrace that, they want to
be here longer. We live in a great commu-
nity in Fort Collins, so that helps. More
and more people like living here, but it’s
getting more and more expensive. We
understand that. We’ve always tried to
bring our wage floor up. When minimum
wage was $7 to $8 an hour, we were at
$13, then $14, then $15. We had a goal of
$20 by 2020, and we did raise our wage
floor to $20 an hour. We did that not as a
reaction to what happened with COVID.
We were proactive. I think our coworkers/
20 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
FOR A LONG TIME WE JUST BREWED 90 SHILLING,
EASY STREET, THINGS LIKE THAT, AND THEN IT
CHANGED TO PALE ALES AND IPAS. BUT THEN THERE
WAS THAT PERIOD WHERE EVERYONE WAS BRINGING
OUT EVERY KIND OF STYLE. ALL THE BREWERIES
GOT IN THAT GAME, THEN THEY PUT THEM ON THE
SHELVES … AND THEY DIDN’T SELL. PEOPLE WERE
INTERESTED, BUT THEN IT WAS, “YEAH. I’VE TRIED
THAT.” NOW LAGERS, PILSNERS NOT ONLY SELL, BUT
PEOPLE LIKE THEM AND COME BACK TO THEM.
co-owners recognize that. That ownership
mentality that they have has been a huge
part of keeping people.
BM // I would add that it’s the empower-
ment, the way we operate. Yes, Smitty’s
the CEO, but it’s not like he’s directing
everything. People are empowered to
influence their work sphere and have
the leeway to run and get creative and try
some things. Mistakes are okay. We’re all
going to make them, so let’s learn from
them. “Always better” is our philosophy.
We give people accountability for a project
or piece of work, and then we just let
them run with it and figure it out. We
empower them to make their calls.
CBB // And now you’ve launched a winery?
Why get into that incredibly competitive
market of winemaking and put it right
here next to the brewery?
ES // I’ll go back to what Brendan said about
empowerment and allowing people to take
an idea and run with it: It’s a project where
we empowered a lot of people who were very
passionate about it when one of our mainte-
nance guys brought it up. And we had a lot
of people who were interested. So we sent
some people to conferences, said go figure
out some things and get some insight.
BM // And we hired a really experienced
winemaker.
ES // Well, yeah. But that team knew what
we wanted to do. As things expand and
develop, we’re really relying a lot on that
team and their expertise. And then Travis
[Green, winemaker] is a tremendous asset.
He’s so passionate about it. Just having
him part of our community and teaching
us has been great.
BM // The innovation that’s coming out of
here in the next year is exciting. The stuff he’s
doing really kind of blends the beer and wine
worlds together. We’re going to have some
cool, very small-volume, one-off things. It’s
really a side project. It’s part of our campus.
ES // That innovation is so key. We want
to be more on the high end with wine,
more creative. It’s also what you said at the
beginning—back to our roots in Colorado.
Initially, we couldn’t source as much from
Colorado. Now we’re building more and
more relationships on the Western Slope,
but every winery in Colorado gets grapes
from somewhere else, just like every brew-
ery in the world gets hops from the Pacific
Northwest. We like that the relationships we
have with our hop growers mean we can get
grapes directly from our hop growers. That
is an interesting story and collaboration.
BM // You look at Goschie Farms—we’ve
been buying hops from Gayle [Goschie] for
a long time. She’s growing excellent wine
grapes, and so we were able to source grapes
from them. Roy Farms has also been a hop
partner of ours for a long time. They’re
getting into wine grapes, and we were able
to use those. Leveraging those relationships
and playing around made it a lot easier.
ES // Diversification of our business was
a goal from us a couple years ago. But
coming back to beer, that’s our focus. We
always talk about New Glarus in Wiscon-
sin. They sell all that beer in Wisconsin.
If we could sell 135,000 barrels of beer in
Colorado, that would be ideal.
CBB // Is there more growth in that
beyond-beer category?
BM // We’re learning a lot from Travis,
from the wine world. And he’s learned a lot
from the beer world. We’re starting to play
around with some crossover things that
are refreshing and fun. It would be “beer”
because it would be 51 percent malt based.
But it would also have some wine grape as
a fruit. We’re excited about some of these
crossover things that are turning out to be
really refreshing on a small scale. We’ll of-
fer them up to consumers in our taprooms
and see how it goes. It might go the way of
Sippin’ Pretty, which started out at our Five
Points spot in Denver as a “let’s have some
fun with a gose,” and it connected, and we
started packaging. Or it could go the way of
never making it anywhere. We’ll find out.
But there’s so much you can do. Look
how much we’ve done in craft brewing
over the past four years or so. Just talking
about lagers and cold IPAs—those are
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 CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

THE BEST BREW WE’VE ALWAYS TRIED TO BRING

STARTS WITH THE OUR WAGE FLOOR UP. WHEN MIN-
IMUM WAGE WAS $7 TO $8 AN
HOUR, WE WERE AT $13, THEN $14,
FIRST SEED. THEN $15. WE HAD A GOAL OF $20
BY 2020, AND WE DID RAISE OUR
WAGE FLOOR TO $20 AN HOUR.
BAIRDS MALT ARE PROUD TO
WORK WITH THE UK’S BEST lagers, and they use the hops differently. We’re starting to
GROWERS OF MALTING BARLEY. play around in that space with the new experimental hops
that are coming out. There’s one, I’ll give it up, we’re using
it in Lagerado. It’s HBC 1134—an exciting, cool hop. It’s
not an IPA hop; it’s a pilsner/lager hop. It’s a domestic,
grown in Washington.
Then there are things that we’re just getting to now. Indie
Hops has a bunch of lager hops in development, like Lórien.
There are others that are exciting in a different way. They’re
not exactly traditional Noble, German, Czech, French hops.
But they have unique elements that we haven’t seen yet.
They’re fun to play around with. In the lager space, alone,
there’s so much we can do. Then obviously, IPAs are going
to continue to evolve into who-knows-what next.
CBB // How do you keep an eye on such trends so that you
can respond and take advantage of them? How do you
use feedback from stuff that’s doing well in taprooms and
decide whether you can scale it?
BM // You come at it from two different angles. First, we
have the organic taproom hero, the one that just connects,
and you can feel it, and it sells twice as fast as everything
else on tap, like the Guava Gose that became Sippin’ Pret-
ty. But then we also have—more on the sales and market-
ing side—getting the retailers in the conversation.
ES // And the analytics. We look at all the national data and
local data in Colorado with IRI and Nielsen, watching trends
and being aware of where other breweries seem to be succeed-
ing. We look at a lot of factors. And sometimes we’ll just kind
of sit on an idea to see how it plays out. We make that decision
on our own brands, too. We’re always analyzing and looking at
not only what we’re shipping out, but also distributor trends.
And what Brendan alluded to—talking to our retailers and
understanding what they want. The big national accounts like
King Soopers, Safeway, Target, Whole Foods have become
such a big part of our business. We need to have those
conversations early with them to make sure we’re producing
something that they want on the timeline that works for them
WWW.BAIRDS-MALT.CO.UK but that also appeals to local package stores. We’re talking with
them to learn what they see, what they think, what they want
PROUDLY DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA BY from us next, listening to that feedback. Then we see whether
that aligns with what we were seeing in our taprooms and
what we’re seeing our competitors do as well.
BM // Our opportunities are unique. It’s more and more
unique as an independent business focusing on Colora-
do at our size. Not a lot of breweries are in our position
anymore. There were a lot, but now they’re part of mega
corporations with very deep pockets. We need to continue
to push innovation, connect with our consumer, and be an
integral part of the community. That’s our future.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

22 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

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D
er / Colorado %
RS TA DT HE LLES Helles Lag Helles Lager / Virginia / 5.1 / Seidel / 20 oz.
BIE
SPRING SERV
US / 42°
WHEATLAND / Ohio / 6.1%
Vienna Lager / Flute / 13 oz.
S ELIOT NESS ° / Side-Pull
GREAT LAKE S org ia / 4.8% / 42 ull / Flute / 13 oz. oz.
SUBTLE HO PPI NES
rm an Pilsne r / Ge
° / Side-P ull / Flute / 13
OOKS AD A Ge
/ Germany /
5.0 % / 42 / 42° / Side-P
HALFWAY CR Italy / 5.2% / Flute / 13 oz.
AM PIL S Ge rman Pilsner h Sp alt er Select Hops / ° / Sid e-P ull
SCHÖNR Pilsner wit 5.3% / 42
OPILS Italian nnsylvania /
ITALIANO TIP PILS German Pilsner / Pe
VICTORY PR
IMA / 13 oz.
cher / 16 oz. 48° / Snifter
% / 48° / Be rnia / 8.2% /
Michigan / 7.0 Mosaic & Magnum / Califo
HER BA L & CITRIC IPA wit h Centennial / Cen ten nia l,
BO LD, erican cad e,
HOP HEARTED Am le IPA w/ Cas
BELL’S TWO RPEDO Doub r / 16 oz.
DA ATOMIC TO / 48° / Beche cher / 16 o
SIERRA NEVA Maine / 5.1% cher / 16 oz. % / 48° / Be
h Ry e + Mosaic / % / 48° / Be Virginia / 6.0
ra & Strata /

BEHIND THE BAR

SOFT & JUI CY zy Pale Ale wit w York / 6.0
HE RS LU X Ha Mo sai c / Ne , Sim coe , Cit oz.
h vin / 16
BISSELL BROT SAIC DREAM Hazy IPA wit with Mosaic, Nelson Sau s / 6.0% / 48° / Becher
MO IPA sett
OTHER HALF HANCED Hazy U-1 / Massachu / 16 oz. Snifter / 13 oz.
W MIRAGE: EN Hazy IPA with Citra & BR ia / 6.5% / 48° / Becher 6.8% / 48° /
THE VEIL NE PA LM S / Vir gin Car oli na / / 16 oz.
PINES & Mosaic s / North 48° / Becher 48° / Snifter
/ 13
VITAMIN SEA S Hazy IPA with Galaxy & ra, Centennial & Columbu nois / 7.7% / DE / 8.0% /

Variety Is
ND AL c, Cit & Cit ra / Illi Ble nd /
OCELOT VA zy IPA wit h Mosai Ga lax y, Mosaic Cry o Po p Hop / 13 oz.
WAX Ha
BURIAL SURF IO OF STARS Hazy Doub
le IPA wit h
IPA wit h Cit ra, Galax y &
is / 8.0 % / 48° / Snifter / 13 oz.
N Hazy Doub
le Galaxy / Illino fter
PHASE THRE
E TR
E: HARBESO , Vic Secret & % / 48° / Sni / 48° / Snifte
r / 13
Florida / 8.5
AL HANDSHAK IPA with BRU-1 ra, Galaxy & Amarillo / York / 8.5%
DEWEY MUTU H GRUNGE Hazy Double Strata / New fter / 13 oz.
E TH RE E DD Ha zy Do ub le IPA with Cit w/ Mo sai c, Idaho 7 & rm on t / 9.0 % / 48° / Sni 54° / Snifte
PHAS IVERS E uble IPA l / Ve / 10% /
INTO THE UN E TILE Hazy Do e & Centennia ws / Florida
DREAM STATE UBLE FRACTAL: PENROS IPA with Columbus, Cascad c & Azacca + Marshmallo
DO Double ra, Mosai
EQUILIBRIUM & HO LLERIN’ Hazy zy Tri ple IPA w/ Cit
AM IN’ G Ha
FOAM SCRE OF EVERYTHIN
IMALS KING
TRIPPING AN

Back. How
/ 20 oz.
48° / Seidel
any / 5.0% / ° / Tulip / 13 oz.
TOASTY & NU
TTY Lager / Germ / 54° / Sn
A L T NS TEI N DU NKEL Dunkel ock / Ge org ia / 7.3% / 48 Flora Collab.)
/ VA / 10.5% ° / Sni
M TRAU Doppelb / 54
OOKS ECHO Vanilla (Fonta Cocoa Nibs / IN / 13.7%
HALFWAY CR e Ra isin Bre ad, Nutmeg & el, Va nil la &
ywine w/ Ry ted Caram
FRUIT & TOFFEE English Barle ywine with Sal
LVET RIVER English Barle
THE VEIL VE R OF BEASTS Bourbon BA
LA
3 FLOYDS PIL
Flute / 13 oz. oz.
4.9% / 42° /
/ New York / ° / Snifter / 13

Will You
SOFT & SILKY Schwarzbier ia / 11.5% / 54
S T FA MI LY BONES SHIRT rial Baltic Porter / Eston
R OA SUAR EZ
Co gn ac BA Impe
PÕHJALA ÖÖ
XO cher / 16 oz.
% / 48° / Be oz.
/ Belgium / 5.0 / 5.6% / 48° / Becher / 16 oz
DARK & DRY IK Dry Stout a / Snifter / 13
E STO UT ER
st Porter / Cal ifo rni 11.5% / 54° °/
DE LA SENN ER Ro bu e / Missouri / / 13.0% / 54
SIERRA NEVA
DA PO RT
ut wt ih Co sta Rican ffe ut & Marshmallows / OK
Co
/ 54 °/
perial Sweet
Sto Nibs, Cocon anuts / FL / 15%
RICH & DECAD
ENT
20 22 : CO STA RICA Im Im pe ria l Sto ut with Cocoa conuts, Cocoa Nibs & Pe
PERENNIAL
SUMP
D Rum Barre
l-Aged nanas, Co
ATE WEEKEN l Stout w/ Ba
PRAIRIE PIR BBA Imperia
E THOUGHTS
IMALS SIMPL

Explain It?
TRIPPING AN cher / 16 oz.
% / 48° / Be
/ Maine / 7.0
SUBDUED SM
OLDER
uch bie r wit h Maple Syrup
HAUS Ra
SMOKE OXBOW SAP
/ 13 oz.
/ 42° / Tulip oz.
BRIGHT Maine / 5.2% / Chalice / 16
ITE Witbier / / 8.0% / 48°
FRUIT ALLAGASH WH ENBERG Tripel / Belgium
.0% / 54 ° / Chalice / 16 oz.
E DE RA NK E GULD pe l / Be lgi um / 10 r / 20 oz.
&SPIC DE DOLLE DU
LLE TEVE Tri 7.9% / 48° /
Grand Pilsne
/ Germany / alice / 16 oz.
DARK IZE NB OC K Weizenbock lgium / 9.0% / 54° / Ch 16 oz.
LER WE Ale / Be alice /
PLANK DUNK Strong Dark .0% / 54° / Ch
RBIER Belgian Belgium / 10
DE DOLLE OE ABT 12 Abt/ Grand Cru / / 7.1% /
You can help customers understand what they’d enjoy drinking without Barrel-Aged Strong Stout, the other three
ST. BERNARDU
S
Chestnuts &
re de Garde w/ Chinook Hops / Californi
Oranges / IL
a / 7.2
COMMON Biè
delving into the geeky arcana of style or tradition. GREG ENGERT, beer director most-entered categories were German-​
DELICATE
GETHER THE
EA RT H IS WH AT WE HA
Mixed
VE IN
Fer me nta tio n Ale wit h Cas cad e &
/ NH / 6.0
TA R T KEEPING TO LTE: BLEND 04 ple & Cherries
of the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, explains their successful method SAISON RÉCO
Style Pilsner, International Pilsner or Ale w/ Pineap & Milk Sugar / ND / 7.
Y YE AST OF EDEN WN CA KE Fruited Sour on , Sea Salt
&FUN K LE UPSIDE DO Apricot, Lem
JO: PINEAPP d Sour Ale w/
of organizing beers according to their most prominent flavors. International Lager, and Munich-Style
FRUITY
DECIDUOUS
PARADISE MO : APRICOT & LEMON Fruite
adowfoam Ho
ney / Missou
ri / 6.
/ 48
AAAAAAAAINS rthwestern Me oration) / Belgium / 7.0%
DREKKER BR
Helles. Meanwhile, new breweries con- mentatio n Ale w/ No
lles Collab
Mix ed Fer err ies (Ru
VINOUS RU CH E: BL END #4 Bru in wit h Blackb
LA Ou d
WHEN I SAT DOWN TO write my first column sales in 2020 and more than 500 brewery SIDE PROJECT
tinue to open in the United States, with
RULLQUIN 20
19 Flanders
/ 48° / Tulip
/ 13 oz.
TILQUIN MÛRE D Wild Ale /
Texas / 5.5% ip / 13 oz.
for the Brewing Industry Guide back in closures over the past two years. Even as more than 9,100 operating today, even as
EARTHY ON : TH RE E YEAR BLEN Ma ine / 6.4 % / 48° / Tul
2019 SP ld Ale /
JESTER KING SHIP RESURGAM 2019 Wi
the fall of 2019, craft beer was firmly the pandemic subsides, increased compe- craft production steadily increases—up
ALLAGASH CO
OL
/ 6.0% / 48°
/ Tulip / 13 oz.
Washington
Wild Yeast /
entrenched in the lives of American drink- tition from ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails 8 percent in 2021. The competition is
FLORAL E Dry Tab le Me ad w/
THE DRY TABL nic Pint / 20
oz.
CIDER GARDEN PATH % / 55° / No
ers. Sure, the once inexorable boom had has slowed craft beer’s rebound. A D
incentive for brewers to differentiate alle nger Hops /
England / 3.6
t / 4.5% / 55°
/ Nonic Pint
/2
& M E er wit h Ch Co nn ect icu
been slowing for a few years, but every All of this makes the news of the 2022 themselves in their own markets.
MALT Ordinary Bitt lding Hops /
UEBIRD BITTER & East Kent Go
CASK CONISTON BL st Bitter with Challenger
Be
bar, grocery store, restaurant, and bodega’s World Beer Cup so remarkable. Held for OEC HIDALGO
The bottom line: Variety is back. 5 HURCH
K
C
C 2OOO
HIN G TO N D
beer list had fully transformed to reflect the first time since 2018, the competi- 1337 14
TH ST N
W WA S

this sea change in American beer. Tap- tion had more than 10,000 entries—the COMMUNICATING THE CHURC
HKEY

rooms had sprung up on practically every
corner, and 8,250 or so breweries dotted
the landscape—with more on the way.
Then, it all came to the most unexpected
of screeching halts. As we know, the pan-
demic’s impact on the industry was swift
and massive, with a 10 percent decline in
most ever—from almost 2,500 breweries
worldwide. More exciting than the totals
are the breadth and range: 103 style
categories, with an average of about 100
entries per category.
Alongside the popular American-Style
IPA, Juicy or Hazy IPA, and Wood- and
DIVERSITY OF FLAVOR
As the stylistic spectrum expands across
American beer, reviving bygone brews and
introducing new ones altogether, it’s become
more necessary than ever to rethink the way
we showcase our wares to our guests.
Merely listing a bevy of taproom or bar
offerings by style or location won’t get
IMAGE: COURTESY NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANT GROUP

our staff or guests any closer to quickly

understanding the difference between a
MERELY LISTING A BEVY OF TAPROOM OR BAR OFFERINGS märzen and a tmavý. To best navigate the
BY STYLE OR LOCATION WON’T GET OUR STAFF OR wide array of flavors once again available
to the craft-beer drinker, we need to talk
GUESTS ANY CLOSER TO QUICKLY UNDERSTANDING about flavor first and foremost.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MÄRZEN AND A TMAVÝ. That’s why, at the Neighborhood Restau-
TO BEST NAVIGATE THE WIDE ARRAY OF FLAVORS ONCE rant Group, we organize the beers by their
most recognizable characteristics: Crisp,
AGAIN AVAILABLE TO THE CRAFT-BEER DRINKER, WE Hop, Malt, Roast, Smoke, Fruit & Spice,
NEED TO TALK ABOUT FLAVOR FIRST AND FOREMOST. and Tart & Funky.

24 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

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CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
ABOUT THE FLAVOR
PROFILE SYSTEM
In 2006, when there were fewer than 1,500
U.S. breweries and only a handful of bars
in the Washington, D.C., area pouring craft
beer with any kind of consistency, I set out to
expand the community beyond aficionados
and the initiated. Wary of the kind of rarified
knowledge long needed to gain access to the
pleasures of wine, I was consumed by the no-
tion that craft beer should be approachable.
I’d seen beer lists organized by country
of origin and style, but I always thought
those lists could be misleading or inac-
cessible. Origin glosses over the broad
range of styles and traditions represented
by various locales—the United States
being a fine example—while organizing
by style requires knowledge of the styles
themselves. How could my staff and I get
our guests a glass of something they loved
quickly and effortlessly? We decided to do
it by thinking bigger and more broadly.
As I surveyed the beer landscape 15-odd
years ago, I was as excited then by the sheer
stylistic variety as I am today. The knack for
experimentation and innovation had long
fueled the brewing industry, and the range of
offerings on our beer lists needed to reflect
this. We sorted through available offerings
in search of balance, looking to comprehen-
sively categorize our lists by the broad flavor
profiles that would relate one beer to the next,
and differentiate one from the other as well.
The result was a flavor-profile system
that categorized each beer we could
source according to its most overarching
flavor characteristic:
▪ Refreshing, lighter-bodied lagers and a few
restrained ales were categorized as Crisp.
▪ Pale ales, IPAs, and the like were filed
under Hop.
▪ Rich, toasty, bready brews were listed
under Malt.
▪ Stouts and porters fell under Roast.
▪ Enigmatic throwback brews, often
redolent of bacon or campfires, were
classified as Smoke.
▪ Yeast-driven Belgian-style ales—and some
Germans, too—went as Fruit & Spice.
▪ And the whole host of brews deliciously
complicated by the influence of bacteria
and/or Brettanomyces were listed as Tart
& Funky.
In case it isn’t obvious, there’s no reason to
limit such a system to beer bars. Once we
opened our brewery, Bluejacket, we found
the same system to be helpful in brewing
and serving a balanced list of beers that
could please each palate and pair with each
plate coming from our kitchen.
26 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
THE SYSTEM IN ACTION
As guests describe the kind of beers they tend
to enjoy, the flavor-profile system helps us
guide them toward beers they’d love as well as
away from those they’d tend to dislike.
Styles have become secondary to the
flavors, and for good reason: Certain beers
labeled as a similar style could have dramat-
ically different flavor profiles. Take a Belgian
blonde ale such as De Ranke XX Bitter, for
instance. To classify this as simply a Belgian
blonde ale alongside a beer such as Leffe
Blonde could cause issues. A guest who
tends to like the sweeter, aromatic character
of most Belgian blondes could be turned off
by the intense hop bitterness of the De Ran-
ke offering. For this reason, we categorize
most standard Belgian blond ales in Fruit &
Spice, while XX Bitter is listed under Hop.
Guests who tend to like the hop character
of pale ales and IPAs might be excited to
broaden their palates by trying a nuanced,
hop-forward take on the Belgian blonde.
As we tasted and tracked the various
groupings, it became clear that we needed
subcategories as well. The Crisp category
offers a great example. Though it’s clear
that styles such as Kölsch, Vienna lager,
and German pilsner all belong under the
Crisp moniker, the distinctions among
these styles require a further classifica-
tion. We noticed that some guests really
gravitate toward light, mildly sweet brews
in this category while others look for
amber hues and a bit more malt richness,
and still others seek out Noble hop flavor
and the classic kick of drying bitterness.
This moved us to categorize Kölsch,
along with American wheat ale, as Crisp–
Delicate Fruit; Vienna lager and helles
as Crisp–Malt-Accented; and German
pilsners and certain hop-forward lagers as
Crisp–Subtle Hoppiness.
Some of our subcategories have changed
with the times. The sudden ascendance
of hazy IPAs forced us to add a whole new
subcategory to Hop. Before that, we orga-
nized hoppy brews into three subcatego-
ries: Hop–Earthy & Dry, for English-style
STYLES HAVE BECOME SECONDARY TO THE FLAVORS,
AND FOR GOOD REASON: CERTAIN BEERS LABELED AS A
SIMILAR STYLE COULD HAVE DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT
FLAVOR PROFILES. TAKE A BELGIAN BLONDE ALE SUCH
AS DE RANKE XX BITTER, FOR INSTANCE. TO CLASSIFY
THIS AS SIMPLY A BELGIAN BLONDE ALE ALONGSIDE A
BEER SUCH AS LEFFE BLONDE COULD CAUSE ISSUES.
pale ales and IPAs as well as more
hop-forward Belgian blondes (including
the aforementioned XX Bitter); Hop–
Bold, Herbal & Citric, for classic Ameri-
can-style pale ales, IPAs, and double IPAs;
and Hop–Malty Backbone, for hoppy red
ales and American-style barleywines.
Once hazy IPAs arrived, and guests were
seeking them out, it became necessary to
add a fourth category, Hop–Soft & Juicy,
to delineate between these and the more
classic, dry, bitter, and piney/resinous
American pale ales and IPAs.
For a few years there, the Hop–Soft &
Juicy subcategory dwarfed Hop–Bold,
Herbal & Citric, but—with renewed
interest in old-school examples—we’re
seeing the categories level out at our bars
and our brewery. Who knows? Maybe
interest in hoppy reds and American-style
barleywines will return, and we’ll see that
category grow back to the numbers it
showed in the mid-to-late aughts.
TRANSLATING THE DYNAMISM
OF CRAFT-BEER FLAVOR
What began as a way to make sense of craft
beer’s massive variety—and to clearly and
directly communicate this variety to the
guest—now serves as a blueprint to help
keep our bar, restaurant, retail shop, and
taproom menus balanced and inviting.
As interest in specific styles waxes and
wanes, the flavor-profile system remains
valuable even as certain beers go by the way-
side—RIP for now, adambier and sahti—
while whole classes of beer become de
rigueur—such as Czech-style lehké, světlé,
tmavý, and polotmavý, which have risen
from obscurity to relative ubiquity of late.
The experimental and innovative engine
that drives craft brewing is emerging
from the pandemic more eager than
ever to educate and delight. From the
curious neophyte to the ardent beer geek,
everyone stands to benefit from a menu
classification system that engages the
guest to communicate the ever-evolving
state of craft beer.
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 CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

TAPROOM
Putting the Room in
Taproom: Hospitality
Design with
Space to Breathe
Two years of pandemic have altered hospitality and the beer industry CREATE MORE SPACE—AND THE
in meaningful ways. Here’s a look at how COVID has—and hasn’t—shifted PERCEPTION OF MORE SPACE.
taproom architecture and design. BY KATE BERNOT Where taprooms have been able to liter-
ally expand their walls, most already did
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HASN’T YET been changed about those spaces, as well as so amid the COVID reopenings. Yet de-
fully vanquished—and nobody knows what it hasn’t. Designers and architects signers say there are more ways to create a
when the next spiky variant might ap- who work on brewery taproom projects sense of openness and airflow that makes
pear—but many drinkers are enjoying the say that, on the whole, these spaces customers feel safer returning to a space.
much-anticipated “return to normal” any- haven’t been radically altered in the wake Adding windows, skylights, ceiling fans,
way. They’re also enjoying the return to of COVID. They are still community gath- and garage doors promotes airflow, weath-
brewery taprooms that are, in many ways, ering spaces—albeit ones that now could er permitting; but even when the weather
different than they were two years ago. stand to be a little more spread out. doesn’t allow for open windows, they con-
And new ones are likely to be planned “A prevalent feeling is people want to get vey a psychological sense of openness and
with different considerations than before. back to what they had … yet also people natural light. High ceilings and mirrored
The good news is that hospitality is back. don’t want to be crowded,” says Peter Web- surfaces function similarly, visually open-
CGA Strategy’s COVID-19 On Premise ster, a designer and project manager who ing a space and giving a sense of expanse.
Impact Report through April showed sales heads the brewery design team at Austin Lighter colors can also suggest air and
velocities exceeding pre-pandemic levels Design, a firm based in Brattleboro, Ver- light. The designers at Formica Corpora-
in all key states. That matches the recent mont, and Greenfield, Massachusetts. “You tion have noted an uptick in hospitality
results of Morning Consult’s “Return to do hear people say, ‘Oh that place is kind of spaces using light woodgrains—a staple
Normal” surveys: Of all the leisure activi- crowded. Let’s go to the next one.’” of Scandinavian design—“to create spaces
ties tracked by the survey, consumers have The broad goal for taprooms now is to that signify a fresh vibe.”
been most eager to get back to dining (and, deliver familiar hospitality and a sense
presumably, drinking) outside the home. of safety in the form of more breathing GO WILD OUTDOORS.
As customers greet bartenders at their room. These changes needn’t be drastic: It seemed like every brewery was ordering
local taprooms—some for the first time Existing taprooms can make changes of igloos, pop-up tents, and awnings back in
in two years—it’s a good time to reflect all sizes to create spatial flexibility, capital- fall 2020. However, there are plenty of oth-
on what the pandemic has fundamentally ize on outdoor space, and facilitate airflow. er ways to create additional space outside
the traditional taproom confines.
One of Webster’s clients is Lawson’s
Finest Liquids in Waitsfield, Vermont.
There, features such as parking racks for
“A PREVALENT FEELING IS PEOPLE WANT TO GET BACK mountain bikes and wetland boardwalks
TO WHAT THEY HAD … YET ALSO PEOPLE DON’T WANT encourage taproom visitors to explore the
TO BE CROWDED. YOU DO HEAR PEOPLE SAY, ‘OH THAT outdoor area surrounding the taproom.
Promoting walking and biking near a
PLACE IS KIND OF CROWDED. LET’S GO TO THE NEXT ONE.’” taproom makes the brewery a part of safe,

28 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

 “COMING FROM OUTSIDE OF THE BREWING INDUSTRY, I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW. THE BREWERY ACCELERATOR
PROGRAM GAVE ME YEARS OF INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE IN A VERY SHORT SPAN OF TIME, SHORTENING MY DEVELOPMENT
TIME TREMENDOUSLY. SO MUCH SO, IN FACT, THAT WE WERE ABLE TO WIN A SILVER MEDAL AT THE GABF IN 2019!”

— JEREMY DECONCINI, FOUNDER, MOTOSONORA BREWING COMPANY, TUCSON, ARIZONA

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 CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
Right » The renovation
of the new Fate Brewing
location in Scottsdale, Ari-
zona is designed to create
continuity between indoor
and outdoor spaces. Shown
here is the before (below)
and after (above).
outdoor recreation and socializing—part of
a journey, rather than a destination in itself.
In more urban environments, parking lots
and alleyways have (where legal) proven to
be a fine gathering space for drinkers wary
of being indoors. “People have been forced
into those spaces, and they realize maybe
they’re not so bad after all,” Webster says.
BLUR THE INDOOR/OUTDOOR LINES.
One of COVID’s lasting impacts is that it
softened rigid distinctions between indoor
and outdoor drinking. Outdoor drinkers
want the comforts of the indoors; indoor
drinkers want a space to feel airy and
ventilated. Yet making both spaces feel
cohesive is key, say Brian Krob and Brian
Laubenthal, principals at Aline Architec-
ture Concepts in Scottsdale, Arizona.
To achieve consistency and connect
indoor and outdoor spaces, Krob and
Laubenthal recommend using related
furniture, materials, colors, textures, and
design elements across both spaces. (If
a taproom’s outdoor area has nothing
in common aesthetically with its indoor
space, owners should consider swapping
movable elements between the two.)
The new Scottsdale location of Fate Brew-
ing, designed by Aline, includes a windowed
“flex space” between the completely indoor
taproom and completely open outdoor patio,
creating a sense of transition and continuity.
If building such a space isn’t within your
brewery’s budget, consider ways to soften
the contrast between inside and outside.
Possibilities include growing vines (or
“THE MORE YOU CAN WORK WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT
AND JUST TRY TO OPEN IT UP, THAT’LL GET YOU THE
MOST OUT OF IT. PEOPLE APPRECIATE THAT. IF YOU
BUILD A BRAND-NEW APPLEBEE’S AND CALL IT A
BREWERY, IT DOESN’T WORK. IT’S NOT AS AUTHENTIC.”
30 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
bines) to shade a portion of the patio near-
est the building, extending indoor/outdoor
rugs between the two areas, or selecting
furniture that can be used inside and out.
DESIGN FOR DIGITAL.
One tool that experts believe will stick
post-pandemic is digital solutions such
as QR-code menus, ordering kiosks or
tablets, and order-ahead online platforms.
For some taprooms, that also includes
integrations such as online table reserva-
tions and digital wait lists, which in some
places have replaced what, in years past,
would have been staffed host stands.
This means taprooms may not experience
long lines in the way they once did. Lobby
space or open areas in front of bars can now
potentially be used to increase standing area
or table seating, allowing greater space be-
tween drinkers. Menus also may not need to
be as prominent; guests seated far from the
over-bar menu can now use their phones to
call up the latest draft list.
The team at Aline anticipates taprooms
and brewpubs will cut down on lobby
space and menu displays, which are made
less relevant by a shift toward digital
menus and ordering.
REDUCE, REUSE, REPURPOSE.
This eco-friendly mantra has always made
green sense. However, as the pandemic
wreaked havoc on supply chains, it became
a necessity for some taprooms to use design
and building materials already on hand
or produced locally. This is good news,
Krob says, not only because it can reduce
wait times and (sometimes) costs, but also
because character is something drinkers
appreciate in brewery taprooms.
This approach can also apply to architec-
ture. Rather than building out an entirely
new addition, he suggests evaluating
whether existing taproom spaces could
be opened up—for example, by knocking
down walls and replacing them with verti-
cal support beams.
“The more you can work with what
you’ve got and just try to open it up, that’ll
get you the most out of it,” Krob says.
“People appreciate that. If you build a
brand-new Applebee’s and call it a brew-
ery, it doesn’t work. It’s not as authentic.”
EASE UP ON CLEANUP.
In the earlier phases of the pandemic,
many taprooms and restaurants favored
wipeable, durable surfaces that could stand
up to near-constant sanitization. Today, no
one is arguing against a clean and hygienic
taproom, but because we now know the
COVID-19 virus is mostly airborne, constant
disinfection has taken a back seat. Textures,
textiles, and cloth furniture have returned to
hospitality spaces again, provided they can
be periodically washed or wiped.
“A year ago, everyone was feverishly
cleaning, and we kind of got over that
a bit,” Webster says. “I would say those
conversations have fallen by the wayside
because people don’t need [a taproom] to
be much cleaner than it was before.”
What this means for your brewery will
PHOTO: COURTESY ALINE ARCHITECTURE CONCEPTS
depend on local COVID infection rates as
well as feedback you hear from customers
about their own comfort levels. In some
taprooms, visible sanitation buckets with
cloths to wipe down tables might be
reassuring; in others, they could be an
eyesore. Listen to your customers and
local health guidance, of course—but, if
you haven’t already, don’t be afraid to put
some cozy back in your taproom.
 CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

SELLING BEER

How to ABOVE » Movement

Move More
offers a wide size range
in clothing, communi-
cated clearly through
signage.

Merch
Pulling double duty in terms of revenue and marketing, merchandise
can be a lucrative source of extra cash for small breweries. Here are five
strategies to sell swag that drinkers can’t wait to buy. BY KATE BERNOT
THE COVID ERA DROVE HOME the need for
breweries to have diversified sources of
cash flow. During the height of the Omi-
cron wave early this year, Chicago’s Off Col-
or Brewing was selling branded sweatpants
at about the same rate it was selling beer:
The first order of about 100 pairs of sweat-
pants, which retailed for $45 each, sold out
in 16 hours. (After all, who didn’t need beer
and sweatpants this past year?)
T-shirts and hats have been staples
for decades, but as the number of craft
breweries grows—and as their fan bases
diversify—some are thinking outside the
box when it comes to swag. From a great-
er range of shirt sizes to limited-edition,
pre-ordered items, you can put greater
care into your merchandise and reap the
marketing benefits.
1. SIGNAGE, SIGNAGE, SIGNAGE
Whether shopping in a fancy boutique
or a concrete-floored brewery taproom,
customers don’t like to ask questions
about size or price. To turn their curiosity
into sales, it’s critical to make it clear to
taproom customers how much items cost
and in which sizes they’re available. (It’s
especially important to indicate size rang-
es because many people seeking wearables
in sizes outside the S-to-XL spectrum may
assume your brewery doesn’t stock them.)
Signs are especially important for brewer-
ies with limited space for merch displays;
if some of your items aren’t visible, make
that clear with signage.
At Movement Brewing in Rancho
Cordova, California, signs indicate that
shirts are available from size XS to 4XL;
staff can bring the desired item out from
the storeroom when a customer requests
a certain size.
2. SIZING FOR ALL
Not all apparel companies offer sizes
above XL—and if they do, they often
charge more for them.
That’s why Alanna Cavanagh, co-owner
of Movement Brewing, says it’s important
to work with a supplier that can carry
items from baby onesies on up to, when
available, adult 5XL shirts. Cavanagh
generally orders from Next Level Apparel,
which offers shirts up to 4XL.
“I’m a sometimes-size-2XL female, and
I live in a world where it’s hard to find my
size,” Cavanagh says. “And I have a larger
friend who I’d hate to not be able to buy a
shirt from my brewery. The more people
who can rep our stuff, the better.”
Larger shirts do cost more to print.
Shirts in sizes XS to XL cost the brewery
PHOTO: COURTESY MOVEMENT

$17.21 each; the 4XL shirts cost $24.10.

However, Movement prices them all the
“PEOPLE WILL ASK WITH TREPIDATION, ‘DO YOU HAVE same for the end consumer. Even if they
IT IN THIS SIZE?’ AND IT’S SO GREAT TO BE ABLE TO don’t make as great a margin on the larger
sizes, Cavanagh figures that it’s an issue
SMILE AND TELL THEM, ‘YES, WE DO.’” of fairness and that profits will even out

32 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

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CRAFT
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INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
ABOVE » Off Color has in the end. Even
moved to pre-order for though there’s less
items that have sold
out, such as sweatpants,
demand for the
or for more expensive largest sizes, the
items like track jackets.drinkers who wear
them express a
lot of enthusiasm about finding brewery
apparel that fits them.
“People will ask with trepidation, ‘Do you
have it in this size?’ And it’s so great to be
able to smile and tell them, ‘Yes, we do.’”
3. LIMITED-EDITION APPEAL
Beer enthusiasts tend to have drawers full
of brewery T-shirts and cabinets overflow-
ing with branded glassware. What they
might not have, however, is a brew-
ery-branded inner tube or skateboard.
Novelty merchandise can be a gamble—
one person’s quirky must-have is another
person’s head-scratcher. Yet according to
Tim White, director of marketing for Chi-
cago’s Half Acre Beer Co., those items may
have appeal beyond the people who already
own a Half Acre bottle opener or pint glass.
“Our intent with merch and apparel
is to appeal to people beyond the beer
connection,” White says. “We hope that
when we offer items like a kite, people
will use it when—gasp to think!—they’re
not drinking beer.”
34 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
Even more conventional merch can
borrow some limited-edition intrigue.
Movement Brewing sold specially designed
acid-wash T-shirts and slap bracelets for
to its ’90s Fest event. Even before the
event, the items began selling quickly. The
potential downside is that shirts made for
a specific event can be difficult to continue
to sell after that event has passed. To cir-
cumvent this, Movement’s ’90s Fest shirts
clearly evoke a ’90s-era “Saved By The Bell”
graphic style—but they only mention the
event and the year in small type on the
back of the shirt, near the neckline.
4. THE PERKS OF PRE-ORDERS
When its initial run of 100 sweatpants sold
out literally overnight, Off Color began
taking pre-orders for another run of the
pants. (Notably, this swag was related to
Off Color’s beer: The pants say “LOUNG-
ING” across the backside and feature the
same cartoon capybara that appears on
the brewery’s Beer for Lounging pale ale.)
Jess Straka—who oversees retail as Off
Color’s “manager of stuff and things”—says
the brewery had successfully used a pre-or-
der model in the past. It’s useful for items
that might be wildly popular and apt to sell
out—such as sweatpants—as well as for
more expensive, niche-appeal items—such
as women’s track jackets—that a brewery
would hesitate to order in large quantities.
“Besides for planning purposes and help-
ing customers know their sizes are guaran-
teed, it’s good for cash flow,” Straka says. “It
can help folks who’d like that cash in hand.”
5. CHARITY COLLABORATIONS
Before its virally sensational sweatpants,
Off Color found success with a lightweight,
matte-black hoodie design it first began
selling in spring 2020. The brewery received
the hoodies at about the time George
Floyd’s murder set off protests against racial
injustice across the country. In response,
Off Color announced that it would donate
all profits from the sale of those shirts to the
Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter.
Customers who might not have oth-
erwise bought merch from the brewery
began ordering the hoodies online—to the
tune of several hundred sold. Straka says
those sales lulled as the months went on,
but in total the brewery was able to donate
$5,000 to Black Lives Matter.
PHOTO: COURTESY OFF COLOR
Off Color didn’t profit financially from the
shirt, but the charitable connection drew new
eyes to the brewery and encouraged people
to buy merch who might not have done so
otherwise. Most importantly, it raised money
for a cause the brewery sought to support.
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CRAFT
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GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

SELLING BEER

The Changing
Nature of
Julie Rhodes, founder of Not Your Hobby
Marketing Solutions in Broomfield,
Colorado. Quality visits, rather, “mean
that you’ve strategically planned where

Sales Calls
you’re going to go, who you’re going to
talk to; and you have a purpose for every
conversation.”

MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL.

Suzanne Schalow, founder of the Craft
Beer Cellar bottle-shop chain—now
with 18 franchises in 11 states—is a busy
The pandemic streamlined the process of selling beer to accounts—and woman. A tight labor market combined
some of those changes are here to stay. While many embrace a return to with a growing number of breweries and
in-person meetings, others prefer texts or online. To succeed today, sales SKUs mean she and her staff sometimes
reps need a more customized approach. BY KATE BERNOT resemble the Tasmanian Devil as they
whirl about their shops. Recently, when
FOR BREWERY SALES REPS USED to dropping and efficient in that communication be- a supplier rep showed up three minutes
in unannounced at bars and restaurants cause many breweries and accounts alike after the Belmont, Massachusetts, shop
to shoot the breeze over a pint, COVID-19 remain short-staffed. In essence, supplier opened—as Schalow was unpacking
erased everything overnight. Two years later, reps need to be more attuned than ever three separate deliveries—she felt over-
aspects of the beer business are beginning to accounts’ needs, and they must make whelmed. “I said, ‘If you want to see me,
to resemble pre-pandemic normalcy—how- sure that both the format and content of you have to chase me,’” she says.
ever, breweries and accounts alike say the their sales pitches are geared toward each She prefers reps who text or email ahead
nature of the sales call has changed in ways specific buyer. of time to schedule a visit—or, better yet,
that aren’t likely to be undone. “‘Spray and pray’ sales tactics—where those who can convey pertinent informa-
“COVID has been a great excuse for peo- you canvas the market and hope for the tion digitally. That’s not every account’s
ple to be more indulgent of who they want best—that’s not the best way to tackle preference, but most reps and suppliers
to be,” says Josh Allard, director of sales selling in our modern environment,” says interviewed for this piece agree that the
for Cruz Blanca Brewery in Chicago. “If [a
buyer] was slightly reclusive before, they’re
really reclusive now. If they were somebody
who wanted to hang out with people and
trade jokes, they’re more of that now.”
“COVID HAS BEEN A GREAT EXCUSE FOR PEOPLE TO BE
In today’s competitive sales environ- MORE INDULGENT OF WHO THEY WANT TO BE. IF [A
ment, reps must be chameleons, adapting BUYER] WAS SLIGHTLY RECLUSIVE BEFORE, THEY’RE
to some buyers’ preferences for weekly
in-person visits and others’ reliance on
REALLY RECLUSIVE NOW. IF THEY WERE SOMEBODY
sporadic text, phone, or email communi- WHO WANTED TO HANG OUT WITH PEOPLE AND TRADE
cation. They also must be more strategic JOKES, THEY’RE MORE OF THAT NOW.”
36 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
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NEW VARIETIES, THE CHANGING

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CRAFT
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GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
RIGHT NOW, ALLARD SAYS, HE’S SEEING AN EVEN SPLIT
BETWEEN IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL CHAIN-RESET
MEETINGS; HE THINKS SOME CHAIN RETAILERS ARE
BECOMING ACCUSTOMED TO THE EASE AND CONVE-
NIENCE OF ZOOM PITCHES RATHER THAN IN-OFFICE
VISITS. THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE SALES PITCH ARE
STILL THE SAME, BUT SUPPLIER STAFF WILL NEED TO
BE COMFORTABLE CREATING RAPPORT OVER A SCREEN.
days of drop-in visits are mostly over.
Laura Thompson, director of sales and
events at Diskin Cider in Nashville, says
that during the pandemic, she began
asking accounts point-blank how they
preferred to hear from her.
“I ask, ‘How do you want me to reach out?’
Buyers who maybe were less candid about
that before now appreciate that because
everyone’s time is so precious,” she says.
Some retailers have reduced hours these
days (bye-bye, lunch visits), and some
prefer to make their regular, recurring
orders through distributors’ online ordering
portals. When reps show up in person,
they need to make the account’s life easier,
not harder. Merchandising, checking date
codes, offering point-of-sale items and sam-
ples, assisting with ordering—all of these
help a retailer find value in a rep’s visit.
Jordyn Frasier-Hill, a sales representa-
tive for Lakewood Brewing in Garland,
Texas, says that one of the most important
functions of her on-premise account visits
is to educate bar or restaurant staff about
her brewery’s beers. This is a two-fold
benefit: Servers and bartenders can speak
more knowledgeably about what’s on their
menu, and then they’re also more likely to
recommend Lakewood to customers.
“The real salespeople are the waiters and
the servers and bartenders,” Frasier-Hill
says. “You have to [interact with that staff ]
almost every visit because in certain plac-
es, there’s high turnover with waitstaff.
Every time you come in, there’s new wait-
staff who [don’t] know your beer yet.”
EMBRACE “CONSULTATIVE
SELLING.”
The best value of all comes when a supplier
rep deeply understands an account’s busi-
ness and needs and, thus, where their prod-
ucts can help meet those needs. Rhodes
calls this approach “consultative selling.”
“None of this, ‘I’m just going to check in.’
Instead, the rep is thinking, ‘I need to go to
this gastropub because they just redid their
38 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
menu, and I have beers in my portfolio that
would be a good pairing with their new
menu,’” Rhodes says. “You have a specific
purpose and goal for that conversation.”
For Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati,
Ohio, the pandemic put a greater empha-
sis on pre-selling. Buyers aren’t putting
money into large inventories of specialty
kegs; instead, they are being choosier,
committing only to what they need.
“It forces us to do more pre-selling and
more planning with our sales pitches,”
says Dana Cummin, Rhingeist’s Cincin-
nati sales director. “The days of going in
and sampling a beer and selling it based
on liquid and rarity—those days are dwin-
dling. We have bigger launches, bigger
batches, so we can have a more thought-
out and dialed-in approach to a pitch.”
For Craft Beer Cellar, this type of
information sharing doesn’t need to
happen in person. Schalow says she’d like
more suppliers to text or email videos
and marketing materials that include all
the details she needs to decide to order a
beer—ingredients, pricing, container size,
UPC number, etc.
LOOK TO “COMMITMENT RATIOS”
AS A KEY PERFORMANCE
INDICATOR.
As the nature of account service becomes
more fluid and less based on a sales rep’s
odometer, managers are rethinking per-
formance metrics for those roles. Allard,
at Cruz Blanca in Chicago, says that even
a few years ago, reps were evaluated based
on their ability to physically visit a certain
number of accounts in a week or month.
“Now there’s more of an acceptance of,
‘It doesn’t really matter whether you’re
in person or virtual, as long as the beer’s
moving and you’re taking proper care of
an account,’” he says.
Rhodes urges her brewery clients to use
“commitment ratios”—the number of ac-
counts visited or contacted compared with
the number that actually order beer—as a
way to measure the effectiveness of sales
visits. After all, visiting 150 accounts in a
week and selling only five kegs is less effi-
cient than visiting 50 accounts and selling
10 kegs. Essentially, the success metric has
shifted to quality of visits over quantity.
“It means being able to ask for the
damn sale, honestly—just getting to it,”
Rhodes says. “You have to drill down into
the quality of your sales activities to see if
you’re even worth your salt.”
PREPARE FOR THE DIGITAL
FUTURE.
Whether or not specific accounts are
currently embracing texts, Zoom calls,
emails, or online ordering, these models
are likely to become more important in
the years to come. Get familiar with them
now or risk being left behind.
Whether a supplier personally likes them
or not, online ordering portals from dis-
tributors are poised to gain traction among
more tech-adept buyers. (Allard calls them
“a train that is not going to slow down.”)
For Schalow, online ordering portals are a
way to save time when ordering beers that
she already knows she wants to stock.
“We’re pretty savvy as to what’s available,
so we don’t need much hand-holding,” Scha-
low says. “We know when delivery days are;
we use our portals. Despite the fact that we
have access to some strong product portals
for some distributors, they don’t exist for
others. It’s 2022. Get online. Do it now.”
Supplier reps can use these to their
advantage, too, turning a verbal commit-
ment from a buyer into an instant order.
“We used to say we’d follow up with our
distributor to get a sale done,” Allard says.
“Now we can say, ‘Hey, we can punch this
in right now.’”
He also anticipates that chain-reset
meetings may continue to be more virtual
in the future. Right now, Allard says, he’s
seeing an even split between in-person
and virtual chain-reset meetings; he
thinks some chain retailers are becoming
accustomed to the ease and convenience
of Zoom pitches rather than in-office
visits. The fundamentals of the sales pitch
are still the same, but supplier staff will
need to be comfortable creating rapport
over a screen.
“A lot of people felt very comfortable in a
room because you can crack a joke, see it
play out in person,” Allard says. “There’s
a comfort level that’s not necessarily there
when you’re on Zoom and watching your
own face. It’s going to be the [people] who
are able to adapt [who] win.”
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CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
MARKETING BEER
A Small Brewery’s
Guide to Influencer
Marketing
You see them on TikTok and Instagram, posing or lip-syncing while proudly
showing off a can of another brewery’s beer. Who are these people? Should
you engage or avoid? And what’s the ROI? BY KATE BERNOT
SOCIAL-MEDIA INFLUENCERS are a charged
topic in the beer industry, with vocal critics
as well as proponents. Before we wade into
the debate, it’s useful to clarify what an
“influencer” is. For some, it conjures im-
ages of reality TV stars hawking cosmetics
on YouTube. However, marketing experts
describe influencers as a broad category,
encompassing anyone from a local beer
blogger to a nationally recognized bartend-
er with a popular Instagram channel.
“Influencer marketing is really just
a new title for something that’s existed for-
ever, which is word-of-mouth marketing
and expert recommendations,” says Evy
Lyons, chief marketing officer at Traackr.
Her company provides a software plat-
form that helps companies manage their
marketing work with influencers.
Social media has extended people’s
spheres of friends and acquaintances, Ly-
ons says, taking word-of-mouth to larger
and larger scales. “An influencer is some-
body who is an expert, who is passionate
about a topic, and who has an audience.”
That audience can be small and niche,
as in the case of a locally focused beer
blogger, or huge and national, as in the
case of a celebrity. When done correctly,
influencer marketing works because
followers trust that person’s product
recommendations or endorsements and
regard the influencer as a tastemaker.
“When I discover new breweries, it’s
all through friends,” Lyons says. “Really,
40 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
influencer marketing is just making that
happen at a little bit larger … scale.”
Among the smallest breweries, paid
influencer partnerships are rare. (A 2019
report from Traackr found that the top five
craft breweries for influencer engagement
were Russian River, Firestone Walker,
Goose Island, Allagash, and Sierra Neva-
da.) More often among small breweries,
these relationships take the form of free
samples, swag, or access to events—with
or without the explicit request that the
influencer post about the brewery.
As breweries look to reach drinkers be-
yond their core fan base, and as large-scale,
in-person marketing opportunities such
as festivals are still emerging from COVID
limbo, influencers could potentially bridge
the gap for breweries—if approached deftly.
Here are some critical questions to answer
when considering influencer outreach.
CAN YOU PAY? DO YOU WANT TO?
This is a foundational question, and one
you should be prepared to answer before
proceeding. Some influencers may ask for
compensation, but many—especially lo-
cally focused ones with fewer than 10,000
“WHEN I DISCOVER NEW BREWERIES, IT’S ALL THROUGH
FRIENDS. REALLY, INFLUENCER MARKETING IS JUST
MAKING THAT HAPPEN AT A LITTLE BIT LARGER … SCALE.”
or so followers—will incorporate a brew-
ery’s beer into their posts in exchange for
free product or access to an event.
“COVID decreased a lot of marketing
budgets toward these campaigns, but as
far as sending free product, merch, and
swag, it’s everywhere,” says Jess Bautista,
social-media coordinator for New England
Brewing in Woodbridge, Connecticut.
She’s also an advocate for craft beer, with
an Instagram following of more than
22,000 on her personal account, @jess​
beerme. “It’s just so much easier to send a
package versus trying to talk the market-
ing team into pay[ing] someone.”
Bautista says rates vary widely by industry,
by social-media channel, and by an influenc-
er’s reach and engagement level. However,
as an example, an influencer with 15,000 to
25,000 followers might ask for $200 to $300
in compensation for a product post.
During his time in marketing at Tempe,
Arizona’s, Four Peaks Brewing, owned by
AB InBev since 2015, Zach Fowle was part
of paid-influencer campaigns contracted
through influencer agencies. Now, Fowle
is head of marketing for Arizona Wilder-
ness Brewing in Gilbert, and he says that
many of the brewery’s existing fans with
strong social-media followings are happy
to post in exchange for nothing more than
some free beer.
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CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
Jess Bautista, so-
cial-media coordina-
tor for New England
Brewing and Instagram
influencer.
It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement:
The brewery’s fans feel even more
connected to Arizona Wilderness, while
the brewery gets shout-outs on their
social-media channels.
“From a budget standpoint, it costs us a
case of beer here and there,” Fowle says.
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?
Influencer campaigns should have a clear
goal; otherwise, there’s no way to measure
their efficacy.
“If you don’t know why you’re doing
influencer marketing, or you just want
to ‘be cool,’ break that down a bit more,”
says Lyons at Traackr. “Understand what
outcomes you’re hoping to get from this and
make sure the influencers you choose and
activations you choose are in service of that.”
General brand awareness is a goal for a
lot of influencer campaigns, especially if
a brewery is launching a new product or
starting distribution in a new state. But
breweries can also engage with influenc-
ers to promote events ahead of time, to
drive traffic to their taproom, to show off
their food menus, to highlight a brewery
concert series, or to encourage at-home
beer and food pairings.
The key is to make sure the content an
influencer produces reflects that goal.
Photos of cans of beer on a kitchen table,
for example, don’t do much to encourage
taproom visits. A video of an influencer
42 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
playing pinball inside the brewery while
sipping beer, on the other hand, gets the
on-premise message across.
WHO WILL HELP YOU REACH
THOSE GOALS?
Based on specific goals, you can target
the influencers with whom you want to
work. Kevin York, president of Kevin York
Communications, has urged his clients to
engage influencers beyond the beer world,
depending on their campaign’s goals. Those
breweries have linked up with experts in
music, art, and travel, and even municipal
leaders, depending on the objectives.
Imagine how you want your beer
displayed—in the outdoors, in your
taproom, with family-friendly activities,
or alongside food or music or art—and
find influencers who already inhabit those
spaces. Influencers also can be a bridge to
communities that you don’t already have
strong connections to.
“If someone is showcasing or posting
things that are within your niche or vision
for your product, don’t be afraid to reach
out,” says Bautista in Connecticut. “It’s a
great way to welcome new demographics
to your product.”
Fowle agrees, adding that influencer
marketing was a tool Four Peaks used to
connect with younger and more racially
and ethnically diverse legal-age drinkers:
“Something I would push brewers to do
is to think outside of the ‘pretty white girl’
influencer base and think about the people
who can reach demographics that are may-
be not your base, but that are underserved
communities in the craft-beer world.”
York encourages his brewery clients
to use influencer outreach as a first step
to build meaningful relationships with
community leaders. Sending a case of
beer isn’t as memorable or valuable to
them as, say, inviting an influencer to the
brewery for a one-on-one photo session,
giving them individual access to a behind-
the-scenes part of the brewery, or offering
them a conversation with the owners.
Just don’t forget geography: If your beer
is for sale only in your taproom or in a
particular state, an influencer based out
of state might not move the needle, even
if they have hundreds of thousands of
followers. Local, relevant experts are likely
to be more effective.
WHAT ARE THE PARAMETERS?
Working with influencers is like any other
type of marketing relationship, so setting
expectations and maintaining professional-
ism are important. Bautista always prefers to
receive emails about potential partnerships,
she says, rather than having breweries reach
out via direct message on Instagram. (She
lists her email in her Instagram bio.)
“If you have to slide into the DMs, do
it very professionally. Do it as you would
any other business account,” Bautista says.
“I’ve gotten DMs that only say: ‘Can I
send beer for your page?’ No introduction,
no nothing. It’s such a turn-off.”
It’s also critical to set expectations for
the partnership. At Arizona Wilderness,
Fowle says he generally tells influencers
that he’d love to provide beer to them, with
no strings attached. If they post about it,
great. If not, it’s a small cost.
Other breweries may make specific re-
quests about the number of posts, the type
of content, and when it’s posted, before
they send beer to an influencer—particu-
larly if there’s financial compensation. Bau-
tista says the most successful partnerships
lay this out clearly. She recalls Night Shift
Brewing in Everett, Massachusetts, email-
ing her about a potential paid campaign to
promote its new line of hard seltzers.
“They were super-professionals, told me
exactly what they were looking for,” she says.
“They were immediately like, ‘Yes, compen-
sation is included. Here’s the product that’s
included. Here’s the timeline for when this is
PHOTO: COURTESY JESS BAUTISTA
released and when we’d like you to post.’”
The campaign was a success. Bautista gen-
uinely liked the way the seltzers tasted, and
numerous followers asked her where they
could buy it for themselves. She says Night
Shift struck a great balance between making
 A&E CONVEYOR SYSTEMS Co.

Truly Crafted
their expectations clear and allowing Bautista to have control
over the content and aesthetics of her post.

WHAT’S THE ROI?

Equipment For
Depending on the campaign, influencer outreach can be
more quantifiable than other types of marketing, thanks to
the analytics available for social-media platforms.
Experts agree that engagement—more so than audience

Craft Brewers.
size—rules the day. Traackr has tools to measure cost per
engagement, but even breweries not paying for such ser-
vices can track engagement more manually. Some options
to consider:
▪ asking to see the influencers’ metrics on these partnered
posts
▪ tracking your own social-media following before and after
influencer outreach
▪ tracking your direct Google results after an influencer
post
▪ monitoring general traffic to your website after an influ-
encer post
▪ asking an influencer to post a URL for an event landing
page or merchandise shop, which creates even more
trackable clicks
▪ monitoring ticket-sales rates for a particular event before
and after an influencer campaign

If the goal, however, is general brand awareness, that can be

more nebulous. Fowle says that if a brewery is sending beer
to influencers without a specific campaign goal in mind,
the results are about as easy to measure as a billboard. Did
people see it? Sure. Did it make them buy your beer? Maybe.
Identifying clear goals and working with focused, local
influencers generally increase the odds of success. York says
that all his brewery clients now currently do some form of
influencer outreach. “We definitely have had some in the
past [who] have been very skeptical, but I think they’ve all
seen the value it can bring,” he says.
Here’s the good news for breweries hesitant to dip their
toes into these less-charted waters: Influencer marketing
isn’t a long-term or costly investment. For the price of a case
of beer, it could convert some of your brewery’s biggest fans
into brand ambassadors. Uniquely Designed Equipment
A FINAL WORD: LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS
Social media may seem like the Wild West sometimes, but
& Service Solutions.
there are important Federal Trade Commission (FTC) laws We know every brewery has unique challenges
and trade group–defined marketing codes that breweries
should follow. when it comes to its equipment and service needs.
The first priority is to ensure that your brewery isn’t We've been providing custom crafted equipment and
marketing alcohol to minors. When working with an
influencer, this means not only confirming that the person
service solutions for the brewing industry for over a
is over 21, but also asking about the age demographics of quarter century. We work closely with you to develop
their followers. Some influencers may be of legal drinking
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efficient, cost effective, uniquely crafted solutions for
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13) could be underage.
The second priority is to comply with the FTC’s disclosure
laws. Influencers are required to disclose when they’ve
received “anything of value” in exchange for mentioning a
product; the agency offers specific guidance for what this
disclosure should look like and what types of practices
it covers. The FTC uses “Thanks to Acme brand for the
free product” as an example of good, clear disclosure. See
“Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers” on the FTC 770-345-7300 • www.ae-conveyor.com
website for additional details.
BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 43
 CRAFT
BREWING SPON SOR E D C ONTE NT

INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

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44 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

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BREWING
INDUSTRY
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46 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
SPON SOR E D C ONTE NT
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 CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

BREWERY MANAGEMENT
“The Great Reshuffling”:
How to Adapt to the
Labor Crunch
Even as the jobs outlook improves, breweries are still struggling to Here’s how breweries are responding to
find qualified workers for all types of positions. To find and keep staff, workers’ existential needs and finding the
brewery operators—and the industry more broadly—need to consider right people for the job amid a tight market.
the bigger picture and think longer term. BY KATE BERNOT
PRIORITIZE WORK-LIFE BALANCE.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR, the Delta variant of tune moment for breweries to take a At Bear Republic Brewing in Cloverdale,
COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on a sum- wider view of what they offer employees California, co-owner Tami Norgrove says
mer that the brewing industry—indeed, and how they can provide more attractive interviewees have raised the topic of
everyone—had hoped would be a “return workplaces. Pay and benefits are a good work-life balance in almost every recent
to normal.” Staffing was generally difficult, start, but today’s highly sought-after work- interview. Norgrove uses that as an oppor-
and it was easy to attribute that to work- ers want more than that. tunity to say that Bear Republic discourag-
ers’ renewed health concerns and family The pandemic “caused individuals es employees from doing things such as
priorities. Yet now, with Delta and then to think about what was important to checking email outside of work hours or
Omicron having subsided—and national them and what they ultimately want to working too long without a vacation. She
jobs numbers looking rosier—staffing is do,” says Aaron Reames, president and says she wants to get back to organizing
still difficult for many breweries. Why? cofounder at Bent Water Brewing in Lynn, those nourishing social activities the brew-
In late March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Massachusetts. Over the past three to ery offered employees before COVID—
Statistics’ JOLTS report—that is, Job six months, Bent Water has hired for a camping weekends together or the ability
Openings and Labor Turnover Survey— handful of high-level positions, including to attend fun festivals and events.
contained some good news: Demand for a head brewer/director of operations. Commute times also have come up
workers had stabilized, and the quits rate “Across all industries, people change jobs frequently. Housing is tight in Sonoma
was leveling off, too. However, quits and job because they’ve just been going through County, and new builds have yet to totally
openings remain particularly high this year the motions every day, and they’ve never make up for recent years’ destructive wild-
in three sectors: retail, manufacturing, and had the chance to ask: Does this make me fires. So, many of Bear Republic’s roughly
leisure/hospitality. happy and fill my soul?” 100 employees commute, some as far as
Craft breweries, alas, sit at the intersec- Here is further evidence of workers’ 30 to 45 minutes.
tion of all three. desire for self-fulfillment: The number “As we’ve been able to work from home,
Don’t call it “The Great Resignation.” of U.S. self-employed workers is 618,000 we realize how much time we spent [or]
Arindrajit Dube, professor of economics higher than it was before the pandemic. wasted in our car,” Norgrove says.
at the University of Massachusetts Am- “The fact that self-employment remains She says the brewery tries to be flexible
herst, has a better name for the situation: high, even as the labor market has tight- with employees who can’t find housing
“The Great Reshuffling,” in which “work- ened enormously, indicates that self-em- nearby, offering them the option to work
ers leave bad jobs for better ones.” ployment is a choice rather than an act of remotely at least part of the time. “But it’s
That is not to say that beer jobs are bad desperation,” says the Center for Econom- a contradiction a little bit because we want
jobs, of course. However, it is an oppor- ic and Policy Research. the group together and we want the chance

48 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE


QUITS AND JOB OPENINGS REMAIN PARTICULARLY HIGH
THIS YEAR IN THREE SECTORS: RETAIL, MANUFACTURING,
AND LEISURE/HOSPITALITY. CRAFT BREWERIES, ALAS,
SIT AT THE INTERSECTION OF ALL THREE.
to collaborate,” Norgrove says. “It’s finding
a new balance that works for everybody.”
BE WILLING TO TRAIN.
Fort George Brewery in Astoria, Oregon,
has needed to fill a number of production
jobs in addition to hospitality roles over the
past few months as it ramps up production
at its new, larger brewing facility. However,
finding candidates for all jobs has been
tough for the company, located in a small
coastal town of about 10,000 people.
Recently, a candidate accepted an offer for
a cellar position, only to back out a few days
later because they couldn’t find any available
housing, and the wait list at child-care facili-
ties was a year long. Fort George senior vice
president Zack O’Connor says he’s received
plenty of solid applications for open brewing
positions, but most are unable to relocate.
(Acknowledging the pressure that skyrock-
eting housing costs have put on employees,
Backslope Brewing in Columbia Falls,
Montana—a tourist-heavy area just outside
Glacier National Park—plans to convert a
recently purchased second building into
employee housing this year.)
“We’ve been trying to cultivate interest
and skill with the people who are here [in
the Astoria area], and that means we’re
hiring for positions that we might have
previously required a lot of experience
for,” O’Connor says.
This requires an investment of time and
effort from managers, but O’Connor is
seeing training pay off.
“We have several people on our cellar
team—one of whom [has] already been
promoted to shift brewer—who came in
with no experience. That’s really cool,” he
says. “We’re able to broaden the socio-
graphics and demographics of our team
in a way we hadn’t been able to before,
and we have a stronger team for it.”
BE ACTIVE, NOT PASSIVE.
The most promising candidates for an
open position may not be on the job mar-
ket yet—instead, they may be working for
other breweries or hospitality businesses.
“In a lot of our senior hires, these
are not individuals who were actually
looking,” says Reames at Bent Water.
“We had a very clear definition of who we
needed to fill the gaps in our business—of
where we were versus where we wanted
to go. We [were] proactive about making
sure that we sought out individuals [who]
would fit that profile, versus having a job
posting and having responses inbound.”
Reames says the key to making this strate-
gy work is to spend more time and effort on
writing a crystal-clear outline of the position
you want to fill—not just describing the
responsibilities in general terms, but also
giving candidates an idea of what they’ll be
doing day to day, as well as how their role
could grow or expand in the future.
This approach also requires that the hir-
ing brewery convey why it’s an attractive
place to work.
“The first thing I did with candidates was
present to them … who we are, who I am,
and what the team is made of,” Reames says.
“I think we’re an attractive brewery with a
lot of upside … so I wanted to make sure I
present on who we are and what we’ve done,
particularly during the pandemic when we
had to adapt to grow, and we did.”
Bottom line: In today’s job market, brew-
eries are selling candidates on the job as
much as candidates are selling breweries
on their qualifications.
INVEST IN THE WINNERS YOU HAVE.
Given how difficult hiring is in many places,
breweries shouldn’t overlook the talent they
already have in-house. Companies are find-
ing, especially now, that current employees
are more important than they’ve ever been.
“The people who are in the service
industry right now really want to be here
and are amazing to work with,” Fort
George’s O’Connor says. “There just aren’t
quite as many anymore.” As a result, Fort
George has limited its pub hours and
counter service to keep the jobs man-
ageable for the talented staff it does have,
rather than hiring any warm body that ex-
presses interest. “We’ve had to drill down
on what our values are and who we work
with and be deliberate with finding those
people. If that means we need to adjust
our models accordingly, that’s better.”
Reames also has seen the benefits of
promoting from within and of allowing
existing employees to shift roles. It helps
them to feel fulfilled, meanwhile creating
stronger teams with individual staff who
have experience in multiple roles.
“I see a lot of [breweries] invest in hard
assets—the steel and the facilities—and
they’ll pay up for that, but they don’t in-
vest in people,” Reames says. “It takes an
entire team to move the ball forward, to
run a brewery, and every single position is
incredibly important. I recognize that the
hardest-working individuals are the deliv-
ery drivers because I’ve done it myself.”
BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 49
CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT » A portrait of
Conrad Seipp; the new packaging for the Seipp brand echoes
historical branding; Doug Hurst of Metropolitan and Laurin
Mack, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Conrad Seipp.

BREWING TRENDS
Call It a Comeback:
Breweries Revive
Historic Lagers for
the 21st Century
Driven by nostalgia, hometown connections, and the chance to
sell some beer at volume, a handful of independent breweries are
their history or how they came to Chica-
go,” Mack says, “it’s a great way to start
successfully reviving long-lost local lager brands. BY KATE BERNOT talking about community and place.”

IN HIS 2019 BOOK A Brief History of Lager,
Mark Dredge makes an excellent case for
pale, effervescent lager as something like
humanity’s Platonic ideal of an alcoholic
beverage: “Today lager is the world’s most
global drink, brewed in virtually every
country, and that simultaneously makes
it the most local drink, with everywhere
having its own lager,” he writes.
This is its magic: Despite pale lager’s
ubiquity, it’s also locally adaptable. That
locality was lost in the United States
during the wave of
brewery consolida-
tions in the ’70s,
’80s, and ’90s—but
much like vinyl
records and macra-
me, everything old
eventually becomes
new again.
local flair. Drawing from history but with
an eye on today’s drinkers, breweries in
Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and Indi-
anapolis are among those resurrecting
historic regional lager brands and intro-
ducing them to a modern audience. Once
slumbering in relative obscurity, dormant
brands including Senate Beer, Old Time
Lager, Seipp’s Extra Pale, and Champagne
Velvet have sprung back to life in recent
years thanks to partnerships among
brewers, historians, and descendants of
the original brewers.
“Whenever we can tie our current-day
beer drinking to the past and under-
standing history, it’s really valuable,” says
Laurin Mack, the great-great-great-grand-
daughter of mid-19th century Chicago
brewing titan Conrad Seipp. Mack
partnered with Chicago lager special-
ists Metropolitan Brewing to revive her
AUTHENTICITY RULES
Breweries should be prepared to explain
the “why” behind the revival of a local or
regional lager brand. A valid connection to
the original beer makes telling the story of
its relaunch much easier, and it preempts
the perception that the move is merely a
nostalgia-mining cash grab.
Doug Hurst, cofounder and head
brewer at Metropolitan, says his brewery
never would have considered relaunching
Seipp’s if they hadn’t been introduced
to Mack by Liz Garibay of the Chicago
Brewseum. “Her coming in with credi-
bility behind being an actual ancestor …
and wanting to revive her family’s heritage
played into it,” Hurst says.
Not only could Hurst partner with an
actual relative of Conrad Seipp, but Metro-
politan itself is now also part of the legacy
of lager brewing in Chicago. Metropolitan
PHOTO: JAMIE BOGNER

Today, smaller forefather’s beer brand, relaunched in its brews mostly German-style lagers with
American brew- contemporary form in July 2020. American flair; Conrad Seipp was a Ger-
eries are redis- “If you have a beer in hand that gets you man immigrant who embraced American
covering lager’s talking to the person next to you about adjuncts in his brewing.

50 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

 TO REPRODUCE SEIPP’S EXTRA PALE, METROPOLITAN
AGAIN USES SIX-ROW BARLEY, CLUSTER AND SAAZ
HOPS, AND CORN. METROPOLITAN’S KETTLES ARE
STEAM-HEATED, NOT DIRECT FLAME, SO HURST ADDS
A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF MELANOIDIN MALT TO
IMPART A TOUCH OF CARAMELIZED FLAVORS.
“It’s tapping into the history of Chicago
as a great beer city in the past,” Hurst says.
“We have some connection to the past,
and if it weren’t for Laurin, I would see no
PHOTOS: COURTESY LAURIN MACK
reason to pick up an old brand name and
release beer under that.”
In Washington, D.C., meanwhile, it was
a coalition of historians, researchers, mu-
seum staff, and brewers who combined
forces to relaunch Christian Heurich
Brewing’s Senate Beer, the most popular
beer in D.C. from the 1890s to the 1950s.
Historian and homebrewer Peter Jones
unearthed technical specifications of the
beer while doing unrelated historical re-
search. Having seen his research, Kimber-
ly Bender, CEO and museum director of
Heurich House Museum, then teamed up
with Jeff Clawson and Tom Shellhammer
of Oregon State University’s Fermentation
Science Department and Thor Cheston,
cofounder of D.C.’s Right Proper Brewing,
on the process of bringing Senate Beer to
modern drinkers’ lips.
“There’s nothing gimmicky about it,”
Bender says. “It’s completely based in real,
authentic, deep research—both historical-
ly and scientifically. It directly connects to
the history of Washington, D.C.”
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
First, there’s the initial buzz of excitement
about the prospect of resurrecting a beer
from the past. Then, there’s a daunting
realization: Contemporary brewers actual-
ly have to make it, with no existing liquid
with which to compare it.
Brewing records vary from brand to brand.
Metropolitan’s Hurst had very little to go
on when re-creating Seipp’s beers—just a
pamphlet from the World’s Columbian Ex-
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position in 1893, where they were on offer.
One of the beers was succinctly described as
“very dark in color and of unusual strength.”
With nothing else to go on, Hurst interpret-
ed this as a bock, brewed with six-row barley
and Cluster hops, both of which would have
been in use at the time.
To reproduce Seipp’s Extra Pale, a pre-Pro-
hibition-style lager, Metropolitan again
uses six-row barley, Cluster and Saaz hops,
and corn. However, the corn is flaked, not
whole, which is likely what Seipp himself
would have used in conjunction with a
cereal mash. Also, Metropolitan’s kettles are
steam-heated, not direct flame, so Hurst
adds a small percentage of melanoidin malt
to impart a touch of caramelized flavors.
Mack says that while it’s important
for modern Seipp’s to be reverential to
the past, it also must appeal to modern
drinkers. Or, as Hurst puts it: “It has to be
a good beer in its own right.”
In D.C., the brewing team at Right Prop-
er had more information to work with.
52 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
SENATE WAS PROOF OF CONCEPT: RIGHT PROPER CUT
ITS CORE BEERS FROM FOUR TO THREE, WITH SENATE
IMMEDIATELY MAKING THE CUT. TODAY, SENATE BEER IS
32 PERCENT OF THE BREWERY’S PRODUCTION VOLUME.
Jones uncovered a full recipe and detailed
technical analysis of Senate Beer in some
files from the Korean War era. Thanks
to a bad batch that Heurich had put out
around that time, a brewery consultant
had recorded a Senate Beer recipe from
the 1940s as well as a full lab analysis.
“Typically, if we’re lucky, we have a little
scrap … of paper that’s the brewer’s diary
with a basic grist, the temperature, maybe
the hops,” Jones says. “So this was great to
have everything laid out.”
Oregon State University’s Fermentation
Science Department produced a pilot batch
of the beer before Right Proper took a swing
at it, and that was helpful to Cheston and his
crew. Yet the task still felt intimidating: In
its heyday, Heurich was producing 200,000
barrels of Senate Beer annually—about 200
times the capacity of
Right Proper.
LEFT » Taphandle for the
revived Senate beer brand;
One of the
an ad for original Senate biggest challenges
cans; OPPOSITE » Senate was lagering time.
beer as it’s now brewed by
the team at Right Proper.
Right Proper’s co-
founders designed
the brewery with
ales in mind; its core beer, Li’l Wit, takes
two weeks from brew day to canning.
Senate Beer takes 35 days—if everything
goes perfectly.
However, Right Proper believed in Sen-
ate Beer enough to reorganize its brewery
to accommodate it; Cheston estimates
that the brewery spent at least $185,000 on
five new 30-barrel fermentors, a new brite
tank, hoses and gaskets, as well as $30,000
on branding and packaging to make Sen-
ate Beer a core offering. (The brewery sold
three French oak foeders to make space
and offset costs; it also sold additional
ownership shares of the brewery and ap-
plied for pandemic-era financial relief.)
“The beer, there was just something
magical about it,” Cheston says, justifying
the expenses. He adds that in summer
2020—the pandemic’s early days, when
people were home all the time and seeking
ease and comfort—a pre-Prohibition-style
lager just made sense. “You didn’t want
to be challenged by a triple IPA that’s bar-
rel-aged and also sour and with cereal in
it. You just [wanted] a beer-flavored beer.”
THE PAYOFF
Cheston was willing to bet the farm on
the beer that had been D.C.’s favorite for
more than half a century. He turned out to
be correct: Senate Beer still has legs.
The first commercial batch brewed at
Right Proper yielded 400 cases of canned
beer in July 2020; draft wasn’t an option at
that point in the pandemic. “We put it up
for sale online, and it broke the internet,”
Cheston says. The presale sold out so quick-
ly that customers showed up at the (closed)
brewery asking for it. “I had a bit of a panic.”
Because of the pandemic, Cheston
already was in the process of rethinking
Right Proper’s lineup, hoping to winnow
its number of brands to be more efficient.
Senate was proof of concept: Right Proper
cut its core beers from four to three, with
Senate immediately making the cut.
Today, Senate Beer is 32 percent of the
brewery’s production volume.
“Using Senate Beer as a way to give Dis-
trict residents a piece of their history back
is a central part of our overall mission as a
company,” Cheston says.
It’s also been a boon to Heurich House
Museum, in a Gilded Age mansion that
was once Christian Heurich’s residence
near Dupont Circle. Right Proper licenses
the name and recipe from the museum
while also supplying the museum with
beer to sell at its on-site beer garden. The
arrangement helped provide revenue to
the museum during a difficult period. In
2021, profits from Senate Beer covered the
salary of a full-time museum employee.
“Senate totally and completely helped us
PHOTOS, FROM LEFT: COURTESY RIGHT PROPER; COURTESY HEURICH HOUSE MUSEUM; COURTESY RIGHT PROPER
survive the pandemic,” Bender says.
The first bottled batch of Seipp’s Extra
Pale brewed since the 1950s also sold out
quickly—and at the height of a pandem-
ic. Since then, it’s gone into distribution
through Metropolitan’s wholesaler, Windy
City, and is sold in the greater Chicago
area, southern Wisconsin, and Milwau-
kee. It now represents 15 to 20 percent of
Metropolitan’s overall production.
This season, Seipp’s Extra Pale also will
be for sale in the suites at Wrigley Field—
something Mack says her great-great-
great-grandfather couldn’t have imagined.
(Wrigley wasn’t built until 24 years after
Conrad Seipp’s death.)
“I would love to know how [Conrad]
would feel about this. Every time we make
a beer, I think, ‘I wish Conrad could taste
this,’” Mack says. “Conrad didn’t know
what Wrigley was, but I can imagine him
saying, ‘Way to go.’”
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PACKAGING TRENDS
The Digital Printing
Revolution Is
Coming for Craft
Ongoing supply-chain problems and concerns about recyclability make digital
can printing a promising option in the years to come—which is why packaging
companies are investing in printers and banking on growth. BY JOE STANGE
CANS ARE KING THESE DAYS when it comes
to packaged beer. Given ongoing disrup-
tions in the supply chain, however, small
breweries continue to face challenges in
sourcing, pricing, and labeling those cans.
What’s less obvious is that many of
these cans are not recyclable, even though
sustainability and recyclability were major
selling points for cans in the first place.
However, an ongoing revolution in digital
printing—affecting many industries, from
beverages to cars to fashion—appears to
be the key to keeping more of that alumi-
num in the recycling stream.
As recently as four years ago, just about 41
percent of packaged craft beer was canned,
according to the Brewers Association. By
2021 that had grown to about 60 percent. As
independent brewers became more inter-
ested in the format once linked to industrial
beer, so too did makers of all sorts of other
beverages, from soft drinks to ready-to-drink
cocktails. Later, as brewers know better than
anyone, the pandemic kicked demand for
aluminum cans into highest gear, and their
availability and cost have never really recov-
WHETHER BREWERS AND DRINKERS REALIZE IT,
SLEEVED AND STICKERED CANS OFTEN CANNOT
BE RECYCLED, SO THEY ADD WASTE THAT EITHER
CONTAMINATES THE RECYCLING STREAM OR
SIMPLY ENDS UP IN LANDFILLS INSTEAD.
54 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
ered. Everybody wants cans now, and there
are fewer to go around.
A pivotal moment came late last year,
when global can manufacturer Ball
Corporation announced that it would
increase the minimum order for printed
cans from one to five truckloads. That
change left a whole swath of independent
breweries scrambling—with knock-on
effects felt by even the smallest packaging
breweries—even as material costs were
going up across the board.
One effect of these disruptions has
been that more breweries—now less
able to get printed cans—have turned
to shrink-sleeves and pressure-sensitive
labels (PSLs). One company that provides
both is U.S. Tape & Label; a regional sales
manager, Nicole Giraud, told the Brewing
Industry Guide late last year that her email
was “blowing up” with interested brewers.
THE TROUBLE WITH SLEEVES
AND LABELS
Shrink-sleeves and PSLs are a cost-effective
solution for breweries that don’t package
enough of any one beer to order pre-printed
cans by the (five) truckload(s)—or even for
larger breweries that plan to can smaller
batches. Shrink-sleeve and PSL suppliers
typically handle smaller orders. Shrink-
sleeves and PSLs also provide flexibility,
simplifying storage into one large stock
of brite cans instead of pallets of different
cans for each brand you brew.
There’s a complication, however.
Whether brewers and drinkers realize it,
sleeved and stickered cans often cannot
be recycled, so they add waste that either
contaminates the recycling stream or
simply ends up in landfills instead. Thus,
brewers and drinkers who believe they are
recycling may in fact be contributing an
incredible amount of trash.
Companies that provide shrink-sleeves
say that recent advances in polymers have
made some of them more recyclable. One
recent innovation is polyester (PET) film,
a lighter material that should be recyclable
with other plastics. However, that only
works for facilities that can separate those
materials effectively or if customers bother
to separate those materials in the first place.
It’s also become more common to have
perforations that make it easy to remove
the sleeves before recycling. Breweries
can add language to their labels to make it
clear that this removal is important, hop-
ing that customers will see it and comply.
However, such language isn’t common,
and even many brewers are unaware
that these sleeves hinder recyclability.
PHOTOS: JAMIE BOGNER
Likewise, it’s hard to imagine that many
consumers know—or that they even both-
er to take advantage of the perforations to
remove the plastic after drinking.
 Three digitally printed cans
that recently arrived at the
Craft Beer & Brewing office.

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Much like the shrink-sleeves, PSLs and
adhesives—which often are about 25
percent cheaper than sleeves—are also
an issue for recyclers. Paper labels can
create small fires that damage equipment
when recyclers process them. Another
problem is that packages with PSLs often
are simply sorted out and wind up in the
landfill. The abilities of recycling facilities
to manage these residuals vary widely.
TOWARD THE DIGITAL
(PRINTING) AGE
Printed cans, meanwhile, are fully recycla-
ble, and there is an emerging solution that
doesn’t require orders of five truckloads—or
even one. Major advantages of digital can
printing include the ability to handle very
small batches, rapid changes of artwork, and
quick overall turnaround time. Anecdotal-
ly, the cost appears to be similar to that of
shrink-sleeved cans bought through brokers.
What’s lacking, for now, is capacity. The
technology is relatively new and requires
considerable investment. However, the sta-
tus quo with demand for printed cans has
clearly made the investment worthwhile.
In North America, the province of
Quebec has so far led the way in digital can
printing with two of the leading compa-
nies, Solucan and Hart Print. One catalyst
was a February 2020 ban in Quebec on the
sale of aluminum cans with shrink-sleeves
or PSLs, since they contaminate the recy-
cling stream. A few months later, Pack-
aging World was reporting on the “break-
through” of digital direct-to-can printing,
after Solucan installed a machine from the
British company Tonejet that could print
60 cans per minute. For the can printer
to work, Solucan needed a depalletizer at
one end and a repalletizer at the other—for
those, they turned to Ska Fabricating in
Durango, Colorado, one of the only
manufacturers that make them
in a small enough size.
While Solucan
worked with Tonejet,
Hart Print in Mon-
treal opted to work
with the German
firm Hinterkopf, a
longtime specialist in
package decoration and
more recently in digital
printing. The Hinterkopf
machinery can do up to
94 cans per minute, with
similar advantages in being
able to handle small batches
and quick turnaround. (Like
56 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
Solucan, Hart Print also got its palletizing
gear from Ska.)
Global packaging firm Ardagh Group
recently acquired Hart Print, which is
looking to grow quickly. Besides its two
Hinterkopf machines in Montreal, Hart is
planning to open a new plant with three
more printing machines in suburban
Chicago by the end of this year plus two
more sites elsewhere by the end of 2023.
In short, there should soon be a lot more
capacity for digital can printing.
In fact, there are digital printers already
established in the United States. DigiCan
Printing in St. Charles, Missouri, just west
of St. Louis, claims to have the first high-
speed digital printer in the country. DigiCan
recently told the Brewing Industry Guide that
it had two printing machines running and
was adding a third shift, with six more ma-
chines on the way. When that expansion is
complete, DigiCan will be able to print 260
million cans per year—even for breweries
that order as few as three pallets per SKU.
Of course, there are also larger-scale
versions of this technology. In October,
Crown Holdings announced that it was
partnering with the Israel-based compa-
ny Velox to provide drink brands with
“game-changing digital decoration tech-
nology.” Velox says its IDS-NC series can
print 500 cans per minute.
The technology’s advantages—quick
change of art, quick turnaround, and recy-
clability—are why Velox head of marketing
Merav Sheffer told Packaging Digest that
their product simply makes shrink-sleeves
and labels “obsolete.” She also says that
digital printing is more energy-efficient be-
cause sleeves and labels need to be stored
under temperature control and because
shrink-sleeves need a burst of hot air to
apply them to cans.
Such strengths
are why research
firm Industr-
yARC predicts an annual growth rate of
12.1 percent per year for the global digi-
tal-printing market, forecasted to reach
$17.5 billion by 2026.
MODULAR, LOCALIZED, SCALABLE
For context, the revolution in digital-printing
technology is more far-reaching than beer
cans—indeed, it goes well beyond consum-
er packaging of food and drink. It’s also be-
come a way for the fashion industry, among
other sectors—many of which have been
dependent on China for manufacturing—to
have a more localized, reliable, fully scalable
solution to ongoing supply-chain problems.
The brewing industry is simply facing its
own particular version of those problems.
Yet, the technology is new, and capacity
remains limited. Bart Watson, chief econ-
omist at the Brewers Association, says
that some have raised concerns about the
quality and durability of the printing.
“I’d also add that the capacity is still much
lower than other options, though that gap
is closing,” Watson says. “So, while digital
printing is a developing option, it will take
some time before it is a widely available
option. … The environmental piece is
important to many brewers, but if there
were significant cost advantages in addition
to the recyclability benefits, I think we’d be
seeing faster adoption.”
Given how popular cans have become
as a package for characterful beer, there is
obvious attraction in solutions that allow
brewers to get their art onto small batches
of cans, on demand. Shrink-sleeves and
labels can do that—but the more prom-
ising option is likely to be one that better
fulfills one of the original promises of the
aluminum-can format: sustainability.
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
BETTER BEER
WITH HOUSE
YEAST?
Is your small brewery ready for its own house yeast strain? Here are some key
factors to consider, from sourcing it to keeping a close eye on it. BY DON TSE
WHEN SMALLER BREWERIES ARE IN
their early days, most ferment their beers
using commercially available yeast strains.
Perhaps the strains are favorites from the
founder’s homebrewing days, or perhaps
the brewers are using several strains cho-
sen for a wide variety of beers.
At some point, however, as the brewery
matures, it often adopts one or more
house yeast strains, and there are many
sound reasons to do so: House strains
can save a brewery money, increase cellar
throughput, and help create better, more
consistent beers.
A FLEXIBLE HOUSE STRAIN
One of the country’s better known house
strains is the proprietary Pacman strain at
Rogue Ales & Spirits in Newport, Oregon.
“YOU CAN BECOME INTIMATELY FAMILIAR WITH A
HOUSE YEAST. YOU LEARN HOW IT BEHAVES WITH
DIFFERENT PITCH RATES, FERMENTATION TEMPERA-
TURES, OXYGEN LEVELS, AND NUTRIENT ADDITIONS
AND CAN PREDICT FERMENTATION TIMES DOWN TO
THE HOUR. THAT IMPROVES CELLAR THROUGHPUT.
AND PREDICTABILITY AROUND TERMINAL PH LEVELS,
FINAL GRAVITY, AND DIACETYL RESTS, FOR EXAMPLE,
MEANS BETTER QUALITY CONTROL.”
Rogue has banked Pacman with Wyeast
since 1988, and the lab has made it avail-
able commercially (as Wyeast 1764 Pac-
man) since 2006. Its lineage is similar to
that of Sierra Nevada’s neutral-fermenting
Chico strain, thought to originate from
Ballantine in New Jersey and later stored
at Siebel in Chicago. Where Ballantine got
it is less clear, though one theory suggests
Scotland. “The history of the yeast is un-
certain,” says Joel Shields, brewmaster at
Rogue. “It’s similar to Chico and probably
has a British origin.”
Wyeast says Pacman is “alcohol tolerant,
flocculent, attenuates well, and will
produce beers with little to no diacetyl.” It
also produces “very mild fruit” notes and
“a dry, mineral finish, making this a very
neutral strain. Pacman’s flavor profile and
performance [make] it a great choice for
use in many different beer styles.”
The strain is important to all of Rogue’s
ales, including its famous Dead Guy Ale.
Retired brewmaster John Maier originally
designed Dead Guy Ale as a Maibock and
fermented it with lager yeast. However,
because tank space was tight, he tried it
with the faster-fermenting Pacman and
liked the results.
Today, Shields says, the house strain
works well for all the beers they brew, even
if they now occasionally use other strains
for certain beers, such as their lagers. “It
provides good balance for a malty beer like
Dead Guy,” which ferments at 60°F (16°C),
“and works great for hoppy IPAs at 65°F
[18°C],” Shields says. “It’s very versatile.”
EFFICIENCY AND QUALITY
CONTROL
While having a house strain can provide
something unique to your brewery, it can
also provide significant cost savings, since
the yeast can be cropped and re-pitched
over multiple generations. This simplifies
the process of yeast management and
reduces the risk of cross-contamination
with other yeast strains. Sensory analysis
and monitoring fermentation data can
help the brewery know how many genera-
tions the yeast can go before it needs to be
re-cultured from the source.
Imperial Yeast, at its labs in Portland,
Oregon, and Philadelphia, banks about 150
different proprietary strains for its brewery
clients. Sales manager Casey Helwig says
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that the biggest benefits of using a house
strain are knowledge and predictability.
“You can become intimately familiar
with a house yeast,” Helwig says. “You
learn how it behaves with different pitch
rates, fermentation temperatures, oxygen
levels, and nutrient additions and can
predict fermentation times down to the
hour. That improves cellar throughput.
And predictability around terminal pH
levels, final gravity, and diacetyl rests, for
example, means better quality control.”
DEVELOPING YOUR OWN YEAST
Well-known house yeasts such as Chico
and Pacman may have come from the
same or similar sources, but they evolved
in the breweries that adopted them. Recent
research into yeast genetics has found that
strains can evolve and develop their own
house traits in relatively short order.
Thus, commercially available strains—
once they adapt to your own brewery
after re-pitching—could be the source
of your own house culture. “It could be
generation 10 of a common yeast that
has evolved into something really special
because of the brewery environment,”
Helwig says. “Genetic drift happens way
sooner than we previously thought.”
Another source of unique yeast could be
from the brewer’s travels. Colin Lenfesty,
founder and head brewer at Seattle’s Holy
Mountain, was able to get some yeast from
the brewer of one of his favorite bières de
garde. They now keep that strain banked
at Imperial Yeast. “I had tried for years to
get that particular strain to grow,” Lenfesty
says. “Finally, one day, I got results and
immediately sent it down to Imperial.”
Lenfesty advises small breweries to “try
different things that might take you out of
your comfort level.” After all, that tinkering
is the essence of innovation at the craft
level: “Smaller breweries can get away with
experimentation until they find something
that they like and is unique to them.”
HOUSE CHARACTER FROM
WRANGLED YEAST
Capturing a local strain and producing
great beer with it might be an occasion to
pin down that yeast as a house culture, so
that the results are repeatable.
“We currently bank multiple strains of
Brett, as well as a couple of strains of Sac-
charomyces cultures,” says Lenfesty at Holy
Mountain. “Early on, we had a couple of cul-
tures that we found in some barrels of beer
that had not been inoculated with anything
previously. We used the same barrels again
and got the same results. We knew we need-
58 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
“WE CURRENTLY BANK MULTIPLE STRAINS OF BRETT,
AS WELL AS A COUPLE OF STRAINS OF SACCHARO-
MYCES CULTURES,” SAYS LENFESTY AT HOLY MOUN-
TAIN. “EARLY ON, WE HAD A COUPLE OF CULTURES
THAT WE FOUND IN SOME BARRELS OF BEER THAT
HAD NOT BEEN INOCULATED WITH ANYTHING PRE-
VIOUSLY. WE USED THE SAME BARRELS AGAIN AND
GOT THE SAME RESULTS. WE KNEW WE NEEDED TO
BANK THAT PARTICULAR BRETT STRAIN BEFORE IT
MUTATED AND GAVE US DIFFERENT RESULTS.”
ed to bank that particular Brett strain before
it mutated and gave us different results.”
Captured yeast is an obvious way to
take advantage of terroir and thus offer
something unique to your brewery. Yeast
labs can help isolate, genetically analyze,
and test your captured culture.
“Not a lot of people [are] doing the truly
unique strains,” says JoAnne Carilli-
Stevenson, head of business development
at White Labs. “That could really set [a
brewery] apart.”
Nashville’s Bootleg Biology even has its
Local Yeast Project, for which it aims to
collect and cultivate yeast from every U.S.
postal code and other locations around the
world. “If you want to make a truly local
beer, you’ve got to have a local yeast,” the
lab says. “And with that local yeast, you can
make a beer with a taste and aroma that is
totally unique to where you live or travel.
Every region across the globe is chock full
of unique and wild yeast ready and willing
to make a lunch out of your barley sugar.”
Whatever the source, once a brewery
determines that it has a unique yeast worth
protecting, the first step is to send it to a
partner yeast lab. “For $300, we clean up
the yeast, isolate the microbes, and analyze
them to tell you what you’ve got,” says
Carilli-Stevenson at White Labs. That fee
includes test brews to ensure viability and
banking of the heathiest microbes. Mixed
cultures can be banked that way or separat-
ed as individual strains. Fees and services
vary from lab to lab, so shop around.
MONITORING YOUR HOUSE YEAST
While adopting a house yeast strain has
advantages, there are also some important
things to consider.
Since every yeast strain behaves differ-
ently, transitioning to a different yeast
may require some tweaking of recipes
to get a consistent product. Keep track of
your generations—how many times you
re-pitch—while monitoring fermentation
data and sensory analysis, to see how the
yeast drifts, how long it takes to drift, and
what may be causing that drift.
The genetic drift of yeast is a double-​
edged sword: While it means that a
brewery can develop a unique strain of
its own from a common strain, it also
means that the unique strain can change
further. Most labs advise getting a fresh
pitch every five to 15 generations, but that
number varies based on the strain and
your brewing practices.
In the early stages of adopting a house
strain, it’s sensible to keep a tighter limit
on the number of generations; you’ll want
consistency across brews until you learn
more about how the yeast behaves.
The overarching lesson here: Monitor
your yeast.
Also, keep in mind that getting a fresh
pitch from the lab takes time. You may be
used to getting commercial strains virtu-
ally on demand, but a new pitch of your
unique strain will have to be propagated
from the banked sample—a process that
can take from 10 to 17 days, depending
on the lab and your yeast. In a worst-case
scenario, without adequate planning, that
could leave you without yeast. If your yeast
is behaving problematically, you might not
be able to get a fresh pitch from the lab in
time to save the beer.
WORK WITH YOUR LAB
Different yeast labs offer different services
at different prices. If you want to keep
the yeast to yourself, make sure your
agreement with the lab ensures they
cannot make your strain available to other
brewers. Also, find out how and where the
yeasts are banked. (A fire at Wyeast in the
1990s destroyed the lab’s banked slant of
the Pacman strain; Rogue had to re-supply
the lab with yeast to replace it.)
Even more so than malt and barley, your
PHOTO: JOHN VERIVE
yeast can be what defines your brewery’s
thumbprint. A house yeast can provide
many benefits—but it also requires plan-
ning and forethought.
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UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
THE TROPICAL TREND:
GETTING MORE
TIKI FROM MIXED
FERMENTATIONS
Brewers have become adept at squeezing more fruit flavors out of their hops as
well as producing lush fruit beers that evoke tropical cocktails. However, there is
another way to amplify those crowd-pleasing flavors in your beers. BY DON TSE
TROPICAL FRUIT FLAVORS IN FOOD and
drink are popular, and craft brewers—
who’ve been at the leading edge of that
trend for several years now—know it
better than anyone.
Hop breeders developed varieties such as
Mosaic, Ekuanot, and Sabro to provide those
flavors, and brewers have honed techniques
to coax the juiciest character from them.
Likewise, fruit beers have come a long way
in the past 20 years, evolving from fruited
wheat ales straight past Berliner weisse into
multifaceted constructions that use larger
quantities of fruit and a variety of tricks to
adjust mouthfeel, acidity, sweetness, and
more to emphasize real fruit flavors.
“IN THE EARLY DAYS, PEOPLE WANTED TO RE-CREATE
TRADITIONAL MIXED-FERMENTATION BEERS LIKE
LAMBIC, FLANDERS RED, OR SOME OTHER TRADITIONAL
STYLE. BUT NOW, BREWERIES WANT TROPICAL FLAVORS,
AND SALES OF OUR BLENDS THAT BOAST TROPICAL
FLAVORS IN THEIR DESCRIPTIONS OUTPACE THE OTHERS.
SALES OF THESE CULTURES ARE GROWING BETWEEN
20 PERCENT AND 33 PERCENT PER YEAR.”
60 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
The know-how on getting more fruit
flavors from hops via terpenes and free
thiols—for example, with biotransforma-
tion—is directly relevant to yeast. Seeing
the demand, the labs soon got to work and
began releasing yeast strains to boost that
biotransformation. Omega Yeast’s Cosmic
Punch and Escarpment’s Thiol Libre, to
name two examples, both boast of guava
and passion-fruit flavors in their commer-
cial descriptions.
Now, there are even companies isolating
and selling exogenous thiols that can be
added during brewing, in the same way
you might add enzymes, to take the tropi-
cal flavors up to 11.
However, there is another, less conven-
tional, way to boost those flavors in your
beers: via Brettanomyces and mixed-culture
fermentation.
TROPICAL FLAVORS FROM MIXED
FERMENTATION
Nashville’s Bootleg Biology, founded in
2013, has watched the demand for tropical
flavors extend from clean Saccharomyces
beers into mixed fermentation.
“In the early days of Bootleg, people
wanted to re-create traditional mixed-fer-
mentation beers like lambic, Flanders
red, or some other traditional style,” says
Sam Wineka, partner and lab manager.
“But now, breweries want tropical flavors,
and sales of our blends that boast tropical
flavors in their descriptions outpace the
others. Sales of these cultures are grow-
ing between 20 percent and 33 percent
per year.”
Nick Impellitteri, founder of The Yeast
Bay in Portland, Oregon, has seen the
same kind of sales trends when it comes
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM
to what brewers want to use. “We have 12
Brettanomyces cultures,” he says. “Only one
is funky, and it is our least-selling strain.”
Plainly, brewers are looking for tropical
flavors when it comes time to choose
yeast, including Brett. “We definitely
look for these kinds of flavors across the
board,” says Matt Sampson, director of
brewing operations at Hacienda Beer in
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“THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM SEEMED TO BE: IF YOU WANT
Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin. “We like the
tropical Brettanomyces character and defi-
nitely see other brewers pursuing this.”
BRETT AS THE BOOSTER
“A lot of Brettanomyces plays well with
tropical hops,” says Wineka at Bootleg.
Consider Bootleg’s Funk Weapon #2,
a single-strain Brettanomyces culture
sourced from West Flanders. According
to the description, it “amplifies citrus and
tropical fruit–forward hop flavors and
aromas into a punchy ripeness.”
Bootleg also sells the Mad Fermenta-
tionist Saison Blend, a mixed culture
selected by Michael Tonsmeire, author
of American Sour Beers and cofounder of
Sapwood Cellars in Columbia, Maryland.
The culture includes saison yeast, a rare
Brett strain, a wild Sacch strain, and “an
opportunistic Lactobacillus culture.”
Even in the mixed culture, Brett is the
key. “The blend integrates beautifully with
fruity and tropical hops, with the unique
Brett culture keeping hop aromatics crisp
and bright for an extended time,” Bootleg
says in the description.
BUT WHICH BRETT?
Specifically, Brettanomyces bruxellensis
appears to be the big winner in the tropi-
cal-flavor race.
“The conventional wisdom seemed to be:
If you want funk, go with B. bruxellensis,
[and] if you want big tropical fruit–forward,
go with B. claussenii,” says Impellitteri at
The Yeast Bay. However, “I found that to
be very far from reality as I went about my
isolation, characterization, and sequencing
work for The Yeast Bay. While we focus on
strains that exhibit a balance of fruit and
funk or are massively fruit-forward with a
wide array of fruit character, … all the Bret-
tanomyces isolates in our cultures have been
sequence-verified to be B. bruxellensis.”
Impellitteri says that the B. bruxellensis
genome is bigger than that of Saccharo-
myces cerevisiae, so it makes sense that B.
brux can produce results that are just as
varied as brewer’s yeast.
At Escarpment Laboratories in Guelph,
Ontario, cofounder and lab director Rich-
ard Preiss promotes their Brett D strain
for its pineapple flavors. (“Do you like piña
coladas?” the description asks. “Prominent
pineapple esters alongside a good dose of
funk.”) Notably, the D strain is var. drei,
which is a variant of B. bruxellensis.
62 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
FUNK, GO WITH B. BRUXELLENSIS, [AND] IF YOU WANT
BIG TROPICAL FRUIT–FORWARD, GO WITH B. CLAUSSENII.
I FOUND THAT TO BE VERY FAR FROM REALITY.”
CO-FERMENT FOR COMPLEXITY
While you can ferment solely with Bret-
tanomyces—and strains are commercially
available for that purpose—Preiss at
Escarpment suggests either co-ferment-
ing with Saccharomyces or fermenting
in sequence, with Sacch for primary and
Brett for secondary fermentation, whether
in tanks, barrels, or package.
For example, Preiss says, “Brettanomyces
anomalus is great at hop biotransforma-
tion, but on its own, it’s boring. So, I like
a mix. Saison yeast gives character and
more complexity than straight Brettanomy-
ces fermentations.”
In Wisconsin, the Hacienda team follows
just such a path: Their mixed-culture beers
are typically co-fermentations with their
house saison yeast and B. bruxellensis.
If you’re worried about cross-contamina-
tion from having Brett in your fermentors,
using it only in barrels or package-condi-
tioning after a Sacch primary fermentation
can still deliver tropical results.
BRETT LIKES COMPANY, AND
WARMTH
Since Brett is a slow-working yeast, it’s
important to have a lively pitch and give it
a warm environment. “It definitely helps
to have a super-active culture,” Impellit-
teri says. “Even with a lab pitch, brewers
should make a starter to grow it up. Bret-
tanomyces works slowly anyway, and cold
will make this worse.”
In a blog post on the Escarpment web-
site, Preiss offers similar advice: “If you’re
taking on a primary fermentation with
Brett, we strongly recommend making a
vitality starter of the yeast one to two days
prior to pitching into your ferment, even if
it’s a fresh lab culture—even cold storage
and shipping can be enough to slow down
a Brett culture.”
At Hacienda, none of their mixed
fermentations are temperature controlled.
“We just let ’em rip,” Sampson says. The
barrel room is air-conditioned (and this is
Wisconsin, not Florida) so the temperature
generally ranges between 68° and 70°F (20–
21°C). Impellitteri suggests temperatures
between the high 60s and low 80s Fahren-
heit (20–28°C)—but you can go higher, if
you co-ferment with a kveik strain.
LACTO DOESN’T LOVE HOPS
If your mix includes Lactobacillus and you’re
looking to combine tropical hops with
fermentation-driven tropical esters, keep
in mind that hops inhibit the bacteria’s
lactic-acid production. So, if you want that
tartness, plan your acidification accordingly.
RE-PITCHING MIXED CULTURES
If you co-ferment, watch for drift in your
blend of microbes. As long as you capture
a good mix of all of the microbes when
cropping, the exact ratio of microbes can
shift without significantly affecting the
results of your fermentation. However, to
reduce the risk of too much drift, always
crop at the same temperature. That will
help maintain your blend, since different
yeasts flocculate at different temperatures.
Even so, you may need to occasionally go
back to the source for a fresh starter. At Boot-
leg, Wineka recommends using their mixed
cultures for no more than five generations.
TRY LOW-ALPHA HOPS AND
DIFFERENT GRAINS
While the currently popular tropical hops
are an obvious choice—and they’re popular
with drinkers, too, who sometimes know
the varieties—there is anecdotal evidence
that low-alpha hops and some of the more
classic varieties such as Cascade, Saaz, and
Perle also can provide tropical results when
subjected to the right biotransformations.
As a bonus, they tend to cost substantially
less than the more popular IPA varieties.
Even aged hops are providing interesting
results, Wineka says, although experimen-
tation in this area is still in early stages. If
you want to experiment with aged hops, he
suggests using some fresh hops as well, to
ensure you still get good hop character.
Perhaps most surprisingly, grains can
also be a source of tropical flavors in the
presence of Brett. “Buckwheat has lots of
caprylic acid,” Preiss says. “That can taste
‘goaty,’ but Brettanomyces can turn it to an
ester that tastes like pineapple.”
As North American drinkers continue to
embrace tropical flavors, mixed fermenta-
tion may provide another means to deliver
them—and, certainly, creative brewers
will continue to experiment with how to
get the best results.
 UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
What’s Going on in There?
Looking at the Tech that
Looks into Your Fermentors
PHOTO: COURTESY PRECISION FERMENTATION

Devices that monitor fermentation in real time and apps that make data
analysis a snap can help improve quality and output. They can also save
breweries money, reducing the chances for error. BY DON TSE

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“FERMENTATION IS A BLACK BOX.”

Both Jared Resnick, founder and CEO of
Precision Fermentation, and Pål Inge-
brigtsen, cofounder of PLAATO, used that
phrase when explaining why they started
their respective companies.
“Fermentation hasn’t changed in
centuries,” says Resnick, whose own
background is in science and genetics.
When he started talking to brewers about
fermentation data, he knew immediately
that there was an opportunity to improve
what was available.
“Brewers are scientists,” he says. “They all
talk about getting better, and they are recep-
tive to using data to improve their brewing.”

THE HARDWARE
Precision Fermentation launched the Brew-
Monitor in 2021, and it now has almost 200
customers in 18 countries. The BrewMoni-
tor attaches to a fermentor’s sample port by
a standard tri-clamp. Once attached, it draws
beer from the fermentor every few minutes,
measuring and recording dissolved oxygen
(DO), pH, gravity, pressure, conductivity, fer-
mentation temperature, and external tem-
perature. The device sends this data wire-
lessly to the cloud, where it can be accessed
by any connected device. The BrewMonitor
requires a standard electrical plug, and it
needs to be removed and cleaned between
fermentations—but moving it from one
fermentor to another is easy.
PLAATO started in 2015 by making THE SOFTWARE Brynn Keenan, founder of Grist Analyt-
homebrewing devices such as the PLAATO Both the BrewMonitor and PLAATO ics, has a background in production and
Airlock. For commercial breweries, it Pro require subscriptions to use their quality assurance, including extensive
launched PLAATO Pro in 2020. Like the associated software. The software graphs lab experience at Left Hand Brewing in
BrewMonitor, the PLAATO Pro attaches fermentation data in real time, plotting Longmont, Colorado, and at Inland Island
to the sample port. A simple tri-clamp it against a database of previous fermen- Yeast in Denver.
connects the device physically while a QR tations to ensure that it’s progressing as “I started developing Grist Analytics while
code connects the device digitally. Instal- expected. “The more you use it, the bigger I was the lab manager at Left Hand,” she
lation takes just a few minutes. The Pro database you have, and the more useful says. She says her colleagues at the brewery
measures gravity and temperature every 20 it becomes,” says Jack Albanese, VP of applauded the idea of starting a company
minutes, sending the data wirelessly to the operations at Terrapin Beer in Athens, that would improve data collection and
cloud. The PLAATO Pro is designed to be Georgia. Terrapin was one of the brewer- analysis. “I had a substantial brewing team
able to remain attached to the fermentor, ies that tested the BrewMonitor early on. and packaging team. I had a huge amount
so each fermentor should have one. Every Other advantages became apparent: Not of data. Any time we had a problem to solve,
surface that is in contact with the beer only can the brewer identify any problems it was very labor-intensive to get all of the
is made from stainless steel and has no and adjust, but the data are available to data. It could take days or weeks.”
cavities, so it can stay in place during CIP. anyone who needs them. So, for example, Grist Analytics formalizes a brewery’s data
PHOTO: COURTESY PRECISION FERMENTATION

It’s powered by a standard C battery—set it
and forget it—and there are no wires.
Like many other fermentation-monitoring
devices on the market—such as those from
Anton Paar or TZERO Brew—these take
in-line measurements of the beer without
wasting it or exposing it to ambient air.
These methods also eliminate any measure-
ment inconsistencies among brewery staff.
the packaging department can see when
beers will be ready, and the sales staff can
be confident of future inventory with no
risk of miscommunication.
For breweries that are not ready to invest
in the hardware—or are otherwise content
with their current methods of measure-
ment—there are software-only solutions
available that can optimize those methods.
collection. It prompts brewery staff to collect
the data, entering measurements directly
into an app that visualizes them for all to see.
While the BrewMonitor and PLAATO
Pro analyze fermentation only, the Grist
app gathers and analyzes a range of
data, from mash in to packaging. From
strike-water temperature to total packaged
oxygen (TPO) and everything in between,

64 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

 a brewery team can fully customize Grist Brian Fairfield is master of fermentation nutrients. Correlation isn’t causation, and
Analytics to record and track any data they and quality assurance at Backpack Brands, we’re still learning, but we’ve been using the
collect. Its subscribers also have access to a cidery in New York’s Hudson Valley. He BrewMonitor for a year, and our healthier fer-
Grist’s QC staff, who can notify brewers says using the BrewMonitor has cut their ments have halved our fermentation times.
of problems and provide advice based on fermentation time in half. How? Plus, better cider results in better sales.”
industry norms and averages. “Cider is deficient in yeast nutrients,” Because these methods of fermentation
Fairfield says. “So, we have to add nutrients management actively compare actual fer-
THE BENEFITS to our fermentations. The BrewMonitor mentation against expected fermentation,
These windows into the fermentor let measures conductivity, and the presence the ability to set alerts when things go
brewers proactively identify problems in of nutrients increases conductivity. Using awry can provide peace of mind. “I can’t
real time rather than react to them later. conductivity as a proxy for the presence tell you how many Saturdays I haven’t
This saves time in solving problems. It can of nutrients, and by watching that in real had to come in to the cidery thanks to the
also identify problems in time to prevent time, we started to stagger when we add the BrewMonitor,” Fairfield says.
a beer from going out of spec—or before
time and ingredients (such as dry hops)
are wasted on a beer in which a problem
wasn’t spotted soon enough. Ultimately, it
means better consistency of product, since
THESE WINDOWS INTO THE FERMENTOR LET BREWERS
certain steps in the process can happen at PROACTIVELY IDENTIFY PROBLEMS IN REAL TIME
the optimal times for them, rather than in RATHER THAN REACT TO THEM LATER. IT CAN ALSO
response to after-the-fact measurements.
At Grist Analytics, Keenan says that
IDENTIFY PROBLEMS IN TIME TO PREVENT A BEER
some clients have increased their cellar FROM GOING OUT OF SPEC—OR BEFORE TIME AND
throughput as much as 60 percent and INGREDIENTS (SUCH AS DRY HOPS) ARE WASTED.
their consistency as much as 50 percent.
“This is the cheapest QC program money
can buy, until a brewery can afford a full-
time person,” she says.
Precision Fermentation’s Resnick points
to time and labor savings: “The Brew-
Monitor helps unleash the creativity of the
brewer, since they’re not spending time
pulling samples and reacting to problems.”
Meanwhile, the trove of data points and
graphs provides an unquantifiable benefit
in understanding what is going on inside
the fermentor. “We provide a filmstrip to
people used to looking at photos,” he says.
At Terrapin Beer, Albanese points out
a less-obvious benefit of these technol-
ogies: “There’s always risk that all the
valves aren’t closed, or, on the other hand,
that a tank could fail if there’s too much
pressure. But the BrewMonitor measures
pressure in real time, so you can immedi-
ately tell if there’s a problem.”

NEW DISCOVERIES
There are immediate and obvious benefits
to understanding what is going on inside the
fermentor. However, because these products
are relatively new, Resnick says that they are
always learning new and interesting things
as brewers provide feedback and data.
Brewers typically think of single param-
PHOTOS: COURTESY PLAATO

eters and how they affect beer fermenta-

tion, but what if multiple parameters are
involved? “How does pH play with dis-
solved oxygen?” asks Resnick, semi-rhe-
torically. “We’ll find out!”
BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 65
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MALT INSIDER
FAITHFUL TO
THE FIELD
In pursuit of character and in support of farms, brewers are looking to raw grains,
including unusual varieties and those grown close to home. BY BEN KEENE
TODD BOERA HAS BEEN BREWING Bloody
Butcher for almost a decade. Made with a
namesake variety of red heritage corn, the gri-
sette is part of the year-round lineup at Fonta
Flora, the North Carolina brewery where he
is partner and head of brewing operations.
From the beginning, Boera has used
this grain raw, preferring its flavor over
malted corn. In his words, using a grain
in its raw form showcases its “unadulter-
ated flavor.” Dry and slightly funky with
a lemony tartness, Bloody Butcher: Appa-
lachian Grisette has gained a fanbase be-
yond the boundaries of the Tarheel State.
It has also introduced other brewers to an
ingredient they likely hadn’t considered
using before tasting this beer.
“We were arguably the first brewery
utilizing Bloody Butcher Corn in beers,”
Boera says. “Long before it became a ro-
manticized variety with maltsters around
the country, I tracked this variety and
began incorporating it into beer [when we
“FIRST, IT COMES OUT OF THE AUGER LIKE GRAVEL AND
CAN END UP ALL THE WAY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE
MASH TUN—WHICH IS ALSO OUR LAUTER TUN—WHICH
CAN PRODUCE A STUCK MASH THAT DOESN’T FLOW
WELL OUT OF THE VESSEL AND INTO THE KETTLE. SEC-
OND, WE DON’T HAVE A SEPARATE CEREAL COOKER
THAT HELPS THOROUGHLY HYDRATE THE GRAIN, THUS
EXPOSING ALL OF THE STARCHES TO THE ENZYMES
THAT ARE IN THE MASH FROM THE MALTED GRAINS.
THIS REDUCES THE EXTRACT OR POTENTIAL SUGARS
THAT CAN END UP IN THE WORT.”
66 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
first] opened back in 2013. At the time,
it was impossible to find. Nobody was
talking about it, let alone growing it. After
scouring the internet, I found a farmer
growing it on his cliffside farm up in the
mountains in Burnsville, North Carolina.”
Depending on the styles they brew,
plenty of North American brewers use
raw grains at least occasionally. While raw
wheat is probably the most common—
turning up in saison, lambic-inspired
spontaneous ale, and witbier—it’s far
from the only example. In addition to
Boera’s red corn, creative brewers are
using everything from spelt and rye to
buckwheat and triticale for rustic lagers
and hazy IPAs.
Part of the appeal is that raw grains can
promote both body and foam in the finished
beer. They also can offer nuanced flavors
that aren’t as apparent in traditional malt.
And, for some brewers, added motiva-
tion comes from a desire to use some-
thing genuinely local while helping small
farmers diversify their businesses.
“In the world of grain farming, there are
a lot of variables that make growing for
malt quality difficult,” says David Brand,
manager at Blue Ox Malthouse in Lisbon
Falls, Maine. “If we can work with farmers
[who] may not have the infrastructure or
acreage to supply us with malting grains,
we can still be impactful and support more
local farmland by offering a variety of raw
grains in addition to our malted inventory.”
FOR EVERY CHALLENGE,
A REWARD
Boera says it was difficult to work with raw
grains on his original brew system. So,
when Fonta Flora expanded to its Whip-
poorwill Farm facility (see “Case Study:
Fonta Flora,” brewingindustry​guide.com),
he built it out with raw grain in mind.
A Bloody Butcher brew day starts with a
special mill that can process raw corn down
into coarse grits—then it’s time to get cook-
ing. The brewery has an oversized 15-barrel
brewhouse; the team can comfortably boil
up to 22 barrels of wort. The propane-fueled,
direct-fired kettle has a modulating burner
that allows gentle heating. This feature
helps them heat the grain at lower tem-
peratures, preventing it from scorching. An
impeller in the kettle also keeps the grain
moving around and off the bottom. From
there, large ports and a specialized pump
move the cooked grain over to the mash tun.
Given that several popular Fonta Flora
beer recipes include raw grain, this setup
is key to production.
“Perhaps our most successful beer that
relies on cereal mashing is Lake James
Lime,” Boera says, referring to an adjunct
lager brewed with lime zest and sea salt.
“That beer is cereal-mashed with heritage
corn grown right down the road from us.
PHOTOS: COURTESY FONTA FLORA
We will make, on average, 400 barrels of
that beer during the warmer months. The
base beer is 3.8 percent [ABV] and features
pilsner malt and raw corn. As you might
imagine, the raw corn comes through
really nicely in such a light and low-ABV
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP »
Fonta Flora’s Todd Boera
brewing with Bloody Butcher
corn; Fonta Flora’s Lake
James Lime lager gets a
cereal mash with locally
grown heritage corn; Fonta
Flora’s Bloody Butcher beer.

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“SOMETHING THAT I HAVE ALWAYS RANTED ABOUT IS
HOW BREWING HAS COMPLETELY LOST ANY AND ALL
AGRICULTURAL ROOTS. YOU WOULD NEVER JUST CALL
beer. The finished product has earthy sweet A GRAPE A GRAPE. BUT THAT IS WHAT HAS BEEN HIS-
notes with a touch of tortilla chip.”
On the other coast, Charles Porter also TORICALLY DONE IN THE BEER WORLD. ‘OH, THIS BEER IS
brews with raw grain at Little Beast, the BREWED WITH RYE.’ COOL. BUT WHAT VARIETY OF RYE?”
Oregon brewery he founded in 2017. On his
steam-powered, two-vessel, 15-barrel system,
Porter uses raw wheat in Native Flora, a
wild-fermented beer inspired by Belgian
lambic, as well as his Wood Chopper witbier.
The mash bill for Native Flora is 30 percent
raw wheat, while Wood Chopper is 9 percent
raw wheat and 9 percent flaked raw oats.
With the former, he wants to create a mash
with more complexity, so that microflora
such as Brettanomyces will have another food
source to metabolize. He also likes the extra
body the raw wheat gives the beer, describing
it as soft on the palate. With the witbier,
Porter’s goal is to enhance its cloudy nature
while promoting foam and mouthfeel.
However, he says, working with raw
grain has its challenges.
“First, it comes out of the auger like grav-
el and can end up all the way at the bottom
of the mash tun—which is also our lauter
tun—which can produce a stuck mash that
doesn’t flow well out of the vessel and into
the kettle,” Porter says. “Second, we don’t
have a separate cereal cooker that helps
thoroughly hydrate the grain, thus expos-
ing all of the starches to the enzymes that
are in the mash from the malted grains.
This reduces the extract or potential sugars
that can end up in the wort.”
Porter’s workaround at Little Beast is
simple: patience. In short, he gives the
mash extra time, allowing the harder raw
grains to hydrate a bit more than they
would for a beer that relies entirely on
malted grains. And since he doesn’t brew
either beer frequently, the additional time
investment isn’t something he worries
about. Plus, Native Flora is a beer that’s
close to his heart, so it’s worth the effort.
APPLYING PURPOSE TO THE
POSSIBILITIES
However: Using raw grains can cut into
your time on brew day, and time probably
isn’t something you have in abundance.
At Blue Ox Malthouse, Brand says a
cereal mash is really only necessary if
you’re trying to use a raw product as a
large part of your grist bill. His reasoning:
Today’s malts are so highly modified that
you shouldn’t need to gelatinize a small
percentage of raw grains, via cereal mash,
to convert them into fermentable sugars.
“I’d recommend just running your raw
grains into a finer grist than your malted
grains and incorporating them into your
68 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
normal mash,” Brand says. He adds that
it’s important to monitor the feed rate into
the mill, to prevent stalling, since it takes
more power to crack or crush raw grain.
“It may help to add them later in the mash
… to reduce the chance of a stuck mash.
But again, if you’re using only about 5 to
10 percent of your grist bill as raw grain,
this shouldn’t pose a serious issue. [Be-
cause of ] the nature of raw grains such as
wheat or rye not having a husk, it wouldn’t
hurt to throw some rice hulls or oat hulls
into your grist bill, just to provide a little
insurance to avoid a stuck mash.”
Blue Ox has observed a significant increase
in demand for raw grains, especially with
hazy pale ales and IPAs saturating the
market, and with more brewers adding
farmhouse-style beers to their rotations. Spe-
cifically, the malthouse has seen a substantial
uptick in raw spelt inquiries from Maine
breweries in the past year. Brand speculates
that it may be brewers looking to differenti-
ate themselves in a crowded market.
“Raw grains can be a great source of
body and foam as well as nuanced flavors
not as present in traditional malted
grains,” he says. “Spelt, rye, triticale, and
others lend earthy, spicy, nutty flavors you
wouldn’t get from wheat or oats, which
tend to be more cleanly fruity.”
At Kent Falls Brewing in Connecticut,
cofounder Barry Labendz started using
spelt out of sheer necessity. A special
permit with the town of Kent requires the
brewery to source 20 percent of its ingre-
dients locally. So, as Labendz was making
plans to open eight years ago, he decided
that a mixed-fermentation farmhouse ale
brewed with a rotating raw grain would be
a good way to hedge against the possibil-
ity of not having enough local malt. He
called it Field Beer. The first batch—and
the brewery’s first release—appeared in
March 2015. Kent Falls has released 13
more batches in the years since.
There have been iterations of Field Beer
with raw spelt, rye, oats, and wheat. From
the earliest stages, Kent Falls embraced both
its New England geography and its identity
as a brewery located on a working farm.
Before the proliferation of smaller regional
malthouses, using what was available locally
meant raw grain—and even that wasn’t
necessarily easy to source. In 2018, the
brewery made the leap to exclusively using
local barley, from Valley Malt in Massachu-
setts and Thrall Family Malt in Connecticut.
That’s when Labendz says that he and head
brewer Rob Bollard started to work with raw
grains more purposefully.
While it was important to Labendz and his
team to source ingredients as close to the
brewery as they could, he knew that people
seek out a particular ale or lager first because
of its flavor. They only take a deeper interest
if they enjoy the drinking experience.
“Let’s make it taste good,” he says, “so
people want to engage. The purpose at this
point is the flavor of the beer.” Every once
in a while, he says he’ll raid the cellar and
open a bottle of Field Beer for the sake of
nostalgia or curiosity. To him, what holds
up over time are the qualities each of the
different raw grains brings to the table.
“It brings me outside when I drink those
old Field Beers,” he says. “I get more
grassy character. That’s a taste of place.”
Back in North Carolina, Boera says he
prefers the flavor of raw grain, partic-
ularly when it comes to rice and corn.
He also likes to work directly with small
farmers who continue to grow forgotten
varieties. In his mind, flavor and geogra-
phy go hand in hand, and he’s long been
interested in using more unique heritage
grains instead of relying purely on what is
commercially available as malt or flakes.
“Here in the South, a now commonly
available variety of rye—both raw and
malted—is Wrens Abruzzi,” he says. “This
rye is wonderfully complex, with notes of
orange zest, black pepper, and subtle spice.
“For a while, another variety of rye called
Seashore Black was making an appearance.
I am absolutely obsessed with this variety.
Though now a bit more difficult to find, Sea-
shore Black provided notes of toasted marsh-
mallow, cheesecake, and vanilla wafers.
“These varieties of rye were wonderful
both malted and raw,” Boera says. “Some-
thing that I have always ranted about is
how brewing has completely lost any and
all agricultural roots. You would never just
call a grape a grape. But that is what has
been historically done in the beer world.
‘Oh, this beer is brewed with rye.’
“Cool. But what variety of rye?”
 MALT INSIDER
GET AHEAD OF
THE SEASON
AHEAD: TIGHT
BARLEY SUPPLY
IN 2022
PHOTOS: MATT GRAVES/WWW.MGRAVESPHOTO.COM

A poor harvest in North America last year is combining with hot weather
and war in Europe to constrain supply and raise prices. However, there are
reasons to be optimistic. Here’s what you need to know to stay on top of
your malt supply. BY BEN KEENE

BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 69
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GUIDE 2022 SUMMER
THE SKY ISN’T FALLING in Big Sky Coun-
try, but 2021 was an undeniably bad year
for much of North America’s barley crop.
Heat and drought dealt an uncommonly
poor hand to growers in Idaho, Montana,
and North Dakota, as well as in Canada’s
Prairie Provinces. With both average yields
and stocks much lower than they have
been in years, industry experts looked
anxiously to the immediate future, raising
fears about pricing, quality, and availability.
Low stocks put pressure on the supply
chain, says Ashley McFarland, vice presi-
dent and technical director of the Ameri-
can Malting Barley Association (AMBA).
While the industry generally operates on
an on-demand or just-in-time basis, those
stocks serve as insurance for poor years
like the past one. When stocks are already
stressed—as they are now—people in
the business of procurement start to seek
external sources of grain. In fact, Argentina
shipped more than 43,000 tons of malting
barley to the United States in February (a 10-
year record), while Canada, which is usually
a net exporter of barley, ordered 30,000 tons
from Australia. Business as usual probably
won’t apply to the immediate future.
TRYING TO SEE THE GLASS
HALF-FULL
Four months into the new year, as another
growing season began, there was nonethe-
less some reason for cautious optimism.
According to the latest report from the
USDA National Agricultural Statistics
Service, farmers intended to seed 2.94
million acres of barley this year, up 11
percent from 2021. In Montana, which
grows more barley than any other state,
acreage was expected to increase by 12
percent. Assuming a return to normal
weather conditions and trend yields, the
Canadian barley supply also was projected
to increase to a comfortable level.
“Tight old-crop supplies, robust de-
mand, and high spot prices will prevent
the 2022 barley area from shrinking too
much, despite strong competition for
acres from other crops,” says Justine John-
70 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
son, North American marketing promo-
tions manager at United Malt.
In addition, 2022 began with more snow-
pack in the Mountain West than last year,
which looked promising for the coming
growing season. However, unseasonably
dry conditions in January and February
have once again led to concerns about ade-
quate irrigation water. This may lead some
growers to choose barley over other crops
that require more water—especially when
they consider that input costs, including
fuel, fertilizer, and labor, are up as much as
40 percent or more. Barley requires fewer
inputs overall than many other crops, mak-
ing it a good choice to plant this year.
In other words, there are encouraging signs
on the horizon for an industry still reckoning
with a poor harvest the previous year. At the
same time, however, planted acreage doesn’t
translate directly to harvested acres.
“It’s noteworthy that we did not see a
substantial decline in planted acres last
year. It was simply the harvested acres and
yields that so drastically cut production,”
says AMBA’s McFarland. “So, with that
said, if we can maintain acreage and re-
alize less drought-induced stress, we can
bring those production volumes back up.”
Therein lies the rub. Heat and precipita-
tion are the linchpins for a good crop. As
of April 5, about 73 percent of U.S. barley
production was located in a growing area
that is currently experiencing moderate to
extreme drought. To paraphrase one Idaho
barley farmer: Everything depends on the
weather this spring and summer. Acreage
is up, but it’s too early to predict whether
“I AM OPTIMISTIC ABOUT OUR ABILITY TO GROW A
SUCCESSFUL MALTING BARLEY CROP AGAIN THIS
YEAR. THAT BEING SAID, ALL OF OUR INPUT COSTS
ARE UP SIGNIFICANTLY FOR 2022. FERTILIZER IS
UP 200 TO 300 PERCENT. CROP PROTECTANTS
HAVE ALSO INCREASED IN THIS SAME RANGE.
FUEL PRICES MAKE IRRIGATION MORE EXPENSIVE.”
we’ll have amber waves of healthy grain
when it’s time to fire up the combine.
“Many of the Montana growers I’ve
spoken with [have] said that if they did get
snow, the wind was so bad this year it like-
ly ended up in North Dakota,” MacFarland
says. “[We] could still use some precipita-
tion to make sure we’ve got enough water
for our irrigated acres in Idaho.”
CONSIDERING THE BENEFITS OF
SHOPPING SMALL
Outside the largest barley-growing regions,
many smaller farmers are also hopeful,
and they see opportunity ahead. In several
regions around the country, temperatures
and rainfall during the 2021 growing
season were kinder than they were to the
bigger barley-producing states. Root Shoot
Malting in Colorado had to delay plant-
ing this year because of spring snow, but
they planned to nearly double their barley
acreage from 500 to 980. That means they
should have more LCS Genie to malt into
their award-winning Genie Pale. Across
the country, in New England, Maine Malt
House nearly doubled its malting capacity,
while North Carolina’s Riverbend Malt
House increased its capacity by 40 percent.
Similarly, at Rabbit Hill Farms in south-
ern New Jersey, cofounder Hillary Barile
says that demand for products such as
Farmhouse Pilsner have grown continual-
ly over the past five years. Her family farm
primarily grows winter barley planted in
October; last fall, they added more acre-
age. For some brewers, a craft maltster
could be a useful alternative to a commer-

cial malthouse when facing shortages and
supply-chain snarls.
“I am optimistic about our ability to
grow a successful malting barley crop
again this year,” Barile says. “We are in
the fortunate position of farming with
the ability to irrigate if needed. Drought
just makes the crop more expensive, but
we can still achieve a good crop. That
being said, all of our input costs are up
significantly for 2022. Fertilizer is up 200
to 300 percent. Crop protectants have also
increased in this same range. Fuel prices
make irrigation more expensive.”
At the Palouse Colony Farm in Eastern
Washington, Don Scheuerman grows
landrace and heirloom grains such as
Sonoran Gold wheat, Crimson Turkey
PHOTO: JAMIE BOGNER
winter wheat, Scots Bere barley, and
Purple Egyptian barley. He believes
there will be continued volatility in the
market, warning that the combination of
high input costs, lower fall-grain pricing,
and the possibility of a second annual
reduced yield could be catastrophic for
many commodity growers. As a rela-
tively small, diversified farm focused on
regenerative agriculture, Scheuerman
says the business he runs with his brother
Richard is not significantly impacted
by many of these larger market forces.
Given consumer interest, Palouse Colony
Farm is strategically increasing selected
varieties of its grains. However, he worries
that government subsidies and insurance
won’t be enough to keep small and medi-
um enterprises operational.
CONTENDING WITH THE
DILEMMA OF COST
Ultimately, price becomes the big ques-
tion mark for brewers at the end of the
2022 growing season: How much more
will we have to pay?
After potentially navigating pitfalls such
as elevated protein levels, increased mash
viscosity, and higher free amino nitrogen
(FAN) in malt made from the 2021 barley
crop, brewers won’t be happy to hear
about price hikes. However, experts say
we shouldn’t be surprised.
Laura Wilder, executive director of the
Idaho Barley Commission, tracks market
conditions on a weekly basis. She urges
brewers to plan ahead as much as possible.
“Brewery customers should know that
maltsters have been working hard to
ensure an adequate supply of raw barley
from farmers to malt for their customers,”
she says. “But with the carryover of tight
supplies from 2021, and possible extended
drought in U.S. barley-growing regions this
year, [brewers] should secure their needed
malt supplies earlier than usual and expect
higher prices [because of] increased costs
throughout the supply chain.”
The same applies to Canada, according to
Johnson at United Malt. Grain prices there
are likely to remain fairly high because of
tight supply in Canada and globally, while
international demand is unlikely to wane.
Her advice is to stay in close communica-
tion with your malt sales representative.
And what about the war in Ukraine?
That will also play a role in pricing and
supply. Ukraine is the breadbasket of Eu-
rope. If it’s unable to meet demand, other
countries will have to fill the void, putting
more pressure on the overall supply.
“With stocks already low in the [United
States], I envision a lot of barley moving
around globally,” says McFarland at AMBA.
“And if farmers in Ukraine, and Russia for
that matter, are not able to get crops in—
along with the necessary inputs—and if
this continues and impacts harvest season,
things are certainly going to get tight.
“I’m hoping the volatility does not sway
farmers to grow wheat instead of barley, but
that is certainly a possibility. Fortunately,
most of our barley acres in the [United
States] are contracted and likely locked in for
this year, but another dry year could really
stress an already vulnerable system.”
BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 71
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TRICKS OF THE TRELLIS
When to Switch
Hop Varieties
Hop growers face a tough decision every year: What do we plant?
CLAIRE DESMARAIS, sales and marketing manager for CLS Farms in
Washington, explains how growers navigate the tricky supply and
demand driven by brewers and drinkers.
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF HOP ACRES planted
has increased significantly over the past
decade, mostly driven by growth in craft
brewing and the planting of aroma varieties.
Today, drinkers have access to almost every
aroma, from fruity mango and pineapple to
more savory flavors of pine and spice.
Another result of that demand has been
the rapid increase in new hop varieties
from both private and public breeding
programs. Today, hop growers can choose
from hundreds of varieties to plant.
However, the hop market is facing an in-
flection point, as growers turn over acreage
to previously underplanted public varieties.
The ups and downs of the past few years
have created an imbalance of supply and
demand for certain varieties, despite hop
stocks—the inventory held by growers,
dealers, and brewers—increasing 6 percent
from March 2021 to March 2022.
Every year, these growers face the chal-
lenge of knowing which varieties brewers
will need, so they can plant accordingly for
the next growing season. However, with
some varieties staying in the ground for
AS GROWERS NAVIGATE THE INTRICACIES OF HOP
SUPPLY AND DEMAND, THE INVESTMENT TO SWITCH
FIELDS HAS BECOME RISKIER, EVEN AS COSTS RISE
AND THE LONGEVITY OF NEWER VARIETIES DECREASES.
72 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
less than two years, how do growers decide?
Decreased beer production and a focus on
core brands have resulted in a narrowing of
in-demand varieties. As growers navigate
the intricacies of hop supply and demand,
the investment to switch fields has become
riskier, even as costs rise and the longevity of
newer varieties decreases.
According to Eric Desmarais, co-owner
of CLS Farms—and, disclosure, my dad—
growers in the past turned over fields
every three to five years. Now, growers are
abandoning fields after only one to two
years, creating a new financial challenge.
The hop market follows a cycle of years
with exponential growth followed by sharp
declines. Today, those involved in the hop
supply chain are feeling the additional
pressure of inflation, says Blake Cros-
by, CEO of Crosby Hops in Woodburn,
Oregon. Prices are leading to fewer spots
available while growers look to mitigate
risk through contracts.
“A nice decade of market stability from
2012 to now—where growers could invest
in facilities, staff, infrastructure—[now]
appears to be moving toward the boom-
and-bust cycle,” says Diane Gooding,
VP of operations at Gooding Farms in
Parma, Idaho.
The pressure to plant accurately—that
is, matching what brewers will need—is
intensifying. When deciding which vari-
eties to pursue or abandon, growers must
weigh several different factors.
THE DECISION MATRIX
Demand and disease pressure are the
primary reasons a grower opts to replace
a variety. Acreage that is not contracted
is more susceptible to these switches.
Growers assess the risk of varieties based
on past trends while simultaneously doing
their best to predict future demand.
Andy Roy, account manager at Roy Farms
in Moxee, Washington, says that as dealers
and brewers become more hesitant to
contract—as a result of variable demand—
growers will become more methodical.
Hop stunt viroid (HSVd) and other
diseases have forced some growers to take
out entire variety groups, including Cas-
cade. Double R Hop Ranches in Harrah,
Washington, recently explained the
difficulty in maintaining a healthy field
(see “Hops for the Future: What Does It
Mean When a Hop Farm Gives Up on
Cascade?” brewingindustryguide.com).
In Idaho, Gooding expects to transi-
PHOTOS: COURTESY CLS FARMS
tion or idle 15 percent of this year’s crop
acreage. Normally, she budgets about 10
percent every year. Crosby Hops reports a
similar level of idle fields or rotations.
Turnover rates only continue to increase.
A decade ago, turnover levels hovered
Brewer’s Gold hop plants
grown from clippings take
root in a nursery before
they’re planted in a field.

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around 3 to 5 percent; now, growers face
a yearly turnover rate of 5 to 10 percent.
That creates a new financial challenge,
Eric Desmarais says.
The cost of growing and switching acreage
can fall anywhere between $5,000 and
$10,000 per acre, according to several grow-
ers. Factors such as plant material—wheth-
er a grower uses rhizomes or pots made
from clippings—labor, chemicals, irrigation,
cover crops, and land go into the decision to
swap fields. Both Washington and Oregon
also recently passed overtime laws for agri-
cultural employees, further increasing costs.
Meanwhile the costs of land, fertilizer, and
other inputs continue to rise as well.
STARTING FRESH
Farms can use several methods to rip out
old plant material in a field, though there
are cost and environmental considerations
for each. Growers can lift roots manually,
till the soil, and then fumigate to rid the
soil of disease, nematodes, and other
issues—that’s what we do at CLS Farms.
Tilling aerates the soil, allowing more
moisture and air to go into the ground.
Salmon-Safe growers, such as Roy Farms
and Sodbuster Farms in Oregon, avoid
fumigation and use root lifters and tilling.
Whichever a grower chooses, the process
requires significant labor plus the costs of
chemicals, equipment, and other materials.
Fields planted from
rhizomes typically offer a
better first-year yield.
74 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
Growers also often move the poles to
the right or left, so that the new plants
go into cleaner soil. This minimizes the
potential for off-types to occur between
old and new plants.
After a field is cleaned and poles are
moved, growers plant either rhizomes or
pots (baby plants) made from clippings
into the new rows. Both are roughly the
same cost. Rhizomes must be planted
in late March or early April; pots go in
slightly later, in May. There is a benefit to
planting later: It provides a bit more time
to gather additional market insights and
contracts before making final decisions.
However, there are other things to con-
sider when deciding between rhizomes or
pots, such as scalability, “clean” sourcing,
and timing. Rhizomes provide a better
first-year yield, but growers must source the
roots from a virus-free field with minimized
off-types. Pots coming from a nursery are
typically used for newer varieties; these give
the grower time and provide a disease-free
source of plant material. However, nurseries
also face issues with potential cross-contam-
ination, spread of contagion, and mix-ups.
Need and availability of certain varieties also
play a role in this choice.
Yields are another factor to consider
when turning over fields. In plants’ first
year in the ground, growers report that the
plants typically yield 25 to 50 percent few-
er hops, and the aromas tend to be softer.
That yield varies by location, potentially
changing the whole calculus of whether to
switch varieties. Alexa Weathers, opera-
tions manager for Sodbuster Farms, says
that hop plants in Oregon don’t yield until
their second year of production, because
of the state’s different heat and wet soil.
Thus, growers there can’t plant until May
at the earliest—but more realistically,
in June—losing out on an entire year of
production, she says.
“It becomes incredibly expensive to do
this,” Weathers says. “And it is incredibly
frustrating, because it’s so expensive, that
we’ve done this on over 500 acres in the
past five years. We’re losing that money for
a year because we have to wait. … So, it’s
just much more detrimental to us Oregon
growers versus Washington and Idaho.”
Yet another variable: Some varieties
grow better in certain regions. The West
Coast Hop Breeding program, established
in 2016 by six Oregon growers—has com-
mitted to releasing varieties that thrive in
Oregon, given the state’s unique climate
and soil types.
“Today, our average yard is in the
ground for about five years, which increas-
es our switching costs, the risks that a
variety may not even work in our area, and
the learning curve of growing new genetic
material,” Crosby says.
One way growers can mitigate the risk of
new varieties is through test fields, which
are becoming increasingly popular. Gooding
Farms has a seven-acre field to test three
different varieties in a nursery-style scenario,
which also will provide roots for future fields.
At CLS Farms, a handful of varieties
such as Vista—a new public variety—will
go into a 12-acre field. In this way, we can
trial the viability of a variety, both growing
and market-wise, without the heavy
investment of a larger field.
THE PENDULUM CONTINUES TO
SWING
Proprietary hop varieties made up almost
65 percent of the acreage in 2021, accord-
ing to the 2021 National Hop Report. Cen-
tennial, Cascade, and Chinook saw a steep
decline in acreage by an average of 33
percent in 2020, according to the National
Hop Report, with a slight increase in 2021.
The USDA manages public varieties but
lacks control over the market compared
to private programs, Sodbuster Farms’
Weathers says. Growers are reliant on the
owners of proprietary varieties to control
the market, manage supply and demand,
and create a more stable price, she says.
Typically, proprietary varieties offer a
better price for the grower. But that comes
with certain controls in place and reliance
on the owner to manage it. Though public
varieties are more accessible, the margins
for switching a proprietary for a public
variety can create higher switching costs
and a potentially decreased return.
It can take a decade to develop and
release a new hop variety. In the past,
breeding programs tried to plant ahead
of demand to have adequate volume, Eric
Desmarais explains. But the pandemic
resulted in an imbalance of supply and
demand of these newer varieties.
“So, one of the outcomes of this for
brewers is not immediate, but dealers and
growers will not get as speculative with
newer varieties. They’ll plant much more
conservatively,” he says.
Other growers have noted a similar
market correction with the move out of
many proprietary varieties and a gravitation
toward underplanted public varieties. Cros-
by says that some of the acreage correction
for 2022 is a result of the aggressiveness of
planting some proprietary varieties.
Crosby Hops primarily grows public va-
rieties and is continuing to do so this year.
While already a large Centennial grower,
CLS Farms has put in more Cascade
and Centennial acreage as a result of the
increased demand and undersupply.
CONTRACTING IS KING
The primary method of mitigating some
of this risk of switching hop varieties is
through multiyear contracting. Contracts
provide stability on both sides of the sup-
ply chain because they provide forward
visibility, Gooding says. Brewers can
guarantee volume to ensure they receive
a consistent product. Growers can justify
the investment knowing there’s buyer
stability for future years.
“If a brewer does find a new variety,
I would secure [it] because the natural
result of this at a grower and dealer level
is there will be less speculative volumes
of new varieties planted,” Eric Desmarais
explains.
The same can be said for uncommon
varieties. CLS Farms is working with a
buyer to plant some Brewer’s Gold, an
older and less in-demand hop variety. The
relationship between grower and buyer
relies on trust and contracts to make the
decision to invest in this type of variety.
Predominantly selling to dealers, Good-
ing Farms tries to keep no more than 20
percent of the current crop year open.
Without contracts for certain varieties,
that acreage isn’t grown. Before Triumph’s
release, Sodbuster Farms had 20 acres
as an experimental plot but only with a
multiyear contract in place.
“Everything’s on contract,” Weathers says.
“Our inputs have exponentially grown in
cost. It’s too big of a risk for anybody.”
If buyers fail to renew a contract, then
it’s likely that farms will either take the
variety out or idle the fields. Gooding says
she expects to see a lot of corn grown in
idle hop fields this year in Idaho because
the infrastructure is already in place.
Many growers are facing these renewals
from larger buyers. With the effects of the
pandemic still creating some ambiguity in
the hop market, several growers have noted
a goal to contract most of their 2022 crop,
leaving little open for the spot market.
“If we see a market contraction where
contract prices drop in the current infla-
tionary environment, there will be less
incentive in the system for a grower to
overproduce and generate spots, which
could put uncontracted brewers in a pre-
carious position,” Crosby says.
The decision to produce spot hops for the
upcoming year will likely result in a price
that reflects the risk of those spots, he says.
Communication with buyers is important
in making these decisions. Going forward,
growers will have less flexibility than
in previous years. Securing acreage for
specific varieties will need to come from
multiyear contracts. But while growers face
these challenges, the craft-beer industry
continues to struggle amid the pandemic.
Rising costs of aluminum, barley, and other
inputs make it incredibly difficult for brewers
to orient their supply chains. Breweries are
also continually working to accommodate a
consumer-driven market with new flavors
and beer styles within the struggles of the
supply chain. Writing contracts for varieties
without a definitive view of future demand
makes it challenging for some breweries.
As the 2022 growing season continues,
the hop industry faces a market correction
in the form of reduced spots, a switch to
underplanted public varieties, and more
hesitancy. Growers will continue to face
the delicate balance between planting to
match demand and planting to sustain.
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HOPS INSIDER
READY TO TANGO?
NEW HOP VARIETIES
ON THE WAY
From Anchovy to Vista, here are some interesting hop cultivars
on the immediate horizon—plus a couple of experiments that
may be the next to get names. BY STAN HIERONYMUS
HAVE WE REACHED PEAK HOPS when a
brewer—in this case, Fast Fashion in Seat-
tle—makes a beer called Tinned Fish and
spices it with a hop called Anchovy?
The answer, of course, is no. Brewers
have additional varieties to choose from
since the 2020 harvest, and more are on
the way. The newest of the new may not
have the impact of last year’s rookies—
Talus from the U.S. Northwest, Nectaron
from New Zealand, and Eclipse from
Australia—but they reflect the ongoing
interest in hops with bold, attention-get-
ting aromas and flavors as well as cultivars
with better agronomic attributes.
Before getting to what’s new, here’s the
story behind Anchovy: The hop is the
product of a small breeding program at
Segal Ranch in the Yakima Valley, which
sells 75 percent of its hops directly to
ELITE VARIETIES GROW ON ONE TO TWO ACRES IN
EACH OF THREE NORTHWEST STATES—IDAHO, OR-
EGON, AND WASHINGTON—REVEALING HOW THEY
PERFORM IN DIFFERENT FARM CONDITIONS. EACH
EXPERIMENTAL LINE HAS A BREWERY SPONSOR, AND
FARMERS ARE PAID FOR GROWING THEM.
76 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
brewers. Farm manager Martin Ramos
learned about growing and breeding hops
from the late Chuck Zimmerman, who
made the crosses that resulted in Simcoe,
Warrior, and several popular “C-hops.”
When Fast Fashion partner Brian
Strumke—also founder of the Stillwater
Artisanal Ales brand—rubbed a sample of
the hop, he told ranch owner John Segal
that he loved it and was ready to use it in
beer. Segal explained to Strumke that Fast
Fashion could sponsor an acre for $8,000,
as other breweries have done, giving them
rights to the hops from that acre. “I want
to name this hop,” Strumke told him.
Fast Fashion brews at No Boat Brewing
in Snoqualmie, Washington, under a
alternating-proprietorship arrangement.
The brand’s first beer was called Hot Pizza,
and Strumke already was looking forward
to brewing one called Hot Pizza with An-
chovy. When he told Segal and Ramos he
would call their hop Anchovy, they looked
at each other and shook their heads at what
might be the most unappealing hop name
ever. “Hey, man, you want to call it that, go
ahead,” Segal told him.
Strumke and partner Matt Storm have
since packaged pellets in 11-pound cartons
with fish on them, handing them out to
friends at other breweries. This year, Segal
is planting two acres of the hop—which,
in beer, contributes flavors of watermelon
and pine, rather than fish and brine.
Now, on to the newcomers bound for
wider distribution.
VISTA
Noteworthy: Formerly known as USDA
2006009-074, Vista is the first hop to
emerge from the remodeled public breed-
ing program. Many brewers are already
more familiar with Vista than with past
releases of new public varieties; they may
have rubbed and smelled the hop at vari-
ous events since 2018. That feedback plays
a role in determining which experimental
varieties advance to “elite” status.
Elite varieties grow on one to two acres
in each of three northwest states—Idaho,
Oregon, and Washington—revealing how
they perform in different farm conditions.
Each experimental line has a brewery
PHOTO: COURTESY SEGAL RANCH
sponsor, and farmers are paid for growing
them. Brewers buy the harvested hops,
helping to make the elite-line program
self-sustainable.
Vista passes muster for both its sensory
and agronomic strengths. “We used Vista
Anchovy hops at Segal Ranch

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in a pale ale all the way through—flavor
additions in the kettle and whirlpool,
and in the dry hop. I remember it having
notes of Meyer lemon, ruby red grape-
fruit, and bright pine,” says Steve Luke,
founder of Cloudburst Brewing in Seattle.
“We’d love to brew with it again.”
“It’s a really nice hop to grow,” says
Segal, who harvested an acre each of the
past three years. Farmers in Michigan
and New York who planted 2006009-074
echo those words. Segal already has writ-
ten contracts for the 2022 crop and will be
adding acreage.
Just for fun: Vista has its own website
(vistahops.com) and posts on Instagram.
Both are the work of Eric Sannerud, who
operated Mighty Axe Hops in Minnesota
before a storm in 2019 literally knocked
the farm out of business.
“I’ve been complaining that there’s no
marketing support for public hops,” he
says. He funded the project with money
he earned as a consultant with farms in
Wisconsin and Vermont. All proceeds
from merchandise sold through the web-
site go to support public hop research.
Sannerud has focused on raising brewer
awareness and connecting brewers with
farmers who grow Vista. “How many brew-
ers even know Triumph exists?” he asks,
referring to a variety released in 2019. “If
we can get 100 people to trial [Vista], 50 will
buy it again, 25 will sign a contract.”
Conversations with farmers across the
country lead him to believe that they will
plant about 100 acres of Vista this year.
Many of those will be babies, not even put
to wire or harvested later.
Tale of the Tape: 11–12 percent alpha
acids; 3.8–4.4 percent beta acids; 1.2–1.7
ml/100 g total oil.
Availability: Check the Vista Hops web-
site (vistahops.com) for a list of vendors.
LÓRIEN
Noteworthy: Lórien is the second variety,
after Strata, to come out of the Indie
Hops–funded breeding program. This
is how Indie promotes the hop: “While
JOHN KIMMICH, FOUNDER OF VERMONT’S THE
ALCHEMIST BREWERY, OFFERED A GLOWING
REVIEW OF MCKENZIE AFTER USING IT IN
SKADOOSH, A ROTATING SERIES OF SINGLE-HOPPED
IPAS. “IT’S NOT THAT OFTEN AN EXPERIMENTAL
HOP REALLY MAKES AN IMPRESSION ON ME.”
78 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
the current trend of dry-hopping lager
beer with high-alpha, high-oil IPA hops
does bring some popular flavors to the
table, the hops tend to hijack the beer
and result in a light IPA. That’s not a bad
thing! … but with a low-alpha, ‘clean’ hop
like Lórien, the beloved ‘beer’ flavor from
luscious pilsner malt and a crisp lager fer-
mentation is there to enjoy, along with a
complementary finish of fruity/floral hop
flavors that craft beer enthusiasts have
been steadily leaning toward.”
Talking about IH033 before it was
named Lórien, Indie Hops cofounder Jim
Solberg said that its attributes are “more
in keeping with new craft-beer consum-
ers. Fewer consumers are into the grassy/
spiciness of those [classic] hops.” In other
words, with aromas and flavors of “citrus
zest, fresh melon, sweet hay, and wild-
flowers, all capped by a cinnamon spice,”
Lórien is not quite like Saaz.
Tale of the Tape: 4–5.5 percent alpha
acids; 6–7 percent beta acids; 1.8–2 ml/100
g total oil.
Availability: Solberg expects to have
a good supply of Lórien through this
summer. Right now, it is available only
directly from Indie Hops (indiehops.com).
“Contracts are available and encouraged,
of course, to help us manage future sup-
ply,” Solberg says. “We’re launching from
about 20 acres split [among] three trial
fields, which is plenty for the start, and
then we’ll try to gauge the reactions and
expand from there.”
MCKENZIE
Noteworthy: McKenzie is the first hop
released by West Coast Hop Breeding,
established in 2016 by six Oregon hop
farms. Their mission is to develop varieties
that will thrive in Oregon’s climate. Breeder
Pat Leavy brought along his own unique
germplasm to jump-start the program.
An endorsement: John Kimmich, found-
er of Vermont’s The Alchemist Brewery,
offered a glowing review of McKenzie af-
ter using it in Skadoosh, a rotating series
of single-hopped IPAs.
“It’s not that often an experimental
hop really makes an impression on me.
… Beautiful tropical fruit comes out of
here,” he says, before pausing to take a
long drink in a video posted on The Al-
chemist’s Facebook page. “Ohhh. When
you drink it, wow, it explodes. Got very
unique flavor to it. Vaguely reminiscent
of that Strata-, kinda Zappa-zone, but not
just. This cool unique thing. Fruity as
hell, like that peach, apricot, stone-fruit
awesomeness.
“This is the kind of hop that … not many
of these really stand up to single-hop. This
has really nice depth to the flavor, aroma,
everything.”
Tale of the Tape: 9–11 percent alpha
acids; 8–9 percent beta acids; 2–3 ml/100
g total oil.
Availability: John I. Haas lists McKenzie
on its website (johnihaas.com), but the
2021 crop is limited. A company website
is under construction, and interested
brewers may reach out through Facebook
(facebook.com/WCHops).
TANGO
Noteworthy: Tango is a grandchild of
Hallertau Tradition, with a little Cascade
in the mix. Used in the kettle, it produces
aroma notes similar to Tradition or Perle.
However, Tango isn’t only a “lager hop.” It
is rich in essential oil and contains some
free thiols. Late additions or dry-hopping
may result in fresher fruit character,
including passion fruit.
What’s equally important are Tango’s
sustainability credentials. It needs less
nitrogen than well-liked varieties that have
been around for decades or centuries, little
to no irrigation, and fewer pesticides; and
Tango yields more kilograms per hectare.
Just for fun: Shortly before the pandemic
shut things down in 2020, hop-industry
members from around the globe were at
the International Hop Growers’ Convention
meeting in Patagonia. One evening over
beers, Walter König, managing director
of the German Society for Hop Research
(GfH), mentioned to Florian Seitz—a farm-
er whose hops many American brewers
use—that GfH planned to release a new
variety soon and it needed a name.
Seitz told him that new varieties such as
Mandarina Bavaria and Hallertau Blanc
were exciting, but the names were boring.
(He said this in German, and his language
may have been a little more colorful.) Seitz
suggested naming them after dances that
reflect the character of the hops. That’s
how Tango got its name.
 Tale of the Tape: 9–12 percent alpha
acids; 6–10 percent beta acids; 2–4 ml/100
g total oil.
Availability: The first year for a full harvest
will be 2022, but most vendors who sell Ger-
man varieties have a limited supply of Tango.

AMIRA
Noteworthy: Amira is the first hop from
the German hop-growers cooperative HVG
(or Hopfenverwertungsgenossenschaft,
for short) to receive European Union plant
variety rights. It is similar to Perle—herbal
with a spicy note. Like Tango, Amira is
bred for sustainability, with strong agro-
nomic attributes, including excellent yield.
Tale of the Tape: 11 percent alpha acids;
1.9 ml/100 g essential oil.
Availability: A limited supply is expected
to be available after the 2022 harvest.

IN THE PIPELINE
“Craft brewers love numbers hops,” says
Josef Patzak, managing director of the
Czech Hop Research Institute. Only a few
from thousands of numbered experimen-
tals in test plots—some already available
to brewers, others not—will end up with
names, but it is likely that both Hopstein-
er and the Hop Breeding Company (HBC)
will put a name to a number in 2022,
making the hop more widely available.

Hopsteiner
The global grower/supplier lists four
numbered hops on its website, but once
the inventories of two of them (10461 and
13459) are gone, there will be no more of
either. Taken out of the ground after the
2021 harvest, they’re a reminder of how
hard it is to make the final cut. Of course,
there are more waiting in the wings.
In December, Main & Mill Brewing in
Festus, Missouri, made four single-hop
beers with three of the newcomers (17701,
16660, and 15559) and included a QR code
on the cans, soliciting consumer feedback.
“It was a cool project,” says Doug Wilson,
Hopsteiner’s director of sales and marketing, Hop Breeding Company with Yakima Chief Ranches (YCR)—has
who sifted through more than 150 respons- HBC has released a new variety each of multiple fans.
es. Main & Mill used hops from a mature the past five even-numbered years, start- Consider HBC 630. Jason Perrault,
17701 field in one beer and a baby 17701 field ing in 2012. In order, they’ve been Mosaic, CEO and hop breeder at YCR, has spoken
in the other. The beer from the mature 17701 Ekuanot, Pahto, Loral, and Talus. Each fondly about it for several years. Its raspber-
field was clearly the favorite of the four. It is adds something different to the HBC ry-and-cherry candy aroma reminds him
phenotypically unique, says Nicholi Pitra, portfolio, and the company would not be of when his grandfather would carry candy
lead scientist of variety development, and considering adding a new name in 2022 if in his shirt pocket, handing it out to eager
contains 62 percent “other compounds,” it did not provide something unique. grandchildren. “You could make a case” for
meaning outside the basic ones listed in That presents one challenge. Another giving it a name, he says. “It has value. But
an analysis of essential oil. The result is an challenge is that each of the six HBC while I do like the hop, we have other great
aroma profile that includes juicy fruit, pine- experimentals listed on the website of fruity hops. What’s the value proposition
apple, more citrus, and stone fruit. John I. Haas—a partner in HBC, along here? There’s always that comparison.”
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HOPS INSIDER
LET’S GO, LET’S
SHOW, LET’S RODEO:
LESSONS IN FRESH
HOPPING
Fresh-hopped beers are becoming an increasingly viable
option for breweries located far from harvest. Here are
lessons from some wet-hop veterans on using the fresh,
the green, and the unkilned. BY STAN HIERONYMUS

NO BREWERY IS AS COMMITTED to fresh-hop
season as Single Hill Brewing in Yakima,
Washington, which made 15 fresh-hopped
beers during the 2021 harvest. And there
are few who brew as many different
beers with hops straight from the farm as
Cloudburst Brewing in Seattle—or even
Pinthouse Brewing, 2,000 miles away in
Austin.
To brewers outside the Pacific North-
west, these might appear to be “don’t
try this at home” exercises. After all, as
Cloudburst founder Steve Luke says, these
are expensive beers to make. “If you’re not
having fun and learning something, it is a
lot of work,” he says.
Weston Shepherd, head of production
at Mast Landing Brewing in Westbrook,
“SINCE 2020, WE’VE COMMITTED TO USING ONLY
JUST-HARVESTED, CURRENT-CROP-YEAR HOPS IN ALL
OUR FRESH-HOP [BEERS], FOR THE WET AND DRY CONES.
Maine, welcomes that work. “These are
some of my personal favorites,” he says.
Mast Landing typically brews one fresh-
hopped beer each year. “I’d love to expand …
as much as the market can consume them.”
Single Hill, Cloudburst, and Pinthouse
provide possible road maps to where
Shepherd—and any other brewers who
want to embrace fresh-hopped beers more
fully—might like to go.
FIRST, WHY BOTHER?
Because these beers are fun.
Nine of the 15 fresh-hopped beers that
Single Hill brewed in 2021 were collabora-
tions. Specifically, they sprang from three
different collaborations for their annual
Fresh Hop Rodeo.
For each Rodeo collaboration, three
brewers agree on a 15-barrel batch of base
beer, brewed with unkilned hops. They then
divide that batch into three five-barrel fer-
mentation tanks; each brewer chooses which
hops to use post-boil and when to add them.
Single Hill serves those differently
hopped beers, and patrons vote on their
favorites. The winner from each of three
rounds advances to the finals, to be served
alongside the other two winners, and the
customers vote for the champion.
Because they build relationships.
Since opening in 2018, Single Hill has
become a gathering place for brewers who
come to Yakima for hop selection. But
those brewers are not their most import-
ant customers. By putting the focus on
farms and farmers, Single Hill is helping
to build long-term relationships. “We
want to be the place where farmers [and]
people who work in the industry want to
come have a beer,” says Zach Turner, head
brewer and general manager.
PHOTO: ANDREW PYTEL

THIS MEANS OUR BEERS ALL HAVE THE CHARACTER OF THE Because, once again, they are fun.
HARVEST AS IT’S HAPPENING, AND THEIR FLAVORS CHANGE “It’s a passion project,” says Pinthouse
ACROSS HARVEST AS THE HOP VARIETIES CHANGE.” brewmaster Joe Mohrfeld. “We [brewers]

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 Single Hill takes freshly
kilned whole-cone hops and
mills their own pellets so
that they can dry-hop their
fresh-hop beers with pellets
from the new crop year.

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MOHRFELD IS A FAN OF FRESHLY KILNED CONES.
HE AND HIS TEAM WILL BUY A 200-POUND BALE,
CUT IT UP, AND SHIP IT BACK TO AUSTIN IN 40- OR
50-POUND BOXES. THEY WILL BREW WITH SOME
OF THOSE HOPS IMMEDIATELY, WHILE OTHERS ARE
FROZEN FOR FUTURE USE.
all love them. There is a unique charac-
ter you get only once a year. It gives us a
chance to flex our [brewing] muscles, to
use different processes than we do the rest
of the year.”
SECOND, ABOUT THE
NOMENCLATURE…
When freshly picked, cones contain about
80 percent water. These may be called
“wet hops” or “fresh hops.” After being
dried in a kiln, they retain only 10 percent
of that moisture. Depending on how
quickly they are used, some call them
“fresh hops.” Discussions between those
who think this is a good idea and those
who disagree are not always pleasant.
In this article, “fresh-hopped” refers to
beers made with unkilned and/or freshly
kilned hops. I use “unkilned hops” and
82 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
“wet hops” interchangeably, and I modify
“kilned” hops to indicate their freshness,
as appropriate. Be alert.
LOCALE/SEASONALITY I
Single Hill’s Energy Cone IPA, brewed with
six varieties from six farms and eight dif-
ferent lots, won best of show at the Yakima
Fresh Hop Ale Festival, then gold at the
Great American Beer Festival. Not every one
of their fresh-hopped beers includes quite as
many different hops, but most have several.
“The complexity they get, it’s unrivaled,”
says Luke at Cloudburst. “Let’s highlight
this farm, this variety.”
Single Hill’s Turner recently came across
the recipes for what he thinks were the
first two wet-hop homebrewed beers he
made with homegrown Nugget in 2005.
He hopped the ESB with additions at 60,
LEFT AND OPPOSITE » You may want to opt for the damage
waiver on your rental car if you follow the Pinthouse method
of brewing with freshly kilned hops. After transporting in
the minivan, they cut the bale into chunks, boxed them, and
shipped them back to the brewery in Austin, Texas.
25, five, and two minutes left in the boil.
“Not how I’d use them today,” he says.
“Since 2020, we’ve committed to using
only just-harvested, current-crop-year hops
in all our fresh-hop [beers], for the wet and
dry cones,” he says. Single Hill brewers—
and, often, those with whom they’re collab-
orating—visit a farm to pick up unkilned
hops available on a brew day, along with
freshly kilned cones, which they take back
to the brewery to make into pellets on their
own mill. They then use those either on
the hot side or for dry hopping.
“This means our beers all have the char-
acter of the harvest as it’s happening, and
their flavors change across harvest as the
hop varieties change,” Turner says.
LOGISTICS I (UP CLOSE)
Heading into Cloudburst’s seventh fresh-
hop season, Luke has found a rhythm.
“We started with chasing varieties.” Now,
he says, “We brew every Wednesday and
Friday and go with what is available.”
He works with more than a half-dozen
farmers semi-regularly, checking in with
them to see what varieties will be ready.
Typically, about 80 percent of Cloudburst’s
fresh-hopped beers are single-hopped—
but if inviting varieties are available at the
same time, he will use them.
Cloudburst is in Seattle, about 140 miles
northwest of Yakima. Early on, Luke
would visit a farm to pick up unkilned
hops, then hurry back to Seattle to brew
that day. He and one other brewer are the
only ones who work on the hot side; tim-
ing a batch so that the hops arrived at just
the right time was always a challenge.
These days, he visits farms the day
before, giving him time to “sit down at
a table, to see how their world is doing.”
Instead of collecting the hops in brown
garbage bags, which expedites decompo-
sition, he uses breathable mesh bags. He’s
happy with the amount of decay that oc-
curs overnight in the walk-in cooler before
he brews with the still-wet hops.
“They present this chewy, vegetal com-
ponent I associate with wet hops,” he says.
“It sounds unpleasant. You don’t want
pure vegetal. I have a hard time articulat-
ing it—chewy.”
Cloudburst uses wet hops only on the
hot side, making multiple additions.
“These beers are so fragile,” he says.
“They might smell fantastic the first week,
but after that ...” He adds kilned hops, in
various forms, for dry hopping. “We need
that aroma to pull you into the flavor.”
 LOCALE/SEASONALITY II He is a fan of freshly kilned cones. He “They make really great beer ... they are
The Hop Yard, which occupies 13 acres on has several “go-to farms” where he knows so well preserved,” Cloudburst’s Luke says.
a much larger family farm in Maine, sold he will select particular varieties—for The process for brewing with them is the
five varieties of unkilned hops last year. instance, he always buys Mosaic from same as with other unkilned hops. Usage
Their customers were 50 breweries from Perrault Farms. He and his team will buy is also the same; three to six times more
five states, compared to just a handful four a 200-pound bale, cut it up, and ship it than dried, whole-leaf hops or T-90 pellets.
years ago. Those unkilned hops at harvest back to Austin in 40- or 50-pound boxes. Frozen Fresh Hops “present an oppor-
time account for more than half of sales. They will brew with some of those hops tunity to delight versus an opportunity
“We’re having a lot of fun with it,” says immediately, while others are frozen for to disappoint,” says Spencer Tielkemeier
sales manager Terry Peterson. The brew- future use. at Yakima Chief. He’s referring to the
ers visit the farm to pick up their hops, pet “We’ll brew a couple of [fresh-hopped] challenges that the hop supplier faced
the goats, run fresh hops from the bine, batches in the spring,” Mohrfeld says. “At for years when delivering 200 or more
and admire the 1970s German picker. Al- some point people will be burned out, but pounds of still-wet hops thousands
though the number of varieties is limited, they are ready for them again in the spring.” of miles away on a specific brew day.
about a third of the breweries use more Logistics became simpler last year when Shipped frozen, Frozen Fresh Hops must
than one in a fresh-hopped beer. Yakima Chief Hops introduced Frozen be stored frozen until they are used.
For The Hop Yard, “it’s about building Fresh Hops. They are unkilned, whole- Yakima Chief shipped five varieties, includ-
relationships with brewers.” For the brew- cone hops, produced using the individual- ing Citra and Mosaic, nationally and interna-
ers, “it’s a good story to tell in your tasting ly quick-frozen (IQF) technology also used tionally after the 2021 harvest. The company
room, on your cans.” for fruits and vegetables. is currently finalizing plans for 2022.
Mast Landing, located only minutes
away from The Hop Yard, put a picture
of one of the farm’s goats on cans of Lola,
its fresh-hopped beer made with Cascade.
The brewery hasn’t released a fresh-hopped
beer every year, but marketing director
Gene Buonaccorsi expects that they will,
going forward. “It’s heavily focused on the
local, on farms. That story resonates,” he
says. “And it’s a pretty cool way to bring
people into the brewing process.”
Shepherd, the head of production, previ-
ously worked at Surly Brewing in Minnesota
before joining Mast Landing in 2021. At Sur-
ly, he used unkilned hops shipped overnight
from Washington. The proximity of Mast
Landing to The Hop Yard appeals to him—
but no more than Maine itself does.
“What excites me is the seasonality,” he
says, drawing an analogy between hops
and fiddleheads, a springtime delicacy
in Maine. “There are few things that are
truly seasonal. For the most part, you can
only make these [beers] for a short period
of time.”

LOGISTICS II (FROM A DISTANCE)

Several hop suppliers and farms in the
Northwest work with brewers who don’t
have access to local hops or those who
want to supplement whatever is available
locally. Most often, they’ll send unkilned
hops overnight, although Oregon’s Indie
Hops has a same-day program available to
PHOTOS: COURTESY PINTHOUSE

a limited number of destinations.

Brewing with wet hops requires consid-
erable planning. “We couldn’t just hold a
tank waiting for fresh hops to show up,”
says Pinthouse’s Mohrfeld, in Austin.
“The pick windows vary every year.”
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HOPS INSIDER

WHAT’S NEW,
POST-CBC
As usual, the recent Craft Brewers Conference was a chance for hop suppliers
to unveil new products and projects relevant to brewers—pelletized wet
hops, concentrated Nelson Sauvin, the arrival of Luminosa, the hop harvests
good word of mouth, a lot of positive
feedback,” Pierce says.
Meanwhile, here are the essential details:
Down Under, and more. BY STAN HIERONYMUS ▪ The pellets are made from Fresh Frozen
Hops, a product that YCH introduced
last year. Those are unkilned, whole-
THE NEWEST PELLETS FROM YAKIMA them is unkilned (or wet) hops in a con- cone hops, produced using the indi-
Chief Hops (YCH), introduced without centrated pellet form. vidually quick-frozen (IQF) technology
fanfare during the Craft Brewers Confer- For now, YCH is calling them YCH 301 also used for fruits and vegetables. YCH
ence (CBC) in Minneapolis, don’t look Trial. “We want customers to trial with transforms the frozen hops into concen-
like any others produced during the past us,” says Bryan Pierce, chief sales and trated lupulin pellets using the patented
50 years. They are neon green, almost marketing officer. cryogenic hop-processing technology the
glowing. Although they won’t make a beer The first breweries to trial the company introduced in 2017.
look equally radioactive, they will deliver pellets—including Pinthouse—signed ▪ The process preserves odor compounds
odor compounds usually lost during the a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). that may be destroyed as hops are dried.
kilning process. However, YCH has now removed the “They are 20 minutes off the bine,” Pierce
“They will change the way people think NDA, and the pellets are available to all says. “The hottest thing they’ve seen is
about wet hops,” says Joe Mohrfeld, brew- their customers. Don’t be surprised to the hottest day in Yakima.” The difference
master at Pinthouse Brewing in Austin. see them get a permanent name before was obvious in an IPA that Single Hill
That’s because the easiest way to describe the 2022 harvest. “There’s already some Brewing in Yakima made called Need
To Know (the cans identify it as a “Top
Secret IPA” and include the tagline “If
you have to ask…”). That beer uses YCH
THEY ARE NEON GREEN, ALMOST GLOWING. ALTHOUGH 301 Trial-Simcoe, and the intense aroma
includes the usual Simcoe qualities—
THEY WON’T MAKE A BEER LOOK EQUALLY RADIOACTIVE,
PHOTO: © BREWERS ASSOCIATION

citrus, pine resin, stone fruit, the good

THEY WILL DELIVER ODOR COMPOUNDS USUALLY LOST dank—but also a surprising melon note.
DURING THE KILNING PROCESS. “THEY WILL CHANGE “Jolly Ranchers,” Pierce says.
▪ T hese pellets allow brewers to use hops
THE WAY PEOPLE THINK ABOUT WET HOPS,” SAYS JOE picked in different harvest windows.
MOHRFELD, BREWMASTER AT PINTHOUSE BREWING. Most often, particularly outside the

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American Northwest, fresh-hop beers
are made with a single cultivar. (For
more about fresh-hop beers, see “Let’s
Go, Let’s Show, Let’s Rodeo: Lessons in
Fresh Hopping,” page 80). Now, brewers
can more easily blend varieties to create
more complex hop aromas and flavors.
The pellets also make it practical to dry
hop with unkilned hops. (Some brewers
already do this with “wet hops,” but
results have been mixed.)
▪ “This brings the barrier to entry way,
way down,” says Spencer Tielkemeier,
YCH’s director for North American
sales. Most small breweries are de-
signed to use pellets rather than whole
cones. In addition, brewers need to jam
three to six times more unkilned hops,
compared to T-90 pellets, into whatever
vessel they are using to make “wet-hop”
beers. “For this, it is more like two-to-
one, and I could see us [recommend-
ing] one-to-one,” Pierce says.
▪ There are logistical challenges. The pel-
lets must be stored well below freezing,
between 0°F and 14°F (–18°C and –10°C).
If held that cold, they can be kept for
months or perhaps longer, but otherwise
they should be used within 48 hours.
YCH ships them using next-day air and
suggests brewing with them upon arrival.
▪ Trial versions of 2021 harvest Azacca,
Cascade, Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe are
currently available in 11-pound (5 kg) pack-
ages and cost $22.50 per pound. YCH will
add more varieties, almost certainly in-
cluding Centennial, after the 2022 harvest.
Contracting is especially important with
Fresh Frozen Hops and YCH 301 Trial.
“Once we are past [harvest,] we only have
the volume that is made,” Pierce says.
Susan Wheeler
86 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
PRODUCTION OF GALAXY GREW 3.5 PERCENT, TO ABOUT
2.2 MILLION POUNDS. BY COMPARISON, FARMERS IN
THE U.S. NORTHWEST HARVESTED ALMOST A MILLION
MORE POUNDS OF EL DORADO, THE 10TH MOST-GROWN
AMERICAN HOP. GALAXY ACCOUNTS FOR 61 PERCENT OF
AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION. GROWERS HARVESTED ABOUT
638,000 POUNDS OF VIC SECRET, UP 24.9 PERCENT.
Meanwhile, those developments from
YCH were only some of the hop-centric
news to be found on the trade-show floor
at CBC. Read on for more.
CONCENTRATED NELSON SAUVIN
One piece of news was the announcement
that Crosby Hops and New Zealand’s Hop
Revolution have begun a distribution part-
nership for the United States. They also
acknowledged that they will form a joint
venture in Australia.
What does that mean, right now, for
American brewers?
For starters, the deal makes concentrated
Nelson Sauvin pellets available for the first
time because Crosby also rolled out its CGX
Lupulin Pellets at CBC. Hop Revolution’s
Nelson Sauvin is among the six varieties—
along with Strata, El Dorado, Meridian,
Belma, and Nugget—available now.
The foundation for the partnership goes
back to 2017, when Susan Wheeler, the
plant scientist who founded Hop Revolu-
tion along with her husband, Kerry Skilton,
visited the Crosby farm in Oregon. “So
much energy and passion,” says Blake
Crosby, CEO of Crosby Hops. “You meet a
lot of people with energy and passion, and
nothing happens.”
In 2019, Wheeler and Hop Revolution
CEO Jason Judkins spent three months in
the United States learning all they could
about the hops industry, meeting with
Crosby at CBC, and later visiting the farm
again. Crosby, who since has been to see
the Hop Revolution farm in Tapawera,
New Zealand, understood then that, in
this case, something was happening.
Hop Revolution built its business on
making direct contact with brewers, both
on the farm and in their breweries. After
this most recent CBC in Minneapolis,
Wheeler and Judkins were headed to
visit breweries around the United States.
Those relationships won’t change with the
deal for Crosby Hops to store and process
hops as well as fulfill orders. Customers
may place orders with Crosby sales staff
or work directly with Hop Revolution.
“You can order any of these hops on the
[Crosby] portal. We don’t have to establish
our own portal,” Judkins says. “This still
gives [brewers] a direct connection to the
farm.”
SORACHI ACE ANNOUNCES BIRTH
OF A DAUGHTER
In 2002, Darren Gamache of Virgil
Gamache Farms spotted Sorachi Ace
in the germplasm repository at Prosser,
Washington, and he requested roots to
begin growing the Japanese-bred hop.
Its fame may have peaked in 2009, when
Brooklyn Brewery released a saison it
simply called Brooklyn Sorachi Ace.
Its aroma can be divisive. Some drinkers
are attracted to its various shades of lem-
on, including wood polish, pithy fruit, and
lemongrass. Others are put off by a whiff
of dill. “I always liked the dill,” Gamache
says. “That’s why I chose it.”
Researchers at Sapporo in Japan found
that “a unique volatile compound, geranic
acid, was present at a significant level only
in test beer brewed with the Sorachi Ace
hop. Furthermore, sensory evaluation
techniques revealed that geranic acid has
unique characteristics. This compound
is not odor-active but functions as an en-
hancer for hop-derived terpenoids, not only
monoterpene alcohols but also terpene
hydrocarbons, at sub-threshold levels.”
In addition, Sorachi Ace is high in bound
3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol (3SHol), one of at least
41 polyfunctional thiols in hops. It takes the
right yeast to free bound 3SHol, and then
the compound may add grapefruit/rhu-
barb/passion-fruit aroma to beer.
Now Sorachi Ace has a daughter, which
Oregon-based Indie Hops has named
PHOTO: STAN HIERONYMUS
Luminosa and introduced at CBC. Lumino-
sa seems to have inherited some of those
same characteristics. It still smells of citrus,
especially lemon; there are also notes of
berries and mango. Notably, there is no

hint of dill on the rub. Nor were there any
dill notes detected in a 7.5 percent ABV
hazy Luminosa IPA, brewed by St. Paul’s
BlackStack Brewing and poured in its
taproom during CBC.
This year, Oregon farmers will harvest
about 30 acres of Luminosa.
PHOTO: COURTESY INDIE HOPS
AN ALPHA BEAST
Hopsteiner poured beers brewed with
new (and possible future) aroma varieties
at its CBC booth. However, its recently
named high-alpha hop may be just as im-
Luminosa
portant going forward. It is called Helios,
for the god of the sun in Greek mythology.
“It is said that Helios would ride his
chariot across the sky from east to west
bringing forth day and night to those
on earth,” Hopsteiner’s news release
says. “Because of its awesome size and
aggressive growth, Helios is dubbed the
charioteer of the trellis, blocking out the
sun as it stretches toward the sky. When
walking through the trellised fields under
Helios, it can leave an impression of
crossing from day to night.”
Helios contains 18–21 percent alpha
acids, 3.5–4.5 percent beta acids, 1.5–2
ml/100g total oil, and—equally import-
ant—it yields 3,300 to 3,600 pounds (16.5
to 18 bales) per acre. In addition, the hop
is resistant to both downy and powdery
mildew, meaning the plant needs to be
sprayed less. Quite simply, it requires
fewer resource to produce each kilogram
of alpha acids.
AIN’T NO SUNSHINE DOWN
UNDER
Hop farmers in both Australia and New
Zealand suspect lack of sunshine nega-
tively impacted yields during the recent
harvests there.
Although production increased by 8.4
percent to 3.6 million pounds in Australia,
that did not match increased acreage (20.1
percent). Hop Products Australia (HPA) re-
ports conditions were much different in its
two growing regions, with an excess of rain
on its Victorian farms and below-average
rainfall through the winter and spring on
its Tasmanian farm, followed by above-av-
erage temperatures through the spring and
summer. Finally, “both growing regions
experienced record low levels of solar radi-
ation, continuing a downward trend for the
third consecutive year.”
Production of Galaxy grew 3.5 percent, to
about 2.2 million pounds. By comparison,
farmers in the U.S. Northwest harvested al-
most a million more pounds of El Dorado,
the 10th most-grown American hop. Galaxy
accounts for 61 percent of Australian pro-
duction. Growers harvested about 638,000
pounds of Vic Secret, up 24.9 percent.
Newcomer Eclipse, introduced last year,
is already the fourth-biggest hop, yielding
about 207,000 pounds. HPA predicts that
will almost double by 2024.
New Zealand Hops, the cooperative of
growers who produce the bulk of hops in
New Zealand, has not reported harvest
totals, but yields were significantly lower
than anticipated before harvest, particu-
larly for flagship varieties such as Nelson
Sauvin and Motueka.
“These varieties are each 30 percent
down on estimated volumes prior to the
harvest,” the New Zealand Hops website
says. “The total 2022 harvested volume
was approximately 22 percent down on
the estimated volume based on previous
average yields. Exact reasons are not
known at this stage but could potentially
be due to limited sunlight hours during
one period of sustained rain.”
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CASE STUDY
MAPLEWOOD
BREWERY &
DISTILLERY
This hybrid brewery and distillery is igniting growth with a second location while
staying true to the quality-focused principles that lit its spark. BY KATE BERNOT
FOR CRAFT BREWERIES, SIZE IS RELATIVE.
With 19,700 barrels of production in 2021,
Chicago’s Maplewood Brewery & Distillery
estimates it is the third or fourth largest craft
brewery in Illinois. With that status comes
pride but also slight discomfort, like a teen-
age boy growing into his father’s jacket.
Growth can fund a more stable business
that produces better beer. However, if it’s not
managed properly, it can also alienate the
brewery from local drinkers and constrain
experimentation. For eight years, Maple-
wood has successfully threaded the needle.
“People are always surprised when we
tell them how big we are,” says Adam
Smith, Maplewood’s special projects lead.
“We try to keep that neighborhood vibe.”
The next year will continue to test that
balance, as Maplewood settles into its
second location, a larger production and
MAPLEWOOD LAUNCHED ITS ROTATING LAGER SERIES
LAST YEAR AS “SEASONAL LAGERS,” WITH EACH BEER
AVAILABLE FOR ABOUT TWO MONTHS. THE BENEFITS
ARE TWOFOLD: ANTICIPATION FOR THE NEXT INSTALL-
MENT INVITES FASTER SALES PULL-THROUGH (KEEP-
ING BEER FRESH), AND THE SEASONAL ASPECT HELPS
EXPLAIN DRINKING OCCASIONS FOR LAGER STYLES
THAT COULD BE LESS FAMILIAR TO SOME DRINKERS.
88 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
taproom space not too distant from its
current space in the city’s Logan Square
neighborhood. Maplewood has been
contracting out about 90 percent of its
production, and this expansion will allow
them to bring that back in-house. It will
also help their distillery side expand its
aged-spirits program. Founding brewer
and CEO Adam Cieslak says the aim is to
stay creative, locally relevant, and nimble,
while also selling the volume that allows
reinvestment in the business.
“There’s a focus on continually doing
smaller releases, consistently moving along
and being contemporary, but you need to
produce at scale if you want to grow,” Cieslak
says. “It’s balancing those two things.”
The simplicity of the mission statement
belies the expertise it will require: to com-
bine the best of a local taproom, a region-
ally distributing brewery, and a distillery
under two roofs. Fortunately, Maplewood
has established a blueprint.
KEEPING IT FRESH
Over the past two years, Maplewood has
seen a trend toward more flagships and
familiar brands. However, die-hard craft
drinkers—not to mention many brewers—
still get a kick out of one-off releases. For
Maplewood, the trick has been slotting in
those limited beers while maintaining 100-
to 400-barrel batches of its flagships, such as
Juice Pants IPA, Son of Juice IPA, Fat Pug
Oatmeal Milk Stout, and Charlatan Pale Ale.
“People like one-offs,” Cieslak says.
“They like some new, crazy hop that we
brew with one time. But we have to be
able to turn and fill up a couple hundred
barrels with Son of Juice because a more
regular beer drinker wants to go to the
store and pick up what they like.”
There’s a middle ground: Maplewood also
has found success with one-off variants of
its core beers. These include a small-batch,
Cashmere-and-Saaz dry-hopped version of
flagship Pulaski Pils brewed for the state’s
Casimir Pulaski Day (and named, naturally,
PHOTOS: ASH PATINO/GENERIC BRAND HUMAN
Cashmere Pulaski). Not only do these one-
offs provide variety in the brewery’s lineup,
but they also subtly remind drinkers about
Maplewood’s flagships.
The brewery has found another way to
hold drinkers’ interest while still main-
taining a predictable schedule for brewers,
sales staff, and retail partners. Led by
sales director Brittany Reitz, Maplewood
 FROM TOP » Adam Smith,
Adam Cieslak, and Roger
Cuzelis

BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 89
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launched its rotating lager series last year
as “seasonal lagers,” with each beer avail-
able for about two months. The benefits
are twofold: Anticipation for the next in-
stallment invites faster sales pull-through
(keeping beer fresh), and the seasonal
aspect helps explain drinking occasions
for lager styles that could be less familiar
to some drinkers.
“That first 50-degree day, you’re ready
for the doppelbock. When it’s 80 degrees,
you’re ready for the helles,” says head brew-
er Roger Cuzelis. “Some of the lagers are
German styles that might be intimidating
for new drinkers, but you’re telling them
it’s seasonal, and here’s how to drink it.”
WHEN BIGGER IS BETTER
While small-batch beers occupy drink-
ers’ short attention spans, it’s 400-barrel
batches of flagships that pay the bills for
Maplewood. And nothing has made a
bigger difference for the quality of those
core beers than the relationships with sup-
pliers that the company has established
and developed over time.
A few years ago, the brewery was
contracting for a few hundred pounds of
certain hops per order. Today, it’s contract-
ing for 4,000 or 5,000 pounds from a single
lot. That tight relationship with a supplier,
Cieslak says, has been the biggest factor in
ensuring consistent, high-quality batches
of its core beers. He mentions receiving
frequent Zoom calls from one of the brew-
ery’s suppliers, a 75-year-old hop farmer
in New Zealand. The brewery’s trusted
label-company representative also makes it
a point to check the press during printing
runs, to ensure their labels successfully
achieve a desired look and feel. During one
such run, the rep noticed print issues and
proactively adjusted the press, and then
overnighted the corrected labels to the
brewery—all without being asked.
Time and growth also are paying off when
it comes to acquiring barrels from brokers.
This is especially relevant given that Cuzelis
THE PUBLICAN ALMOST ALWAYS HAS A DRAFT OR
CANNED MAPLEWOOD BEER ON ITS TIGHTLY CURATED
LIST. “IT’S A FUN TALKING POINT FOR THE SERVERS TO
SAY IT’S NOT JUST A BREWERY BUT A DISTILLERY ALL
UNDER THE SAME ROOF, AND I THINK THAT SPARKS
INTEREST FOR CUSTOMERS AS WELL,” SAYS AARON
PECK, THE PUBLICAN’S BEER AND WINE BUYER.
90 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
has noticed a growing preference among
stout drinkers for sought-after bourbon
barrels rather than a slew of adjuncts.
“Instead of coconut, somebody would
rather have an old Pappy or Elijah Craig
barrel,” he says. “Being able to get those
barrels has been all about relation-
ship-building.”
Cuzelis says he’s eager for the expansion
into a second location, which will bring the
portion of brewing that Maplewood has
outsourced to its contract brewing partners
back under his watchful eyes. While those
brewers have done a good job, he says,
nothing can replace the ability to have his
own brewers along for every step of the
process. “I’d love to go to a tank and do a
quality run on every single batch,” he says.
This emphasis on quality is characteristic
of Maplewood’s employees, who bring the
topic up frequently in conversation, pointing
to it like a north star. If someone had never
visited the taproom but asked a friend who
had what it was like, Cieslak says he hopes
the friend would say, “They had something
for me, and it was damn well made.”
A focus on quality—not just of beer but
also of taproom experience, label art, even
social-media posts—is fundamentally im-
portant, especially for small breweries that
cannot afford to lose fans and customers.
“You never know what’s going to turn
somebody off,” Cieslak says.
So far, Maplewood has earned a reputa-
tion for firing on all cylinders, says Chalon-
da White, the Chicago-based writer behind
Afro.Beer.Chick, and co-host of The Neat
Pour, a bourbon-focused podcast. “The
taproom itself, it’s just a really chill vibe,”
she says. “They have good beer, they have
good cocktails, they have good spirits.
“That’s why I say it’s a destination brewery
in Chicago.”
BEER-FUNDED BARRELS
Distilling was always part of the plan for
Maplewood, though production and time
constraints on that side of the business
meant the company became better known
for its beer than its spirits, at least initially.
“The business profit is primarily beer,”
Cieslak says. “Our beer production was
almost an investment made to fund the
barrels.”
Without considerable space for bar-
rels until now, Cieslak says, it’s been “a
snail’s pace to growth” for the spirits side.
Maplewood’s second location allows more
aging space, with the goal of making Ma-
plewood’s whiskies available year-round.
The distillery side—powered by a 250-liter
still—is currently in growth mode, as they
ramp up production of spirits that include
Fat Pug American Malt Whiskey, Rye to
Perdition Rye Whiskey, and Spruce Gin,
the latter of which is made with Colorado
spruce tips and other botanicals. A greater
marketing push behind a line of canned,
ready-to-drink cocktails they launched in
2021 also is planned for this summer.
Already, however, the ability to both distill
and brew has paid dividends in terms of
customer interest in Maplewood. The Pub-
lican, one of the first restaurants in Chica-
go to champion the simpatico relationship
between craft beer and seasonal American
food, almost always has a draft or canned
Maplewood beer on its tightly curated list.
“It’s a fun talking point for the servers to
say it’s not just a brewery but a distillery all
under the same roof, and I think that sparks
interest for customers as well,” says Aaron
Peck, The Publican’s beer and wine buyer.
That duality was behind Peck’s decision
to partner with Maplewood last year to
host not only a beer dinner but also a beer-
and-cocktail pairing dinner at The Publi-
can. The kitchen even used the brewery’s
hops in bread recipes and the distillery’s
gin for curing salmon. The event sold out
the entire restaurant.
“A straight-up beer-pairing dinner is
maybe boring; everyone’s done that for
so long,” Peck says. “But this was well
received by all the guests who came in.”
As Maplewood plans ambitiously for
more spirits and beer production, it aims
to hold fast to the scrappy, small-brewery
obsession with every detail. While fore-
casting gets longer, orders get larger, and
the financial stakes become higher, the
team again looks to its guiding principle:
quality above all.
“It’s important to get our beers into the
bigger shops and markets because that
moves a lot of volume. And sometimes
it’s hard to decide what that mass market
wants,” Smith says. “But it turns out, well-
made beer usually wins.”
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
LEFT: In the words of
Chalonda White, the
Maplewood taproom offers
a “really chill vibe”; the
250-liter still will see more
use when a new facility
allows for more barrel
storage; barrels are stacked
in every available space
at the brewery; their urban
location means space is at
a premium in the original
brewery and cellar.

BREWINGINDUSTRYGUIDE.COM // 91
 CRAFT
BREWING
INDUSTRY
GUIDE 2022 SUMMER

CASE STUDY

FOX FARM
BREWERY
In rural New England, FOX FARM BREWERY is sticking to its winning formula:
Create a peaceful, welcoming customer experience and studiously make
the kinds of traditional beers that the team likes best. BY COURTNEY ISEMAN
SINCE OPENING IN MAY 2017 in Salem,
Connecticut, Fox Farm Brewery has
known where it wants to place its bets: not
on trends, but on what the team loves to
make and drink.
They started out mainly brewing lagers,
mixed-fermentation farmhouse ales, and
hop-forward ales, and cofounder Zack
Adams says little has changed since then.
In a region often associated with hazy
IPAs, Fox Farm has carved out a niche as a
destination for traditional European styles.
“Just about all brewers making traditional
European styles … would probably say the
same thing,” Adams says. “They make
them because they love them and want to
drink them. We put a lot of faith—perhaps
too much—in the fact that if we enjoy
those classic styles, and peers we really
trust also enjoy them, the average consum-
er will come around.” And come around
they did. While Adams says that many
IPA-loving craft drinkers “might not be
there yet,” he says that more people seem
to care than just five years ago—a sign that
they were right to trust their instincts.
“STYLES ROOTED IN OLD WORLD CULTURES, WITH DEEP
If you visit the brewery’s pastoral farm-
house location on a weekend, you’ll find
it hopping with local families alongside
dedicated beer fans, some of whom have
traveled far for an altbier or smoked dop-
pelbock. Canned beers such as Gather, a
German-style pilsner, show up in gushing
Instagram posts from regions far outside
where Fox Farm distributes in New
England, demonstrating the brewery’s
reputation among those who appreciate
more traditional styles in an age of #ISO
hazies and barrel-aged pastry stouts.
Fox Farm manager Dave Adams—
Zack’s brother—says the team doesn’t in-
tentionally chase that cachet. All energy is
devoted to brewing and to the customers
in front of them at any given time, “cher-
ishing them for giving us the opportunity
to serve them our beer.”
“INHERENTLY AUTHENTIC”
Becoming a brewery recognized far out-
side of Connecticut wasn’t a goal of Fox
Farm cofounders Zack and Laura Adams.
Yet they’ve gotten there by emphasizing
quality, avoiding shortcuts, valuing their
customers’ experience, and eschewing
fickle trends. In Zack’s view, that embrace
of the classics—and the beers they love to
drink—is what appeals to their customers.
“They can spot trend-chasing and mar-
keting gimmicks a mile away,” he says.
“Not that all new innovations in beer lack
substance, but those styles rooted in Old
World cultures, with deep traditions and
long histories, are inherently authentic.
If a brewer respects those beers and tells
their stories properly, it resonates with
people, and they appreciate it. There [are]
a lot of drinkers [who] want to explore and
learn about the world of beer outside of
the lens of what’s currently popular.”
Em Sauter—the cartoonist, educator, and
author behind Pints and Panels—also works
at Fox Farm’s taproom part-time. She says
that before Zack brewed a rauchbier, he took
a trip to Bamberg to taste them at the source.
That dedication also has extended to install-
ing two horizontal lagering tanks and adding
a Lukr side-pull tap, Sauter says, when the
brewery “got serious about Czech styles.”
That dedication to lagers and classic
styles also coincides with growing de-
mand, says Matt Osgood, a New England–
based journalist who’s written about Fox
Farm for other publications. “It doesn’t
hurt that Fox Farm does traditional styles
well—which is due to their commitment
to doing the styles with historical accura-
cy—but I think, as the segment matures,
PHOTOS: JAKE SNYDER, RED SKIES PHOTOGRAPHY

TRADITIONS AND LONG HISTORIES, ARE INHERENTLY consumers are becoming more focused
AUTHENTIC. IF A BREWER RESPECTS THOSE BEERS on drinkability and sessionability.”

AND TELLS THEIR STORIES PROPERLY, IT RESONATES PART OF THE FAMILY

WITH PEOPLE, AND THEY APPRECIATE IT. THERE [ARE] Fox Farm is a family business, but it’s
A LOT OF DRINKERS [WHO] WANT TO EXPLORE AND also the home of the cofounders and their
three children.
LEARN ABOUT THE WORLD OF BEER OUTSIDE OF THE “That manifests itself in the product,”
LENS OF WHAT’S CURRENTLY POPULAR.” Osgood says. “There’s craftsmanship and

92 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE

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intent—not just in the beer, but in the
whole endeavor, from the details in the
woodwork to how guests are treated when
they walk through the door.”
In 2011, Laura was teaching high school,
and Zack’s homebrewing setup had
outgrown their apartment in Chester,
Connecticut. They heard about a property
for sale on Music Vale Road; Laura knew
it from growing up in Salem, and the
couple wondered whether its barn could
be converted into something. They bought
the land and built a home on it, moving in
before their son was born in 2013.
Meanwhile, Zack’s homebrewing habit
was turning into something bigger.
The farm, Laura says, “was a major
catalyst for our decision to start a brewery.
Without the barn and the vision for
turning that space into a tasting room and
brewery, I’m not sure the hobby would
have turned into a business. Fox Farm
could not really exist elsewhere.”
Zack says it took them a few years to
get comfortable with the idea of starting
a brewery. It also felt risky, Laura says, to
start a business at the same time they were
starting their family. They had a structural
engineer asses the barn to be sure about
what they were getting into. They took the
time to build it out with intention and care,
and that pace gave them time to crystal-
lize their vision. Knowing that this would
be both their business and their “forever
home,” Zack and Laura say they wanted to
never rush a decision or cut a corner.
That patient, deliberate approach also
applies to the beers they wanted to brew
and to the experience they wanted Fox
Farm to offer visitors. “We wanted to create
a special sense of place for people to come
together and enjoy our beer,” Laura says. “I
think we have maintained that core part of
our identity as a family-run business.”
ELIMINATING DISTRACTIONS
“The vibe is chill and relaxed,” Sauter says.
“It’s a great place to spend an hour with
friends or family.” She says it never feels too
crowded or rushed, partly due to an online
IT NEVER FEELS TOO CROWDED OR RUSHED, PARTLY
DUE TO AN ONLINE RESERVATION SYSTEM THROUGH
WHICH GUESTS REQUEST TABLES FOR 90 MINUTES.
THERE’S ALSO AN ON-PREMISE CONSUMPTION LIMIT
OF THREE 12-OUNCE POURS. THOSE POLICIES AND
THE SOMEWHAT REMOTE LOCATION HELP WINNOW
OUT FOLKS WHO DON’T REALLY WANT TO BE THERE.
94 // BREWING INDUSTRY GUIDE
reservation system through which guests
request tables for 90 minutes. (Walk-ins are
welcome, but reservations are recommend-
ed because they often hit capacity, especially
on Saturdays.) There’s also an on-premise
consumption limit of three 12-ounce pours.
Those policies and the somewhat remote
location help winnow out folks who don’t
really want to be there.
“Salem isn’t the easiest town to get to, and
that has never been lost on us,” Dave Adams
says. The goal is to exceed the expectations
of those who make the trek. That means a
clean and tranquil environment, “where the
focus is squarely on the quality of the beer
in the glass, providing the time and space to
talk to customers if they like,” Dave says.
There are no board games, TVs, live
bands, or food trucks—even if the team
enjoys those things elsewhere, they don’t
want anything to distract from the focus
on beer, service, and conversation.
That conversation matters, especially
with such a variety of beers and the goal
to help people fall in love with styles they
may not have had before. Taking the time
to create a real discovery experience for
patrons is a big part of what fuels Fox
Farm’s success with traditional beers.
“Beyond discovering styles, we love [hav-
ing] people discover ingredients and flavors,”
Dave says. That might include mixed-culture
beers made with local ingredients—such
as Satu, a spontaneously fermented beer
inspired by Finnish sahti, or Våronna, a
Norwegian-style farmhouse ale co-fermented
by Fox Farm’s own mixed culture and Voss
kveik, brewed with local spruce tips and bog
myrtle, and aged in gin barrels.
CUSTOMER CONNECTION, TO GO
Providing that visitor experience became
unachievable for a while during the
pandemic. There was no hasty reopening
at Fox Farm; the brewery’s cut-no-corners
philosophy extended to making their oper-
ations as safe as possible. Yet the brew-
ery’s appeal never lost its momentum.
Like many others, the Adamses opted to
sell only beer to-go in March 2020. Unlike
many others, they kept that policy in place
through May of the following year. They
also started selling beer through their
website. Despite the uncertainty, they kept
prioritizing that visitor experience—even
for those who were just picking up beers.
“Everyone was scared and stressed, so we
did our best to make people’s days when
they came by,” Dave says. “Curbside pick-
up could be a diminished, transactional
experience, but we tried to revel in it, and
make it as fun as possible.”
Despite the loss of the taproom expe-
rience, demand didn’t wane. Fox Farm
produced about 2,500 barrels in 2021,
and Zack says he expects about the same
this year. The brewery always had strong
to-go sales, Dave says; their distribution
footprint is modest, so when people want
Fox Farm beer, they often need to come to
the brewery to get it. For the most part, the
people coming in to buy to-go beer were
the same mix of locals and farther-flung
fans that the team was used to seeing.
THE TIES THAT BIND
Fox Farm has four production employees,
plus five full-time and three part-time staff
front of house. An extension of being a
family-run business, Dave says the group
has a “horizontal structure.” All team
members contribute ideas and efforts on
both production and hospitality fronts.
Sauter also mentions the all-hands-on-
deck atmosphere. “Fox Farm is full of
good people,” she says, “and you can tell
when visiting that we love our jobs.”
The taproom is in full swing these days,
open Thursdays through Sundays. The
online pre-order system remains in place,
but on-premise shopping is fine, too.
Guests can expect 10 to 12 beers on tap;
typically, these will be three to five lagers,
a couple of hop-forward options, a stout
or porter, and three or four beers from
the farmhouse program. From the bottle,
guests can try Music Vale Compositions,
the brewery’s 100 percent spontaneously
fermented ales.
Going forward, the formula remains the
same: Keep valuing customers and brew-
ing what the team loves to drink.
“If a trend has merit and inspires us
to brew something totally new, that’d
be wonderful,” Zack says. “I can’t say
that’s happened yet, but we hope we’re
open-minded. If anything, a growing
appreciation for traditional beer has af-
firmed the path we’re on and afforded us
the opportunity to dive deeper into classic
styles, without stressing [whether] our
customers would give them a chance.”
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Blanco Labels 10
Blichmann Pro C4
BoxPopC2
Brewmation25
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Canada Malting Company 5
Chr. Hansen, Inc. 41
The Return of Live! This spring has seen a welcome
(and much-needed) return of live events. These three Country Malt Group C3
kicked off our year, clockwise from top left: Denver’s
Collabfest highlights the collegial spirit of craft beer; four Criveller Group 35
photos from the Minnesota Craft Beer Festival (at the
Minneapolis Convention Center) marked the return of our Great Western Malting 15
consumer-focused fest in the same location that would
later host CBC; two photos from the same convention cen-
ter mark the return of the full-scale industry convention in Hopsteiner23
May; two shots from the Minnesota Made event, sponsored
by BSG, Surly, and Craft Beer & Brewing, and featuring INX International Ink Co. 39
Trampled By Turtles; the World Beer Cup crowd bids a fond
farewell to departing competition director Chris Swersey. O-I (Drinktainer) 13
PakTech31
Prairie Malt 21
ProBrew7
Twin Monkeys 41
Willamette Valley Hops 9
Yakima Chief Hops 39
Zahm & Nagel Co Inc. 19

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