{"id":17211,"date":"2022-12-05T06:18:03","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T12:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/?p=17211"},"modified":"2022-12-05T06:18:03","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T12:18:03","slug":"twtbwtw-what-counts-as-innovation-in-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/twtbwtw-what-counts-as-innovation-in-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"TWTBWTW: What counts as innovation in beer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kfi.jpm.mybluehost.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221205-tools.jpg\" alt=\"Brewing tools -- from a different era\" width=\"710\" height=\"321\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-17217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221205-tools.jpg 710w, https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221205-tools-300x136.jpg 300w, https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221205-tools-150x68.jpg 150w, https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221205-tools-500x226.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/beercruncher\/status\/1597943170054385664\"><strong>This.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Looking forward to next year\u2019s Innovation of the Year: New Belgium\u2019s Voodoo Ranger Cold Force IPA, a 9.9% Below Fahrenheit Imperial Cold IPA <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LGBnq4Z2gL\">pic.twitter.com\/LGBnq4Z2gL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nostradouglas ? Veliky (@beercruncher) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/beercruncher\/status\/1597943170054385664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 30, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I wish the thread (if you click about you&#8217;ll find a few more replies) had grown into a larger conversation, one that discussed what counts as innovation in beer.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know <em>how<\/em> Voodoo Ranger Juice Force IPA is produced, that is if the brewers at New Belgium have come up with a new magic process for pumping flavor into beer. But I do know that they were way ahead of the curve a dozen years ago. Which is why then-brewmaster Peter Bouckaert sat in on a panel about dry hopping at the 2010 Craft Brewers Conference. \u201cIf you\u2019d asked me 10 years ago if I\u2019d be on a dry-hopping panel I think you all would have been laughing,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>How and how brewers hop beer has changed more than a little bit during the twenty-first century. Does simply using more hops qualify as innovation? How about changing when in the process the hops are added?<\/p>\n<p>And what about the form of hops that brewers use? The latest <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/fortheloveofhops\/letters\/hop-queries-6-07-goodbye-medusa-hello-subzero-hop-kief\">Hop Queries has a bit about SubZero Hop Kief<\/a> from Freestyle Hops in New Zealand. SubZero is produced by New River Distilling in North Carolina. I wrote about New River four-plus years ago for Good Beer Hunting, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodbeerhunting.com\/blog\/2018\/9\/17\/just-the-essentials-how-distilled-oils-are-expanding-the-impact-of-hops\">should you be interested<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The process is innovative, but also . . . oh, that name. It speaks to brewers, and they are Freestyle\u2019s customers. In \u201cCultural Strategy: Using Innovative Ideologies Breakthrough Brands,\u201d the authors write, \u201cA cultural innovation is a brand that delivers an innovative cultural expression.\u201d Freestyle is marketing a better mousetrap &#8212; that is signaling that its hops are better than the competition\u2019s &#8212; but visit their website to see they are signaling something beyond that.<\/p>\n<p>(The same may be written about several hop growers; making connections is just as important for them as making connections with drinkers is for brewers.)<\/p>\n<p>Back to New Belgium and Voodoo Ranger. The authors of \u201cCultural Strategy\u201d (published in 2012) present \u201cFat Tire Beer: Crossing the Cultural Chasm\u201d as a case study in Chapter 11. New Belgium had hired them as consultants in 2003. That was a while ago, when Fat Tire accounted for a ridiculous percentage of sales and Sunshine White and 1554 were second and third. <\/p>\n<p>It is a fascinating chapter that reveals much about the thinking of niche breweries in the aughts, concluding:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrossing the cultural chasm requires moving from a marketplace dominated by <em>insider<\/em> customers, who often hold considerable expertise in the category to what we call <em>follower<\/em> customers, who simply want an accessible way to tap into a valued cultural expression that the product can credibly represent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fat Tire is still important to New Belgium &#8212; here in Colorado many of the trucks that distributors use to deliver beer advertise the beer &#8212; but the Voodoo Ranger family does the heavy lifting. Perhaps somebody needs to write a book about re-innovation.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>More That Was The Beer Week That Was . . . <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>After the meme<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cI never imagined being the C.E. muthafucking-O owner of a brewery, but here I am. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lataco.com\/beer-thug-life-brewery-cholo-chug\/\">If I can do it, anyone can<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>B minus<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2022\/dec\/01\/brewdog-loses-its-ethical-b-corp-certificate\">BrewDog is no longer a Certified B Corp<\/a>. B Lab does not comment on companies that are no longer in the B Corp community. I\u2019m afraid I cannot share any further information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hops<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geterbrewed.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/29\/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-english-hops\/\">Use them or lose them.<\/a> That&#8217;s the conclusion of this love letter to English hops.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/vinepair.com\/articles\/most-important-ipas-2022\/\">A list.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/vinepair.com\/articles\/most-important-ipas-2022\/\">I&#8217;m confused.<\/a> The headline says two decades ago, but the story states, correctly, that a great (and short-lived) hop shortage began in 2007. The headline contends that Boston Beer &#8220;saved craft brewers from a catastrophic hop shortage.&#8221; Certainly, Boston Beer deserves credit for offering 20,000 pounds of hops to other small breweries at a very fair price. But the story also links to still another story that reveals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inc.com\/magazine\/20080901\/the-great-beer-crisis-of-2008.html\">Sierra Nevada sold 150,000 pounds<\/a> &#8220;without much fanfare.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pubs<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/thepubman.blogspot.com\/2022\/11\/a-proper-pint-of-bitter.html\">I wonder if there are pubs at the end of the mysterious once a month train line and how one would get back if I got on it?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/tandlemanbeerblog.blogspot.com\/2022\/11\/a-quick-thought-on-sams.html\">The Samuel Smith empire.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/11\/25\/dining\/drinks\/wine-bar.html\">Informal neighborhood gathering places.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; This. Looking forward to next year\u2019s Innovation of the Year: New Belgium\u2019s Voodoo Ranger Cold Force IPA, a 9.9% Below Fahrenheit Imperial Cold IPA pic.twitter.com\/LGBnq4Z2gL &mdash; Nostradouglas ? Veliky (@beercruncher) November 30, 2022 I wish the thread (if you click about you&#8217;ll find a few more replies) had grown into a larger conversation, one &#8230; <a title=\"TWTBWTW: What counts as innovation in beer?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/twtbwtw-what-counts-as-innovation-in-beer\/\" aria-label=\"More on TWTBWTW: What counts as innovation in beer?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[703],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-links"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4wTn-4tB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17211"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17223,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17211\/revisions\/17223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}