What is Beer Innovation?

Further to my previous post about the Beer Innovation Summit, I've been thinking about what beer innovation actually is and how important it might be.

Many breweries like to think they are innovative. We’d like to think we are, to some extent, although to be honest we often feel like we are lagging behind and copying too much. But then, is there really anything new in the beer world?

Obviously there are some new things happening; spirit cask aging, strong beers, crazy freeze distillation, mixed up beer styles and many, many things. But aren’t these just variations on a theme?

The big multinationals come up with new things from time-to-time.  Widgets in beer cans to make the beer seem like draught smooth flow. Perhaps extra cold is an innovation only made practical by improvements in cooling technology efficiency. Perhaps putting the lime into lager, so that its ready to serve on draught, is a fairly clever idea?

As I move my business forward I have to consider what might be innovative enough to maintain interest in my products. Indeed, I’d like to expand my customer base. All of this requires a stimulation in our brand.

What I don’t want to do is just re-invent the wheel and call it innovation. I know we’ve been accused of copying in the past and I’m keen to try and avoid this where I can in the future.

But what does constitute real beer innovation? Perhaps the reader has a view that is different to what the “innovative” brewers believe? Perhaps the reader doesn’t think beer innovation is necessary at all. If so, how do we excite a new and youthful beer drinker? I can tell you one thing for sure, if we don’t innovate, even if the innovation is in the message rather than the product itself, beer will continue to lose appeal in the face of wine, spirits and RTDs.

The picture is of my Great Grandfather with his car. I’m not sure of the date, other than early 20^th century, around a 100 years ago. You may wonder what this has to do with beer. The motorcar has changed a lot in 100 years. However, they all generally run on four wheels, have some sort of energy to rotary motion converter and carry people about. The 100 year old car has some appeal to the enthusiast, but most people like the modern version. Indeed, most people who buy cars lust after newer models, even when the changes are slight.

Photography has also changed in this hundred years, silver nitrate is no longer the main compound that enables it to happen.

In a hundred years beer has changed a lot, but it is still a fermented alcoholic beverage made from grain. Most people like up-to-date brands; tradition and stagnant brands tend to fail.

I don’t know if my Great Grandfather drank beer. If he did I doubt the beer he drank would be of interest to most of the population today. However, I would like to own his car.

In a League of its Own

I quite like Rugby. At school I somehow got on with it better than the other game the boys liked to play. I think it was something to do with the fact I didn't get stuck in defence when we played Rugby in PE. I could join in a lot better and despite being a small kid, seemed to hold my own. I guess mainly I ducked between legs and then grabbed at ankles of the big boys, who seemed to fall easily.

Despite this, I have never quite got to grips with the difference between League and Union. Both are played around these parts, with determination it would seem. Not only does the risk of physical injury seem to be no deterrent to enthusiasm, it is apparent this is part of the attraction. Well, that and the excuse for a few well earned pints on a Saturday once the match has been played, the mud washed off and various scrapes bandaged up and sprains suitably supported.

There has been a Rugby club in Millom for 140 years. Both the Union and League versions of the game lay claim to being the first club back in that year, 1873.  I refuse to get drawn into the arguments about these facts, other than to say that according to my research neither Union nor League existed back then. It was just the game of Rugby.

Never-the-less, the Millom Rugby League Club, widely acknowledged as the oldest in the world, asked us to make a beer for their 140th year. Of course, why not?

But, what I wanted to do was make a beer that they all loved, or at least all the ones that will have a go at something different. I know our beers are all a bit well hopped and generally are a bit more colour than is the fashion. It's all very well trying to make contemporary craft beer that appeals to a niche and might get above average scores on Ratebeer, but once in a while it's nice to get the local people to understand we can also make stuff they like, should we put our mind to it.

So, we brewed a beer. A blonde beer because we thought that might go down quite well. No dry hops, fairly low bitterness and just a sprinkling of new world hops to give it that certain zing. Last Friday we put a firkin in the club and they served it at The Challenge Cup Draw.

I had two pints. I'd have preferred two pints of Azimuth. Failing that three pints of Continuum. Still, on making my way to the bar for the third, just after eating my pie and peas, at around 7:30pm, one drinker said "Best pint I've tried for a while there Dave, but you needn't bother going for another" I was baffled, did he somehow think I'd had too much? "It's all gone, you should'a brought another firk lad"

Well, it might not win any praise on Ratebeer, but it sure hit the spot with the rugby fans. Good show, beer to specification, job done. The beer had been on the bar for less than 2 hours. It's not a big club.

There are a few more firkins. I'm not sure Millom will get through them all in the next couple of weeks. Anyone know a rugby club that wants to buy some beer?

Beer Innovation

What does and doesn't constitute innovation in brewing is a debatable point. Brewing beer as strong as you possibly can, throwing in loads of hops, dry hopping, wood ageing and using crazy microbes are all things that have already been done. Mashing up styles or inventing brand new styles along with ever more funky packaging might all perhaps be innovative. Edgy PR campaigns and upsetting traditional establishments might be other innovative activities. The reader can form their own view as to whether this is innovation or not.

Be it innovation or be it just introducing ever more variety, it doesn't really matter. An increase of variety has occurred in the beer world over the last few years. It's good, I like it. Probably most of the beer enthusiasts I know would generally agree the UK beer scene is quite vibrant, even if some people don't like some of the stuff that goes on.

Personally I'd say it's the new and progressive breweries that are leading the way. For perhaps 10 years or so an explosion of beer producers who are making waves has shaken bigger players. I'd like to think Hardknott are part of this although of course there are many, many other notable breweries doing the same. The big boys are now starting to take real notice.

This is becoming increasingly evident by the effort of bigger, more established breweries. Many family brewers have joined in, perhaps of their own accord, or because they felt a real need to do so. Brewers like Fullers and Adnams have perhaps been ahead of the curve and engaged well with the more diverse market. Many of us would say this is a good thing. A switched on brewery salesman said to me almost 10 years ago that micro-brewing was certainly good for brewing as it keeps "the rest of us on our toes".

And here we see the most important thing about innovation. In reality the diversity is what is working, variety and interest. Our sector of the market is diverse, and I stress, it's a small market. But it is growing and this is why we now have a Beer Innovation Summit. Another clear sign of the big boys running scared.

I looked at going. It sounds like the sort of thing I might be interested in. I note that Pete Brown is speaking. That's good, I like Pete and he knows quite a lot about beer and what might, or might not be true innovation. Although I've heard him speak quite a lot and perhaps I know his thoughts well enough by now.

I thought there might have been a microbrewery making up one of the panels. I think perhaps Thornbridge is mentioned, and perhaps someone is speaking from this undeniable leader of diversity. I am not sure the rest of the speakers fill me with confidence at their huge knowledge of cutting edge beer.

I questioned this. I got this reply.

"The agenda is now set so there won't be any further speakers added. We may look more closely at the micro-brewing sector at next year's event, but for this event wanted to focus on the volume players in the beer category as they brew the products that most people drink."

That is right, they represent the volume players, the people who don't provide that variety, that innovation, if you like. The reply seemed a little arrogant and conceited. I feel there is an underlying tone of trying to avoid micro-brewers showing they are the ones that are indeed leading the way.

I'd like to go and take part in the discussions. I'm reluctant to go as I'd be too scared to speak out, due to feeling somewhat intimidated by these "volume players" Although, more likely, I'd start an argument and make yet another embarrassment of myself. I can assure the reader, I don't need to spend £195+VAT to make a fool of myself.

Thoughts?

Policing alcohol by the popular vote

It's always a problem we have, that the general public seem to have been successfully convinced that we have a drink problem in the UK. Of course, it does strike me that if we have a general problem with alcohol then the general population is naughty. The reply might come back that it's just a few people, of course, you, me and our best friends aren't the problem, are we?

I wasn't convinced that Police and Crime Commissioners should be elected. My view is that we have various politicians that decide how much, or little, should be spent on the police and make laws that the police should enforce. The best people to decide how to actually enforce laws are the people who have been doing so for many years and know what works, and what doesn't. We have a legal system complete with appeals all the way to the actual law makers themselves that generally act as safeguards. I know it goes wrong, but I am unconvinced that we need more elected nit-wits to mess stuff up.

To my shame I didn't vote at the recent Police and Crime Commissioner elections. I have a strong conviction that we all have a duty to vote. I didn't, I'm sorry, I'll try better next time. Perhaps it's because I don't believe the post should be elected, or perhaps I was just too busy. Either-way, there is no satisfactory excuse and I now have a reason to try better next time.

I notice this week that the Cumbrian Police and Crime Commissioner, Richard Rhodes, has decided, for reasons of proving he's fit for the job, has jumped on the popular "let's knock drinking" bandwagon by over-stating that there is an underage drink problem. He goes on to suggest that there should be a 72 hour automatic closure for any premises that is caught serving underage people, even on the first offence.

I don't doubt that he is right that some licensees don't pay enough attention to this isolated problem. I also don't doubt that some bar staff are much less diligent than they should be. I've witnessed it myself. However, suppose you were a licensee who was generally diligent, but one of your staff served an underage friend a drink. The suggestion seems to be that the publican would have an immediate and automatic 72 hour closure.

In this sort of instance the publican would be somewhat bitter towards the police about the matter. As an ex-publican I have always found the police value the relationship with good publicans. Indeed, so much so that my own opinions of police in general has been significantly improved as a result of my time running a pub. I feel that even the threat of such an action would undermine the great relationship that can exist between the police and the people who generally have to deal with the trouble on the ground.

It is telling that Mr Rhodes also states "In a number of areas in Cumbria there is a very close working arrangement between publicans and the Police, and the police feel that if they were required to be more forceful it would threaten that partnership"

Damn right Mr Rhodes.

Obsolete technology

I was sent a pocket diary the other day. You know, one made of that quaint stuff called paper. It was a well meaning present from a supplier. I doubt I'll use it as I have a smart phone. My smart phone can store dairy diary¹ type information, tell the time, send texts, emails, tweet, browse the internet after a fashion and can be used to phone people. It is smaller than the pocket diary and does a whole load more. I change my smart phone about every 3 years, mainly because I use it a lot and it breaks due to heavy use. It confuses me why anyone who is possession of a busy life requires a paper diary that only lasts a year.

Facsimile machines are another thing that baffles me, along with typewriters and steam engines. Although I'll admit that the romantic part of me does see the point of museum railway companies that are for the purpose of amusement for occasional family outings and something for well meaning enthusiasts to be enthusiastic about. However, having a father who is something of an over enthusiastic railway bore I tire very quickly of the noisy, dirty, inefficient modes of transport. I like to travel in comfort and speed these days.

Cask beer is of course a Great British tradition, but I do wonder if it is now being pushed beyond the scope of its very outdated method of dispense. Don't get me wrong, I do not wish to see its demise and hope that it will continue to be strong where it is well executed. But there are places that seem to feel the need to serve cask beer, and beer drinkers who are overly choosy due to, what I believe to be a misguided view, that cask beer is always better.

The number of times I have tried my beer, in two different venues, knowing full well that the beer is from the same gyle, racked on the same day, and delivered on the same run but the taste in the two pubs has been very different. It would be very easy to blame cellaring techniques. It would be easy to blame dirty lines, and sometimes these are the reasons. Sometimes however, it is simply down to the very real disadvantage of cask beer and the fact that pubs are urged to have it, even though they would be better with an alternative method of dispense for their micro-brewed beer.

I feel that some of the issues do make consumers quite sure that they "don't like bitter" and "I only drink lagers" when that same group, when faced with micro-brewed keg, irrespective of the beer style, are more likely to have a go. Distrust of handpulls, especially with younger demographics, is a problem that faces the microbrewery industry.

As we expand at Hardknott we have to make choices as to what technology is best for us to continue to invest in. We will have to increase our container population, our container washing throughput capacity and our racking facilities. Is it wise to continue to invest in cask equipment when the technology is outdated, the market is driven more by cost than quality and often portrays a quint, marginal and sometimes even amateurish marketing image?

The reader no doubt will have their own view.

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¹To be fair, although it was a typo, I can store information about milk too. Thanks Phil.

Duality

Light can be considered to be both a wave and a particle¹. It can be a difficult thing to understand unless you have a massive brain, which is why I struggle to understand it. But, I am assured by physicists that this is a truth. It's not that light is sometimes a wave and sometimes a particle. No, they are both things at the same time. Actually, this applies to all types of electromagnetic radiation. You see, the only difference between visible light, infra red, ultra-violet, gamma radiation, radio signals, x-rays, microwaves and the stuff that carries your tweets to your mobile phone, is the energy in the particles, or the wave length, or the frequency of the signal. The relationship of the frequency, wavelength and individual quantum energy is accurately and firmly linked by equations that I suspect some bloke called Albert made up.

So, what has this to do with beer?

Beer is beer. There are different types of beer, but they are all beer.

Some people like to group beer into two types; Real Ale and chemical fizzy lager.

Lots of people like chemical fizzy lager, market data confirms this.

Some brewers like to make stuff they call Real Lager, put it into casks and proclaim they are clever for doing so.

Other brewers make mild, yellow beers, put them into casks and give them a name that invariably has "Gold"² or "Blond"in the name, which are designed to be popular by being something pale, balanced, competently brewed but unchallenging in the flavour department. They appeal to a broad audience and it is a shrewd business move to do so.

Many chemical fizzy lagers are brewed in big breweries where it is important to achieve a short production time. The result has mass appeal, but is barely honest to give the name lager. I have no idea how these beers are actually made, but I have heard tails of relatively warm fermentations and next to no lagering time whatsoever. The main thing is that they are manufactured for mass appeal. Who actually cares if they are genuine lagers? Does it matter?

Then there are stouts, barley wines, dark milds, red ales, IPA's of various colours, various speciality beers and not to leave out the good old faithful hoppy bitter. These are all, at the end of the day, beer, mostly made from a juice we call wort made from hops and barley fermented into a beverage.

We generally, up to now, made beers that have higher hopping, increased coloured malts and otherwise different to what everyone else has done. We like it that way but is hardly a way to gain widespread acceptance.

So, we decided to brew a beer that is slightly less challenging, but doesn't leave behind our core values. We hope that on cask it is enough like a blonde, gold or other "Real lager" type beer to be acceptable to the drinker who likes that sort of thing. We also hope that on keg it will be enough like a "lager" to appeal to those who like a cold fizzy thing.

It's pale, made with lager malt and noble hops. Oh, and it's dry hopped with some special stuff, just to add that little bit of Hardknotty magic.

What is it?

It's Duality.

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¹I personally, don't like doing things by halves, I always prefer a full tickle.

 ²Apologies to all my brewing friends who do just that, I'm not having a dig, your beer is lovely and sells very well.

Today Booths tomorrow The World

One thing about having a bottling machine is that to make it pay it needs to put lots of beer into bottle. Selling large amounts of beer needs a major partner, one way or another. Either that, or a big tied estate. We started planning our recent expansion back in February. We attracted grant approval around the beginning of June and ordered the equipment soon afterwards.

By July I was starting to think about how I was going to get full use of our machine. How we might increase the volume of sales. It's a tricky one to start selling to supermarkets, with the inevitable accusation from the beer geek world of selling out, but realistically I knew it was an essential business step.

For various reasons we wanted to be selective. Partly, I guess, because I didn't want to be seen as selling to a low-cost, pile-em-high type operation. More-over, I don't like to over-sell and then have difficulty delivering. Booths, who have 29 stores in the North West of England and 7 in Cumbria focus much more on quality rather than attracting purely on price. I had long considered the friendly family run business, an ideal place for our products.

The founders ethos was simple "Sell the best goods available, in attractive stores, staffed with first class assistants.” - and over 160 years later this easy rule makes an attractive place to buy food and drinks. If there is a problem it's that there are far too many nice, tasty things to buy resulting in me buying too much quality, and then feeling the need to enjoy it all before it goes off. Cheese, that is our biggest downfall, and olives, and those nice Fudges crackers, and the nice continental cooked meats and.......

.....but this is not about my own weakness for scrummy things to consume, no, this is about our experience of pitching at a major retailer, the experience from beginning to end.

Having decided to properly seek a listing in this worthwhile outlet I started to research how I should do this. I hoped, and had been led to believe that their treatment of suppliers was slightly less daunting than bigger, nasty retailers.

After a short hunt on the interwebby thing I found a page that allowed me to propose my products to Booths. They have a nice and helpful website dedicated to inviting suppliers to pitch at their buyers. I filled out the form and back came an automated reply confirming receipt of my gallant attempt to attract their attention.

At this point I had no idea how long it might take to actually start talking to a real buyer. I knew that the original web-form is just the sort of filter that any buying department must need¹. I imagined they got loads of applicants and might have a huge long backlog of people to sift through and form a shortlist. Never-the-less, I had hoped to get listed in time for Christmas.

To my surprise, less than a week later we received an invite to pitch at a meet-the-buyer event. Cool, perhaps we will get in before Christmas.

We were told that we had 15 minutes with the buyer, only 15 minutes. And we were told this would be very strict. We drafted a script. 5 minutes of pitch and 10 minutes of Q&A, we were informed.

Damn, they were not wrong. It was done by bells. A bell to say "all change" and a bell 5 minutes from the end of the session. The script went out of the window as it seemed our buyer just wanted to ask questions. We hurriedly tried to get in our points as much as we could; why we thought Booths and Hardknott were a perfect match.

Indeed, the whole experience seemed a lot like speed dating. Almost bizarre, but also exciting, challenging and quite rewarding, even if we felt unsure that we did the right thing. But John, our buyer, assured us he'd be in touch.

John did get in touch. Initially through his secretary inviting us for a more relaxed meeting. We have now met, mostly agreed the beers that will go into Booths and our supply price. We have yet to find out  what the retail prices will be, but I imagine it'll be about right.

Sadly we were too late for Christmas. Just as well in reality. As is the case with these things, the expansion is only just getting up to speed. If they had ordered for Christmas we might not have been able to deliver.

I am told by John that the first official order³ will be placed in mid January and the beers will appear for February. Initially only in the 7 Cumbrian stores, but you know what you have to do if you want our beer in the other Booths stores.

It looks likely that they will be Continuum, Code Black, Azimuth and Queboid. Great choices John, if you don't mind me saying.

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¹One of the things I'd most like to change about the way my business is run is stopping every single cold caller wasting my time. And the time of others in the business. For example, just today I had sterilised an important fitting and had it in my hand, carefully keeping from all forms of potential microbial contamination. Ann was loading the grist case for tomorrows brew and other staff were fruitfully engaged cleaning up the brewery at the end of a brewday. The phone rang. It might be someone important. A customer perhaps wanting to buy beer. Damn, I had to put that fitting down on the sink and go ad answer the phone. It was a time-wasting cold caller. I had to go back and re-santitise the fitting.

I want a web-form for potential suppliers. And a nice, leggy² secretary who tells cold callers that, if they don't mind, would they like to go fill in the damn web-form if they want to sell us owt.

²Yes, I'm a leg man. Breast is OK, but for the very best stir-frys I bone out legs. I do love to get my teeth into a good bit of thigh.

³Apparently the official order will be sent by fax. Now, I don't want to seem rude about a new customer, but are faxes not a little 20th century? Surely, for heavens sake, everyone does things through the internet these days?

I have been in business for nearly 10 years now, and although that nasty f word has cropped up from time to time, I really did think that the fax machine had been consigned to the same bin as the typewriter. What does the reader think? For goodness sake, do we need to call BT and get a fax line put in?

I've asked the question. I guess if we have to we'll get a fax line, but really.................