When you look at the top restaurants around the world, no matter what cuisine they may focus on, there’s one commonality they all share, and that’s deep relationships with those who grow and raise the very best ingredients. It’s the same in beer—you can’t be the best at what you do without the meaningful, personal, financial, and long-standing relationships that ensure the brewery has access to the very best quality ingredients. These relationships don’t materialize overnight, but for Firestone Walker, they’re the product of 30 years of work. In this series, we highlight a number of these crucial growers, brokers, and processors who have played a role in the world-class beer that Firestone Walker makes.

*Episode 1: Quality is a Verb *
You don’t get great hops by accident, and the work doesn’t start with selecting them from brokers’ lots. The work starts with breeding the right hop varieties with the perfect mix of aroma and flavor compounds as well as the functional things that make them viable to grow as a commercial crop—disease resistance, robust hop-cone production, lower water and fertilizer needs, and more. Since its inception, Firestone Walker has been involved with the Hop Quality Group—an industry group of craft brewers who work cooperatively to help guide how the growers grow and process hops. In this episode, Firestone Walker Propagator brewer Sam Tierney and friend Patrick Chavanelle, head of R&D for Allagash Brewing, outline the work of this important group in developing new, modern hops that any grower can grow.

Intro music: VintageGroove / Pond5

This special episode of the podcast is brought to you in partnership with Encompass Technologies, and explores how breweries are using data to create savvier approaches to distribution and growth. It’s no secret that it’s become harder to sell beer over the past few years, with two consecutive years where brewery closures have outpaced openings. Distributors are far less bullish on craft beer than they once were. Broader economic pressure has led to more price sensitivity in certain segments of consumers, while operating costs for breweries have skyrocketed, compressing margins and making it ever more important to forecast correctly. As things tighten, waste is just not an option, and breweries and distributors can’t afford to not get it right the first time. Breweries that are making great beer but also using data to drive decision making while managing distributor relationships with intention, are able to thrive despite the challenges in the current economic environment.

Joining for this conversation on how breweries can use data to drive decision making and optimize their relationships with distributors and by extension retailers are:

Ryan Bandy, Chief Business Officer, Indeed Brewing

Patrick Tickle, CEO, Encompass Technologies

Growth may be harder to find in the current macroeconomic environment, but it's not impossible, and with the right products, right strategies, and right tools, breweries like Indeed are achieving growth despite the industry headwinds.