BREWING BITTERNESS AND BETTER BEER UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN SIDE OF BITTER WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMERS BETTER WHICH LEADS TO BETTER BITTER SALES. VELO MITROVICH REPORTS.
W
hile this sounds
the US,” said Greg Koch, Stone executive
like the start of a
chairman and co-founder. “We felt Amer-
‘priest, minister,
icans deserved better, so we brewed it
and rabbi’ joke,
for them. When we saw much of Germa-
it’s a true story. A
ny stuck in a similar status quo of cheap
Californian walks into a London pub and
beer, we were convinced we could help.
asks for the most hoppy IPA available –
As it stands now, German beer prices are
tap, bottled or canned, it doesn’t matter
among the cheapest in Western Europe.
as long as the bitternes is there.
As most of us know from life, the best
“If you want hops, then try this,” says the
things are rarely the cheapest.
barman, with a sly expression like he just snuck a Ghost Chili into the tourist’s beer.
“Amazing beer is being brewed by amazing brewers all over the country [Germa-
Back at the table, the Californian stares at
ny]. Unfortunately, according to the stats,
his beer. “What’s up?” asks his friends.
most Germans are still ignoring these
“I asked for a hoppy IPA, I don’t know
wonderful beers and buying the cheap
what this is supposed to be. A lager?”
stuff. We invested a significant portion of
Some beer drinkers talk about IBUs,
a decade and significant millions [$30m]
hoppy-bitter flavours, like they’re 13-year-
building Stone Berlin. And it didn’t work
old boys discussing the hair on their
out. These things hurt and these things
neither regions, with ‘more’ always seen
happen. This one happened. And this one
as better. But in Europe is there really a
hurts a lot.”
demand or desire for an IPA that would
On opening day in 2016, Stone Brewery
win applause on the US West Coast?
created a pyramid out of German beers,
In a move some saw as pure arrogance
lifted a stone above it with a crane, and
and ignorance, San Diego’s ultra-hop – or
let it go, symbolically smashing Ger-
ultra-hip – brewery Stone decided it was
many’s beer industry. Three years later,
going to bring “real” beer back to Germa-
Stone fled back to the States with its tail
ny by building a California-style brewery
between its legs, its brewery a flop.
in Berlin.
So, why brew high IBU hoppy beers now? While Germany has an increasing
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SUMMER 2020
“We started Stone in 1996 because we
number of craft breweries which have
weren’t OK with the status quo of beer in
bitter IPAs, in France you’re more likely to
BREWERS JOURNAL EUROPE