The ingredient is always a crucial part of making the difference in creating craft products that customers love. 

Before reaching our tips, here are some problems to which all craft brewers should pay attention to:

Availability

The four main ingredients to make beer are malted grain, hops, yeast and water. Believe it or not, a plentiful supply of quality ingredients isn’t always available. Many of them come to us from around the world, as numerous factors affect the supply.

We can take the first example is for malt. Therefore, like any other crop, a bad growing season can affect malt quality and supply. For smaller brewers, this means we may have to adjust our recipes depending on what malts are readily available and how the growing season produces. Luckily, this generally isn’t too challenging but it is a factor we have to face regularly. Sourcing quality malt is essential.

On the other hand, yeast is a living organism that must be carefully maintained and grown. When it is time to source yeast, we place an order with one of the yeast labs. They will then grow the yeast cells up to our required volume.

This doesn’t present a problem most of the time, but sometimes it can. Yeast labs are virtually controlling in nature, so some unpredictable variables may be encountered. These can delay yeast orders, sometimes resulting in bad beer brewing due to poorly propagated yeast. 

Quality

Countries with a long history of brewing beer, such as the US, Germany, and UK,… are much easier to source ingredients. There are plenty of providers and various ingredients to choose from throughout their countries. There might be some struggle for countries like Asia in sourcing ingredients. Besides the stability of sourcing beer materials for commercial beer, for some brewers to test new hops, yeast…. and create unique flavours still meets some struggles. Not all types of ingredients can be exported to others countries as we expected. To ensure the good quality of their beer comes from good quality ingredients, most brewers have to come along with well-known providers.      

Price

A 2018 report in Nature pointed out that beer prices may rise due to climate change. Increasing temperatures and more frequent droughts will drive up the costs of beer ingredients such as hops and barley. However, the impacts they identified are just the foam on the surface – the taste of beer will change too. That’s because changes in temperature and rainfall affect the biochemistry of beer ingredients like hops, making them taste different. The shortage of some special beer ingredients is also a significant factor that affects the price.

Consistency

For brewers who need to import ingredients from other countries, the source’s consistency depends on seasonal and logistics situations. World events such as drought and flooding are well-known obstacles, but logistic and economic developments have furthered the burden over the last two years. Extended freight times and limited availability can cause rescheduling nightmares or, worse yet, discontinuation of product lines. It is best to diversify your supply chain and keep proper inventory levels to protect your business from fluctuations.

Finding excellent ingredients and a reasonable price is always a big question that needs to be fulfilled. Let’s quickly check on our tips:

1. Tap into the expert community.

The expert community is the craft movement’s calling card. Craft beer lovers enjoy products as much as their enthusiasm for ingredients. 

With the expert team, you can seek advice to choose the right ingredients and verify their quality. 

Networking within this type of community can be a splendid source of inspiration and keep track of the high quality of your product. 

Whether it’s a note on a menu or a list of suppliers on your website, customers want to know you support local, and vendors love a good shoutout. 

2. Look up peer recommendations

Remember, your craft products are hugely related to your social community. Behind every bottle and keg is a team of dedicated craftspeople who, if they could, would talk shop all day. Make an effort to get to know your industry’s other manufacturers. Industry networking opens the door to new business prospects and partnerships every day – think of it as a creative feedback loop.

Don’t stop yourself just because of distance; there are plenty of ways for you to reach out to the world, such as social media, online forums, webinars…

Above all, don’t hesitate to ask for leads on great ingredients.

3. Be Intentional About Your Labels

Beyond taste alone, ingredients are vital in labelling and sale driven. Customers rely on product labelling, so respecting the process and ensuring your ingredients align with your values is good. If labelling is essential for a new product, shore up suppliers for your ingredients beforehand. It’s the best way to ensure the ultimate viability of your product.

4. Keep track of your cost.

Like those of other goods, Ingredient pricing is determined by supply and demand. Because high-end ingredients are in limited supply than ordinary alternatives, they tend to be more expensive.

To make a superior product, craft makers tend to prioritize their budget on spending on ingredients to win over other competitors. Other strategies such as buying in bulk and working with national suppliers can help you secure the most value on ingredient purchases.

Work with Barett Contract Brewing for these perks:

• Wide range of high-quality raw materials from all around the world

• Flexible contract brewing package with low tax export

• Professional and dedicated consulting team