Why Being Proud of Your Hard Seltzer Brand Matters

​Making a good light beer, like a Pale Lager, is usually​ the sign of quality craftsmanship in the beer industry. Being able to hide no flaws and focusing on good techniques is paramount.

Well, the same holds true for hard seltzer. Several breweries now are accepting the challenge of making the best and better than a macro brand rather than scoff at it.

At Wormtown, former General Manager Scott Metzger said they set out from the beginning to do a hard seltzer right.

“That meant an ultra-clean base without any artificial sugar aftertaste that is prevalent in even some of the biggest hard seltzer brands,” said Metzer, who was just announced this week as the new COO for Maui Brewing. “We certainly experienced our fair share of stumbles in achieving this, but we kept at it.

“To achieve such a clean base is quite the process and I’m proud of our team for discovering and developing our own.”

READ MORE: Outside-The-Box Thinking for Hard Seltzer From Threes Brewing

Having a clean base is critical​, added Aaron Inkrott of Saint Arnold​.

​”​One of the difficult production issues we had at the beginning was consistent fermentation of our sugar base​,” said the Houston brewery’s Brewing Innovation Manager. ​”​Dialing in our yeast nutrient additions took several trials.

​”​Once we started measuring FAN/YAN, it became easier to achieve the fermentation character we wanted.​”​

Andy Barnett, founder of Barnett & Son Brewing in Parker, Colorado said they approach seltzers the same way they do beer.

“Starting with only the best ingredients, which for our seltzers are real fruit and many different kinds of teas and a real clean-fermenting strain of yeast,” Barnett said.

Photo courtesy Saint Arnold Brewing/Superfine

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