Can Shortages Changed How Lone Tree Decided to Sell its Line of IPAs

For years, Lone Tree Brewing released a line of seasonal IPAs. Yet this spring the Colorado brewery changed direction and instead released a brand name IPA to become a year-round flagship.

The decision to move away from the seasonal IPA series​, said Sales and Marketing​ ​Director Dennis Stack, ​was a result of the shortage ​that many breweries are seeing in aluminum cans.

​”​While the rotating IPAs were fun to brew and sell, we decided it was better to allocate the can resources towards flagship products as opposed to smaller batch SKUs,” he said about the brewery, which produces around 4,000 barrels per year.

As for brewery operations, Stack said the decision to switch to one IPA flagship brand actually helps streamline brewing and canning.

“More fermentation space can be dedicated towards flagship products, where previously we had to allocate tank space for smaller batches,” he explained. The brewery is working within its current hop contracts to create new beers while sourcing smaller quantities of specialty hops as needed.

Lone Tree IPA features a blend of Citra, Cascade, and Simcoe hop additions with a hop bitterness that’s been toned down from the first recipe.

​Although in-person consumer feedback helped start the conversation, Lone Tree works​ closely with ​its distributor to obtain feedback from partnering accounts​ as well to help set the tone in what is selling.

​”​Those accounts are interacting with end consumers regularly and we listen to the feedback they receive from their customers​,” he said.

​Although the new recipe ​for Lone Tree IPA ​was not developed overnight​, it’s been an in​-​house ​brand ​Stack said the brewery has been fine-tuning since ​it opened in 2011.

​”​We made some final tweaks before moving into full​-​time production and are excited to share our new Lone Tree IPA with our friends.​”​

While the can design won’t change much, the beer name ​has.

“We wanted to show that this new recipe is our flagship IPA, aptly named Lone Tree IPA,” Stack said in a release.​

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