It seems a given that a hazy style of beer will be on the menu of any craft brewery, but Telluride‘s Tommy Thacher admits he and his team were stubborn before releasing See Forever Hazy Pale Ale late in 2021.
“It has been no secret that we have purposely held off from brewing a hazy beer, but after doing a deep dive into our business and beer lineup, we came together and all agreed that it was time to introduce a Hazy,” he told Brewer. “Telluride’s approach to beers is that we’ve always brewed beers that we want to drink, and that’s been enjoyable for us. But sometimes it’s not the most profitable for us.”
A deep dive about a year ago showed that the Colorado brand needed to change, including a refresh in its look and changing its portfolio.
READ MORE: Why Canning Minimums Sped Up Telluride’s Rebrand Efforts
”We do need to listen to the market and brew some of these beers that are going gangbusters right now,” Thacher admitted. “What beers are going to do well? Okay, hazy. We’ve said no to it forever. But why not, let’s try it.”
Thacher and the Telluride squad drank more than 100 hazies from breweries from all over and he said they reached out to countless brewery buddies to ask about their process and how they’ve perfected their hazies.
“We came up with the recipe and went with it,” Thacher said. “It’s definitely not my favorite style. That’s kind of the reason we held off but it’s going well, and we’re excited about the new flavor.”
The slight curveball that Telluride did was to make a 5.5% Pale Ale rather than an IPA.
“It’s just not as busy of a crowded category. We could make some headway and make a name for itself a little easier than in the IPA category,” Thacher said.
See Forever will evolve into a year-round core beer that will complement the current Telluride mainstays of Face Down Brown, Tempter IPA, and Mountain Beer Kolsch.
“Having a year-round Hazy not only diversifies our lineup but also broadens our reach to the consumer who mainly drinks Hazy beer, which as we know now is huge,” he said. “We’re super pumped about See Forever and I’m excited to see the market’s response.”
The brewery debuted the new brand as a part of its Winter Jam campaign. It also is using continued social media pushes through all the outlets as well and an aggressive push to get these beers blanketed across the state of Colorado through distribution.
“We have and continue to work closely with our wholesale partners to educate/taste on and off-premise buyers on these beers,” Thacher said. “Anytime a brand comes out with a new product or flavor, it is always good to get in front of the consumer base to let them know what is going on and build excitement.
“We felt ‘Winter Jam’ was a fun way to introduce a few new beers coming down the pipe. We are all music fanatics and had fun making it replicate a concert poster.”
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