How Can Microbreweries Future Proof Their Businesses?

Discover how Optimized Hop Extracts help microbreweries reduce costs and labor, increase efficiency, diversify offerings, and MORE.

Microbreweries are a pivotal piece of beer culture. Not only are these businesses often social hubs with deep community ties, but microbrewers put the “craft” in craft brewing. They continue to innovate and transform the art of brewing despite rising inflation and production costs.

The reality is that, even in the best of times, running a microbrewery is an expensive endeavor that requires no small amount of time, labor, sleepless nights, and endless passion. Add climate change, economic uncertainty, and changing consumer preferences to that, and things get much harder.

Fortunately, these brewing pioneers can breathe a little easier with Optimized Hop Extracts. 

Between our Quantum Series and Omni Hop Profiles, our Optimized Hop Extracts (OHEs) give microbreweries access to hop flavors and aromas that will completely transform their businesses — and it has nothing to do with being cheaper than our competitors (although, that’s true too).

Read on and discover how Optimized Hop Extracts can help microbreweries future-proof their businesses.

Microbrewery Difficulties With Hop Contracts and Spot Markets

Put simply, hop contracts are an agreement between breweries and hop farmers. In an ideal world, they guarantee that a brewery will have access to preferred hop varieties at a stable price, and they let farmers know which varieties to grow and how much. If hop varieties are in short supply, farmers will prioritize supplying those hops to breweries with contracts. 

There are a lot of benefits to good contracts. However, while we don’t want to say that this ideal hop world DOESN’T exist, it’s getting harder and harder to find.

Between inaccurate beer forecasts, economic upheavals, poor harvests, and more, even the most experienced macrobreweries can end up in unfavorable contracts. Breweries long on hop contracts might be unable to store them or, worse, afford them. When this happens, brewers sometimes sell their surplus to a secondary vendor… at a loss. On top of that, a hop surplus can be a significant barrier to recipe creativity.

Breweries stuck in multi-year contracts might also be unable to access the hops their customers would prefer, which can mean losing customers to competitors. If that wasn’t enough, even in the best case scenario, microbreweries are often left out in the cold when it comes to contracts. 

Unlike macrobreweries, microbreweries produce less than 15,000 barrels of beer a year, and they often brew specialty, limited-edition beers that don’t require a large, continuous order of a specific hop variety. Since many contracts require minimum purchase amounts, microbreweries may or may not be able to meet that minimum. This leaves microbreweries hunting down their preferred hops on the spot market. 

While the spot market can be a powerful resource for supplementing hops, agility and innovation, and budget flexibility (sometimes), it’s also not without its woes. A good supplier will provide high-quality hops, but the likelihood of inconsistent quality is higher on the spot market. Also, while it’s not always a bad thing, available hops might be several years old.

The most significant disadvantage is that any shortages will impact the spot market first. These are already hops that are leftover AFTER farmers have fulfilled contracts. So, any hop shortage (like the recent Centennial hop shortage) can mean that certain varieties won’t be available on the spot market. For microbreweries relying on this market, it creates a volatile supply chain issue that can be next to impossible to plan for. 

Optimized Hop Extracts Ease Hop Surplus Issues for Microbreweries

Regardless of whether a microbrewery has a contract, getting the most out of your hops is just good business. This is where the benefits of Optimized Hop Extracts start compounding for microbreweries.

Microbreweries have to consider things like storage space and hop shelf life. Every inch of space in a microbrewery is a valuable resource, and hop cones and pellets take up a lot of space. Plus, even with the best storage methods, hops lose volatile aromatics over time.  

Instead of wasting storage space, watching hop quality diminish, and/or selling surplus hops at a loss, microbreweries can utilize toll processing to extend the life of those hops while saving on storage space.

Every 1 lb processed into Quantum gives breweries a dosing equivalent of 5 lbs. Now, that 1 lb of T90 that was just taking up space is worth the flavor and aroma of 5 lbs. 

Compared to cones and pellets, hop-derived Quantum weighs less, costs less to ship, and takes up less space. On top of that, these profiles offer a 100% utilization rate and can be used at any stage of the brewing process with zero yield loss — and that’s just the start.

OHEs Help Microbreweries Reduce Supply Chain Issues

What about microbreweries that don’t have hop contracts and can’t find what they need on the spot market? What about hop shortages that impact every facet of the beer industry? Optimized Hop Extracts help microbreweries mitigate hop supply issues by giving them consistent access to preferred hop flavors and aromas.

While Quantum is solely derived from hops, Omni Hop Profiles are sourced from sustainable botanicals. With this as the foundation, we then layer in terpenes and other compounds to formulate, replicate, and standardize the flavor and aroma of hops. 

So, how does that help microbreweries? Omni Hop Profiles are a true living record of specific hop samples that can be recreated forever. Not only are these sustainably sourced, but things like seasonal flavor drift or industry shortages will never impact our ability to recreate these profiles.

This is also beneficial for microbreweries that want to preserve the aromatics of hops they already own and want to brew with indefinitely. In addition to simply placing an order for MOSX528 or NSNX459, microbreweries can send us their hops so we can recreate it FOREVER as an Omni Hop Profile. 

If that wasn’t enough, these profiles are completely customizable. Microbreweries don’t often have the resources to partner with breeding programs for years-long cultivation experiments. The ability to customize profiles, however, lets them save time and money while accessing a realm of creativity that hasn’t been possible until now. Imagine a danker version of Strata® or a Citra® with even more citrus.

With Optimized Hop Extracts, microbreweries can consistently brew with their favorite hop flavors and aromas indefinitely. 

Optimized Hop Extracts Help Microbreweries Reduce Labor Costs

Between equipment, supplies, and even just keeping the lights on, the costs of running even the tiniest of microbreweries add up fast. Plus, let’s not forget that brewing is a labor-intensive endeavor. 

Sure, it’s not as backbreaking as it was before the Industrial Revolution, but it’s still physically demanding, and some processes can’t be rushed. That means more time and more money. Plus, microbreweries might not have access to expensive equipment that could make some of these tasks easier.

Instead of brewers clocking unpaid hours to tackle some of these tasks, Optimized Hop Extracts reduce labor requirements by an order of magnitude.

Imagine a 1,000 lb order of T90 pellets. That means shipping, unpacking, refrigerating, and ultimately using a total of twenty-two 44 lb boxes. The OHE equivalent is just 4 gallons. That’s 4 gallons that are minimally packaged in lightproof glass and aluminum bottles with no boxes, foil, or other junk to throw away.

On top of that, OHEs don’t require workflow modifications, they don’t soak up potential beer, and they don’t require refrigeration before opening. That means there’s no additional labor required to use them, no additional labor to clean gunk from the tank, and no additional labor required to haul them into cold-storage before using them.

Abstrax | Helping Microbreweries Get Ahead with OHEs

At Abstrax, we provide novel solutions for beverage manufacturers of all sizes looking to streamline, innovate, and gain a competitive edge. With our knowledge, technology, and extensive resources, we’ve crafted our collections to provide recognizable flavors and aromas that consumers love.

Omni Hop Profiles are sourced from sustainable botanicals, and things like seasonal flavor drift or industry shortages will never impact our ability to recreate these profiles. Want profiles derived solely from hops? Our Quantum Series completely reflects the hops that go into the process in a way no other hop extractions can.

Are you a microbrewery with questions about using Optimized Hop Extracts in your next formulation? Contact us for a free consultation and let’s start future-proofing your business today.