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We recently got the chance to talk to Grady Hull, the Assistant Brewmaster at New Belgium Brewing, famous for the production of Fat Tire Amber Ale. One of our staff members vividly recounts having a Fat Tire the day after high school graduation in 1999, back in Denver, Colorado, as his first beer ever. Upon arrival to southern California for college, he was incredibly dismayed that it was nowhere to be found. Today, thankfully, we can go into almost any bar in any city in the U.S. and enjoy Fat Tire, or even perhaps one of the more rare finds like a goblet of Trippel Belgian Style Ale. Friday night, we sat down with Obama and talked about the economy with a six-pack of Mothership Wit Organic Wheat, and now, we are drinking down some refreshing Monday afternoon Skinny Dips. Needless to say, we are huge fans of New Belgium, not just for taste and the simple fact that we love beer, but because we are in absolute awe of their graphic design genius and the thought that goes into their labels, environmental-friendly operations and presence on the web. We have included with Mr. Hull's wisdom, intermittent photographs of aforementioned beverages to encourage you to leave work at lunch today.

1. What kind of education or job history is necessary to become a brewmaster?
It depends on the brewery.  At New Belgium the job description states a Masters degree in Brewing Science, a Bachelor of Science and a minimum of 10 yrs brewing experience.  It was written a long time ago but I think it still applies today.  You find yourself falling back on both. 

2. What does your daily workday look like?
It’s always different.  The brewery is continuously expanding and changing so I spend a fair amount of time working on process improvement projects.  There are so many things happening around the brewery 24 hrs a day that there is often something going wrong.  I spend a lot of time coming up with solutions to random problems.  Peter and I are ultimately responsible for product quality so we work closely with production and the quality assurance department.  Then of course there’s taste panel everyday, which sort of feels like recess.  I try to keep the meetings to a minimum.

3. What is your favorite part about being a brewmaster?
New product development.  I absolutely love coming up with new beers.  If they asked me to I would do it for free.  I have always been a total beer geek so sometimes I can’t believe how freaking lucky I am.


4. We are big fans of your Mothership Wit and Skinny Dip. From where do the ideas come for new beers? Do you get any say in the naming process? Are there any new brews in the works currently?
Thanks!  It’s different every time.  Sometimes, like with Skinny Dip we went into it with a very specific goal – to make a flavorful light beer.  Other times, like with Springboard, the inspiration to use Chinese herbs came from one of our co-worker's acupuncturist's dream.  Seriously, she had a dream about using Chinese herbs in beer and a week later we were at her shop, smelling spices.

Fortunately for New Belgium, I do not name the beers.  We have professionals for that.  Just like with recipe development, the inspiration for the name is different every time.  Fat Tire was named to commemorate a bike ride through Belgium that inspired Jeff and Kim to start a brewery.  Mothership is what we call the brewery.  Blue Paddle was the result of an external beer naming contest.  The guy who won the contest actually works at New Belgium now.

We do have a couple beers currently in the works.  One is still in the dream / research phase and the other is ready to brew right now.

5. What kinds of things does New Belgium do differently than other breweries to promote environmental sustainability? How do these efforts positively or negatively effect the company's financial bottom line?
Aside from working to reduce our own water and energy consumption and waste with things like using wind power, energy recycling and making electricity from biogas, we try to spread the word a little.  Sustainability is a unique topic in business because it requires collaboration between companies.  We share information back and forth with other breweries, students and companies outside our industry.  Sustainability is incorporated into our messages to beer drinkers from bicycle advocacy at Tour de Fat to highlighting environmental efforts in our ads.  Sharing information is the key to a sustainable future.

We don’t measure the effect on the bottom line.  Instead we spend that time researching the next project.  We’re a profitable company and we do some good things for the environment.  It’s possible to do both!

6. Are there any changes in the works currently to further develop the green side of New Belgium?
Absolutely.  For example, New Belgium continues to implement our Sustainable Management System (SMS).  We are exploring our Supply Chain to identify opportunities for improvement, and using our Life Cycle Assessment as a platform to engage our industry in these issues.  We are also working with the FortZED project to create more on-site renewable energy that will be a part of Fort Collin’s net-zero energy district.

7. What are some things that people would be surprised to learn about New Belgium?
I have no idea what people know about New Belgium.  After working here 12 years I have lost my perspective on that.  Maybe some people don’t know that we are employee owned?  Or that everyone gets a free bike?  Or that after five years employees get a free trip to Belgium?

8. How do you think the company culture has influenced its popularity?

I think it’s been a positive influence.  When it comes to the environment I think people see we’re trying to reduce our impact and they can relate to that.  When we throw a fund raiser like Tour de Fat we let our freak flag fly a little.  It’s a trip to see what comes out of the woodwork here in Fort Collins.

9. What kind of bike do you ride?
A cruiser.  My kids are just now really getting into riding so we do family rides in the evening.

10. What is the inside scoop on drinking on the job? Does taste testing ever turn into a short workday?
Not really.  The taste panel samples are small.  I used to work in a brewery where it was common practice to drink a full beer everyday with lunch.  As if lunch alone doesn’t make you tired enough.  We get free coffee instead.

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