Use 12 point font and double-spaced with 1” margins. Please include original exhibits and charts as necessary to support your analysis.

961 BEER: LAUNCHING A LEBANESE BREWING COMPANY

“I should have stayed in my own bar and had a beer,” Mazen Hajjar thought over carrots, nuts and a mojito when listening to the boisterous mix of post-punk and Arabic classics at a popular bar in Beirut’s main nightlife quarter, Gemmayze. It was an evening in February 2009, and Hajjar, one of the founders and owners of 961 Beer — 961 is Lebanon’s country code, hence the name for the first craft brewing company in the country — tried to gather his thoughts for a strategy meeting he would have with his partners the next day. Being disappointed with the quality of local beer, he had started his own brewery from scratch in 2006. The start-up phase took place under the most adverse conditions in terms of security and economic challenges. Bombs were shattering Beirut International Airport when Hajjar went ahead and registered his company. Although the 2006 war would negatively affect the country’s entire infrastructure and paralyze much of its economy, Hajjar and his team would succeed in their bet and manage to enter the then- monopolized beer beverage sector in Lebanon to successfully introduce the 961 brand to the market. 961 Beer since then had evolved from a tiny brewer that produced beer in plastic buckets and a home brewing kit in the kitchen to an appreciated artisanal beer manufacturer. Hajjar and his team opened a beer pub that had developed into a favourite hotspot for locals and tourists in Beirut’s buzzing nightlife district. They sold their brew to bars, restaurants and local supermarkets, and in 2009, they expected to reach a production of 95,000 litres annually. At this stage, they found themselves confronted with the challenge of growing their business without compromising on quality in the face of increasing pressure from competitors and limited production capacities and resources.

BACKGROUND: MAZEN HAJJAR

Hajjar, a 38-year-old entrepreneur, had an unorthodox background. He studied political science in Beirut and London and worked as a war photographer in Bosnia. Disillusioned, he eventually gave that up with a new perception that “no one really cares”; yet, he continued working as a journalist for the finance and business section of a Beirut newspaper. In 1997, he accepted a position in the financial sector requiring him to learn “hands-on” about investment banking, giving him wide business exposure. In 2003, while working on an aviation project, he saw a business opportunity for a low fare airline. He wrote a business plan and identified investors in the Gulf for his venture. Out of this MenaJet was born. However, the airline could only operate as a charter company — it was refused a license to operate from Lebanon because it would have created a strong competitor for the national airline. Hajjar later received an offer to set up a national airline, RAK, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He became chief executive officer (CEO) of RAK and advisor to the Crown Prince with a promising stock options package and the prospect of a five-year engagement. It was then he met Henrik, a Danish investor, with whom he discussed food. Hajjar was passionate about this topic; the Lebanese were well-known for their food and wines, although not for their beer even though the region was the cradle of beer civilization. The men discussed the possibilities of coming up with an excellent local beer that the Lebanese could be proud of and that could be placed on an international shelf with all the other prominent beers and stand out. A few weeks later, Henrik phoned and announced his interest in investing in a beer brewery in Beirut. It was early 2006 when Hajjar quit his stable and lucrative job as CEO in the UAE and returned to Beirut to an uncertain entrepreneurial future.

THE BREWING COMPANY

In 2006, when Hajjar started his business, the world beer market generated total revenue of US$294.5 billion and consumption volumes had reached a total of 123.8 billion litres, which was a growth of 2.7 per cent compared to the previous year.1 The beer market had an average growth of 2.4 per cent between 2002 and 2006.2 The global beer market segmentation overwhelmingly showed that premium and standard lager had the greatest percentage of shares with a combination of 80 per cent by value. The rest of the 20 per cent belonged to specialty beer (11 per cent), ales/stouts/bitters (7 per cent) and low or non-alcoholic beers.3 The top four largest brewing companies accounted for one-third of the world beer market share in terms of volumes produced.4 The beer industry was characterized by numerous mergers and acquisitions, which had proved to be the most efficient ways for many companies to get access to new geographic markets, especially emerging ones, and at the same time to strengthen their competitive position within the world market.5

The Lebanese market was dominated by a local company, Almaza, that was founded in 1933 and acquired by Heineken in 2002.6 For Heineken, the acquisition represented an opportunity to strengthen its position in the Middle East as Beirut was a strong exporting base to the surrounding countries. A little later in October 2003, Heineken purchased a second Lebanese brewer, which generated 75 per cent of sales based on non-alcoholic beers. With the acquisition, it was converted into a 100 per cent alcohol-free branch offering multi-flavoured beers. The alcohol-free branch also served as an important/export platform to the Gulf states where 60 million litres of non-alcoholic beer were consumed every year. The local competitor controlled 70 per cent of Lebanon’s $40 million beer market.7

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

1 Datamonitor, “Global Beer Industry Profile,” reference Code 0199-0744, December 2006, http://iom.vse.cz/wp- content/uploads/2008/03/Global-Beer_2006.pdf, accessed May 28, 2014. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid.

4 Ibid. 5 Nelson C. Oniyama, “Impact of Accounting Policy on Organization Recovery Plan – A case study of Monrovia Breweries Inc, Knowledge Review Volume, 21 (2), 2010, www.globalacademicgroup.com/journals/knowledge%20review/IMPACT%20OF%20ACCOUNTING%20POLICY%20ON%2 0ORGANIZATION%20RECOVERY%20PLAN.pdf, accessed May 20, 2014. 6 Justin Salhani, “961 Beer Brewery Proud to be Serving up ‘Lebanese Invention,’” Daily Star, Feb. 24, 2012, www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Lifestyle/2012/Feb-24/164451-961-beer-brewery-proud-to-be-serving-up-lebanese- invention.ashx#axzz32wdAxbS5, accessed May 28, 2014. 7 Michael Karam, “Heineken Shakes up the Beer Market,” Executive Magazine, www.executive-magazine.com/business- finance/business/heineken-shakes-up-the-beer-market, accessed May 20, 2014.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

THE CRAFT BREWING PHENOMENON

961 Beer was founded in the tradition of craft brewing. In fact, the domination of the global beer market by a few multinational players that proposed increasingly standardized products to their customers — notably, lager and light beers — had led to the emergence of a grassroots home brewing culture in the 1970s. This grassroots movement seemed to be the only way for many beer connoisseurs to experience different beer traditions and styles. Some homebrew enthusiasts were inspired to start their own brewing companies in order to familiarize a larger public with the traditions of beer, which finally led to founding microbreweries and the craft brewing sector.8 In total, microbreweries and craft brewers produced less than six million barrels of beer a year (in comparison, Anheuser-Busch produced about 25 million barrels annually).9 They were independent from large beer brewers. At least half of their production used malted barley, unlike industrial breweries that often produced beer based on other grains.10 Some of these new breweries were so successful that they actually outgrew the definition of a microbrewery; yet, they were still labelled microbrewers due to the traditional processes that they applied in production.11 The craft brewing industry produced a variety of beers that catered to an increasing trend and interest within global beer drinking communities towards traditional beers, such as porter, pale ales, cask ales, stout and bitters. Some craft brewers were now called “regional specialty brewers.”12 Craft breweries were on the rise in numerous countries worldwide. The American Brewers Association expected a growth rate of 13 per cent by volume and 15 per cent by dollars in 2011 and 12 per cent by volume and 15 per cent by dollars in 2012. Craft brewed beers were expected to hold a market share of 5.7 per cent by volume and 9.1 per cent by dollars in the United States.13

961 BEER PRODUCTS

961 Beer’s philosophy was to make the best possible beer while having fun doing so. Unlike industrially produced beer that competed on the basis of low prices and advertising, 961 Beer competed on its inherent product characteristics. The beer, like other craft beer, was produced in small batches, always using fresh raw materials without additives and preservatives, which led to greater quality and to more beer diversity with regards to tastes and added flavours.14 Another trademark of 961 Beer common with other craft brewers was innovation in the form of new beer styles and types. 961 Beer sometimes mixed traditional ingredients (barley, hops, yeast and water) with unorthodox and non-traditional ingredients to give the beer a distinct touch.

Typically, beer is produced by adding hot water to different types of ground malts to create a sugary liquor called wort that is boiled to separate it from solids. The cones of the hop plant are added to introduce flavour, aroma and bitterness. After the mixture has cooled, yeast is added to prepare for fermentation, consuming the sugar and producing alcohol and carbon dioxide, thus creating beer. At various stages of the brewing process, brewers can influence the taste. Temperature, for instance, is a major factor affecting the flavour of the beer; for example, black malt is pretty much burnt during roasting, which consequently gives the

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

8 Brewers Association, “History of Craft Brewing,” www.brewersassociation.org/pages/about-us/history-of-craft-brewing, accessed July 11, 2013, 9 Brewers Association, op. cit. 10 K. William and B. Boyer, “Craft Brewers: Want Better Beer? Size Matters,” Medill Reports Chicago, June 5, 2008, http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=92949, accessed October 15, 2012.

11 E. Poelmans and J.F.M. Swinnen, “A Brief Economic History of Beer,” in The Economics of Beer, ed. J.F.M. Swinnen, Oxford University Press, New York, 2011. 12 V. Tremblay and C. Tremblay, The US Brewing Industry: Data and Economic Analysis, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005. 13 Brewers Association, op. cit.

14 M. Stack, “Local and Regional Breweries in America’s Brewing Industry, 1865-1920,” Business History Review 74, 2000, pp. 435–63.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

beer an acrid and burnt character. The types of hops added create different aromas; the time at which hops are added to the boiling process affects the flavour; even the type of water used has an impact as it differs in mineral contents15 (see Exhibit 1 for the brewing process).

961 Beer offered four regular beers: witbier, porter, red ale and lager. Moreover, the company offered a Lebanese Pale Ale that was marketed as the brewmaster’s select. 961 Beer used predominantly Lebanese resources in its production process. Although most of the hops were imported from Germany, some farmers in the Bekaa Valley were growing hops for 961 Beer for future production. In comparison, 961 Beer’s biggest Lebanese competitor imported all ingredients apart from water from the Netherlands and Egypt, where they had previously been approved by Heineken. Hajjar took a lot of pride in 961 Beer’s way of production saying, “We don’t use corn, we don’t use chemicals in our beers, we don’t use green bottles — we do it really the traditional way, the real beer.”

LAUNCH OF THE COMPANY

The beginning was modest and bumpy. After his return to Lebanon, Hajjar read numerous books about beer manufacturing. Henrik, his partner, brought bags of wheat, barley and hops every time he visited Beirut, and they paid $1,200 shipment fees for plastic buckets worth $100 so that they could ferment the beer in Hajjar’s kitchen. Henrik had already sent 50 per cent of the initial investment to start the company and Hajjar provided the other half. Unexpectedly, three days after Henrik’s money arrived, a 34-day war with Israel broke out. Sitting on his balcony, Hajjar watched the bombs falling on the Beirut International Airport as huge clouds of smoke and dust were rising. The first thought that came to his mind then was “Great, now my investor is going to panic, take his money back and leave the project.” The situation was bleak with the government shut down, the infrastructure severely damaged by airstrikes and extensive shelling and bombardments that forced people into bunkers or to stay at home and more than 1,200 casualties. Not exactly the time and place to start a new venture or to invest money! However, to Hajjar’s surprise, Henrik saw more opportunities than threats and called, urging Hajjar to register the company as soon as possible. He thought that doing so at this time would give the company a great story line: “We registered under siege.” Hajjar, the Lebanese, was still reluctant until Henrik, the Dane, reminded him that in the past there had been many conflicts in Lebanon but life eventually took its course shortly after, and therefore he “wasn’t worried” the country would crumble. Hajjar used the time to continue his brewing exercises, but in his own words his brew tasted “horrible and smelt even worse.” He had to take a video tutorial on how to brew beer to understand his mistakes in the brewing process. He tried again and again until he got it right. These first experiences in brewing were still very basic. Primitive equipment was used, which rendered the brewing process very challenging. For example, the temperature could not be controlled properly. Instead, water was heated to the exact temperature, and then mixed with the malt in the hope to achieve the right temperature.

Every Sunday, friends and acquaintances would come to Hajjar’s home to taste the various batches he had brewed and to give their feedback. In time, the beer started tasting good and attracted more people than his apartment could fit. Hajjar recalled that one late night in December 2006, two strangers knocked on his door asking if they could buy some of his beer. Hajjar was perplexed, almost feeling like a black market dealer, but it struck him then that it was time to expand and buy his first commercial brewing space.

After extensive research to find commercial brewery equipment, Hajjar chose DME Brewing Solutions, a Canadian supplier that specialized in equipment for craft beer brewers. The company prided itself on its customer support capabilities, which were then heavily tested by the 961 Beer entrepreneurs who were

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

15 William and Boyer, op. cit.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

originally unable to answer necessary and basic technical questions, such as the type of beer they wanted to brew, the volumes, etc., in order to choose proper brewing equipment to meet their needs. Finally, the necessary equipment was defined and delivery was fixed for March 2007. Until then the team needed training, and Hajjar flew to Canada to obtain a “Brew Master” certification. He also visited his supplier’s showcase brewery where he took several pictures. Back in Beirut, he convinced a second partner, Omar Bekdache, who had previously worked for a Lebanese fruit juice producer, to enter the business. The brewery equipment was delivered in time. However, the 961 team soon realized that it was not a “Lego kit”: it came in seemingly endless parts without an engineering map or instructions. As they soon found out from the Canadian supplier, every brewery is unique, with different space layouts, and there is no generic type to be delivered. The Canadians proposed to send someone to help out for three days at a cost of $10,000 per day, pointing out that it would take three months to set up the entire brewery. That was beyond the affordable. Luckily, Hajjar could retrieve the photos taken in Canada. Based on these, he and Bekdache set out on an exploratory journey to put the pieces of equipment together. It took them until July 2007. They informed their supplier who felt inclined to send a “danger warning,” mentioning explosions and pressure and most of all declining any responsibility. But the first batch finished without problems, and the team proudly emailed pictures to the supplier to reassure them that all had gone well. In the evening, Hajjar received a call from the Canadian CEO: “I don’t understand how the heck you did this, you’re crazy, but can we use you as a poster child to tell people that even idiots can use our system?” Retrospectively, Hajjar thought that the 961 Beer story was an excellent example of how stubbornness and sheer determination as well as the ability not to give up is how a business can eventually survive and actually succeed.

MARKET DEVELOPMENT

After the company was registered, the brewing space was bought, the equipment was set up, the Brew Master certification had been acquired and the brewery could start producing, the next challenge became apparent: “How do we sell the beer?”

It’s All about Change . . .

Creating a brand identity for 961 Beer seemed of critical importance at that stage. Together with Joe Kesrouani, a Lebanese artist (well-known for his photography and paintings) and friend who later became a partner, Hajjar and Bekdache developed a design for 961 Beer. They were inspired by Scandinavian design, which had its aesthetic sources in simplicity, purity and naturalness — characteristics the partners associated with their product. The 961 label was deliberately “under-designed” in order to draw consumer attention to the beer and to let the quality of the product “speak for itself” (see Exhibit 2). In this strategy, mainly Lebanese designers worked on the brand identity in order to bring across the message of 961 Beer as being an inherently Lebanese product by a company that was socially and environmentally aware and responsible. When the company started in 2006, Lebanon was at war. This conflict seemed to be one of many violent repetitions of history and of human errors in the region. 961 Beer coined the catchphrase “Are you resistant to change?” The slogan soon became 961’s brand driver. “Change” would become the promise of the 961 Beer brand in a country that was generally thirsty for change. This attitude would be reflected in the company culture, brand label, website, advertising slogans and later on in the interior design of its beer pub. 961 Beer was out to change customers’ perceptions of beer culture, challenge the way things had been done until then in the industry and change consumer habits and attitudes.

Creating the Buzz

Unfortunately for 961 Beer, though, resistance to change seemed to be strong with Lebanese beer consumers. The Lebanese had been accustomed to more than 70 years of drinking light lager and had difficulties adapting to the new taste. Craft beer had not previously existed in Lebanon, and Hajjar was weary of asking: “How do I tell people to drink a ‘red ale’ when they’ve never had a ‘red ale’ in their life? Never mind telling them ‘drink our red ale’; first, I have to tell them to drink any red ale.” Furthermore, Hajjar was facing pressure from Almaza, the local beer competitor in Lebanon that not only monopolized the market, but also exercised great power due to the lack of any anti-competitive law in the country. Technically, Almaza could go to any bar that would sell 961 Beer and offer the owners a sum of money to convince them to stop selling the brand.

Moreover, Hajjar and his partners were constrained in their financial resources and had to decide on an effective and efficient way to attract potential customers. Instead of spending money putting billboards up, they opted for a less traditional strategy and used online media early on to advertise their beer. Generally, the approach was about conversation and interaction with their customers rather than advertising announcements. They also founded a Facebook group, which soon after its inception had about 1,300 members.

In 2007, the team decided to open a pub that would allow them to “introduce people to beer” by giving samples and having a rotating tap with different beer varieties to keep people excited about this new thing called 961 Beer. By September of the same year, they had assembled a nice bar in Beirut’s Gemmayzeh district, a booming nightlife hotspot, and installed the brewery system — but they could not craft beer there. It was then that they realized that making beer and putting beer into kegs was a different process, which, once again, none of the team was familiar with. However, as the company was now running low on money, they had to come up with a quick solution and decided to open the bar for business without having a grand opening until they had figured things out. Hajjar used social networks to announce the opening of the pub for the following day at 8 p.m. — the furniture was scheduled to arrive by 6 p.m. The company could not afford to stay closed that Friday as that meant another week would be lost, so they had to handle the tight schedule. Getting the pub ready was chaotic — drying paint on the bar chairs with hairdryers and buying an ice cream fridge to use to cool the keg — but they managed. On the opening night, more than 300 people turned up, many of whom had to wait outside as the bar could only hold 80. When the first guests arrived, it turned out that the fridge had frozen the lager and it could not be used. The only other drink that could be offered was the “imperial stout,” a black beer containing 7.5 per cent alcohol with espresso coffee in it. This first introduction to 961 Beer was a shock to some and a pleasant surprise to others.

Beirut was a dynamic city with a fascinating nightlife, and its inhabitants had a strong appetite for trendy locations and new venues. The bar became a big hit, and the good reputation of 961 Beer products spread through word-of-mouth. They also received a lot of attention in the media, with articles in local and international newspapers such as l’Orient le Jour, the Independent and der Spiegel. TV stations in Beirut and abroad, such as CNN, reported on the small Lebanese beer brewer, which helped their visibility tremendously.

The pub also educated people in terms of beer culture and connected to customers on a one-to-one level. In the bar, customers could experience “change” in the form of diverse beers and large choice. A total of 12 different beers and ales were served, some of which were seasonal while others were occasional (e.g., Christmas Beer or a Champagne Beer on New Year’s Eve).

This was an exciting customer experience. Visitors to the bar were offered samples of all the beers at once, and Hajjar was pleasantly surprised with the response, stating: “Every time we introduced a new beer, rather than cannibalizing our beer sales from previous brands, it actually added to our beer sales.” 961 Beer got feedback on its products and took customer response seriously. However, only the recipe of the lager was adjusted as it was destined for the mass consumer and considered pivotal in order to break into the larger Lebanese beverage market. The recipes of the specialty beers as well as other regulars remained intact.

Social media, word-of-mouth, media attention and the pub successfully created a buzz in town, where everyone was talking about this new beer brand. It also allowed 961 Beer to successfully appeal to the emotions of people and to connect customers, customer experience and 961 Beer products with each other.

Market Positioning

961 Beer was not targeting specific types of customers, although the typical early adopters were sophisticated Beirut nightlife audience, local artists and others. Hajjar claims: “We have been doing it for the love of doing it; seriously, I wake up in the morning and I’m excited every day to be doing what I do.” First and foremost, the creation of 961 Beer was driven by the desire to introduce high quality beer to the Lebanese market and to change attitudes and habits of consumers when it came to beer. Many Lebanese had been exposed to foreign beers abroad or were familiar with imported brands such as Carlsberg, Amstel and Heineken. There was only one local beer brand. Many potential customers considered beer an unsophisticated beverage compared to wine. When Lebanese consumed beer, they drank out of the bottle at subzero temperatures on the beach or elsewhere for refreshment.

Although the 961 team did not explicitly segment their customers, their largest early customer group consisted of educated, higher income beer consumers with curiosity for the new and a taste for quality. 961 Beer also addressed the needs of consumers with a strong interest in locally produced goods, which was an increasing trend in many other markets worldwide. An evolution that once was a fad of a niche customer group had evolved into a mainstream trend. Customers also sought attachment to their region agriculturally, e.g., beer drinkers valued local ingredients in their beer. They searched for specific local tastes and personal customer experience, backing away from standardized products, and were attracted to the story of their beer — such as the 961 story of a Lebanese brewer raised from the ashes of a war, fighting the huge multinational Heineken and brewing a Lebanese pale ale that incorporated in it such local flavours as za’atar,16 sumac, anis, chamomile, mint and sage. Consumers enjoyed the proximity to the company. A visit to the brewery or a personal experience in the 961 Bar made a tremendous difference, which comments on the 961 webpage proved: “Best beer I ever had with best story behind it as well”; “Where can I buy 961 T-shirts in Beirut?”17 “Did I ever tell you how much I luuuv the fact that Leboland actually has its own micro-brewery (!).”18

THE FUTURE OF 961 BEER

The bar became a buzzing place. It counted an estimated 30,000 visits within 1.5 years, which corresponded to an average of 54 guests per day. Not long after the opening, sales picked up. “I don’t know what happened, maybe people realized we made good beer and the sales started increasing. It reached the tipping point, I guess,” Hajjar said. It became clear that existing filling capacities were not sufficient and that a new bottling machine had to be ordered. So far, the team operated in small volumes, which was fine for the bar

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

16 A popular Middle Eastern spice mixture. 17 961 Beer Facebook page, www.facebook.com/961Beer#!/961Beer, accessed May 28, 2014. 18 Deedee McFly, “Lost and Looking for Support,” August 8, 2010, http://ddmcfly.wordpress.com/tag/witbier/, accessed May 20, 2014.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

and provided a limited amount of beer for off-premise sales. However, they lacked capacity for the production of larger volumes that would cover the demand at the pub as well as the production of beer destined for distribution beyond it. A delivered machine was flawed, but the Italian supplier refused to send technicians over to Lebanon as the political situation had deteriorated since the end of 2007 and it was not considered “a safe country.” It took another six months before the 961 team had resolved the technical problems themselves and could bottle larger volumes. In 2008, they produced and sold 144,000 bottles. The pricing of the beer was challenging and required some sacrifices in order to compete with the main local competitor. Hajjar recalls: “In 2008, we were selling the case at $12.50 to the distributor while at that time it was costing us $13.60 to make it. We were hoping that eventually we’d get to scale and things will work out.” (See Exhibit 3 for financial records of 961 Beer.)

To this was added the generally fragile security situation with several assassinations of public figures in 2007 and 2008, as well as a series of bombings in 2008 that shook the country up. Until late 2008, the frequency of visitors to the bar decreased tremendously. Despite some good nights, the bar would lose customers each time new political trouble started somewhere in the country. Moreover, other bars and restaurant owners in Beirut began to consider it as a serious competitor that undermined their own business, and they became increasingly reluctant to stock and sell 961 beers.

Nevertheless, in February 2009, the company was expecting to sell 288,000 bottles annually, again reaching its capacity limits. Hajjar was confident about the business but he had to decide on his future strategy. Should he consolidate or should he grow? What kind of strategy would allow the company to expand and to increase its customer base without compromising on quality and the values that made 961 Beer what it was? These were the questions he would address tomorrow with his partners.

Milling: Different types of malts are put through a mill to be ground into grist. The object of this is to break open the malt starch and allow the enzymes to enter the malt.

Mashing: The grist is then put in hot water to form a mash in the “‘Mash Tun.”‘ The natural enzymes, produced by the malt starches breaking down, turn into sugar which then dissolves. The result is a sweet liquor called Wort. The ratio of proteins, fermentable sugars and non-fermentable sugars affect the biochemical and physical process of the brew. The ratio varies according to the style of beer being brewed.

Boiling: The next step is to separate the wort from the solids. During the boiling stage, the enzyme activity seizes, and the beer stabilizes. Hops is then introduced to add flavor, aroma and bitterness. Proteins, yeast and carbohydrates are extracted from the mash to clear the wort by boiling it in the kettle.

Cooling: After boiling the wort, it is cooled and aerated in order to add the yeast. This prepares the wort for fermentation.

Fermentation: The fermentation process has been perfected over many thousands of years since the consumption of alcohol, especially beer, was a common element in all civilizations throughout history. The starch which has been converted to sugars is further transformed by the added yeast into alcohol, carbon dioxide and heat. Quality yeast is the basis of successful fermentation, whilst the temperature of the fermentation process is critical to the beer’s flavor. The byproducts of the yeast is what gives the beer its various characteristics, from aroma and taste to the body and color. Many different methods are used for the fermentation of beer.

Maturation: With the use of bottom fermenting yeast, more sugars are broken down. In cool temperatures, this creates a cleaner and crisper taste. The maturation process is most commonly used for lagers.

Filtration: After maturation, the beer is ready to be consumed. However, filtration is only used on some beer styles. For example, it is more desirable for the Witbier to have small solid particles, which are not harmful, in order to give it its hazy appearance. For other products, such as lagers, a transparent finish is more preferred. At 961 Beer, we try to reduce the amount of filtration we put our beers through since it can change the character of a beer entirely. Filtration strips away some of the flavors found in beer.

Packaging: The matured beer is then filled into bottles or kegs.