After a career that saw him working in some of the country’s best-known breweries, as well as launching (and later selling) his own brewery, Grant Wood was happily retired.
Then Tom Holland came knocking.
The Spider-Man actor had recently gone sober but was interested in launching a non-alcoholic beer line that would not only taste good but fit into an active and stylish lifestyle.
On this episode of the Brewer to Brewer Podcast Wood chats with Chris O’Connor of Prost Brewing about the launch of Bero, the non-alcoholic beer brand that is currently enjoying some notoriety.
Deciding on Bero Recipes
“The number one selling beer in the world is lager. It’s pale, fizzy, depends on who you are, but can be slightly bitter, but it’s the beer of choice for the world, pretty much. So, I wanted to be in that space and make something that fit into the IPA category as well,” says Wood.
“We made a beer that’s called a hazy IPA that has a lot of hop flavor, not so much bitterness, but really, I think, fits well into that category, to give you the hop character that you want.
We’ve got a West Coast IPA in development right now. We’ve got a couple others we need to do. Obviously, my very favorite style in the world is black lagers. So, we’re going to make something dark. It might not be a lager kind of thing, but we’re going to make something dark.”
Goals for NA Beer
“We’re not taking what we would consider as regular strength beer and making a new version of it that has less alcohol/ we’re starting at that basis. We’re going to make non-alcoholic beers and we’re going to formulate to that. We’re not having to match some other beer that already exists and try to make it as close as we can, because there’s always going to be a loss in the comparison of those,” he says.
“If you can do it in the simplest way possible and do it, well, then great. It doesn’t take an overly complex or sophisticated piece of machinery to get the best out of the flavors of the ingredients to make the beer.”
The Tom Holland influence
“Tom Holland joked a little bit when he was on TV last week about how we had a little trial and error. I had some ideas, particularly on the pilsner that just didn’t work. Fortunately, the IPA came together well. Hops do a lot of great things to add flavor and, frankly, cover up things that you don’t necessarily want to taste, or gaps in the beer,” Wood reveals.
“Not that it was super simple, but it kind of came together the easiest. The pilsner turned out to be the hardest to try to get, and it’s the most naked. I mean, it’s not like you’re you can really hide things. And so that was five different trials.
Credit to Mr. Holland. You know Tom was in there from the beginning. He has some very particular ideas about what he wanted and what he wanted it to taste like. And more power to him, man. I try to teach him everything I know about tasting and flavors and that sort of thing. He’s a willing student and learned a lot. And we came to some agreement on the way we wanted things to taste, which was fantastic.
He’s not just a pretty face. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a good-looking kid, but he’s a smart guy and down to earth and super friendly. One of the benefits of this was understanding that he was really all in, and there would be that opportunity for creativity with him. And so that’s cool.”
Listen to the whole conversation where you download podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and Overcast.
This episode is sponsored by:
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