NZ brewer wants your feedback
My old mates at Independent Liquor are taking a novel approach to developing new brews. They’re sending out three versions of a new lager for pre-production tasting by 999 beer experts and soliciting their feedback.
From their news release:
Ben Shaw, Boundary Road Brewery Marketing Manager says serious beer lovers need only apply as the future of The Chosen One is in their hands.
“We want to hear from true Kiwi beer lovers to let us know how they want The Chosen One to taste. It could be they prefer their hops mild, their malt notes medium or they are after a beer to really wow the senses; however they like their brew to be crafted, we want them to decide.”
Mr Shaw says he believes the recruitment drive will be well received as Kiwis appreciate a good brew and have strong opinions when it comes to their beer.
You can apply to become one of the judges at* www.thechosenone.co.nz. There’s some contradictory information flying around about this. I’ve heard stories that all 999 positions are taken, but yesterday Independent’s PR firm assured me that “we still have plenty of places left for Kiwi beer lovers to become a Boundary Road Brewery Beer Taster”.
It’s easy to be cynical about this exercise – after all, I was contacted by a PR firm, not market researchers. But any exercise that gets people thinking about beer, and assumes the New Zealand beer drinker can discriminate different tastes and preferences, is OK with me.
I’ve been given a set of the three test brews, and if you’re another one of the select 999, let’s get together for a tasting, perhaps including a blind comparison against some similar local offers. I’ll publish the results and your opinions here on this very blog.
Then we can see which version eventually goes into production.
Watch this space!
* That’s meant to read ‘The Chosen One’ not ‘The Chose None’, but I’m betting someone got their arse kicked over that one.
Martin Craig
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I‘m crap at Twitter but follow me anyway @nzbeerblog
Filed under: Beer Makers | Tagged: Boundary Road Brewing, Independent Liquor
I’m still waiting to hear back on whether I’m a chosen one … may have missed out.
I’ve already tried mine Martin, you can see my thoughts on the real beer forum. Sadly I was disappointed with all three offerings and wouldn’t want another crack at them. I like your idea of mixing it up with a blind tasting with other local beers though. Have fun with it.
How’s this as an idea then? Independent Liquor is actively asking us to RATE its BEER. And where better to RATE BEER than ratebeer.com?
I’ll be posting my feedback on ratebeer, and I suggest the other 998 of us do too.
Cheers
Martin