SL-008 Craft Brew Alliance is Going Beyond Beer

Look around the beer industry, and you'll see lots of things going on that
are decidedly...not beer. With the success of flavored malt beverages,
hard seltzer, and even a resurgence of regional cider brands, brewers all
over are finding new ways to attract drinkers and boost their bottom line
with products outside of their wheelhouse. Not that there's anything wrong
with that. These are businesses, after all, and as the market is changing,
so many are adapting by creating new kinds of beverages that more people
can enjoy.

This is a hot topic to start 2019, and something covered here on Good Beer
Hunting for some time. Among the leaders in this space of transition and
innovation is Craft Brew Alliance, which went all in last year with the pH
Experiment, a new standalone branch of the company that will focus on
incubating ideas and all kinds of trial and error, ultimately with hope of
finding the Next Big Thing.

On this Sightlines podcast, we're talking with Karmen Olson, who's spent
just over seven years with CBA, recently taking over as general manager for
the pH Experiment, where she's looking to anticipate and identify where
things are going. You'll get a little background on this new initiative and
what created this need, which, in some ways, stems from the beer industry's
slow willingness to adapt. For a long time, Olson says, beer focused on
industry challenges, not customer ones, which has led to this point, and
these new ideas. If you want to grow in today's competitive alcohol
industry, it's adapt or die.

This is Karmen Olson, general manager of Craft Brew Alliance's pH
Experiment. Listen in.