Maine Beer Company is known for its vibrant and bright hoppy beers, but the secret to their success is methodical work that starts at the very top of the supply chain—the hops fields of the Pacific Northwest. Their systematic approach to brewing small test batches, getting feedback from staff and customers, and sharing that feedback with their hops growers, illustrates the tight connection between today’s brewing innovation and the agriculture that has enabled it. We talked to Cofounder and Brewer Dan Kleban to dig into their process and philosophy.
CBB // Let’s start with some groundwork. What kind of background work do you do to set up some of your new beer ideas?
MBC // We’re a brewery that specializes in hoppy American-style ales; we pride ourselves on getting to know as many different hops varieties as we can. These days, there’s an incredible amount of innovation going on among hops breeders and processors. What we have done for a long time is try to get our hands on as many different varieties as we can. More interesting to us is getting our hands on experimental varieties that are not available to the public and are still a part of the proprietary breeding process.