The Innovators: Great Taste, Less Stumbling

As you know, I like innovators— freethinkers who say, “These rules don’t apply to me.” Recently I had the chance to catch up with an old friend, Todd Olsen, who is the founder of O/R/B, a local craft brewery that makes beer with half the alcohol (about 2.75%) and calories (about 100)  of most beers. Why am I focusing on beer in a blog devoted to wine? You will have to read on to find out. In the meantime, note that O/R/B is an early stage endeavor, so you are getting the scoop before the masses. Todd and I met to sample his IPA recently at Naked City, a beer lovers’ paradise in Seattle. –Stephanie

Q: What’s the back story on O/R/B? Why low alcohol and low calorie?

A: I drink craft beers and had noticed that they were getting stronger yet as I age my capacity to drink was getting smaller. So I looked at the marketplace and found a type of beer called session ales, which are between 4.5 and 5 percent alcohol content. But that was the lowest I could find, which wouldn’t always work if I wanted to drink four beers with my friends and then bring my A game home for my kids.

Q: If session ales are between 4 and 5 percent alcohol, what percentage is typical beer?

A: Anywhere between 6.5 to 8 percent and getting bigger.

Q: So you identified this as a problem and decided you wanted to solve it?

A: Yeah. I am a home brewer, and about two years ago I started working on recipes. And the big question I asked myself was how “small” a beer can I make from an alcohol standpoint that still tasted like a good craft beer? It took me about 30 iterations in my garage to find something that I thought I could take to a brewer for feedback. As I was obsessing about this, I realized there wasn’t anybody doing anything like this and I started to think about this as something I could do for the marketplace versus just for myself.

Q: How are you bringing this idea to life?

A: We made 10 kegs here at Naked City as a pilot. It was a favor from the owner, who said, “I like your idea. Let’s make a small batch and see how it works.” I talked to a distributor recently for feedback, and the first thing he said was, “This beer tastes awesome.” The second thing was, “Nobody is doing anything like this.” He also said that the most important thing to him is consistency and capacity. Yesterday was a big step in capacity, and hopefully consistency, because I brewed a larger batch with a commercial brewer.

Q: How do you lower the alcohol in the beer?

A: I had to learn the rules to start breaking them. Beer brewing is completely oriented around efficiency in terms of converting grains into alcohol. What you do is you put a bunch of grains in and steep them at a certain temperature to convert the grains into simple sugars, then yeast eats the simple sugars and turns it into alcohol.

So I start with fewer grains, and I put a larger percentage of less-fermentable grains in. Then I use less efficient temperatures to mash the grains, and thus fewer simple sugars come out and there is less alcohol.

Q: How many different types of beer are you currently selling?

A: One. It’s called Gravelly Beach Micro Session and it’s an IPA.

Q: What are your plans to roll out new beers?

Most people think that session beers are seasonal and only for summer, but I think that there is always a need for craft beers with less alcohol. I am finalizing a Porter recipe now that will be under 3 percent, which will be great for the winter.

Q: In terms of marketing, do you have plans to use naked, skinny and somewhat sober people in your ads?

A: My ads? (Laughter.) We are a ways off from that but sure, why not? The calorie thing is interesting. It wasn’t the reason I did it, it’s just an added bonus. Right now I’m thinking this is a craft beer for people who want less alcohol versus fewer calories.

Q: What’s the scariest part about this? Perhaps your financing?

A: This whole venture is on my credit cards, but luckily I have really good credit. Actually, the scariest part is whether or not people will like it. Within the course of a day I either think I’m doing something really great or totally ridiculous. My very first sales call was at Zeeks [a chain of pizza restaurants in the Puget Sound region]. I dropped off a branded growler full of beer for the bar manager and he loved it. That was a great moment, but there are definitely other moments when I think I am crazy.

Q: How did you come up with the name O/R/B?

A: I wanted each beer to have a name that evokes a thought or a memory from the Olympic mountain range. I wanted to name it Olympic Range Brewery. When I had that trademarked, I got a letter from the International Olympic Committee expressing concerns about the use of the word “olympic.” I was able to negotiate the use of the word “olympic” in Washington, but outside of Washington I can’t use the word. So now O/R/B is my brand name.

Q: What are your plans for widening distribution?

A: I would love to branch out into other markets in the Pacific Northwest and then go from there. At the same time as I am expanding my distribution, I want to focus on making a variety of small [that is, low ABV] craft beers. And then I would like to make small ciders, and in the long-term I would like to crack the code on wine. (Note from Stephanie: This would be great because if you have ever tasted non alcoholic wines you know that there isn’t currently anything worth drinking…)

Taste Great, Less Stumbling

So that, my friends, is the skinny on O/R/B. If you are interested in great craft beers with half of the alcohol (and none of the typical beer bloating,) go get yourself a Gravelly Beach IPA from O/R/B. It is currently served in Seattle at Naked City Brewery and Taphouse, The Highliner Public House, The Barking Dog Alehouse and Zeeks Pizza & Bar on Queen Anne. I hope we’ll see it many other places in the near future.

Cheers!