‘tried and true’ or ‘new and novel’

They say there’s nothing new under the sun, and to a certain extent, they’re right. And we don’t approach this from the jaded viewpoint of so many head brewers that have hoped and prayed for the return of simpler times and clean, crisp lagers (although we do love those times and those beers). No, we say this as a brewery that embraces the balance between ‘tried and true’ and ‘new and novel’ – innovation in the craft beer industry can be difficult to maintain. 

We’ve tried many new things in the past few years – from kettle sours to hard seltzers to high ABV altbiers. Some of these new initiatives took off and form part of our portfolio to this day. We’ll know soon enough if the others will ultimately stand the test of time.

But through it all, we’ve remained steadfast on a few things:

1. We strive always for a balance of consistency and innovation
2. We invest heavily in that balance to ensure whatever winds up in those cans is of the highest possible quality 
3. We love IPAs. They are the foundation upon which the house of Bent Water sits. 

Last week, we talked about one of the examples of IPA innovation at Bent Water that extends beyond the ingredients, with a story and label matched only by the beer itself. This week we wanted to shift some focus onto a few Bent Water IPAs that are just as dynamic and innovative as Supercharger. 

Based on the reception both to Double Thunder Funk, the pumped-up version of Thunder Funk, and Sluice Juice, the NEIPA that remains our number one best seller, it was clear there was plenty of appetite for a ‘superfied’ version of Sluice. Super Sluice – a recent entry to the year-round Bent Water portfolio – took over a year of test batches to perfect, and we are beyond pleased with the results. 

The beer brings bigger notes of orange citrus and tropical fruits than the OG Sluice, which balances notes of tangerine and orange with a distinct lime peel characteristic. As one of our brewers remarked recently, ‘The beers taste like what you’d expect based on the labels.’ *For the sake of clarity, the Sluice label is a mixture of green and gold, and Super Sluice is orange and gold. We don’t think he’s wrong. 

More recently, we tried our hand at a Thiolized IPA, which can be much better described in detail by referencing one of a few in-depth articles on the process, including this one from Craft Beer & Brewing. The boiled down explanation is that we leverage a special yeast strain that produces particularly intense tropical and citrus notes. Combined with the use of the still-rare Phantasm hop, Primordial Haze has become one of the most exciting IPAs we’ve brewed in years – and will soon be making its return. 

With the trifecta of Supercharger, Super Sluice, and Primordial Haze, we feel strongly about our dedication to continue offering customers new experiences even in a fairly saturated segment like IPAs, and we promise there will be more to come in the future! Tried and true or new and novel, as always, our number one goal is making the highest quality and best tasting beer around.