At first glance, an article that is titled, "How Yeast, Sex and Patagonia Sparked", might throw you for a loop on sidetracked channels of drunken nights in the outdoors with Patagonia outdoors wear, however when you actually read the article, which is focused on Willem van Waesberghe, Heinekens very own master brewer, you discover a far more invigorating story- as long as you're into beer.
The article covers Waesberghe's credential history of brewing, alongside the modernization of future craft beers and how larger beer marketing is focusing on using the crafting of beer to help broaden well known brands, like Heineken who have had a much appreciated, reliable beer staple taste, broaden their potential in the future of craft beer.
It touches on how in Heineken's perspective, the yeast is referred to as the "soul of the beer". It also brought up examples of competitors such as Guinness, and how this brand is moving forward in marketing their own varieties under projects and or new recipes.
The point of the article however is to show the excitement that is occurring within Heineken due to a new discovery of a "missing parent" to their current yeast that they have been using in their recipe for the past 130 years. This particular yeast, which is contributing to their new beer H41 which has yet to be release to the broad spectrum market, was found in Patagonia. Aha! It seems to be coming together now...
The article goes on to discuss the behaviors and "sexual" tendencies of yeast, which are, so critical to how each individual beer batch turns out. It explains how in ideal conditions, which were not explained in detail, a yeast will simply clone itself, while in other conditions, it will turn to having sex and producing 2 more yeast functions which will continue the brewing process after uniting together back to one.
What I found to be the main point that has to do with marketing in this article, was how Beer companies who have created a reliable, enjoyable product that has been around for years, are now having to experiment in how they are going to market and convince their audience that their newer variety of beers, will be just as satisfying as their traditional recipes, and how exactly they are going to go about that process. In this case, Heineken is approaching their marketing strategy from a "from the roots" perspective which works considering that in their H41 beer, the missing link to their traditional beer as now been found, and is seen as a completion or enhancer, naturally, to their already great beer.
I think that Heineken's value proposition goes is their perspective and belief that yeast is "the soul of beer", and that beer is actually not all about the hops.
I learned a lot more about Heineken, which is cool considering I'm a bit of a beer snob and tend to lean away from the lighter, perhaps yeastier?, beers. I enjoy hops, but the discussion and history involved about yeasts can be found and grown in multiple areas, much like hops, was fascinating. I also was able to see how the company was thinking about how best they could convince and introduce their new product without scaring away their loyal customers, but also luring in new customers with more of a variety in their beer tastes. I also learned about yeasts behavior in how, essentially, it is so alive, just like us.
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