
Ask HN: What are the hottest startups related to beer / brewing? - caiohdf
I am a tech entrepreneur and I live among apps and tech stuff but I&#x27;d love to discuss the what is going on the beer and brewing startup environment of these days.<p>What are the innovations in this market, products related and what the big and also the small craft breweries are doing to innovate ?
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dagw
Mikkeller, who know a thing or two about brewing, seem to be making a big push
into non-or-low alcoholic beers that actually taste interesting. And speaking
personally I'd love to see more things happening in this front. As an old old
man (ie past 35) who cannot drink like he did in his youth I'd love to go to
the pub on a Wednesday, have 6 pints of varied and interesting beers and still
be at work and ready to go the next morning.

~~~
themartorana
As an also-over-35, I don't think it's just the alcohol. (Feel free to slap me
down with science.) A beer hangover is now more severe than an equivalent-
amount-of-alcohol hangover from say, vodka.

~~~
mstade
Someone told me that it's because you consume too much fluids when drinking
beer, causing mineral and vitamin imbalances or some such. (I ain't no
scientalist!) This makes sense if true, since to reach the same level of
alcohol in your blood you simply have to drink more beer than say vodka, which
is obviously much stronger.

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smashu
[https://www.brewdog.com/](https://www.brewdog.com/)

also see
[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/29/brewdo...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/29/brewdogs-
open-source-revolution-is-at-the-vanguard-of-postcapitalism) which was on HN
not long ago, discussion here
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11201300](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11201300)

------
bdalgaard
I just heard a story on NPR about a startup in Boston called Purpose Energy
turning waste water from a brewery (Magic Hat brewing) and turning it into
usable energy (methane). There are other efforts to use brewing waste more
environmentally/economically in permaculture [1], but this is the first I'd
heard of them using it to create energy.

Here is the full story.

[http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-09-14/massachusetts-
pushes-b...](http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-09-14/massachusetts-pushes-brew-
new-green-businesses-help-fight-climate-change)

The company is only a small part of the story on clean energy startups and the
company doesn't just work with breweries, so it is only slightly related to
the original question. Still, it sounds like this is a big problem for
breweries to deal with and there is some innovation happening around it.

[1] [http://plantchicago.org/](http://plantchicago.org/)

~~~
jmspring
The idea of fermentation to kill bugs and what not is mentioned in the
documentary How Beer Saved the World.

If I remember rightly, they make a brew out of pond water towards the end

[https://vimeo.com/23278902](https://vimeo.com/23278902)

~~~
spoonie
The only part of that documentary I don't like is that they purposely don't
mention that they boil the pond water while brewing with it (like you would
normal water when brewing). It would have been way cooler if they had shown
that yeast alone was enough to kill off other bad organisms.

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JasonCEC
Analytical Flavor Systems[0].

We built a AI for beer flavor profile consistency and quality optimization.
NVIDIA wrote an awesome article about us here[1].

 __More Info __

Analytical Flavor Systems uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to
build tools for the food & beverage industry. Our Quality, Process, and Market
Intelligence services create real-time predictive decisions metrics at each
stage of a products life-cycle. We leverage our predictive models across
products & industries for flavor profile optimization, production process
optimization, demographic targeting & cognitive marketing - helping companies
create and sell the best product to their highest value consumers with every
batch.

Our Services

__Quality Intelligence__: Real-time predictive quality control, assurance, and
improvement from human sensory data.

__Process Intelligence__: Real-time predictive process control and
optimization from human sensory data + manufacturing & LIMS data.

__Market Intelligence__: Linking flavor-profile, demographics, and sales data
to find the highest value consumer demographics for a product's flavor-
profile.

[0]www.Gastrograph.com

[1]
[http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2015/09/02/beer/](http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2015/09/02/beer/)

------
cnorm35
BrewLog is helping smaller brewers manage their brewing operations/data
online. Giving the smaller guys access to the tech the bigger companies have.
[https://brewlog.com/](https://brewlog.com/)

~~~
gregblass
Hey, thanks Cody!

Greg here, Founder/CEO of BrewLog. I used to work with cody in a previous
company.

I wouldn't necessarily describe our product that way. In fact, it was spun out
of a 50BBL/yr brewery. A lot of the functionality is most useful to bigger
breweries (notifications, activity feed).

The difference with much bigger breweries is that they have automated stuff.
We're talking with Semens, and we're working with a few breweries to hook up
smart WIFI/Cloud enabled temperature sensors to pull data in.

We've got a lot of smaller breweries in our Beta right now too. We're focusing
on making the brew sheet work for all different types of breweries at the
moment, as brewing processes can be different for various breweries.

We're about to launch a bunch of other neat stuff, like yeast management and
tasting.

But yeah, if you've got a commercial brewery, we'd love to talk to you! Get in
touch with me at greg@brewlog.com.

~~~
gregblass
Don't see an option to edit here, I meant 50K (50,000) BBL's, not 50

~~~
mod
Typically if you click on the "X minutes ago" it links to the comment itself,
then you can edit it.

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colinramsay
I'd love to get involved in creating a decent piece of brewery management
software, I've heard it's all pretty horrific (from a sample size of two).
What's the state of the art in brewing software?

~~~
Bartweiss
Big or small?

I think the 'big' answer is all about low-level control logic and embedded
systems. I can't speak to how horrifying it is relative to other industrial
controls, but they're a world all their own.

On a homebrew scale, though, there's some awesome stuff like this:
[http://ohmbrewer.org/](http://ohmbrewer.org/)

The idea is that it's an actually valuable spot for an IoT product, because
homebrewers would rather not sit for hours measuring exactly when to advance
the brew. So you put together a monitoring-and-transition system, plug in your
specs, and OhmBrew automates the process. Also, open source so you can check
out what they're building.

(I'm not affiliated, but I met them and they seemed like awesome software &
beer geeks.)

------
robinwarren
I think this looks interesting for home brewers
[http://www.grainfather.co.uk/](http://www.grainfather.co.uk/)

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kissmd
[http://brewfactory.org/](http://brewfactory.org/)

"Full-Stack Homebrew with IoT and Node.js" a blog post about:
[https://blog.risingstack.com/brewfactory-full-stack-
homebrew...](https://blog.risingstack.com/brewfactory-full-stack-homebrew-
with-iot/)

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eymardfreire
I'm a professional brewer and fermentation technologist, formally trained in
Brewing Science and Technology, also in Microbiology and Microscopy. I'm in
early stage development of a new software solution for breweries of any size
and eventually expanding to wineries and distilleries. Prototype is already
fully functional, it consists of constantly updated database of commercial raw
ingredients along with its analysis, specifically for accurate recipe
development, it will also assist and manage all of your operations from "grain
to glass". Another big feature is the new and way more affordable technology
the we are implementing of remote monitoring and eventually control and
automation of all operations, both Hot Side, Cold Side and Storage. We also
want to extend the software for management of Brewery QA & QC and Yeast Lab
operations.

I'd love to discuss the project with whoever is interested, feel free to
comment below :)

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tedmiston
I'll add one on the edge — Rhinegeist [0] in Cincinnati, Ohio.

They are not a startup in the sense of software or technology, but in the case
of a _very_ rapidly expanding craft brewery. Their growth and expansion since
the first beer ~3 years ago look a lot like a startup, and they've raised at
least $10M in funding [1].

[0]: [http://www.rhinegeist.com/our-story](http://www.rhinegeist.com/our-
story)

[1]: [http://www.ohio.com/blogs/the-beer-blog/the-beer-
blog-1.2731...](http://www.ohio.com/blogs/the-beer-blog/the-beer-
blog-1.273124/rhinegeist-announces-10-million-investment-1.574600)

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KoenVdH2
Tilt is an affordable innovative density meter. It measures the angle/tilt of
the device floating in the fermenting beer.
[http://tilthydrometer.com/](http://tilthydrometer.com/)

~~~
mkj
Hey cool, someone's made one of them.

If only I'd published something in 2012 when I made a start at making a tilt
hydrometer but didn't finish it. Silly patents
[http://www.google.com/patents/US20140260607](http://www.google.com/patents/US20140260607)

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ericsilver
I don't understand the innovation that makes it possible, but Aurochs Brewing
has a gluten-free beer that's actually tasty.

[http://www.aurochsbrewing.com/](http://www.aurochsbrewing.com/)

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Bartweiss
[http://ohmbrewer.org/](http://ohmbrewer.org/)

Open source IoT for homebrewers, designed to replace "sit and watch the
temperature" with a cheap PID monitoring system.

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kidlogic
I am a fan of what the guys at [http://www.swig.co/](http://www.swig.co/) and
[http://www.drinkeasy.co/](http://www.drinkeasy.co/) are doing (disclaimer: I
know the founders).

Swig is a social application that enables you to discover new brews that you
might like (based off of you and your friend's preferences); sort of like
Pandora for your palette.

Drinkeasy is an extension of Swig and enables you to order those drinks.

~~~
dwightc
ordered through drinkeasy's SMS bot for the first time (sits on top of
ezras.com) a little while ago. Great service!

------
afarrell
Mezcal Tosba has an interesting story: [http://www.moleandmore.com/mezcal-
diaries/2014/1/26/mezcal-t...](http://www.moleandmore.com/mezcal-
diaries/2014/1/26/mezcal-tosba)

As a New Englander I am biased, but I am partial to Downeast Cider:
[http://downeastcider.com/](http://downeastcider.com/)

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fitzwatermellow
That's a good question. I can easily foresee someone inventing a "vapable"
alcohol solution that could be revolutionary ;)

For now, most of the capital is being allocated to distribution. "Uber for
liquor" 1-Hour delivery model:

[https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/10/the-new-age-of-
alcohol/](https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/10/the-new-age-of-alcohol/)

~~~
tedmiston
Re: Vaporized alcohol

It seems to already exist — Vaportini [0], Vapshot [1]. (I haven't tried
either personally.)

[0]: [http://vaportini.com/](http://vaportini.com/)

[1]: [http://www.vapshot.com](http://www.vapshot.com)

------
J-dawg
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Brewbot yet

[http://www.brewbot.io](http://www.brewbot.io)

------
baccredited
[https://www.beermenus.com/](https://www.beermenus.com/) seems to have growing
traction. I'm a happy user. Cool email alerts features.

I wish they had an API. I tried to build something on top of Untappd but kept
hitting rate limits (note to Untappd: charge me)

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tweetjay
[https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/bierkeller-beer-
cellar/id104...](https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/bierkeller-beer-
cellar/id1049437504?l=en&mt=8) is definitely worth a look :)

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qf303rjr3
Marketplace for craft beers, direct from the brewery -

[https://www.eebria.com/](https://www.eebria.com/)

They also have a trade site -

[https://www.eebriatrade.com/](https://www.eebriatrade.com/)

~~~
deutronium
eebriatrade seem really interesting! I signed up to that a while ago, so that
I can order a keg for christmas :)

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cprayingmantis
There's NextGlass that's here in Wilmington NC. I think they're using machine
learning to figure out how your brew really tastes.
[https://nextglass.co](https://nextglass.co)

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yread
Something might come out of this:

[http://www.nature.com/news/tapping-genetics-for-better-
beer-...](http://www.nature.com/news/tapping-genetics-for-better-beer-1.20336)

Editing genome of yeast with CRISPR

------
caser
Brewpublik is a curated craft beer delivery service to your home or office.
They're a 500 Startups company:

[http://www.brewpublik.com/](http://www.brewpublik.com/)

~~~
ninjasambolini
Great company. Used by a ton of offices for beer in the Bay Area.

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l-vincent-l
[https://www.picobrew.com/](https://www.picobrew.com/) makes a good
platform/product.

------
ben_hall
[https://ubrew.cc/](https://ubrew.cc/) \- an open brewery where you brew the
beer

~~~
spoonie
It's a U-brew store like they have in every small city, except a bit more
modern and much more hip because it's under a railway arch in London. But all
of the founders and employees are very nice and they are doing well. :)

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jsemrau
[http://www.bierdar.com](http://www.bierdar.com) \- An app for beerfinding
using iBeacons?

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arippberger
[https://www.brewtoad.com/](https://www.brewtoad.com/)

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beerguy
[http://kegerator.com](http://kegerator.com)

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netham91
[http://www.whitelabs.com/](http://www.whitelabs.com/)

A team of biochemists found this. They have a very scientific approach and you
should check out the kind of teams they have.

~~~
127001brewer
White Labs is not a startup: they've been providing liquid yeasts (to home
brewers and breweries) for a fairly long time.

Chris White, of White Labs, wrote a great book on yeast:

[https://www.amazon.com/Yeast-Practical-Fermentation-
Brewing-...](https://www.amazon.com/Yeast-Practical-Fermentation-Brewing-
Elements/dp/0937381969)

------
lopatin
Untappd

