Calling itself a “pioneer” in the style of heavily fruited Berliner Weisse beers, 450 North Brewing has drawn sharp criticism from industry peers who say the brewery’s leaders have failed to take ownership for quality control mistakes. 450 North’s owner David Simmons fanned the flames when he was subsequently quoted in a follow-up article in Columbus, Indiana’s The Republic stating that ABV disparities are “an industry-wide issue.”
The claim came weeks after the brewery was investigated by the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission for improperly labeling its kettle-soured beers’ ABV, an issue which came to light when it was raised on social media. The company admitted its sale of a 2.56% ABV beer mislabeled as 8% came from a “calculation process” that was “critically flawed.”
But the brewery has continued to release Slushy beers with little transparency about what has actually changed in the brewhouse. In the past weeks, GBH reached out multiple times to 450 North, but didn’t get a response to questions until January 10. The brewery declined to make owner David Simmons available, with director of sales McKinley Minniefield joking that the brewery had “taken David’s phone away.” Instead, Minniefield answered questions via email, but didn’t offer specifics on a variety of topics, including methods of brewing and lab testing the Slushy beers.
Regarding Simmons’ comment about flawed ABV calculations being an “industry-wide issue,” Minniefield first told GBH that Simmons did not say those words, then in an email clarified the remark was taken out of context and “does not at all reflect our beliefs or the reality of the craft brewing industry.” GBH twice attempted to contact the reporter who quoted Simmons, but did not receive a response.
450 North’s ABV disparity came just months after the brewery also admitted some cans of its heavily fruited sour beers could explode if not refrigerated and consumed quickly, as yeast continued to referment sugars from the fruit and release additional carbon dioxide. Despite these dual quality-control missteps, customers continue to clamor for the brewery’s releases and voice their support on social media. On a recent photo of an upcoming Slushy can release 450 North posted on Instagram, a commenter asked: “Y’all get the alcohol levels figured out yet?” 450 North responded that "they have not been tested yet,” while another commenter replied with a sentiment that sums up much public sentiment: “Literally who cares.”
“[Drinkers] seem to be completely okay with the fact that they just got lied to. That’s really weird to me,” says Eddie Sahm, owner of Big Lug Canteen and Brewery in Indianapolis. “I get one-star Yelp reviews because our brewpub’s fries were kind of cold, or saying that we’re a boring brewery because we make 35-day-lagered Helles Lager. […] But 450 North had this weird shield around them. It’s like, ‘Are you guys not going to ask for more out of them?’”
The contrast in the way the two groups—brewers and drinkers—have reacted to 450 North’s stumbles raises larger existential questions for the beer industry: what are the long-term consequences of such quality-control stumbles? How are breweries able to determine what “quality” means when it comes to new takes on styles of beer, like these slushy-style sours? And, perhaps most crucially: how important is quality to beer drinkers?
“If you lose customer trust, what else do we have? The more this conversation happens where the trust isn’t there, the more likely we all lose customers,” Sahm says. “I hope it’s not that new drinkers question every small brewery and think, ‘Fine, I’ll just drink my White Claw.’”
Other small breweries in the state echoed Sahm’s concern that 450 North’s mistakes could reflect poorly on Indiana’s brewing industry as a whole. Jonathan Mullens, brewer at Indianapolis’ Broad Ripple Brewpub, says the state’s brewers guild has made quality control a priority in recent years, and even offers subsidized laboratory testing for small breweries.
“Right now I’m just cringing in my own little corner. Quality is of utmost important to almost every other brewery out there,” Mullens tells GBH. “I don’t think [450 North] should be dissolved by this as a company, but it should be addressed and ensured the proper steps are being taken. I feel like that’s happening in the background, but we’re not hearing the whole story.”
Minniefield says the ABV disparity only came to 450 North’s attention when a screenshot from an unnamed person claiming to have lab tested a Slushy beer’s ABV began circulating online—at which point the brewery admitted its testing process was “critically flawed.” When asked what portion of the Slushy brewing process contributed to the disparity in stated vs. actual ABVs, Minniefield tells GBH that “adding fruit puree post-fermentation will alter the ABV of the finished product and we didn’t take it into account,” but didn’t elaborate. Minniefield says the brewery will implement independent lab testing from now on, but has no plans to change the way it brews the Slushy beers: “Our fans love this line of beers, and we don’t plan to change the brewing process.”
An investigation of 450 North by the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission didn’t result in any disciplinary action or fines for the brewery as a result of the ABV disparity, and was described as a “friendly five-minute chat” by Simmons in an interview with The Republic. But other Hoosier State brewers remain concerned that the issue—and Simmons’ printed quote calling it an industry-wide problem—has placed their brewing practices under a microscope from regulators and customers.
“Now we’re under this micro scrutiny. It’s creating an aura of paranoia,” Jarrod May, director of brewing operations at Bloomington, Indiana’s Tap Brewery and Craft Beer Bar, tells GBH. “We know we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, but are people looking at us and saying, ‘Well, are they?’”
May says he sees three camps forming in response to the 450 North ABV controversy:
450 North loyalists who are eager to look past the brewery’s mistakes;
Brewers themselves who are concerned by what the mistakes mean for the industry and their reputations;
Drinkers who remain indifferent.
Because beer traders often swap 450 North’s beers for other high-value beers, Mullens believes there’s a possibility that some customers are vocally supporting the brewery in an effort to maintain the high trade value of those beers. By at least one measure, that value is an additional $3 per can to resell.
“You see a lot of people on 450 North’s social media being like, ‘Yeah you’re bringing these beers back!’ while us as brewers, we’re like, ‘Why are you [450 North] fucking us over?’” May says. “The brewing community is scrambling to prove that we make good beer and not just exploding cans with a little bit of fruit juice in them. We’re trying to prove that we can do simple math and that we clean our vessels.”
Mullens says Simmons’ quoted comments about these mistakes being an industry-wide issue were the most “hurtful” part of the ordeal, calling the sentiment an affront to every brewer working as hard as they can to make the best beer possible. There are numerous examples of fruited, kettle sour beers that haven’t been reported for quality control issues, countering the claim that the problem is happening across the country: Anderson Valley Brewing Company’s fruited Goses, 10 Barrel Brewing Company’s Crush series, Odell Brewing Company’s Sippin’ Pretty, and more.
Mullens says he’d like to see an apology and/or clarification from Simmons to the wider brewing industry, and to hear 450 North take greater responsibility for its missteps. Part of that, he says, is being transparent about exactly what new steps are in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“It seems like it’s trying to be swept under the rug but like many things, it shouldn’t be. […] When you’re talking about calling out the entire industry, that’s like Firestone tires saying, ‘You got these Firestone tires that go flat, but you know, every tire goes flat all the time.’ Can you imagine any other industry where this would be handled this way?”
Sahm and May both share Mullens’ concern that quality-control mistakes coupled with Simmons’ comment will damage trust customers have in small breweries. Both say they’re nervous that drinkers will begin to doubt small breweries as a whole. (Memphis’ Wiseacre Brewing Co. recently brewed a cherry Berliner Weisse and named it “3.8%; We Checked.”)
The rise of heavily fruited, slushy-style beers has forced brewers to ask themselves some of the same questions raised by the popularity of White Claw and other hard seltzers: if this is what drinkers want, should craft brewers be the ones to give it to them, even if those products are far from the beers many brewers set out to make? If so, how can they do so with integrity? What even constitutes a high-quality seltzer or slushy beer? “Without a benchmark, without a beer we can look at and say, ‘I’m going to make this style and this is what it should be and this is how you should brew it,’ we really don’t know,” May says. “There’s a place for the style, but I think we need to figure out how to do it under quality control parameters.”
Friction between innovation and quality control isn’t new for craft breweries. But as breweries—especially taproom-driven breweries bolstered by can-release sales—push to release new beers even faster, the friction can ignite sparks. The tough math comes when brewers must choose which matters more to their customers: innovation and novelty or quality. Brewers strive to meet both, but with emerging, experimental styles, sometimes one takes precedence.
The familiar pressure to innovate and meet customer demands gives Indiana brewers some sympathy for 450 North, though not enough to overcome what many perceive as mistakes that tarnish the entire industry’s reputation.
“I’m still supportive of 450 North. We’re not going to do collaborations or we’re not best friends, but they’re a small brewery. They support their community,” Sahm says. “But you still have a responsibility to your drinkers. We all do.”
Words by Kate Bernot