When it comes to brewing high-quality craft beer, staying attuned to innovation is essential, not only to keep your brewery up to speed with recent trends but also to continually improve and elevate your brand. Abstrax Hops has been on the cutting edge of a plethora of craft beer breakthroughs, some of which we’ve covered here in this space, including their BrewGas Series. Abstrax Hops’ latest flowable advanced hop innovation, the Quantum Series, now allows breweries to take matters into their own hands, offering a toll processing service that turns hand-selected pellets into a flowable product.

We chatted with Abstrax Hops National Sales Manager Barbara Stone, as well as early adopters of Quantum at Von Ebert Brewing and New Trail Brewing, to learn about the toll processing service, where to use Quantum in the brew process, and the benefits of using the product to improve your finished beer.

The results are in! The 2025 World Beer Cup winners have officially been announced, and once again, the global craft beer community has raised the bar for creativity, quality, and innovation.

Hosted by the Brewers Association at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis—alongside the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America—the World Beer Cup is widely known as the most prestigious professional beer and cider competition in the world.

In this piece we’ll recap the awards and highlight some special winners using Ollie brewery software to manager their production and operations.

Gen Z—the generation born in the late 1990s and early 2000s—is a powerful consumer group today, and they will continue to be influential in the future. According to Euromonitor, this demographic constitutes one-fifth of the current population, and they are expected to have “more than a twofold income surge by 2040.”

Gen Z is the least likely generation to drink alcohol and the least frequent drinkers. A Q4 2024 GlobalData survey found that 38% of North American Gen Z consumers have either never consumed alcohol or have stopped drinking. However, many Zoomers still enjoy drinking when socializing (11%), occasionally (24%), or regularly (27%). Gen Z have an attitudinal shift from previous generations’ relationship with alcohol, informing their product choices by their culture, behaviors, and values. They crave making social connections and distinctive memories, enjoy being active both outdoors and online, and want to be productive and accomplish their goals. The result is that their socializing doesn’t always focus on alcohol, and when they do drink, they want elevated experiences.

Understanding the complexities of the Gen Z consumer is critical in creating products and packaging that resonate with them. Here are some strategies beer brands can use to attract this important demographic.