HAAS^® is excited to announce the launch of Euphorics™, a new specialty ingredient to create bold, impactful flavors and aroma that naturally integrate into beer. We sat down with Caitlin Rippner, Process Scientist at John I. Haas to discuss this bold, new product.

For people out there who might not know you, can you introduce yourself?

My name is Caitlin Rippner. I work on the R&D Team as a Process Scientist, doing research on new products, looking into optimizing the processes, and making them the most efficient they can be. My team works very closely with Brewing Solutions to test and vet new products, and to make sure they’re going to be really awesome in beer. And we work with the Quality team to make sure that everything is going to meet the specifications. So, we do a lot of early phase studies on products to characterize them and try to get ahead of any questions customers might have.

Why did HAAS develop this new flavor product, Euphorics?

As you know, HAAS is a hops company—we actually just celebrated our 100th year in the hops business—and hops are all about delivering great flavors in beer. We have a whole line of really amazing aroma hops, in fact, we have the world’s leading hop breeding program. And, while hops provide a lot of interesting flavor, there are some flavors that hops just haven’t been able to express yet. So we wanted to provide more options for brewers with a product that complements their hop bill.

Euphorics is a new product to give brewers aromas and flavors that will blend really easily into their beverage – and the product line will be focused on the most exciting, desirable flavors. It’s all-natural and water-based, and so that means no flammable storage, no hazardous shipping. It goes easily into finished beer, hop water, teas, or a malt beverage. It really gives you this exciting pop of flavor and aroma that can amplify and synergize with what you already have or add nuance and differentiation.

So, does Euphorics replace the hops you normally use?

No, Euphorics is going to supplement the hop bill that people are using in their beers. It’s not really intended to replace hops at all, but to introduce or amplify a variety of fruit flavors and beyond.

There are a lot of flavor products out there, what makes Euphorics different?

This is where our Brewing Solutions team really came into play – these are flavors for brewers, by brewers. Because of this philosophy, we designed Euphorics to present not as a single fruit by itself, but to bring together a really exciting blend of flavors. We started with a base which gives a tropical effect or an herbal cannabis-like flavor, and then we paired those with some really complementary fruits. It’s something complex, but we’ve focused on the brewer’s perspective, which means validating the integration into beer by trialing different styles.

That’s the thing, integration —you can smell something in a bottle or even in a raw hop that smells great, but then you put it in your beer and it totally disappears. So, we worked hard to make sure that Euphorics will present really nicely in the beverage because, after all, that’s how consumers experience them.

Euphorics has some wild flavor names: Peachy Keen, Cosmic Guava, Pineapple Paradise, Pomelo Daydream…what are these intended to convey about the product?

You’re right, it’s not traditional HAAS, but that’s intentional. The industry is drastically changing and we need to change with it — we wanted to be a little bit edgier, to indicate to customers Euphorics is a product you can dream with, grow with. You can come up with something that is just… out there… and different and new and kind of pushes all the boundaries. Euphorics reflects that really well.

So, there’s different… flavor archetypes that bring this whole product line to life. One is Peachy Keen, a product that’s a great example of “Safe Fruits.” It’s something that will really take you to that place you’re familiar with and you can associate something with it. Maybe you’re thinking about peach tea at Grandma’s house from when you were a kid.

Another archetype is “Nostalgia,” which really captures a huge trend in the beer world right now. So if you grew up in the 1970s or 80s or 90s, we think back on things like Hi-C, Rocket Pops, Nerds candy, and all of those candies and fun artificial drinks… you can recreate those flavors using botanical blends. Like Pomelo Daydream is a really good example. It tastes a lot like Squirt soda or Fresca. And for some people that’s like, “Oh, I love that. I grew up with that!”

Of course, then there’s the “Cannabis-adjacent” or “Terps” – what you might also call “dank.” These notes have been a part of Craft since forever. Those flavors are as relevant today as they were when the Bay-area brewers were amping up their IBUs and experimenting with exciting new hops like CTZ and Amarillo – probably more relevant. We wanted to pay homage to where we’ve come from as an industry and a company, while looking towards the future and what flavor can be. Cosmic Guava exemplifies this. It blends the sweet, resinous edge of cannabis with notes of basil oil, which helps the flavor integrate with the ripe fleshiness of pink guava. It’s a real treat and I’m excited to see what brewers think of it.

So, Euphorics packs a lot of punch?

Yeah, and it’s very easy to use. It’s extremely potent. In fact, that’s something we’re working hard to really craft some good customer education pieces on. Because it’s so potent, it has a higher price point than other products on the market. But when you look at cost in use — how much you have to put into a barrel to get a similar effect — it’s very competitive with other products that are out there.

I was just making a mental analogy to the concentrated, high-efficiency washing machine detergent and things like that—when you buy the big bottle, you’re really buying the same thing, just with more water.

Sustainability is one of the advantages. Honestly, I don’t think people really want to pay for shipping water. From that perspective, Euphorics is even easier to store. If you don’t have much room in your refrigerator, this is really not going to be taking up too much space. Think about it – one of our 50mL bottles is all you need to transform a 5–10-barrel batch.

We know that the beer industry is looking beyond hop flavors—they’re using fruit purees and things like that—is Euphorics a more efficient or cost effective way, or more labor efficient way, to get some of those same things they’re looking for?

Yeah, absolutely. Euphorics will definitely provide some of that value that brewers are getting from fruit purees. We’re doing some research right now to find concrete numbers to recommend how much of a puree you could replace with this product. But, it does have a lot of advantages. It’s going to be more microbially stable, and the product will be much more consistent year to year. Fruit can vary so much with harvest and climate and everything changing year to year, even prices. But Euphorics is not going to vary on the price. It’s not going to vary on how fragrant and how intense it is. So, we really view it as a tool for the brewer to replace some of these more labor intensive techniques they may be using.

This is obviously perfect for IPAs. Are there other applications beyond IPAs that people have been trying?

Yes, absolutely. At CBC this year we’ll be presenting a few different non-alcoholic beverages that include Euphorics. One will be the opportunity for attendees to create their own beverages and dose directly into a sparkling water to see how it presents in a neutral base.We’ll also have a hop water and a hydration beverage. We’ve had some customers trialing kombucha, and in-house we’ve done a lot of work with energy drinks, ciders, and more — there’s a lot of different places you might use Euphorics. Really, the sky’s the limit.

If you’re making a sports drink with Euphorics for instance, does it still have sort of a hoppy character to it, or is that more like a pure punch?

Yeah, so the hop oils are a big part of the magic with this product. What you’ll smell and taste are a bit different though: there’s a little bit of herbal and fruity character provided by the hops, but we find that the biggest effect of the hops is really to give the fruity flavors more of an authentic feel and make it feel less artificial.

And this is right on trend, too—I know some of the most popular beers in America right now are ultra high-octane IPAs – stove pipes with a lot of… well… everything.

Exactly, our goal is to really be on-trend and help our customers bring something that is really exciting and trendy to customers. This Euphorics product line will be keeping up with new trends and new flavors that we’re getting requests for — and we’ll also have the ability to offer custom flavors for customers that are able to buy at larger volumes. So, the possibilities are just wide open, and it’s going to be fun to see what people come up with. They’re already sharing some pretty wild ideas.

To learn more about Euphorics, visit our new product page. To give Euphorics a try, contact your HAAS representative or your favorite HAAS distribution partner. And, please, let us know what you think!

Cheers!