May 25, 2016
Welcome to the second GBHypecast, an episode devoted to helping a brewery share an important story that deserves to be told. This episode is about Goose Island’s ongoing research into the off flavors in Bourbon County Stout this year, something that’s been on a lot of people’s minds since January. It’s an ongoing situation, but the good news is that the science is in—and there’s a lot of detailed insight to share. Sometimes when we’re working with our clients in a creative or strategic capacity, we have access to situations that no journalist ever would. For example, we creative directed the Goose Island BCS documentary, Grit & Grain, this year, which brings this issue a little close to our hearts. And when we witness something that we think is unique or unprecedented in our work, we often encourage our clients to consider sharing a story that, on its face, doesn’t seem like something a brewery would typically share. Maybe it’s complicated, or really far off in the weeds and hard to articulate, or maybe the media tends to chew things up and spit out clickbait headlines at a business’ expense. So many of those stories, regardless of how badly our audience would want to hear them, or how important they might be for others in the industry to hear, never see the light of day. And that’s just not good enough for me. So we conceived of GBHype as a way to solve that problem. We work with the brewery to outline what we think is the real story, figure out what a real beer audience wants and should understand, and then help them bring it to life in a post on GBHype, or here—a special GBHypecast. It’s a way of creating unprecedented transparency between a brewery and its fans. And we’re proud to offer our platform and expertise to serve that need. GBHype is not unbiased. Like I said, these are our clients. I care deeply about their business, and I work with them in a strategic and creative capacity from time to time. Having said that, this interview is unscripted. My only goal is to get an important story straight and into the hands of the GBH audience as directly and truthfully as possible.