AI is slowly but surely becoming a staple in all industries now, and the beer industry is no exception. Major breweries and beer companies like Heineken and Beck’s have used AI to replace their research and development department as well as marketing and admin teams and brewing processes.
Swedish company Stravito created a generative AI platform in 2017 for food and beverage companies to gain access to consumer habits, and input research and data so that they can really understand the specifics of their customer base. Thor Olaf Philogène, CEO of Stravito from the official website said: “Generative AI is changing the industry for the better by increasing the accessibility of any organisation’s owned data – evolving market research from a one-way search into a two-way conversation.” There are certainly benefits to the usage of AI for smaller, independent breweries allowing for them to save time and money and allowing for the maximisation of profits and creating the best product.
But how do craft beer breweries feel about AI? With major, traditional breweries using AI to scale back on staff costs and timing, indie breweries would presumably be on board, trying to catch up with their mainstream counterparts and increase profits. However, Scottish sour beer specialists Vault City feel as though AI doesn’t compare to their dedicated teams across the company.
“Our current brew kit barely has any automation. It was bought as part of our original set-up when we first moved to Portobello so a lot of what we do is very manual which has positives and negatives” Vault City says.
“Ultimately, we've got the right people in place so having the ability to monitor the process and make those decisions for ourselves has worked better for us than automation or AI might have done.”
With regards to the brewing process – picking flavour combinations and recipe design - the feeling towards AI is exactly the same. “We're lucky that our business model allows such freedom and creativity, and our back catalogue of nearly 400 different flavours means there are very few fruited sour variations we haven't developed on our own.” Vault City explains.
“It's hard to think AI could do a better job than our production team given their commitment to their craft and our dedication to specialising in one specific style.”
The usage of AI within graphic design and art related jobs has been a major point of discussion amongst artists on social media. For example, major record labels and bands using AI for their cover art, skimping out on hiring freelance creatives to save money and instead adopting artificial intelligence for their art.This has left freelance workers and trained artists unemployed and struggling, however the Scottish brewery says:
“When it comes to AI art, it's something we trialled on one release out of the 400 or so since Vault City started, and we decided at that point that we'd never use it again.
Real art helps our beers stand out as much as the liquid inside the can, and we love the freedom of expression; working with different styles to suit our many different flavours.”
Craft beer drinker Josh said: “branding is going to be where it [AI] matters for the consumer, and especially in craft beer where people tend to care a bit more about this, it could prove to be an issue.”
Generative AI has been a divisive topic over the last few years, with ethical issues such as deep-fake imagery, the impact it is having on the environment and how it’s been creeping into fields of work where human empathy and emotions are paramount – such as creative writing, art and music.
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