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Twisted Pine’s Hop Zealot Signals Changes to Come

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Twisted Pine’s Hop Zealot Signals Changes to Come

A whole new look and a whole new lineup on the horizon

 

Boulder, Colorado – April 15th 2014 – The late-June release of Twisted Pine Brewing Company’s Hop Zealot IPA will usher in a new era for the veteran Boulder, Colorado brewery. Dressed in completely redesigned packaging, the Twisted Pine portfolio will see the retirement of a few long-standing beers, the introduction of new offerings, and the redesignation of its best-selling brand.

 

Since the late 1990s, Hoppy Boy has served as Twisted Pine’s India Pale Ale and flagship beer, accounting for between a quarter and a third of the brewery’s production in recent years.  However, in the coming shakeup, Hoppy Boy will shift over in the Twisted lineup in order to represent the American Pale Ale category for the brewery.

 

Sales and Marketing Coordinator Justin Tilotta explains that “while Hoppy Boy might have been a perfect example of the American IPA style 15 years ago, palates and style expectations have evolved to where fans expect beers of that category to have a less prominent malt backbone and lean towards bitterness a bit more.”  Tilotta describes the move as providing “a better fit” for Hoppy Boy which, at 5.7% alcohol by volume and 50 International Bitterness Units, straddles the overlapping style guidelines of Pale Ale and IPA.  “Plus,” he adds, “it opened the door for us to create a true treat for the hopheads out there in Hop Zealot.”

 

The new IPA comes in at 6.7% ABV and 70 IBU, promising a mighty hop punch and delivering with the powerful Colombus, Amarillo and Simcoe hop varieties.  Packaged in 12 oz. four packs, Hop Zealot joins the redesigned Hoppy Boy, Billy’s Chilies and Raspberry Wheat on Twisted Pine’s year-round roster.  Former summertime seasonal La Petite Saison has also been refitted as a standard offering in 12 oz. bottles.  Longtime staples American Amber, Honey Brown and Blonde Ale are being cut from the lineup moving forward.

 

“It’s not an easy decision to just stop producing a beer you’ve been making for almost 20 years, or in this case three beers,” declares Tilotta.  “But we took a good hard look at our portfolio and agreed that we were more passionate about some beers than others.”

 

Twisted Pine enlisted the help of local agency Anthem Branding to overhaul the packaging artwork across the board for the brewery’s refurbished body of beers.  “They’ve got a super talented and creative team over there,” Tilotta says of Anthem, “and what’s more, they get what we’re all about so we were able to develop this new visual theme that really captures the essence of Twisted Pine.”

 

Hop Zealot and La Petite Saison are now being released to distributors within Twisted Pine’s twelve state network, with the other redesigned packages following closely behind.  The brewery’s goal is to have shelf spaces completely turned over to the new look by September.