Country Boy Brewing

Country Boy Brewing is a Kentucky-based craft brewery that prides itself on making artisan beer with minimal processing and high-quality ingredients. In 2012, during the height of the craft beer boom, four friends - Jeff, Nate, Evan, and Daniel – turned their shared passion for great brews into what would become one of Kentucky’s most popular beer brands. After opening their first taproom in Lexington, KY, Country Boy expanded into multiple taproom locations, including the largest production brewery in the state, and distributes throughout the surrounding region.

Country Boy’s beer lineup reflects its namesake – a mix of both classic and eccentric brews with recognizable flavors that pay homage to the founders’ Kentuckian roots. Many drinkers recognize Country Boy through its four flagship beers: Cougar Bait American Blonde Ale, Shotgun Wedding Vanilla Brown Ale, Cliff Jumper IPA, and Halfway Home APA. As the brand continued to grow, so did its product portfolio, expanding into new beer styles, bold flavor profiles, and hard ciders – this is where Flavorman came into the mix!

Prior to working with Flavorman, the brewers at Country Boy flavored their fruited ciders much like many other craft breweries, using syrup-based flavors made from fruit puree, sugar, and flavor concentrates. While their hard ciders remained popular amongst drinkers, the team found the ingredient created time-consuming, costly production challenges.

From a technical standpoint, using a fruit-based flavor in fermented products poses several challenges throughout the brewing process. For ciders in particular, brewers must carefully monitor and halt fermentation to achieve the desired level of residual sweetness while accounting for the additional sugar introduced by the flavor puree. Additionally, introducing an ingredient containing fruit sugars after fermentation can raise quality concerns if yeast activity remains.

“Of course, we want to cut costs and improve our efficiency. But we were really struggling with consistency. There was a lot of labor on the backend to make all of our products consistent with the flavor we were using,” says Tyler Gomez-Basauri, who manages Country Boy’s emerging projects and new ventures.

Drawing on their industry experience and network, the Country Boy team reached out to Flavorman for a remedy, and we were thrilled to assist! Our Flavor Laboratory and Research & Development team had a straightforward objective: develop a simplified, replicable flavor system for Country Boy’s hard ciders while reducing costs and production expenditures.

First, our Flavor Laboratory developed naturally derived flavor concentrates suitable for four Country Boy Ciders: Raspberry Lemonade, Orange Cream, Apple Pie, and Blue Raspberry. The Research & Development Lab then experimented with the flavor’s dosage rate in the base cider to replicate Country Boy’s cider profiles. Once both lab crews were satisfied, Country Boy was invited to Flavorman’s headquarters for a presentation of their finished ciders infused with custom-developed flavor concentrates.

After several rounds of taste testing, refinement, and final approvals, the Country Boy team found exactly what they were looking for! By incorporating Flavorman’s naturally-positioned, custom flavor concentrates, the brewery gained a more streamlined approach to cider production. Because our flavors are highly concentrated and standardized, brewers no longer need to navigate the balancing act of adjusting sweetness, flavor intensity, and batch-to-batch variability. Instead, achieving the desired flavor profile became as simple as applying the correct dosage rate to each batch. In addition to production advantages, switching to a microbially stable flavor additive eliminated the quality concerns associated with adding ingredients containing fermentable fruit sugars.

“Since working with Flavorman, our biggest improvement has been the consistency and streamlining of our process. With the new flavor, I haven’t heard a single complaint about getting our ciders mixed into solution – we hit our gold standard first time every time now,” says Tyler.

With much lower dosage rates and reduced backend labor, Flavorman’s solution also helped the brewery reduce its flavor cost per unit by 70%. This alleviation across the entire operation allows Country Boy’s crew of talented brewers to focus on what they do best – crafting great beer for their loyal fanbase.

Country Boy has since expanded its use of flavor concentrates to more than a dozen fruited ciders and select beer offerings. Turning out exciting new products and flavor profiles has never been easier. For example, after receiving requests for a pineapple-flavored hard cider from taproom visitors and Kroger (one of its largest vendors), Country Boy was able to deliver at a rapid pace. With assistance from Flavorman’s experts, the pineapple cider concept was transformed into a finished product within three months.

“The Flavorman team is thrilled to help Country Boy and other craft brewers gain such a significant advantage across their operations,” says Matthew Fuller, Flavorman’s Director of Quality Systems. “In the current state of the beer industry, breweries are hunting for new ways to optimize their cost-of-goods-sold. It’s very exciting to see that our flavor concentrates are doing exactly that, while also streamlining their backend processes.”  

Looking ahead, Tyler and the Country Boy crew know that the next endeavor is connecting with a new generation of consumers and navigating a beverage market that looks vastly different from their founding date in 2012. Tyler notes that consumers are increasingly “experience-driven,” making it essential for brands to understand not just what people want to drink, but also the type of experience they seek. Even as Country Boy Brewing continues to evolve (including plans for a craft distillery as its next major expansion), the team remains committed to its “For The Country” tenet in every new product that reaches the taproom.

At Flavorman, we’ve always believed that the right drop of flavor can transform the entirety of a beverage. Thanks to our partnership with Country Boy Brewing, we’ve learned just how big an impact the right flavor can make! While the world of craft beer is fueled by a strong sense of culture and consumer loyalty, sustaining current-day market success is driven by progressive business strategies and problem-solving. This is why Flavorman is thrilled to develop flavor systems that help growing brands stay agile as they prepare for what’s brewing across the industry!