Friend disses Founders IPA, brewery thinks up Centennial recipe

Good friends will tell you the truth — and sometimes it sucks to hear. Here’s a fun example: Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Founders Brewing Co. is releasing a series of videos that detail the history of its big beer brands. The one above interviews Founders Brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki, who tells the excellent story of how Founders original IPA got its revamped recipe (now called Centennial) when a good friend basically told him he’d pass on a discounted birthday keg to pay full price for a competitor’s.

It was an ominous sign that Founders needed to rethink its brewing business. We’ve told this story before, but Founders Brewing revisited its recipe book way back in 2001. Basically, two college buddies quit their jobs, took out big loans and almost went bankrupt brewing craft beer, but they bounced back. How? Co-founders Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers found renewal and success by actually simplifying their business plan into a few golden rules, namely, brewing the beers that they loved. Watch this video for a poignant overview.