If you have been watching the beer culture in the Pacific Northwest region carefully, you will see that there has been a change in the process of brewing beer, as demonstrated by the increasing popularity of hop water, alcohol-free ales, and botanical beer. While the taplist only included IPA and lager beers previously, it currently also includes such types of beer, indicating that functional beverages are being created along with the increasing influence of formulation specialists in the process.
In other words, the indicated trend cannot be viewed as an exit from the craft brewing business. On the contrary, trying new products and using different methods of beer production is a key element of craft beer. This means that the development of unique drinks, mentioned above, such as non-alcoholic ales and hop water, is the natural development of the industry.
Why Functional Beverages Are Reshaping Craft Drinks
Functional drinks gained their popularity due to efficiency in meeting the requirements of modern customers. Today’s consumers prefer to keep a balance, find healthy alternatives, and stay flexible in selecting drinks. As seen from the statistics, between 1997 and 2023, about 60% of Americans were drinking alcohol. In 2023, this figure dropped to 62%, dropped further to 58% in 2024, and in 2025 to 54%. Instead of reducing the popularity of craft drinks, functional drinks will facilitate the expansion of the line of products by breweries through functional beers and other drinks. In particular, hop water and non-alcoholic beer, which include the components of classic beer, are enjoying growing popularity.
What Functional Beverage Formulation Actually Involves
The drinks could be classified according to ingredients, and the benefits include sports and performance drinks. Some of these functional beverages include ready-to-drink tea, dairy beverages, fortified fruit juices, soy beverages, and functional water. So, it can be tricky when developing functional beverages as you will need to consider taste, stability, and functionality of your product. Firstly, once you start adding some vitamins, herbs, or other products to your new beverage (for example, electrolytes), you have to ensure that your beverage is stable and suitable to taste upon incorporation of all these products. So this requires you to perform tests on the beverages’ stability and safety before the products reach consumers.
Secondly, one more issue that needs attention when making beverages is to check that all your added ingredients will be stable enough with respect to packaging and shipment, because they may be sensitive to light and temperature. Glass is regarded as very stable because it has good barrier properties against gases, and it keeps the beverage’s taste and carbonation. Plastic bottles also act as a strong barrier against gases. But glass is more sensitive to UV light. This is where formulation experts can help. They assist in the formulation, preparation, and selection of the ingredients and the production of the beverage.
Who Are The Best Functional Beverage Formulation Experts?
These companies support formulation, sourcing, and production readiness, making them essential collaborators in the next wave of craft innovation.
1. BevSource
BevSource is a different type of player in the functional beverage industry as it’s a partner, rather than a producer. Provided that you have an idea for your craft beverage product, the firm will partner with you to provide expert advice with respect to formulations, ingredients, and packaging,g as well as help you utilize its contacts and network of qualified suppliers across the world. In this way, you will be able to maintain your product integrity while benefiting from the knowledge of others. BevSource helps guarantee your formulations will work well in commercial production. It also provides technical validation, such as package testing via its SpecMatrix technology, which tests liner integrity when products contain sensitive ingredients.
2. bWorks
bWorks serves as an innovation-oriented incubator, and hence it becomes highly relevant for any organization that would like to experiment with new types of functional beverages in the overall context of the food and beverages industry. bWorks works together with new ventures to develop products and make them market-ready. In case any brewery wishes to develop a new type of product different from its core competence—for instance, developing some sort of functional beverage using hops or producing non-alcoholic beer, keeping the standards of craft beer intact—their incubation service would come in handy.
The professionals at bWorks assist in translating an initial concept into a formulation that satisfies criteria related to taste, functionality, and uniformity, all of which are essential in the current context of increasingly complex products being launched within the food and beverage segment. In the case of beer, consumers not only value taste but also novelty, thereby making such considerations even more critical. Engaging the services of bWorks allows flexibility for experimentation and testing of different beverage formulations.
3. Krier Beverage
Krier Beverage, once known as Krier Foods, has helped shape the functional beverages market through manufacturing as a contract manufacturer and co-packer. While Krier Beverage does not develop formulations, it becomes an integral part of the process when a formulation is developed and needs to be scaled. Scaling can become problematic for craft brewers. A drink that performs well in a small batch must maintain its flavor, texture, and functional properties in larger production runs. Krier Foods provides the infrastructure to consistently produce beverages, ensuring your product delivers the same experience across every batch.
4. MetaBrand
MetaBrand provides formulation support and manufacturing. This means that you can get to market faster with your new product, and that formulation and production needs are addressed early in the process. It is particularly helpful if you are looking to get into the functional beverage market and are looking for speed. This company helps brands refine formulas, choose ingredients, and prepare formulations for manufacturing to ensure that functional benefits are consistent and the taste is not compromised.
How These Companies Were Selected
The companies profiled in this article have been selected on the basis of their relevance to functional beverage formulation and their ability to provide assistance to brands in taking their product development journey from ideation to scale. Within the constantly evolving beer scene, where the lines between innovation and ai driven beer have become increasingly blurred, such services have become particularly appealing to brewers interested in developing innovative alternatives to craft beer.
The following selection criteria have been used:
- Formulation or sourcing of ingredients or preparation for manufacturing
- Relevance to the current trends within functional beverages
- Ability to assist with scaling of the production process
- Relevance to the needs of craft brewers and other beverage developers
- Active involvement in the process of commercializing innovative beverage concepts
The above methodology highlights the need for choosing appropriate partners who will be able to maintain consistency in the process of experimenting with the new formulas. The above is critical in the context of the broader beverage industry, especially the current brewing industry that has been impacted heavily by the emergence of ai powered beer innovation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about functional beverage formulation trends.
How Are Functional Beverages Influencing Brewery Taprooms In The Pacific Northwest?
The adoption of functional beverages allows brewers to offer a wide variety of beverages because they can offer hop water, non-alcoholic beer, and other types of beverages besides regular beer.
Are Functional Beverages Regulated Differently From Beer?
This is determined by the additional components that may be added to the product. These have to meet certain standards according to the safety rules for food products.
Why Are Formulation Experts Becoming More Important Now?
The increased complexity of the beverages requires specialists in formulation scaling.
The Future Of Functional Craft Beverages
With functional beverages making gains in the Pacific Northwest region, expect the breweries you know to depend on formulation specialists for their innovations.
