Neil Witte has seen the nastiest of the behind-the-scenes beer business — moldy couplers, walk-in coolers that smell like acetic acid and musty puddles teeming with draft spoilers.
Witte, who worked for Boulevard and Duvel USA for a combined 19 years, is a rarity in the industry. He’s one of only 13 master cicerones in the world — the highest level of recognition awarded through the Cicerone Certification Program, which has become the industry standard for identifying those with significant knowledge and professional skills in beer sales and service. But he was also one of the few field-quality specialists employed full-time by an American brewery.
“I see a lot of things people don’t ever see,” Witte told Brewbound. “There’s a lot of beer that is being sold right now that is of very poor quality. It’s beer that normally, when it leaves the brewery, tastes really good.”
Witte was a contributing author to the Brewers Association’s Draught Quality Manual, Draught Beer Quality for Retailers and the Master Brewers Association of America’s Beer Steward Handbook, and was featured in a 2015 episode of Bar Rescue.
He left Duvel USA on January 1 to start Craft Quality Solutions — a consulting business aimed at making sure high-quality beer stays that way when it’s out in the world.
By Witte’s count, only six craft breweries employed dedicated specialists when he departed Boulevard earlier this month, among them, New Belgium, Bell’s Brewery and Sierra Nevada. Boulevard, however, doesn’t plan to backfill Witte’s vacant position.
During his time promoting proper beer serving techniques for Boulevard, Witte recognized a void in an industry where 5,000-plus breweries are constantly preaching about quality.
“When people are sitting in the audience at CBC and Paul Gatza is telling everybody that they need to make quality be number one, like he does every year, everyone thinks, ‘I need to be making great beer. I need a lab technician and a microscope and all of these things in the brewery,’” Witte said. “A lot of brewers are doing that thankfully. It’s what happens to the beer after it leaves the brewery that is the big question mark.”
And so, Craft Quality Solutions was born.
Witte is offering thorough evaluations for breweries, including on-premise inspections of draft systems, inventory checks on date codes, examinations for packaging issues and strategies for warm versus cold storage.
The fact that most breweries do not employ full-time field-quality specialists doesn’t mean those companies aren’t concerned with producing amazing beer, Witte said. Caring and investing money in a full-time position are commitments that aren’t mutually exclusive. Many breweries rely on their sales force or distributor partners to check date codes or clean draft lines.
That isn’t a foolproof solution, however.
“You have to be selling great beer or you’re not going to survive 5,000 breweries,” Witte said. “It’s getting really competitive.”
“Part of what you do is in the brewery. The other part is outside of it,” he added.
Witte’s services won’t be limited to breweries, either. He expects to service all three tiers of the distribution system and he’s ready to train wholesalers’ sales teams and draft departments on how to properly install systems and clean lines.
For retailers, Witte offers draught and package beer auditing services, including ensuring that draft systems are properly pouring beer and that out of code beer isn’t on store shelves.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a brewery that doesn’t care,” Witte said. “Distributors care a lot too. … Retailers are all over the map. Some are hyper sensitive about quality. They clean lines religiously. They’re really particular about beer clean glassware. Some don’t care at all and you can tell.”
Witte, who is based in Kansas City, Missouri, said he is willing to travel wherever his services are needed. On a cold early January day, he chatted via phone with Brewbound outside of his first client’s building, a distributor in Wichita, Kansas.
“I’m in Wichita for four days this week,” he said. “I could just as easily be Boston or Los Angeles or wherever.”
Witte said he’s talking to several other potential clients as well.
“I’m not worried about having work,” he said.