Brewvo

Sustainable Beverage Technologies (SBT) is a beverage-technology company headquartered in Golden, Colorado that develops patented processes intended to make production of fermented beverages more profitable, efficient and environmentally sustainable. Its core technology, BrewVo, is a "nested fermentation" brewing process that produces what the company calls Multi-Brewed Beer (MBB) — beer with up to six times the ingredient and flavor density of traditionally produced beer, so that an equivalent amount of consumable liquid occupies roughly one-sixth the weight and volume. The same process gently manages alcohol content, enabling brewers to produce fully fermented non-alcoholic beer across styles ranging from porters to IPAs and light lagers.

Alongside BrewVo, SBT markets NexDraft and NexTap, a draft dispensing system that replaces kegs by mixing Multi-Brewed Beer supplied in bag-in-box packaging with carbonated water and alcohol in real time at the tap. The company positions the combination as a supply-chain play: lower shipping weight and volume (cited as 86% less), elimination of keg washing and reverse keg logistics, a hub-and-spoke model in which concentrate is brewed centrally and reconstituted and canned near target markets, extended shelf life through freezing of bag-in-boxes, and the ability to pour the same beer at different ABV levels. SBT also cites production of neutral malt base for the hard seltzer market as an ancillary revenue opportunity.

Earlier coverage described the technology as brewing beer into a liquid concentrate to be mixed with water using soft-drink dispensing equipment, with claims of 60% less water and 40% less energy use than traditional brewing and roughly three times the beer output per batch, though it takes more time. Founder Patrick Tatera previously ran Pat's Backcountry Beverages, which sold consumer beer-concentrate packets for campers and hikers.

Founding story

Founder Patrick Tatera developed the concentrate brewing approach after his initial company, Pat's Backcountry Beverages, sold packets of beer concentrate for campers and hikers to mix with water; he then targeted breweries, bars and restaurants as a larger opportunity, saying he held the approvals needed to develop liquid concentrate products for other companies to market.

Business model

B2B technology licensing and partnership: SBT partners with breweries that adopt the BrewVo process, which integrates with standard brewing equipment, and offers development of small-scale batches with SBT before customers take the technology on board, described as requiring no capital commitment at the trial stage. NexDraft dispensing hardware is offered for draft distribution without kegs, including hybrid connection into existing tap setups.

Revenue is associated with licensing and commercialization of the patented BrewVo process to breweries and with dispensing technology (NexDraft/NexTap); external profiling classifies the business as B2B with hardware sales and services/consulting elements.

Traction

Beers produced with BrewVo include Deschutes Black Butte Non-Alcoholic, which won a gold medal, and Gruvi Golden Lager. In the year cited on the company's microsite, BrewVo beers won gold and silver at the World Beer Cup, two gold medals at the Best of Craft Beer Awards and a silver at the Australian International Beer Awards. Named brewery relationships include Deschutes, Denali Brewing and Tommyknocker.

Latest developments

Partner beers made with BrewVo won the gold medal (Gruvi Golden Lager) and silver medal (Deschutes Black Butte Non-Alcoholic) in the non-alcoholic category at the 2022 World Beer Cup. The company continues to market BrewVo for non-alcoholic beer and the NexDraft/NexTap keg-free draft system.