It’s rare for this old industry goat to get excited about new products these days. The CPG innovations are as about as exciting as a self-flushing toilet while many natural/organic brands offer great products that are the grocery equivalent of a Maserati sedan. You know those oh-so-lovely ice creams that sell for $14 a pint or a $8 bag of chips. Great taste, yeah but I don’t want products, no matter how lovely, that resemble (price wise, that is) a new pair of Prada shoes.
The unoriginal and over-trendy & priced are everywhere, an odd echo to our body politic where idiotic appeals in the form of limited edition products are mixed with ‘heartfelt and authentic’ messaging about how buying an ultra-premium priced luxury good can help change the world.
Amidst this nausea producing retail landscape, ReGrained,a brand I never heard of before today got my blood flowing in a way happens only rarely The small company makes only two bars, a Honey Almond IPA and a Chocolate Coffee Stout, but hits all the right chords along the way.
The company uses spent grains leftover from the brewing of beer and the result is a flavor profile that is as lovingly reassuring as it is exciting and new. Sweet bread, pumper nickel , crisp bread and cookie all come to mind. And unlike other less interesting brands that seem to be the products of well designed but heartless MBA dissertation topics (how do we design a brand we can sell to a VC in three to five years) ReGrained shows heart and innovation, while riding the crest of the beer craze.
Eat Beer, Brew Good, Bake Good, Do Good is the company’s slogan and frankly who cares if it was something dreamed up in grad school. I’m still buying because the taste is great, the texture is too and the story behind the product all leave me saying “please Sir, I want some more.”
