Spotlights
Design Thinking Classes Partner with Founders to Create New Beer
January 26, 2021
In March, beer aficionados can sip a new brew crafted by Grand Valley students who, because of the pandemic, barely stepped foot inside a brewery.
Design thinking students in Darien Ripple's classes have partnered with Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids to create a new beer for the company. It's the first time in Founders' history that an outside group has picked the ingredients and created marketing plans for a product.
Ripple, assistant professor of integrative, religious, and intercultural studies, proposed to Founders the idea of a two-semester project. He said the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed it to a three-semester project but added there has been plenty of work for all students and Founders team members, many of whom are Grand Valley alumni, join students regularly via Zoom.
"I stressed to the Founders team the importance of collaborative creativity," Ripple said. "Our students have gone through the entire design thinking process, from empathy to defining ideas to ideation, and will soon put out a pilot product."
The job for the winter 2020 semester class focused on ingredients. To capitalize on the state's agriculture industry, students chose adding cherry concentrate to an old Founders recipe for a bourbon-barrel aged brew reminiscent of an old fashioned cocktail. Hence, the "Old Fashioned" beer was brewed in the summer and is now aging in barrels at Founders.
Liz Wonder, Founders sustainability coordinator, said the beer "tells the story of Michigan agriculture and how sustainability supports local agriculture."