We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keith Villa. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keith below.

Hi Keith, thanks for joining us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

In 1995, I created Blue Moon beer, before most people were familiar with Belgian-style beers.

In 2018, after co-founding Ceria Brewing Company with my wife, I created and patented a method for making alcohol-free beers. Most craft style beers in this space are non-alcoholic, meaning less than 0.5% ABV. Alcohol-free means 0.00% ABV. Ceria is the only alcohol-free craft beer that we know of in the U.S.

Our alcohol-free beer is a platform for adding cannabis, which Ceria offered for 2 years before putting it on hiatus due to its federal illegal status. During that time, I authored the book “Brewing with Cannabis, Using THC and CBD in Beer”.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

After having received my bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado, I earned a Ph.D. in Brewing Science from the University of Brussels, Belgium.

I was a brewmaster for Coors from 1986 until 2017. During that time, I created Blue Moon beer, along with many other new brands such as Batch 19, Barmen, Aspen Edge and Coors Edge. Also, I led the team that reformulated Coors Original beer into Coors Banquet Beer.

After retiring from Coors, my wife and I started Ceria Brewing Company which is dedicated to making only alcohol-free craft beers. Ceria began by launching Colorado’s first cannabis-infused beers in 2018. Today, Ceria’s beers are not infused, but are still alcohol-free at 0.00% ABV. Our beers are offered nationwide through Total Wine & More, through distributors, and online.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

We started Ceria with the goal of introducing people to the world of social cannabis, that is cannabis drinkables instead of smokables. After two years in the CO and CA cannabis markets we decided that the regulations due to federal illegality were very burdensome. So, we pivoted to selling non-infused alcohol-free beer, since the beer base had no alcohol and because customers told us that they liked the flavor. We were lucky because the craft beer market softened up and one of the few areas of growth was non-alcoholic beer. We were also very fortunate that our beers are the only alcohol-free craft beers in the U.S. that we know of. All the other competitors are non-alcoholic, meaning they have a small amount of alcohol.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My cofounder/business partner is my wife, Jodi. We actually met in high school and have been high school sweethearts for many years. We learned that successful outcomes require a lot of communication and that we are able to work together productively.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ceriabrewing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ceriabrewing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ceriabrewingco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ceria-brewing-company/