CHICAGO, ILLINOIS and YAKIMA, WASHINGTON, May 20, 2020 – Today John I. Haas, Inc., a world-leading hops supplier and innovator, announced it has won the 2020 Food Technology Industrial Achievement Award from the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), a 17,000-member, global organization dedicated to advances in food science. The annual award honors companies and teams who have made a major technical contribution or significant advancement in the application of food science and technology. Prior winners of the award include Merck, ConAgra, Roche, and General Mills.

The IFT award recognizes John I. Haas for its innovations in hop-product development and delivery exemplified by its breakthrough flowable-hop products FLEX® and INCOGNITO^®. Introduced in 2017, FLEX^® re-wrote the rules of bittering and brewhouse efficiency via the industry’s first pourable bittering product. In 2019, INCOGNITO^® broke the mold by delivering the exciting and distinct flavors craft brewers and consumers desire – in a pourable form factor – while dramatically reducing hop waste in the brewing process.

“Winning this award from the IFT is a major milestone for John I. Haas and tremendous recognition for our Yakima-based Innovation Center and Research Brewery and dedicated team of dreamers and doers, people who literally take an idea from the blackboard and put it into the glass of the best beers in the world,” said Alex Byelashov, VP of Innovations and Brewing Solutions at John I. Haas, Inc., a BarthHaas Group company. “At John I. Haas, we take the word ‘solution,’ to heart: brewers told us they needed alternative options for pelletized hops that could drive significant brewhouse efficiencies without compromising on great taste. With FLEX® and INCOGNITO^®, we not only met the challenge, we revolutionized the industry.”

“Each year, the Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT) Achievement Awards recognize an individual or team for remarkable contributions in research, applications, and service in the food science and technology industry,” said IFT President Pam Coleman. “We are pleased to announce the 17 recipients of the 2020 IFT Achievement Awards, including John I. Haas Company who received the Food Technology Industrial Achievement Award in celebration of their meaningful work to ensure our planet’s food system is safe, nutritious, and sustainable for all.”

John I. Haas, Inc. as part of the BarthHaas Group, whose origins date back to 1794, has transformed the breeding, cultivation, and processing of hops and hop products that are vital to the brewing industry. The Group has been instrumental in the development of some of the world’s most highly prized proprietary hops, including Citra®, Mosaic®, and Galaxy®, helping to spark and continue to sustain the global craft-brewing revolution. That history of innovation and transformation lives today in FLEX®, INCOGNITO^®, and in the next breakthrough ahead at John I. Haas.

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