We Completely Cocked Up
A batch of cider over-fermented in 2023. The recall statement said so, in exactly those words, and sales went up.
- Subject
- The brewery
- Published
- 2025-11-04
In 2023 a batch of Hawkstone cider over-fermented in the bottle. It was recalled, and the statement that went out began with the words "we completely cocked up".
Every instinct in corporate communications says not to do that. The standard template involves the phrase "out of an abundance of caution", a sentence about how seriously quality is taken, and no admission that anybody did anything wrong.
Sales went up afterwards. Not because people enjoy a recall, but because an honest one is unusual enough to be noticed, and because a brand that admits a mistake in plain English is easier to believe when it says something good about itself.
The same principle produced the first batch of lager, which failed a blind taste test, was described by everybody who tried it as fine, and was thrown away on the grounds that fine is not the same as good. That decision cost money and set a standard that has held for five years.
Subject
The brewery
Published
2025-11-04
Written by
Somebody who was there
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