The expanded availability of artificial intelligence (AI) software has allowed the public to test AI’s ability to write anything, from short stories to social media captions. San Clemente’s Artifex Brewing team recently decided to take that to the next level by releasing a new beer recipe written by computer technology.
The “A.I.pa,” a West Coast IPA in the tradition of the company’s brewing style, was released to the public in a limited sample size at the company’s two taprooms in town starting Wednesday, Jan. 25.
Artifex co-owner and head brewer Johnny Johur told San Clemente Times that the idea to use the service ChatGPT originated while the team was hanging out one day after work and chatting about the exploding popularity of AI.
They initially wanted to get a basic understanding of the software’s capabilities, and took it further after receiving an encouraging first recipe draft.
“It started out as just, ‘Hey, can you write a beer recipe?’ and it wrote a beer recipe,” Johur said. “Then we said, ‘Hey, can you write a unique recipe that no one’s written before?’ and it did that.”
The process led them “down a rabbit hole,” Johur added, as they continued to ask the AI to do increasingly intricate tasks in creating a recipe that could be produced. The final result was a unique recipe profile and combination of ingredients that only required minor tweaks from the brewers to help scale the quantity to Artifex’s equipment.
Included in the A.I.pa are 2-Row and Pilsner malts, and Amarillo, Cascade, Mosaic and Simcoe hops all from the Pacific Northwest. ChatGPT also wrote out the schedule in which Artifex would include the ingredients, matching up almost completely with the actual format used.
Most of the process went smoothly, according to Johur, but the computer did have trouble using the terminology familiar to the brewers in terms of writing out quantities.
“I’m brewing a 15-barrel batch, (and) it was equating stuff into gallons and pounds and not barrels,” he said. “There was some miscommunication, I guess you could call it, in terms of volume and how you’re looking at the quantities of the ingredients being used.”
Another aspect Artifex asked ChatGPT to try out was writing and designing an image and label for potential cans.
The team knew it wanted a character wearing an apron while holding a beer in one hand and a broom in the other, so it let the AI generate new images repeatedly. Johur said they will send their current image to the can designer they normally work with for feedback, but that the AI will continually handle most of the tasks related to the beer.
“It’s responsive, it does what you want it to do, but yeah, it’s not perfect,” he said.
Overall, however, the team was “blown away” by what ChatGPT accomplished in writing the recipe, designing a cover image, and writing a press release.
Johur said the team has been excited about the beer and went through a whole keg of it Wednesday night when it was first produced.
In a media release from Artifex announcing the AI-created beer, Johur said it was “excited to see how the public will respond to this unique creation. We believe that A.I. opens the door to countless new brewing possibilities. We even had ChatGPT write this press release!”
The public feedback for the A.I.pa has also been positive, as Johur said people have been surprised that a “computer-generated recipe is tasting like this.”
Artifex has scheduled another batch to be made in the next few weeks, but they wanted to merely test out how the IPA would be received before scaling up the production fully.
Johur commented on how in the previous 13 years he has spent as a brewer, he was always certain in the ways he was taught to conceptualize a recipe. That he can use AI now is a sign of times changing and traditions evolving, he said.
“This was something that, 10 years ago if you told me I would have a computer writing a beer recipe, I would’ve lost my mind,” said Johur. “I would’ve been like, ‘You’re crazy.’”
He added that he enjoyed the creative process, and that he expects to see more examples with brewing in the future.
Artifex has two locations in San Clemente, its brewery and taproom located at 919 Calle Amanecer, Suite A, and its taproom in downtown at 98 Avenida Del Mar.
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