Garage Band: FliteBrite creates ‘smart’ beer flight paddles

CEDAR RAPIDS - A young Iowa company is offering a high tech alternative to wooden paddle beer flights that rely on a chalk board or paper to help customers keep track of the craft beers they are sampling.

FliteBrite will formally unveil its 'smart” beer flight, equipped with a digital display, at the Brewers Association Craft Brewers Conference April 10-17 in Washington, D.C.

A beer flight is an assortment of craft beers, typically four, served together in small 5- to 7-ounce beer flight glasses on a wooden paddle.

Ethan Davidson of Cedar Rapids, who founded FliteBrite with Ben McDougal and Ben Sinclair, both of Des Moines, said the inspiration for a high-tech beer flight came during a visit to 515 Brewing Co., a microbrewery in Des Moines.

'Ben McDougal and I had just been served a flight of beers,” Davidson said. 'The flight came with numbers for each glass of beer, which correlated to what was written on a chalk board.

'We quickly felt this was so archaic in an age of smartphones and other electronic things. Why wouldn't you have a ‘smart' version of a serving system?”

Davidson, director of business development at BeraTek Industries in Cedar Rapids, kicked around the idea with McDougal for a short time before he created a wooden prototype.

'We assembled some team members to help us with the electronics,” Davidson said. 'That was before we realized that we needed someone like Ben Sinclair full time, who became a co-founder of the company.

'We were looking at touch screens, but we really didn't know how to get there. With Ben, our idea really evolved into reality.”

Each FliteBrite paddle - made from injection-molded plastic at BeraTek Industries - includes a touch screen and electronics in the handle. The screen displays the name of each variety of craft beer on the flight.

The flight is linked to the internet by Wi-Fi, which enables a brew pub, bar or distributor's rep to track what brew is selling. It also allows customers to choose their beer and send a message to friends on Facebook, Twitter or Untapped, telling them what they are drinking and where they can join them.

'The paddles are water-resistant,” Davidson said. 'There is an O-ring that lines the screen as well as a waterproof USB port for charging.

'Each establishment pays $10 per month per paddle to lease them. From a business standpoint, it creates recurring revenue and a relationship that can last five or 10 years.

'It also lowers the barrier to entry for a new customer. If they can sell one pint of beer or four glasses with a paddle, they have just recouped their monthly leasing fee.”

FliteBrite has five beta-test customers that are leasing paddles, and roughly 30 potential customers that have expressed interest in advance of this month's national rollout.

'We will have 500 paddles ready to ship,” McDougal said. 'We can ramp up to meet what we see as projected demand.”

Davidson said the same software platform that is designed for craft beer also can be modified for sampling wine, cheese, sushi or other products.

'We see this as an opportunity to educate and empower consumers,” he said.