Beer made with lychee and green tea, marionberry cheesecake, or coconut and almonds is not the typical flavor profile of stouts, sours and IPAs.

But in the innovation space that Tonya Cornett works in, it’s the norm. Cornett is 10 Barrel Brewing’s senior innovation brewer, a position she’s held for a dozen years.

Cornett was recognized by her peers for her innovation in craft beer at the national Brewers Association Conference in April. She received the Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing for 2024, a place that only three women nationwide have held. She’s the fifth Oregonian to be a recipient.

The Bend brewery was among the first to sell to a large corporation in 2015. And in 2023, it was purchased again by Tilray Brands, a cannabis company.

Tilray purchased the brewery from Anheuser-Busch as part of a group of craft brewers that included Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Co., Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Square Mile Cider Co. and HiBall Energy.

Tilray was attracted to the innovation and talent in the craft brewing segment that could help grow its market share. What it didn’t realize was the high caliber of innovation that is a core concept of 10 Barrel’s ethos. It’s a space held traditionally by men, but where Cornett feels most comfortable, said Brian Hughes, Tilray Brands Pacific Northwest marketing director.

“Women are vastly under-represented in brewing, particularly at leadership levels such as head brewer and brewmaster,” said Ben Edmunds, Oregon Brewers Association president, and past winner of the innovation award. “It’s a cool win for women in beer and for 10 Barrel.”

In her years as a brewer, Cornett, 55, said she never felt at odds with other brewmasters or isolated as a lone woman. She’s always felt supported, especially when she is creating new flavor profiles.

Inspiration can be anywhere, she said. The corner candy store. The vegetable aisle. Or the tea and spices aisle.

“I love going through the candy aisle,” Cornett said. “You can taste things in some of my beers that are candy inspired. I’m not gonna lie. I love working with a chocolate Baltic Porter. It’s a little bit crispier and cleaner than a porter would be. But you can put almost anything in it.

“It’s like a dessert.”

How she paved the path to becoming a brewer

Cornett started her career as a brewer in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1996. She worked there for a bit before heading back home to Indiana. There she didn’t find much support as a female brewer, but didn’t feel she was treated any differently than other brewers.

After two years in Indiana, she decided that beer making was her career. She attended the World Brewing Academy — a partnership between Siebel Institute of Technology and Doemens Academy in Munich — in Chicago.

She moved to Bend in 2002 when she started with Bend Brewing Co. as a brewmaster. In 2006 she won her first gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. During her 10 years at Bend Brewing she earned accolades from the beer festival and medals at the World Beer Cup.

While there, she was allowed to explore traditional and experimental brewing methods resulting in being one of the first to brew kettle sours, she said.

Cornett joined 10 Barrel in 2012 as senior innovation brewer.

“Women bring a different perspective to craft brewing,” Cornett said. “We bring an attention to detail. It’s like being a chef. Everyone brings their own flavors, and that’s what we do.”

tinyHAUS delivers Cornett’s small-batch innovations

As the brewmaster of the innovation team at 10 Barrel, Cornett’s sole focus is to make interesting new beers. Cornett’s team of beer innovators use 10 Barrel’s original 10 Barrel system to put a flavor twist on traditional beer styles, cocktails or deserts.

“We’re constantly trying new things,” she said. “We do like to follow trends or new brewing techniques. It’s a luxury that we get to do this. I like to drink whatever I’m working on at the moment.”

When creating new flavor profiles, she immerses herself in new styles or types of beers until she’s exhausted the possibilities, Cornett said.

It also can be a challenge to come up with new flavors or fresh tastes, she said. And rarely do they make duds. The exception is if something goes wrong in the fermentation process.

“Even if it doesn’t turn out to be something that we thought it would be, we can always pivot,” Cornett said. “It’s still good beer nonetheless. Sometimes its a good combination by accident.”

Her beers can be found on the menu at the brewery’s tap rooms under the logo tinyHAUS, 10 Barrel’s brewery within a brewery. They can also be purchased that the pubs in 16 ounce cans, she said.

The lychee green tea sour was a hit and Miyagi Ramen restaurant in Bend bought the entire lot, Cornett said. But it didn’t start out as a crowd pleaser, she said.

The lychee started out as a sour style beer. It turned out OK, not great. But when she added the green tea, it transformed into a great beer.

Big company purchase doesn’t stop experimentations

Even after Anheuser-Busch acquired 10 Barrel in 2015, Cornett’s team of innovators still pushed the envelope.

In 2023, the brewery competing in the large beer category, earned gold, silver and bronze awards at the Festival for Barrel Aged Beers in Chicago. In all, she’s earned 29 awards throughout her career for her beer creations.

The best was being nominated by her peers for the Russell Schehrer innovation award, said Hughes.

“Seeing Tonya receive the incredibly well-deserved recognition from her peers … is a testament to the profound impact that she has had and continues to have on the craft beer world,” Tilray Brands’ Hughes said. “The culture of creativity Tonya and and Jimmy Seifrit have created here among the brewers is second to none.