diff --git a/pipeline/includes/data_generation/llama_generator_helpers.h b/pipeline/includes/data_generation/llama_generator_helpers.h
index b1e26db..eabecba 100644
--- a/pipeline/includes/data_generation/llama_generator_helpers.h
+++ b/pipeline/includes/data_generation/llama_generator_helpers.h
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ void AppendTokenPiece(const llama_vocab* vocab, llama_token token,
  */
 std::optional<std::string> ValidateBreweryJson(const std::string& raw,
                                                std::string& name_out,
-                                               std::string& description_out);
+                                               std::string& description_out,
+                                               std::string& reasoning_out);
 
 #endif  // BIERGARTEN_PIPELINE_INCLUDES_DATA_GENERATION_LLAMA_GENERATOR_HELPERS_H_
diff --git a/pipeline/src/data_generation/llama/generate_brewery.cc b/pipeline/src/data_generation/llama/generate_brewery.cc
index 2c90ef8..e9f2210 100644
--- a/pipeline/src/data_generation/llama/generate_brewery.cc
+++ b/pipeline/src/data_generation/llama/generate_brewery.cc
@@ -43,11 +43,8 @@ BreweryResult LlamaGenerator::GenerateBrewery(
   const std::string system_prompt =
       LoadBrewerySystemPrompt("prompts/system.md");
 
-  /**
-   * User prompt: provides geographic context to guide generation towards
-   * culturally relevant and locally-inspired brewery attributes
-   */
-  std::string prompt = std::format(
+
+  std::string user_prompt = std::format(
       "## CITY:\n{}\n\n## COUNTRY:\n{}\n\n## CONTEXT:\n{}",
       location.city, location.country, safe_region_context);
 
@@ -70,7 +67,7 @@ BreweryResult LlamaGenerator::GenerateBrewery(
   for (int attempt = 0; attempt < max_attempts; ++attempt) {
     constexpr int max_tokens = 1052;
     // Generate brewery data from LLM
-    raw = this->Infer(system_prompt, prompt, max_tokens, kBreweryJsonGrammar);
+    raw = this->Infer(system_prompt, user_prompt, max_tokens, kBreweryJsonGrammar);
     spdlog::debug("LlamaGenerator: raw output (attempt {}): {}", attempt + 1,
                   raw);
 
@@ -78,10 +75,16 @@ BreweryResult LlamaGenerator::GenerateBrewery(
 
     std::string name;
     std::string description;
+    std::string reasoning;
     const std::optional<std::string> validation_error =
-        ValidateBreweryJson(raw, name, description);
+        ValidateBreweryJson(raw, name, description, reasoning);
     if (!validation_error.has_value()) {
       // Success: return parsed brewery data
+
+      spdlog::info(
+          "LlamaGenerator: successfully generated brewery data on attempt {}:\n reasoning='{}',\n name='{}',\n description='{}'",
+          attempt + 1, reasoning, name, description);
+
       return BreweryResult{.name = std::move(name),
                            .description = std::move(description)};
     }
@@ -93,7 +96,7 @@ BreweryResult LlamaGenerator::GenerateBrewery(
                  attempt + 1, *validation_error);
 
     // Update prompt with error details to guide LLM toward correct output.
-    prompt = std::format(
+    user_prompt = std::format(
         R"(Your previous response was invalid. Error: {}
 Return ONLY valid JSON with exactly these keys, in this exact order: {{"reasoning": "<brief planning summary>", "name": "<brewery name>", "description": "<single-paragraph description>"}}.
 Do not include markdown, comments, extra keys, or literal placeholder values.
diff --git a/pipeline/src/data_generation/llama/helpers.cc b/pipeline/src/data_generation/llama/helpers.cc
index 454d340..a214e22 100644
--- a/pipeline/src/data_generation/llama/helpers.cc
+++ b/pipeline/src/data_generation/llama/helpers.cc
@@ -201,7 +201,8 @@ void AppendTokenPiece(const llama_vocab* vocab, llama_token token,
 
 std::optional<std::string> ValidateBreweryJson(const std::string& raw,
                                                std::string& name_out,
-                                               std::string& description_out) {
+                                               std::string& description_out,
+                                               std::string& reasoning_out) {
   auto validate_object = [&](const boost::json::value& json_value,
                              std::string& error_out) -> bool {
     if (!json_value.is_object()) {
@@ -209,7 +210,14 @@ std::optional<std::string> ValidateBreweryJson(const std::string& raw,
       return false;
     }
 
+
     const auto& obj = json_value.get_object();
+
+    if (!obj.contains("reasoning") || !obj.at("reasoning").is_string()) {
+      error_out = "JSON field 'reasoning' is missing or not a string";
+      return false;
+    }
+
     if (!obj.contains("name") || !obj.at("name").is_string()) {
       error_out = "JSON field 'name' is missing or not a string";
       return false;
@@ -219,6 +227,12 @@ std::optional<std::string> ValidateBreweryJson(const std::string& raw,
       error_out = "JSON field 'description' is missing or not a string";
       return false;
     }
+    const auto& reasoning_value = obj.at("reasoning").as_string();
+    reasoning_out = Trim(std::string_view(reasoning_value.data(), reasoning_value.size()));
+    if (reasoning_out.empty()) {
+      error_out = "JSON field 'reasoning' must not be empty";
+      return false;
+    }
 
     const auto& name_value = obj.at("name").as_string();
     const auto& description_value = obj.at("description").as_string();
@@ -239,15 +253,16 @@ std::optional<std::string> ValidateBreweryJson(const std::string& raw,
     std::string name_lower = name_out;
     std::string description_lower = description_out;
 
-    std::ranges::transform(name_lower, name_lower.begin(),
-                           [](unsigned char character) {
-                             return static_cast<char>(std::tolower(character));
-                           });
 
-    std::ranges::transform(description_lower, description_lower.begin(),
-                           [](unsigned char character) {
-                             return static_cast<char>(std::tolower(character));
-                           });
+    auto string_to_lower = [](std::string& str_out) {
+       std::ranges::transform(str_out, str_out.begin(),
+                             [](unsigned char character) {
+                               return static_cast<char>(std::tolower(character));
+                             });
+    };
+
+    string_to_lower(name_lower);
+    string_to_lower(description_lower);
 
     if (name_lower == "string" || description_lower == "string") {
       error_out = "JSON appears to be a schema placeholder, not content";