Obviously, we’re very proud to have won the medal, but I see it as a glimpse in time: We had the right beer at the right table with the right people at the right place. And we continually work to make sure that that’s a regular occurrence.
Recipe development is a small part of that, but it’s making sure the fermentation is doing what it needs to do, making sure our cellar processes are tight, and trusting that everyone’s upholding our standards on a regular basis—even our warehouse guy, making sure he gets the beer out at the right time to the right people, keeping it in the right conditions.
I see it as a culmination of our team continually working to do all those small things so that when moments like this line up, it’s statistically more likely that the best we were able to do for that day is what’s on the table.
Designing Solveza
Solveza is a new brand, launched in June 2024. But in the time that it’s been available to people, it’s really kind of taken off. It started picking up in the taproom, and it’s regularly in our top three.
The way I look at recipe development, most people would find it boring. I’m trying to develop a recipe that fits within style guidelines—obviously my own take on what I would like to see in the recipe, but with the smallest amount of noise possible. For me, recipes should be as simple as they can be while still fitting within guidelines or while highlighting certain aspects that you personally want in the beer.
Local Malt, Crisp Flavor
We use a two-row malt from Carolina Malt. It is specifically kilned for the brewery. It’s on the lighter side, not quite a pilsner. It tends more toward a cracker-crust rather than a wafer-type flavor, so we use some Malteurop Pilsen for a little more of that pils character, plus some Weyermann Acidulated, rather than going 100 percent local malt. But with that medal, I’d like to think something from our hometown pushed us over the edge.
The two-row used to come from two farms that we know, near Nashville and from western North Carolina. Today that malt is 100 percent Tennessee-grown. We’re trying to use something that’s close to us, to tie in something local. That doesn’t really change the recipe—if I were a homebrewer, I’d probably use all pilsner there, and then the flaked maize.
Personally, I have a lot of Tecate in the fridge, so I want something similar to that—and I find that beer to be a bit more crisp than, say, Modelo. So, that’s what I was looking for. I want a bit of that corn character but not as much sweetness. And then the acidulated, it’s just there to help drive that mash pH down a bit. I’m looking for 5.4 or 5.5 in the mash and 5.3 in the kettle. Then by the time we’re knocking out, we’re below 5.3, and the yeast will push it down from there.
With the hops, I’m a big fan of Saaz and Tettnanger. Just a bit of aroma there, obviously—it’s not going to be anything crazy; this is supposed to be very balanced. But those are two that I really enjoy, and I wanted that pop.
Give It Time, Keep It Cool
Especially for lagers, I give credit to Ashleigh Carter over at Bierstadt in Denver. Time is one of the most important things you can have for lagers, and I think most breweries struggle with making time for it. But I think of lager like bourbon or barbecue—it’s not something you can rush and still get a high-quality product. There’s a lot of nuance and subtlety that just take time.
We use the same yeast as Bierstadt, that 34/70, and we use a timeline similar to Carter’s. (For much more about Bierstadt’s approach, see their video course, Lager Harder with Bierstadt Lagerhaus.) We’re giving the yeast the time to do what they need to do. There are a lot of nuances in that beer, but it’s just really clean—if you just want to crush it, it’s clean enough and simple enough that you can do that.
The process from start to finish is seven to eight weeks, depending on if we’re doing a fresh prop or we were able to harvest yeast from another lager—those usually kick off a little quicker. Then we’re starting off pretty cold from knockout. I think starting cold is something a lot of brewers are kind of scared to do. But we’re starting out at like 48°F (9°C), letting it ferment at 50°F (10°C), getting through much of primary at that temperature, and then we have a slow walk down to 40°F (4°C). It’ll sit there for 10 days, then another walk down to 32°F (0°C), and it’ll sit there for another 10 days.
If we have time, I’ll continue to let it lager at 32–34°F (0–1°C). If it needs to get out the door, we’ll go ahead and Biofine and get it into the tank, but seven to eight weeks is what we’re shooting for, typically.
