Craft Beer & Brewing

Cannonball Creek’s Guide to Brewing World-Class IPA and Pale Ale at Any Scale | Video Course

Brian Hutchinson, cofounder and brewer at the Colorado brewpub that’s won a slew of medals for its hop-forward beers over the past 13 years, details their approach to achieving high-impact flavor and quality at small scale.

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Cannonball Creek’s Guide to Brewing World-Class IPA and Pale Ale at Any Scale | Video Course

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Despite being a small brewpub with relatively simple kit, Cannonball Creek is among the country’s winningest breweries at the Great American Beer Festival—and it's doing it in some of the most competitive, hop-forward categories. In this course, cofounder and brewer Brian “Hutch” Hutchinson lays out Cannonball Creek’s focused approach to brewing world-class West Coast–style IPAs, session IPAs, and American pale ales at small scale.

Based in Golden, Colorado, the brewpub is beloved among locals but also among brewers from across the country. That tends to happen when you win medals at 13 straight Great American Beer Festivals and counting—that’s every single one since the brewpub opened in 2013. Hutch and team have pulled this off despite being somewhat limited by small, relatively simple equipment. In this course, he lays out exactly how they do it.

Along the way, he discusses:

  • adjusting water profiles for West Coast–style IPA, session IPA, and pale ale
  • going for the palest, leanest possible base malts for IPA—but not necessarily for pale ale or session IPA
  • selecting hops for high-impact fruit flavors while avoiding less desirable characters
  • using late additions of CO2 hop extract to get more saturated flavor
  • why they embrace a diacetyl-free Chico strain instead of ALDC enzyme
  • why New Zealand hops and their sulfur content are important to Cannonball Creek’s hoppy beers
  • getting clarity with Biofine and time, even with haze-promoting New Zealand hops
  • the restrained, careful use of advanced hop products on the cold side
  • adjusting hop profiles and quantities for session IPA and pale ale
  • the Cannonball Creek approach to dry hopping
  • taking advantage of hop creep for drier hop-forward beers
  • adjusting carbonation for aroma and the perception of dryness
  • the philosophy of constant evolution—even with medal-winning recipes

And more.

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