Expert interviews, brewing insights, and industry trends.
Helmed by authors Michael Tonsmiere and Scott Janish, Sapwood Cellars’ shared focus on hop-forward beers and oak-aged mixed fermentations was a given. However, over the past four years, they’ve pushed into new territory and found spaces for even more creative exploration.
Two brewers share insights into their gold medal–winning beers: a thiol-focused hazy pale ale and an unconventional American light lager brewed with Vista hops.
Cryo, Incognito, Salvo, Spectrum, Phantasm, and more are all tools that Garrett Ward uses to punch up hop flavor in their juicy (yet still bitter) IPAs. He discusses how they use these new hop formats in both hazy and clear American IPAs.
Two pros share insights into their gold medal–winning beers: an international-style pilsner brewed on a single-infusion, two-vessel system, and a cold IPA with a “cool pool,” dry-hopped during active fermentation.
The cofounder of Lucky Envelope in Seattle discusses building confidence with helles and other traditional styles, getting comfortable with his Chinese-American heritage in the beer world, and finding new avenues of expression with traditional Chinese ingredients such as lapsang souchoung tea.
Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker, one of the most respected brewmasters on the globe, answers your brewing questions about collaborations, hops, lager mashing, product development, and more.
Brian Hutchinson and Jonathan Lee of Cannonball Creek in Golden, Colorado, embrace constant change, even when it means huge recipe changes for gold medal–winning hoppy beers.
Bale Breaker’s location on the family hop farm, Loftus Ranches, offers proximity and access to hops of which many brewers could only dream. Brewmaster Kevin Smith shares perspective on brewing hop-forward beers, gleaned from decades growing up on—and now brewing on—the farm.
Eric and Claire Desmarais, fourth and fifth generation hop farmers, and Alex Nowell, former director of brewing for Three Weavers and an advisor to CLS, dig into the recent evolution of hop farming, current harvest challenges, and tools that brewers can use to select better hops.
What does it take to propel a new hop variety from seed to field to brewers’ kettles? These two breeders for Yakima Chief Ranches and John I. Haas discuss the process behind hop breeding, from parentage and crosses through elite status.
Ready to rodeo? With its immediate proximity to the bulk of American hop-growing—and the ability to drive to nearby farms at harvest time and see what’s freshly picked—Zach Turner and his team at Single Hill Brewing are perfecting fresh-hopped beers.
The founder of the respected Alaskan brewery shares the creative and technical processes behind the groundbreaking barrel-aged barleywine, A Deal With the Devil.
His recent published study on hop terroir backs up what brewers have known anecdotally—that where a hop is grown can have significant impact in flavor and aroma. But just how much impact is possible, and what causes it?
Gather ‘round: Sam Tierney of the Firestone Walker Propagator, Bob Kunz of Highland Park, and Nick Pavlina of Humble Sea discuss the technical and conceptual underpinnings of dry-hopped pilsner, West Coast–style.
Anchor’s storied past and pivotal role in American beer inform every brewing decision the company makes today, and while some things change, the brewing leadership at Anchor is committed to steam beer in theory and in practice.
John Harris has seen it all in his 36-year brewing career—huge process improvements, giant shifts in ingredient quality and range, and a parade of trends that continues today—but the through line in his long career is figuring out how to connect consumers to flavorful beer.
In this new bonus format for the podcast, Weldwerks founder Neil Fisher takes your direct questions on brewing everything from thick stouts to IPA and hefeweizen.
Matt Van Wyk cut his teeth on barrel-aged beers in Chicago in the ’00s, but with Alesong—in the bucolic winery-filled hill country of the southern Willamette Valley—he and cofounder Brian Coombs have built a brewery focused solely on barrel-aged beer.
Some write off quick-soured fruit beers for their simplicity, but they don’t have to be basic. Building complex flavors that reflect the entire fruit is Cornett’s goal, and nothing is off-limits in that pursuit.
Smooj lit up the craft beverage world in 2020, its thick fruit-puree approach a stark counterpoint to more minimalist seltzer offerings. In this episode, head brewer Nick Panchamé gets into the methods behind the fruit-heavy madness, and into new experiments with hop-forward beers.
Recorded in front of a live audience at Great Notion in Portland, Oregon, this panel discussion on trendy beer styles ranges from innovation philosophy to testing and feedback process with perspective from these three leading brewers.
Andy Hooper built a reputation for tight focus on process, and his efforts have paid off with dominating performances in the light lager category at major competitions. In this episode, he discusses the processes behind the brewing, including his use of organic, California-grown craft malt.
Pulpit Rock is all about the stuff. Their highly prized adjunct stouts have garnered much consumer and critical acclaim, and it’s not hard to understand why—their process isn’t your everyday way of adding nuts into beer.
Recorded at the Wild Friendship Blend event at Russian River Brewing, this conversation among friends and peers explores questions of common practice and unique adaptations across spontaneous brewing in markedly different environments.