Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine Podcast

Welcome to Las Vegas, craft brewers! In this final of three CBC preview episodes, Crafthaus head brewer Cameron Fisher joins to discuss their approach to making cold IPA (and more) in the desert of Southern Nevada. Whether it’s Czech-style lager served on a Lukr faucet in their Arts District taproom or a throwback hoppy red ale poured with love from their Henderson taproom at the brewery, the beer...

This special fresh hop–focused episode of the podcast is brought to you interruption-free by the the freshness experts at RipeLocker. RipeLocker has patented a radically innovative storage solution to revolutionize the post-harvest industry with technology to extend the shelf-life of perishables such as fresh hops while preserving quality and taste. The company’s low-pressure chambers prolong fres...

Dave Pascual, head brewer for longtime Las Vegas brewery Big Dog’s , takes a methodical approach to running the brewhouse, even if it doesn’t feel out-of-the-ordinary to this longtime brewer. Running a clean and organized brewery is just how it’s done. Despite how obvious some of these little things may appear, it’s the sum of all those professional details that’s helped cement Big Dog’s legacy as...

In this first of a three-episode miniseries on Las Vegas brewers, timed to give you more local knowledge as you head to the desert for this year’s Craft Brewer’s Conference, Able Baker Director of Brewing Matt Marino discusses his evolving approach to modern West coast IPA and hazy session IPA. Through the conversation, he touches on: brewing oversized batches at high gravity to maximize output fr...

Notch founder Chris Lohring loves the fact that more craft brewers are embracing lagers—but he has some strong opinions about the best way to brew them. “‘Crispy boys’ don’t exist,” he says. “Lagers aren’t dry. Clean lager yeast is boring to me.” Refinement and distinction are his goals, not minimalism, and he and his team use all the tools in the brewer’s toolbox to achieve them—such as adjusting...

Will and Joe Quinlan, brothers and cofounders of The Big Friendly, just make beer. Will loves saison so they make a few saisons every year. Joe loves barrel-aged stout so they make a few of those every year. Their distribution is minuscule so their production is very small, but they do take a meticulous approach to beer making despite their small size. In this episode, the brothers each recount th...

Kelly McKnight could have done a lot of other things—she was a sponsored pro skateboarder and snowboarder in her younger years, and she studied pre-med at Harvard—but she found such solace and relief in brewing that she changed paths to brew professionally. Now, she’s lead R&D brewer in one of the beer world’s most successful innovation programs, using all of tools at the their disposal to und...

There is the East Coast and there is the West Coast, but aficionados of hazy IPA know not to sleep on the Gulf Coast, thanks largely to Parish Brewing in Broussard, Louisiana. Parish’s Ghost in the Machine has become a juggernaut in the world of hazy IPA, earning accolades such as a 2019 Beer of the Year from Craft Beer & Brewing and a mention on critic Alex Kidd’s top ten list in 2020 . More...

This special fermentation-focused episode of the podcast is brought to you interruption-free by the yeast and fermentation specialists at White Labs . If you brew beer, you’re familiar with White Labs, as they’ve been supplying brewers with the highest quality yeast and fermentation aids for many years, and they now serve brewers around the world from outposts in San Diego and Asheville in the Uni...

Black Caddis began as one of Preston Theony’s homebrew recipes, but rather than create a take on an existing style, he started with the flavor he wanted to achieve and built a recipe to realize that. Now, after brewing the beer commercially at Wren House for the better part of the past decade, he’s still not done experimenting with changes to not just the recipe, but the core of fermentation itsel...

With taprooms in Mesa and Gilbert, Arizona, 12 West may boast one of the coolest “home breweries” in the United States. Its production space is in the 6,000-square-foot luxury garage behind one of the founders’ homes, with roll-up doors that open to a patio with a swimming pool, skate ramps, and a moto track in the distance. Meanwhile, the beer that head brewer and co-owner Justin “Gully” Gullicks...

Last year, Arizona Wilderness’ beet-centered saison Jitterbug Perfume scored a perfect 100 with our blind judges, and went on to nab a spot in our Best 20 Beers in 2023. In this episode, head brewer Brad Miles and wood cellar manager Nick Pauley dissect that particular beer, from the blend of wood-aged saisons that form the base, to the way they roasted and processed the beets, and the particular...

Josh Trujillo didn’t set out to become a brewer, but after 16 years at Marble —the last eight of which he’s served in the top brewing role—he’s found it to be a perfect vocation given his mix of technical and tasting aptitude. Over the years, Marble has pursued ways other integrating hops into both traditional and modern lagers, and their judiciously dry-hopped Pilsner even won 2014 World Beer Cup...

Over the past number of years, Portland, Oregon’s Wayfinder has built a reputation for assertive Pacific Northwest Coast IPAs, balanced and bitter Cold IPAs, and classic renditions of European lagers. Last year, Natalie Rose Baldwin stepped into the Brewmaster position and quickly found herself getting up to speed on their hop-centric beers, but her years of experience at Breakside more than prepa...

Ten years into the rise of hazy IPA, the brewing world knows far more about how to make this challenging yet enduringly popular style—yet the deeper we push, the more we realize how much more we have to learn. For this extended episode of the podcast, we got the gang from last year’s West Coast IPA Now! episodes back together to discuss hazy IPA, along with a respected East Coast voice in the hazy...

This special ingredient-focused edition of the podcast is brought to you interruption-free by the brewing-ingredient experts at BSG . Today’s beer drinker loves pale beer more than ever, and over the course of the past decade, brewers have been feeding this shift by releasing lighter and lighter colored IPAs that pack a similar flavor punch without the heft that specialty malts can bring. To help...

Sarasota, Florida’s Calusa has become a fan favorite in the Sunshine State, focusing on compelling hazy IPAs that capture vivid flavors, consistent drinkability, and a bright, sunny color that cofounder and head brewer Jason Thompson describes as “glow.” In this episode, Thompson discusses: managing variable minerality brewing hazy IPA with flavorful malts such as Weyermann Bohemian Pils increasin...

This week’s episode is a panel discussion on lager brewing, recorded in front of a live audience late one night on the patio of Cerveza Fauna after a full day of judging for the Copa Baja beer festival in Mexicali, Mexico, in late 2023. Joining the discussion are three prominent lager brewers—Ashleigh Carter of Denver’s Bierstadt Lagerhaus , Ryan Brooks of San Diego’s SouthNorte , and Jeff Bagby (...

Lean is all the rage in hop-forward West Coast–style beers, from pilsner to IPA, and paring beers back to their bare necessities has been a significant focus for Burgeon’s Anthony Tallman. Yet the quest for crisp-and-drinkable doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor, and recent experimentation has given Tallman a fresh perspective on the ultra-minimal approach. In this episode—which is focused especially...

The final episode of the year is our chance to look back on the year of brewing conversations and highlight those episodes that struck the biggest chords with you, our listeners. Joining Jamie in the co-host chair is Khris Johnson of Green Bench in St. Petersburg, Florida, and together they count down the ten most-listened-to episodes while sharing excerpts from each. The top ten include: Averie S...

The Kernel founder Evan O’Riordain embodies a few interesting contrasts—he’s an Irishman in London committed to shining a light on the city’s own dark beer past, and he’s a brewer in Britain who caught the craft bug after experiencing hop-forward beers in the United States—but it’s this dynamic range that drives and defines Kernel today. History is important, yet no modern techniques or ingredient...

Past isn’t necessarily prologue for today’s lager brewers, but it certainly is at Goldfinger Brewing in Downers Grove, Illinois. A family history of brewing lager and manufacturing equipment for brewers in Poland and Czechia was just the kick that Tom Beckmann needed to pursue his dream of building a small, contemporary, lager-focused brewery. Now, as the brewery undertakes its next expansion, Bec...

Five years into cold IPA, the arguments still aren’t settled, but one thing is certain—strategic brewers have embraced the style for the unique counterpoint it can provide to more ester-driven IPAs, and the focus on light body has struck a chord with beer drinkers who increasingly want strong hop notes in ever-paler beers. We thought it was time to revisit the subject with three brewers who are no...

This special business-focused edition of the podcast is brought to you interruption-free by the transformational beverage-industry technologists at Encompass . As we head into 2024, the brewing industry is facing serious headwinds that have limited growth for many breweries and accelerated the closure of others. Consumer patterns are changing, product preferences continue to evolve, drinking occas...

Chicago’s Dovetail has earned a reputation for its refined yet flavorful lagers, but the team’s dogged approach to traditional methods is less about religion and more about expression—these techniques and processes allow them to imbue their beers with attributes they want while minimizing those they want to avoid or keep in the background. Each beer they make is like a musical score—a recipe desig...