155: Zebulon's Mike Karnowski Sees the Future in Beers of the Past

At Craft Coast (https://craftcoast.co) in Oceanside and San Marcos, California, Blake Masoner is happy if you show up for tacos and stay for a beer. The fairly priced tacos are scratch-made, down to the tortillas themselves, packing loads of flavor into every bite. Fellow San Diego–area brewers refer to them as “The best tacos between here and Tijuana”—but the beer they brew here is anything but an afterthought. Eight medals in four years at the World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festical—in competitive categories such as hazy pale ale, American IPA, and international pilsener—are evidence of the brewery’s ambition on the quality side, and they’ve modified both classic and modern brewing techniques to serve their flavor and aroma goals. In this episode, Masoner discusses: abandoning a “no core beer” policy to keep customers happy brewing Mexican-style dark lager with dry yeast and vorlauf-only dark malts mitigating sulfur production with 34/70 yeast Australian-inspired XPA design without Southern Hemisphere hops using Mosaic at different times for different effects in West Coast IPA knockout hopping to find the true heart of new varieties pinpointing flavors through dry hopping building a team-wide winning mindset And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): If you are looking for a brewery chiller that’s worry free and tough on GWP, then look no further. G&D Chiller’s Elite 290 series chiller uses propane as a natural refrigerant with extremely low global warming potential. Visit gdchillers.com to learn more! Berkeley Yeast (https://berkeleyyeast.com). Berkeley Yeast bioengineers ordinary strains and make them extraordinary—enhancing the flavors you want and eliminating the ones you don’t. Visit berkeleyyeast.com to learn more and start brewing with science on your side. Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): As breweries expand beyond beer into other segments like mocktails and CBD beverages, Old Orchard is here to help. We can formulate custom blends featuring specialty ingredients. More information and free samples are waiting at oldorchard.com/brewer. Indie Hops (https://indiehops.com) Celebrating 16 years of delivering compelling new hop varieties along with classics that thrive in Oregon’s terroir, Indie is the original source for Strata, Luminosa, Lórien, Meridian, and their newest variety Audacia. Release your creativity with the magic of pure, uncut Oregon hops from Indie. Indie Hops — Life is short. Let’s make it flavorful. XTRATUF (https://xtratuf.com) XTRATUF has been making rugged and reliable boots for 75 years. Built for the harshest conditions, the Legacy Collection styles are oil, acid, and chemical resistant with a non-slip rated outsole. Be prepared for whatever comes your way and shop the latest XTRATUF boots on xtratuf.com. Canoe Wild Rice (https://breweryworkshop.com) Brewers, have you ever considered brewing with North America’s only Ancient Grain—Wild Rice? Joe at Canoe Wild Rice has a stockpile of this unique roasted grain ready to ship to you. Send Canoe Wild Rice an email at joe@canoewildrice.com or give the office a call at 1-800-626-3809 Prairie Malt (https://prairiemalt.com) For over 50 years Prairie Malt has been producing high extract malts forged from the fertile soils of Saskatchewan. Stop by the Roadhouse & Melvin booth at GABF to sample some award-winning beers produced with excellent malts and learn more at prairiemalt.com. Briess Malting (https://BrewingWithBriess.com) Briess offers the largest product line of specialty malt and is continuing to innovate. New malts include Heritage Gold and Lighthouse Munich. Check out why so many craft brewers trust Briess for their specialty malt at BrewingWithBriess.com.

19 Syys 1h 32min

Before joining Threes (https://threesbrewing.com), Josh Penney spent the better part of a decade brewing in Southern California, with nearly half of that time at hoppy-lager innovators Highland Park. Now at the helm of Threes in Brooklyn, he’s taking the knowledge he built in lager fermentation and layering in hops of various formats to create beers that pop from the package and the glass. In this episode, Penney discusses: the preservative power of lager fermentation and modern hop products in hop-forward styles building hazy IPA to evoke “hop ice cream” that doesn’t feel heavy or sweet using flowable hop products during active fermentation using thiol-enriched hops such as Freestyle’s Mega Motueka selecting for positive characteristics in New Zealand hops optimizing contact time with Southern Hemisphere hops adding terpenes during active fermentation and building deeper flavor blends with advanced hop products fermentation profiles that optimize dry yeast performance adjusting the timing of diacetyl rests based on dry-hopping regimens And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): For years G&D Chillers has chilled the beers you love, partnering with 3,000+ breweries across North America and beyond. With our 24/7 service and support, your brewery will never stop. Remote monitor your chiller for simple and fast access to all the information you need, and gain peace of mind your operation is running smoothly. Berkeley Yeast (https://berkeleyyeast.com). Berkeley Yeast bioengineers ordinary strains and make them extraordinary—enhancing the flavors you want and eliminating the ones you don’t. Visit berkeleyyeast.com to learn more and start brewing with science on your side. Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): As breweries expand beyond beer into other segments like mocktails and CBD beverages, Old Orchard is here to help. We can formulate custom blends featuring specialty ingredients. More information and free samples are waiting at oldorchard.com/brewer. Indie Hops (https://indiehops.com) Celebrating 16 years of delivering compelling new hop varieties along with classics that thrive in Oregon’s terroir, Indie is the original source for Strata, Luminosa, Lórien, Meridian, and their newest variety Audacia. Release your creativity with the magic of pure, uncut Oregon hops from Indie. Indie Hops — Life is short. Let’s make it flavorful. XTRATUF (https://xtratuf.com) XTRATUF has been making rugged and reliable boots for 75 years. Built for the harshest conditions, the Legacy Collection styles are oil, acid, and chemical resistant with a non-slip rated outsole. Be prepared for whatever comes your way and shop the latest XTRATUF boots on xtratuf.com. Canoe Wild Rice (https://breweryworkshop.com) Brewers, have you ever considered brewing with North America’s only Ancient Grain—Wild Rice? Joe at Canoe Wild Rice has a stockpile of this unique roasted grain ready to ship to you. Send Canoe Wild Rice an email at joe@canoewildrice.com or give the office a call at 1-800-626-3809

12 Syys 1h 13min

The Untappd Community Awards offer an interesting barometer of consumer excitement around breweries and beers, but for Noble Savage (https://www.noblesavagebrews.com) in Glen Cove—east of New York City, on Long Island—landing two beers among the top three hazy IPAs in the United States (https://awards.untappd.beer/region/united-states/?_sort_001=meta_value_num_desc&_beer_styles=ipa-new-england-hazy) proved quite an accomplishment. Founder and head brewer Frank Bilello has kept things small, tinkering as he goes and using an unusual creative process; his milky-pale beers get little to no boil and showcase the delicate yet pungent notes of New Zealand hops. In this episode, Bilello discusses: using 100 percent New York–grown craft malt for all his beers employing large amounts of malted wheat, flaked oats, and malted oats to soften hazy IPA mouthfeel managing pH in the mash for function and flavor making on-the-fly decisions about hopping while brewing blending yeast strains for flavor and attenuation staging dry hopping with a sacrificial round to pull out larger particulate matter before hitting with a harder second round Enigma’s benefit as a hot-side hop and Southern Cross in the dry hop minimizing boils to lower heat stress, retain more protein, and keep the color light using New Zealand hops almost exclusively for hazy IPA spunding IPA for natural carbonation And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): For years G&D Chillers has chilled the beers you love, partnering with 3,000+ breweries across North America and beyond. With our 24/7 service and support, your brewery will never stop. Remote monitor your chiller for simple and fast access to all the information you need, and gain peace of mind your operation is running smoothly. Berkeley Yeast (https://berkeleyyeast.com). Berkeley Yeast bioengineers ordinary strains and make them extraordinary—enhancing the flavors you want and eliminating the ones you don’t. Visit berkeleyyeast.com to learn more and start brewing with science on your side. Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): As breweries expand beyond beer into other segments like mocktails and CBD beverages, Old Orchard is here to help. We can formulate custom blends featuring specialty ingredients. More information and free samples are waiting at oldorchard.com/brewer. Indie Hops (https://indiehops.com) Celebrating 16 years of delivering compelling new hop varieties along with classics that thrive in Oregon’s terroir, Indie is the original source for Strata, Luminosa, Lórien, Meridian, and their newest variety Audacia. Release your creativity with the magic of pure, uncut Oregon hops from Indie. Indie Hops — Life is short. Let’s make it flavorful. XTRATUF (https://xtratuf.com) XTRATUF has been making rugged and reliable boots for 75 years. Built for the harshest conditions, the Legacy Collection styles are oil, acid, and chemical resistant with a non-slip rated outsole. Be prepared for whatever comes your way and shop the latest XTRATUF boots on xtratuf.com. Canoe Wild Rice (https://breweryworkshop.com) Brewers, have you ever considered brewing with North America’s only Ancient Grain—Wild Rice? Joe at Canoe Wild Rice has a stockpile of this unique roasted grain ready to ship to you. Send Canoe Wild Rice an email at joe@canoewildrice.com or give the office a call at 1-800-626-3809

5 Syys 1h 1min

Making beer commercially in New York City is so difficult that it all but stopped until the previous decade’s craft-beer boom rekindled the fire. Today, about 40 breweries make beer in the city, but doing so comes with its own set of rules. Beyond the regulatory and logistical hurdles, there’s an underlying creative challenge: NYC is the culinary capital of the United States, and competition for space on bar and restaurant menus is pitched. Without great beer, great branding, a point of view, and a way to generate new and engaging stories, it’s easy for a brewery to get lost in the noise. That’s why KCBC (https://kcbcbeer.com)—opened in 2016 by homebrewers-turned-pros in the vibrantly diverse Bushwick neighborhood—leans into the city’s energy with graphic storytelling through branding, and with a constantly shifting lineup that tells interesting tales about the wider world of beer. In this episode, cofounder Tony Bellis and head brewer Bobby Rolandi discuss: brewing hazy IPA with Voss kveik rather than more popular strains drier New England–style IPAs with finishing gravities around 3.5°P (1.014) developing three distinct templates for hazy IPA recipes avoiding chewier grains such as oats in favor of flaked and malted wheat fermenting cooler and with a cooler dry hop for smoother extraction achieving modern flavors in West Coast–style IPAs using classic hops experimenting with hops and fermentation in the lager space using 34/70 for IPA fermentation while using a Budvar-derived strain for lagers And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): For years G&D Chillers has chilled the beers you love, partnering with 3,000+ breweries across North America and beyond. With our 24/7 service and support, your brewery will never stop. Remote monitor your chiller for simple and fast access to all the information you need, and gain peace of mind your operation is running smoothly. Berkeley Yeast (https://berkeleyyeast.com). Berkeley Yeast bioengineers ordinary strains and make them extraordinary—enhancing the flavors you want and eliminating the ones you don’t. Visit berkeleyyeast.com to learn more and start brewing with science on your side. Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): As breweries expand beyond beer into other segments like mocktails and CBD beverages, Old Orchard is here to help. We can formulate custom blends featuring specialty ingredients. More information and free samples are waiting at oldorchard.com/brewer. Indie Hops (https://indiehops.com) Celebrating 16 years of delivering compelling new hop varieties along with classics that thrive in Oregon’s terroir, Indie is the original source for Strata, Luminosa, Lórien, Meridian, and their newest variety Audacia. Release your creativity with the magic of pure, uncut Oregon hops from Indie. Indie Hops — Life is short. Let’s make it flavorful. XTRATUF (https://xtratuf.com) XTRATUF has been making rugged and reliable boots for 75 years. Built for the harshest conditions, the Legacy Collection styles are oil, acid, and chemical resistant with a non-slip rated outsole. Be prepared for whatever comes your way and shop the latest XTRATUF boots on xtratuf.com. Brewery Workshop (https://breweryworkshop.com) If you’re launching a brewery or acquiring an existing one, consider our brewery workshop and new brewery accelerator, September 14 through 17th in Fort Collins, Colorado. Over four days, we engage in panel discussions, technical brewery tours, networking, and small working group sessions that help you better understand and prepare for the challenges of brewery operation. Tickets are on sale now.

29 Elo 1h 14min

Ben Clayton of Brooklyn’s Test (https://www.thetestbrewery.com) honed his approach to brewing while working in the context of a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City. Today, building a deep, meaningful supply chain for interesting ingredients animates him more than lighting up the beer-trading boards. Accolades have followed, and today he’s finding stories to tell in thoughtfully sourced grain and the novel ways he uses it in everything from Mexican-style lager to hazy IPA. In this episode, Clayton discusses: brewing Mexican-style lager with nixtamalized heirloom Oaxacan corn blending floral corn notes with complementary Noble hop notes using oats in multiple forms in hazy IPA why hazy IPA might be the “perfect” beer style tweaking pH to preserve texture, flavor, and aroma promoting biodiversity in beer And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): For years G&D Chillers has chilled the beers you love, partnering with 3,000+ breweries across North America and beyond. With our 24/7 service and support, your brewery will never stop. Remote monitor your chiller for simple and fast access to all the information you need, and gain peace of mind your operation is running smoothly. Berkeley Yeast (https://berkeleyyeast.com). Berkeley Yeast bioengineers ordinary strains and make them extraordinary—enhancing the flavors you want and eliminating the ones you don’t. Visit berkeleyyeast.com to learn more and start brewing with science on your side. Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): Custom blend development is available through our innovative R&D lab. Our bulk division supplies a wide range of beverage segments, making it the one-stop shop for flavoring beer and beyond. More information and free samples are waiting at oldorchard.com/brewer. Indie Hops (https://indiehops.com) Celebrating 16 years of delivering compelling new hop varieties along with classics that thrive in Oregon’s terroir, Indie is the original source for Strata, Luminosa, Lórien, Meridian, and their newest variety Audacia. Release your creativity with the magic of pure, uncut Oregon hops from Indie. Indie Hops — Life is short. Let’s make it flavorful. XTRATUF (https://xtratuf.com) XTRATUF has been making rugged and reliable boots for 75 years. Built for the harshest conditions, the Legacy Collection styles are oil, acid, and chemical resistant with a non-slip rated outsole. Be prepared for whatever comes your way and shop the latest XTRATUF boots on xtratuf.com. Brewery Workshop (https://breweryworkshop.com) If you’re launching a brewery or acquiring an existing one, consider our brewery workshop and new brewery accelerator, September 14 through 17th in Fort Collins, Colorado. Over four days, we engage in panel discussions, technical brewery tours, networking, and small working group sessions that help you better understand and prepare for the challenges of brewery operation. Tickets are on sale now.

22 Elo 1h 10min

The best beer isn’t brewed in a vacuum—it’s brewed with your guests in mind. Every pour, every seasonal release, every new recipe starts with one question: What do people actually want to drink? In this episode, we dive into how breweries are using real taproom data to answer that question—and brew what sells. From tracking style velocity to spotting daypart trends, our guests break down how they translate point-of-sale insights into production plans that make sense for their business and their fans. Guests on this episode include: Juan Torres, cofounder and chief operating officer, Tripping Animals (Doral, Florida) Brandon Stirewalt, director of operations, Town Brewing (Charlotte, North Carolina) Ben Wolff, customer success manager, Arryved (Denver) This episode is brought to you interruption-free by Arryved, (https://www.arryved.com) the all‑in‑one brewery platform trusted by hundreds of craft breweries nationwide. Built specifically for the craft-beverage industry, Arryved (https://www.arryved.com) combines powerful, customizable tools that simplify service and operations, keep sales data in one place, and help breweries turn insights into action. Arryved (https://www.arryved.com) works side‑by‑side with taprooms to meet their needs in real time—because no two service models, beer lists, or guest expectations are exactly alike. By elevating the guest experience and streamlining the back of house, Arryved (https://www.arryved.com) lets makers focus on what really matters: their product, their people, and their community. Learn more at arryved.com (https://www.arryved.com).

19 Elo 1h 15min

Hemp-derived THC products, including beverages, have exploded on the market in recent years as producers take advantage of a federal legal loophole that leaves the products legal—or at least not-illegal—in many states. Much of this nascent beverage market is focused on seltzer-style minimalism or sweet, fruit-forward drinks, but Connecticut’s Float House (https://floathouse.co) is making the case for beer aroma and flavor as the category develops. In this episode, cofounders Gordon Whelpley and Jared Emerling—alumni of Connecticut and New York breweries that include Two Roads, Sixpoint, Twelve Percent Beer Project, and Stony Creek—discuss their approach to making hop-driven THC beverages that drink like nonalcoholic beers. Along the way, they touch on: launching a THC beverage brand in an uncertain environment the current regulatory framework for producing and selling hemp-derived beverages creatively designing beer-focused beverages in a space with infinite possibility building balanced flavor and mouthfeel in hopp-forward NA brews creating body using novel hop products the difference between nonconverted and converted hemp-derived THC how CBD modulates the body’s uptake of THC the benefits of beverage-sipping as a slow ingestion mode for THC And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): For years G&D Chillers has chilled the beers you love, partnering with 3,000+ breweries across North America and beyond. With our 24/7 service and support, your brewery will never stop. Remote monitor your chiller for simple and fast access to all the information you need, and gain peace of mind your operation is running smoothly. Berkeley Yeast (https://berkeleyyeast.com). Berkeley Yeast bioengineers ordinary strains and make them extraordinary—enhancing the flavors you want and eliminating the ones you don’t. Visit berkeleyyeast.com to learn more and start brewing with science on your side. Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): Custom blend development is available through our innovative R&D lab. Our bulk division supplies a wide range of beverage segments, making it the one-stop shop for flavoring beer and beyond. More information and free samples are waiting at oldorchard.com/brewer. Indie Hops (https://indiehops.com) Celebrating 16 years of delivering compelling new hop varieties along with classics that thrive in Oregon’s terroir, Indie is the original source for Strata, Luminosa, Lórien, Meridian, and their newest variety Audacia. Release your creativity with the magic of pure, uncut Oregon hops from Indie. Indie Hops — Life is short. Let’s make it flavorful. XTRATUF (https://xtratuf.com) XTRATUF has been making rugged and reliable boots for 75 years. Built for the harshest conditions, the Legacy Collection styles are oil, acid, and chemical resistant with a non-slip rated outsole. Be prepared for whatever comes your way and shop the latest XTRATUF boots on xtratuf.com. Brewery Workshop (https://breweryworkshop.com) If you’re launching a brewery or acquiring an existing one, consider our brewery workshop and new brewery accelerator, September 14 through 17th in Fort Collins, Colorado. Over four days, we engage in panel discussions, technical brewery tours, networking, and small working group sessions that help you better understand and prepare for the challenges of brewery operation. Tickets are on sale now.

15 Elo 1h 11min

In Whitestown, Indiana, just outside Indianapolis, this small-town lager brewery has made big waves with multiple World Beer Cup golds for its märzen, Follow the Lederhosen—not to mention a WBC silver for its pale Skool House Bock, knockout scores (https://beerandbrewing.com/beer-reviews/?q=moontown&hPP=30&idx=dato_cbb_web_review_search&p=0) from Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® judges, and five GABF medals for various lagers. However, Moontown’s (https://www.moontownbeer.com) success is a story of working within the confines of their two-vessel system to find processes that produce the flavors they want. Step-mashing is a must, and their mashout decoction—while not a traditional one, by any means—gives them an extra nudge of flavor and attenuation. In this episode, director of brewing operations Cody Peczkowski talks about the deep influence of his experience brewing for the Gordon Biersch chain, and the how his approach to recipe design has developed in the ensuing years. Along the way, he touches on: focusing on premium ingredients for better beer step-mashing a hazy IPA adjusting the step-mash regimen for body or better attenuation using a mashout decoction process on their two-vessel brewhouse brewing two different märzens with different origin malts, including both German and American craft malts bunging rather than spunding tanks managing competition beers that are “too hoppy” bringing alcohol levels down in malt-forward lager taking a hop-forward approach to West Coast–style pils asking the question, “What would Gordon Biersch do?” And more. This episode is brought to you by: G&D Chillers (https://gdchillers.com): For years G&D Chillers has chilled the beers you love, partnering with 3,000+ breweries across North America and beyond. With our 24/7 service and support, your brewery will never stop. Remote monitor your chiller for simple and fast access to all the information you need, and gain peace of mind your operation is running smoothly. Berkeley Yeast (https://berkeleyyeast.com). Berkeley Yeast bioengineers ordinary strains and make them extraordinary—enhancing the flavors you want and eliminating the ones you don’t. Visit berkeleyyeast.com to learn more and start brewing with science on your side. Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): As breweries expand beyond beer into other segments like mocktails and CBD beverages, Old Orchard is here to help. We can formulate custom blends featuring specialty ingredients. More information and free samples are waiting at oldorchard.com/brewer. Indie Hops (https://indiehops.com) Celebrating 16 years of delivering compelling new hop varieties along with classics that thrive in Oregon’s terroir, Indie is the original source for Strata, Luminosa, Lórien, Meridian, and their newest variety Audacia. Release your creativity with the magic of pure, uncut Oregon hops from Indie. Indie Hops — Life is short. Let’s make it flavorful. XTRATUF (https://xtratuf.com) XTRATUF has been making rugged and reliable boots for 75 years. Built for the harshest conditions, the Legacy Collection styles are oil, acid, and chemical resistant with a non-slip rated outsole. Be prepared for whatever comes your way and shop the latest XTRATUF boots on xtratuf.com. Hyperboost from Yakima Chief Hops (https://www.yakimachief.com) HyperBoost is a smarter dry hop solution that delivers bold, variety specific aroma and flavor you trust while cutting down on shipping, storage and waste. Try Yakima Chief Hops’ Efficiency Calculator tool at yakimachief.com. Brewery Workshop (https://breweryworkshop.com) If you’re launching a brewery or acquiring an existing one, consider our brewery workshop and new brewery accelerator, September 14 through 17th in Fort Collins, Colorado. Over four days, we engage in panel discussions, technical brewery tours, networking, and small working group sessions that help you better understand and prepare for the challenges of brewery operation. Tickets are on sale now.

8 Elo 1h 14min