172: Zack Adams of Fox Farm Takes an Iterative But Exacting Approach Across Traditional Styles

For Zack Adams of Connecticut’s Fox Farm Brewery, the reward in brewing is found in working and reworking a smaller lineup of beers, over and over again, until he gets them just right. While they make and love IPAs, they’ve focused their other brewing energy on simple and small beers—think German-style pilsner, Kölsch, English-style dark mild, and Belgian-inspired mixed culture farmhouse beers. They’re a country brewery, and comfortable with that approach.

In this episode of the podcast, Adams discusses:

• Getting the hang of lager fermentation
• A sensory approach to brewer feedback and improvement
• Developing malt character despite infusion mashing
• Using different Noble hops to bring out varyingcharacteristics in lagers
• Creating balanced smoked beers, and bringing their audience along on the journey
• Brewing classic English-style ales
• Preparing and carbonating beer before nitrogenating
• Creating a distinct approach to mixed culture farmhouse ales
• Brewing with craft malt
• Wine-beer hybrids using New England grape varieties
• (Accidentally) using winemaking techniques for softer tannin extraction
• Learning from four seasons of spontaneous brewing (without releasing a single spontaneous beer)

and more.

*This episode is brought to you by: *

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