237: Less is More as Surly’s Ben Smith Pursues Bigger Hop Flavor in Hazy IPA and a Refined Approach to West Coast IPA

Minnesota's Surly Brewing has cultivated a brand image that's bold and in-your-face, but the next chapter of Surly's approach to brewing will be defined by achieving more with less, if head brewer Ben Smith has anything to say about it. From thiol-maximizing yeast in hazy IPAs that achieves big flavor with less hops, to refined and softer bitterness in new West coast IPAs, every assumption about how things "should be done" is under consideration.

In this episode, Smith shares what they've learned from brewing a new thiol-focused beer with Other Half, Phantasm, and thiol-centric yeast from Omega Labs. But it wouldn't be a proper Surly episode without a discussion of West coast IPA and the ways they're tweaking and refining the classic approach to find new expression and connection.

In this episode, Smith discusses:

• Maximizing their three pillars of quality, consistency, and stability
• Achieving more hop flavor with less hops and thiolized yeast
• Thinking about bitterness in terms beyond IBU
• Hopping methods to achieve flavorful and efficient results
• Deconstructing and reconstructing West coast IPA
• Managing hop creep at a production scale

And more.

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