417: Ryan Allen of Macallen Is a Farmer with a Brewing Problem

Estate-grown barley, hops, and fruit are the engines that power the beers at Macallen Farm and Brewery, and multigenerational farmer (and brewery founder) Ryan Allen embraces agriculture as a creative tool in his brewing process. Whether it’s heirloom barley varieties grown in intentional ways to optimize flavor profiles, or it’s Cascade hops that he lets hang for extra weeks to develop deeper fruit notes, there are few variables that he’s not willing to test and push in pursuit of the perfect flavor and aroma.

In this episode, Allen discusses:

• growing heirloom barley for taste before yield
• choosing beer styles for different barley varieties and harvest conditions
• brewing test batches of every recipe, each year, to adjust recipes to the new crop
• weather impact on growth and flavor in barley
• controlling for pests through methods such as crop rotation
• adjusting water profiles to complement year-to-year barley flavor changes
• malting in-house for an additional layer of control
• choosing when to pick C-hops to optimize citrus and mango flavors
• varying the pick times for a single hop variety to achieve different expressions
• managing dry whole-cone hops in the brewhouse
• growing and processing estate-grown fruit for beer
• juicing the fruit, then using the skins for color adjustment

And more.

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