440: Jesse Brown of Formula Slows Down to Make Better Lager and IPA

The 2024 World Beer Cup was quite a moment for Issaquah, Washington’s Formula. Head brewer Jesse Brown is no stranger to medals, but four in one year at the world’s most prestigious beer competition made a statement. His career as a brewer may look like “Swiss cheese,” with stints in Wyoming, Tennessee, Oregon, and Washington, but it’s hard to poke holes in any of his thoughtfully designed and thoroughly executed lagers or IPAs.

In this episode, Brown discusses ingredients as well as the labor-intensive process behind his helles, touches on the hot-side versus cold-side fresh-hop controversy, shares his approach to New Zealand hops that won him a silver medal for New Zealand–style IPA at World Beer Cup 2025, and finishes with thoughts on what it takes to win when so many brewers are making such great beer.

Along the way, he discusses:

• front-side decoction without a dedicated vessel
• extended saccharification rests to build malt depth
• gently handling lager to avoid bruising the beer
• the differences between 34/70 strains
• transferring before terminal to get a head start on clearing yeast
• the fresh-hop “controversy”
• the beauty of Dolcita and building mouthfeel with hops
• blending base malts for West Coast IPA
• selecting early-pick New Zealand hops for lower diesel character

And more.

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