125: Brad Clark of Private Press Discusses Intention, Quality, and Expression in Brewing and Blending Barrel-Aged Stouts and Barleywines

Leaving a senior-level job (overseeing brewing operations for a 14,000 barrel per year brewery) to launch a small startup brewery with a tightly focused approach to brewing and an extremely limited sales model, is a big risk. But it’s one that Brad Clark has embraced. Private Press Brewing launches early summer and will release only barrel-aged stouts and barleywines, sold only through a membership program. It’s a focused approach to making tightly edited, bespoke beers for discerning customers, but it’s only possible thanks to the reputation he built making such beers for more than a decade at the Athens, Ohio stalwart.

In this episode, Clark discusses the challenge of moving from big to small, the gravity arms race in imperial-strength beers, choices for building body in big beers, designing component recipes for blending stock, how to use dark malts to guide oxidation in favorable directions, building a language to describe flavors and sensations while blending, defining the “pocket” for a blended beer, discovering emotion in exceptional barrels, being present and focused while tasting, and brewing and packaging lessons learned the hard way.

“Happy accidents don’t happen anymore,” says Clark. “There’s intent, there’s vision, there’s palate, there’s this drive behind them. It’s not just an afterthought. It’s not a couple barrels in the corner. This is identity. Avoid happy accidents. Don’t even use that word. Think about what you’re doing and set it up for success.”

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