222: Good Word’s Todd DiMatteo Goes Big on Little Beers

Todd DiMatteo never intended to head up the production side of Good Word Brewing and Public House in Duluth, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. However, after a rocky start with a previous brewer forced him to quickly step up to the brewdeck, he embraced the role with verve. Thankfully, his homebrew experience plus more than a decade serving beer at Atlanta’s legendary Brick Store Pub provided a palate and a point of view—two things that he’s leaned into while further developing Good Word’s beer program.

Small beers are a big deal for DiMatteo. Through collaborations and core brews, he routinely plays across the beer map—from “petite IPA” to Czech-style dark lager and English-style bitter. In this episode, he talks about the challenges and techniques to brewing small beers, including:

• sharpening critical faculties to focus on constant improvement
• finding inspiration in source material for beer styles
• staying respectful of style and naming conventions, in part to keep styles alive and vibrant
• key points for maximizing character and minimizing detracting notes in small beers
• the value of decoction in low-ABV beers
• evaluating ingredients and selecting them for flavor
• using multiple lager and ale strains while remaining efficient from a production standpoint
• spunding for natural carbonation

And more.

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