266: Barry Chan of Lucky Envelope is Developing a Chinese-American Voice in Craft Brewing

When Barry Chan and his partner started Lucky Envelope, they were concerned with appearing “too Chinese.” The craft beer world at the time wasn’t ready for that, they thought; they wanted to fit in and not alienate their core clientele. Today, with a GABF medal under their belts in the Munich-style helles category, they’re more comfortable knowing they make classic styles in a compelling way. They’re also exploring more deeply how to connect their Chinese-American heritage—and its culinary traditions—with the broader world of craft beer.

In this episode, Chan discusses how they’ve approached that, including:

• locking down base styles before embarking on experimentation
• building “smoked” beers using smoked tea as an ingredient
• finding effective ways to extract flavors from challenging ingredients
• searching for inspiration in unexpected places
• ingredients that don’t work in beer
• risking failure with ingredients such as durian
• creating nuanced beers with habañero and shishito peppers
• pushing into European styles such as Czech dark lager
• working to increase diversity in craft beer
  

And more.

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