Alarmist Brewing's Beer Engineer: From Nuclear Reactors to Cask Ales and Clear Hazy IPAs (Plus: Which Craft Beers Do Customers Actually Want to Buy?)

Alarmist Brewing’s hilarious Gary Gulley brings an engineer’s lens to brewing and nerds out about cask ales, clear hazies, and what customers really want.

01:27 Beer Myth: Are cask ales all flat? What is a cask ale, anyway? Gary explains what makes a cask ale a cask ale and the role carbonation plays in it. If you’ve never heard of a firkin, spile, cast breather, or cask wedge, then you’ll walk away with a better understanding of them as only an engineer could provide. Plus: should you drink what’s on cask while in the UK?

08:15 Alarmist Brewing Interview: Gary Gulley, owner and founder of Alarmist Brewing, shares why he’s passionate about beer and how his former career as a civil engineer prepared him for a career as a full-time brewer. He talks about his experience learning about homebrewing while working at a nuclear power plant, Coors Party Balls, and how his growing appreciation for beer led him to found Alarmist. Gary also shares the story of how his Le Jus became the first-ever Hazy IPA to win a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival and how Alarmist developed other award-winning beers including Pantsless, Bronze Medal Winner for American Pale Ale in 2020, and Midwest Royalty, Bronze Medal Winner for American Style Lager in 2021 and 2022.

After sampling some beers, Gary explains the difference between two-row and six-row malts and how they impact the “grainy” flavor of certain beers. He also breaks down the difference between pale ales, American pales, and IPAs, in terms of both hops and bitterness, and what happens when you put lactose in beer. Gary and Katherine also explain why beer recipes “change all the time” and how that can sometimes lead to happy accidents in brewing. The topic of Le Jus Clear also leads to Gary explaining how he used yeast strains to make a clear hazy IPA. Plus: brewing for customers, not brewers; the seasonality of dark beers and customer demand compared to other lighter styles; and a game you should never play called “The John Wayne Hour.”

1:06:36 Beer Behavior: THC seltzers: how do they work and what does industrial hemp have to do with it? Gary breaks down how delta-9 THC works, the chemical process involved in brewing THC seltzers, and how Minnesota is paving the way for other states to brew it.

1:14:30 Today’s Featured Merchandise: “Decoction: it’s a lager thing” super-soft shirt, available in multiple styles and colors! Every purchase you make supports the show's production and hosting costs.

Decoction soft uni-sexy tee: https://3b8877-3.myshopify.com/products/decoction-soft-uni-sexy-tee

Decoction Hooded long-sleeve tee: https://3b8877-3.myshopify.com/products/decoction-hooded-long-sleeve-tee

1:15:10 Mic Flags: Watch Gary literally eat a mic flag. Seriously.

You can find other amazing merchandise and learn more about Crafty Brewers on our official website, https://craftybrewerspod.com

About Alarmist Brewing: Alarmist Brewing is a multiple award winning Chicago craft brewery on the northwest side and the home of Le Jus, the first ever gold medal Hazy IPA at the Great American Beer Festival. Learn more on their website at https://www.alarmistbrewing.com/

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Crafty Brewers is produced by award-winning podcaster Cody Gough. He insists that we tell you that in this episode, you’ll learn about: hazy IPAs, the brewing process, beer engines, Chicago breweries, civil engineering, homebrewing, beer industry trends, clear hazies, lactose in beer, craft beer ingredients, beer fermentation, THC beverages, beer regulations, craft beer business, cask programs, beer myths, brewing challenges, craft beer recipe development, and craft beer culture.