444: Mike Foniok of the Establishment Takes an Ultramodern Approach to Mixed-Culture Fermentation

Sheesh! The Establishment (Calgary, Alberta) has built a reputation over the past few years for taking an unconventional, experimental approach to mixed-culture brewing—as well as many other styles—and they’ve brought home numerous awards to prove it. The 2025 World Beer Cup gold medal for Belgian-Style Sour Ale may be the biggest of them all, despite the unabashedly modern approach to the mixed-culture blend: Erlton Street 5 includes a component that's essentially barrel-aged hazy IPA, right down to the Dynaboost dip-hop. They’re not afraid of calculated risks, and they love seeing where new ideas and techniques take them—because, as Foniok says, “Beer first, ask questions later.”

In this episode, Foniok discusses:

• using advanced hop products in mixed-culture beer
  
• bench-trialing potential dry hops
  
• working around the mixed culture and dealing with Pediococcus ropiness
  
• brewing with high hop loads to suppress excessive acid production
  
• blending over multiple days to challenge and ultimately verify the blend
  
• using aged hops that have moved past the cheesy stage
  
• promoting fast fermentation for Saccharomyces strains in the mixed culture
• blending a fermented component with a hazy-IPA-ish grist
  
• bench-testing hops for improving dry-hop selection
  

And more.

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