You’ve heard from us, and you’ve heard from our writers and critics, but in this episode of our Best in beer trilogy, you’ll hear from brewers behind two of our Best 20 Beers in 2022—Carey Fristoe of Black Spruce in Fairbanks, Alaska and John Garcia of King Harbor in Redondo Beach, California.

Fristoe discusses the design and brewing of Aromadome hazy IPA, a mashup of east and west approaches with unconventional choices like its use of dry yeast. Along the way, he touches on:

Using Vienna malt for color while achieving stable haze with just 10% wheat
S-04 dry yeast for hazy IPA fermentation
Lower temperature whirlpooling to reduce isomerization
Single stage dry hopping with longer contact time and aggressive rousing
Selecting hops for more cantaloupe and honeydew melon character
Paying attention and reducing oxygen pickup throughout the brewing and cellar process
Pushing both chloride and sulfate levels higher than typical rates

And more.

Garcia walks us through Choco-Latte, a coffee, oats, and molé-spiced sweet stout that’s decadent and drinkable, while discussing:

Building a spectrum of malt flavor from Simpsons maris otter base malt through midnight wheat
Hot side whirlpool additions of cocoa powder, lactose, cinnamon, and toasted ancho chiles
Sourcing and selecting the right, high quality ingredients
Fermenting with US-05 dry yeast
Adding coffee through a concentrated cold brew

And more.

This episode is brought to you by:

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274: Best in Beer Brewers’ Perspectives on Hazy IPA and Sweet Molé Stout

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