The 2024 World Beer Cup was quite a moment for Issaquah, Washington’s Formula. (http://formulabrewing.com) Head brewer Jesse Brown is no stranger to medals, but four in one year at the world’s most prestigious beer competition made a statement. His career as a brewer may look like “Swiss cheese,” with stints in Wyoming, Tennessee, Oregon, and Washington, but it’s hard to poke holes in any of his thoughtfully designed and thoroughly executed lagers or IPAs.
In this episode, Brown discusses ingredients as well as the labor-intensive process behind his helles, touches on the hot-side versus cold-side fresh-hop controversy, shares his approach to New Zealand hops that won him a silver medal for New Zealand–style IPA at World Beer Cup 2025, and finishes with thoughts on what it takes to win when so many brewers are making such great beer.
Along the way, he discusses:
front-side decoction without a dedicated vessel
extended saccharification rests to build malt depth
gently handling lager to avoid bruising the beer
the differences between 34/70 strains
transferring before terminal to get a head start on clearing yeast
the fresh-hop “controversy”
the beauty of Dolcita and building mouthfeel with hops
blending base malts for West Coast IPA
selecting early-pick New Zealand hops for lower diesel character
And more.
This episode is brought to you by:
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