192: Burke-Gilman Brewing is Your Friendly Neighborhood Alpha King Winner
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\\u201cI\\u2019m anti-consistency,\\u201d says head brewer Phil Pesheck. \\u201cIf you\\u2019re pro-consistency, you\\u2019re anti-advancement. I want to continuously improve the beer, batch after batch.\\u201d
\\n\\nImprove they have, and Seattle\\u2019s Burke-Gilman Brewing pulled off quite a feat in 2020 with a win at the Alpha King Challenge and a gold medal in the juicy/hazy IPA category at the Great American Beer Festival. It was a bold statement for a new brewery that had won no major awards before, but it wasn\\u2019t just luck\\u2014Pesheck was focused on winning, and the brewery supported his fanatical, R&D-driven approach.
\\n\\nIn this episode of the podcast, cofounder Kenneth Trease, Pesheck, and brewer Julia Astrid Davis discuss the individual and collaborative ways this very small, taproom-focused brewery has made a big splash with hoppy beers:
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- Going \\u201cfull send\\u201d on competition entry beers
- Visualizing hop combinations, and exploring the small ways to drive maximum impact
- Optimizing the flavor of bitterness
- Maximizing yield despite excessive hop loads
- Fermenting and dry-hopping approaches for enticing aroma
- Hops that work as \\u201cstars,\\u201d and those that boost the performance of other hops
- Getting great results with spot hops
- Taking an iterative, taste-driven approach to dry hopping rather than following a set regimen
And more.
\\n\\nIPA isn\\u2019t the only thing Burke-Gilman brews, however. The tagline on their website reads, \\u201cIPA in the streets, lager in the sheets,\\u201d and the conversation concludes with discussion of their lager program and practices.
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