On this episode of the Brewer to Brewer podcast Ben Edmunds of Breakside Brewery interviews Shaun Yasaki of Noble Beast Brewing Co.

The two talk about paths to brewing and learning from existing operations before transitioning into life before beer. Yasaki had worked as a professional photographer and Edmunds took the opportunity to ask about the intersection of art, creativity, and beer.

The Conversation

Ben Edmunds: Let’s tie this back. You’re a photographer. I think that is a very rare previous career to brewing. It sounds like that was a family profession trade as well. Does that background still influence you at all and your work today?

Shaun Yasaki: I’m sure it does. Because visually, I think I approach things very differently.

I’m obsessed with, with light, the color temperature of light. And that is absolutely like a photography thing.

I hate it when the color temperature is wrong. Our brewery has a skylight right in the middle of it, with a bunch of hanging plants and big glass garage doors in the front and the back. The building is an old steel warehouse. So it’s this big brick box, right? Pretty dark and dingy. When we got a hold of it bringing in light was really important. And it has helped the overall aesthetics of the interior, which has been super organic.

We didn’t have an interior designer or anything like that. When we opened up it had a pretty spartan look. I look at the old phots and wonder how we even opened the doors to let people inside.

Now everything has just grown and it’s ours, and we have like little tchotchkes and stuff like that. But I think that it is a really important part of a successful pub and bar is just that warm, inviting atmosphere. So I definitely pay a lot of attention to those type of things.

And I think obviously with with beer first experience is visual. So if the beer does not look visually appealing, it’s already clouded your judgment of how it’s gonna taste and smell and the overall experience.

So from from glassware and presentation, that’s super important.

I don’t really do any professional photography anymore. It’s been a lot of fun to still do all of our social media and stuff. And it gives me a reason to spend money on nice cameras and get new lenses justify that as a business expense.

I still get to kind of play around with that. It’s a good creative outlet.

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The above transcript was condensed and edited for clarity.

This episode is sponsored by:

Firsd Tea is a proud sponsor of the Brewer to Brewer podcast. They have been working with brewers on a wide range of ingredients in delicious beers. Firsd Tea combines the flexibility of order sizes with the experience you need to create innovative and successful tea beers. They get you the most direct-from-farm tea selection so you are working with flavorful and consistent products. You can find out more about Firsd Tea’s collaborations with brewers and tea ingredients by visiting blog.firsdtea.com.