Earlier this year at the Great American Beer Festival the awards in the beer categories were handed out followed by awards to breweries of the year, as dictated by size. This is based on a metric of barrels produced annually as well as medals won in the competition.
For the 251 to 500 barrel capacity brewery, The Big Friendly, a relatively new brewery in Oklahoma City, took home the award.
On this episode of Drink Beer, Think Beer host John Holl speaks with co-founders and owners brothers Joe Quinlin and Will Quinlin to talk about their brewing evolution, creating a memorable and welcome space, the changes in Oklahoma that has allowed it to become a beer destination and just what goes into making award winning recipes.
Gold for Table Beer
John Holl: You won gold in the Session Beer or Belgian-Style Table Beer for Oblique and Bent. Tell us about the beer.
Will Quinlin: I, I just I love low alcohol, full flavored complex beers. And there’s some great, smaller saisons around the 3% or 4% ABV range. The one that pushed me to the
And actually, the one that kind of pushed me to the edge, is a bottle my girlfriend brought back from maine, a peteit saison, and it was beautiful and I just had to make the style.
So I made a smaller version of our regular saison and it turned out really well, and then I actually did add some nice New Zealand hops at the end, and I think it was that nice little hit of New Zealand hops towards the end of the boil that helped.
Hear the whole conversation on the Drink Beer, Think Beer podcast. Download via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or wherever you download shows.
The above transcript was condensed and edited for clarity.
This Episode is Sponsored By:
New Holland Brewing
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Les Bon
A celebration of saison, mixed fermentation beer, ciders, natural wine and oysters. Brewers from around the country will descend on Duluth, Georgia on November 5, 2022 from 1pm to 5pm on the town green. All proceeds go to further the mission of Oyster South supporting aquaculture in the southeast. Tickets are $85 and include unlimited beer samples, coffee, oysters, and a bbq plate.
