There are some raw materials in the brewing world that are the butt of jokes or customers claim they don’t like them because they have heard bad or false things about them. Two brewing ingredients come to mind: Sabro hops, which were released in 2018 and crystal malt, which is used in many styles from English bitters to American amber ales.
But are these ingredients really so bad? On this episode of the All About Beer podcast hosts Don Tse and Em Sauter talk to four guests who will help us demystify these misunderstood members of the brewing world and find out if people’s ire is really justified or perhaps we should be looking at Sabro and crystal malt with fresh eyes.
Guests
Eric R. Sannerud cares a lot about farmers and hops. Eric is president of Sannerud Hop Consulting connecting brewers and farmers. Eric first fell in love with hops as co-founder and farmer-CEO of his own hop farm. He writes the Hop Notes newsletter providing expert hop market analysis and education. Eric serves on Minnesota’s Rural Finance Authority, the Minnesota Agriculture Water Quality Certification Program’s council, and is a TED speaker. Eric farms flowers outside of Milaca, Minnesota with his wife and daughter.
Jude La Rose is co-founder of Hop Butcher for the World from Chicago, IL. The brewery focuses on fresh, hop driven beer and seeking the edge where future flavor and aroma exist.
Axel Jany is one of the international malt & brewing experts at Weyermann® Specialty Malts in Bamberg, Germany. As a trained brewer and maltster with a brewmaster degree from VLB Berlin, Axel has over 39 years of professional brewing experience and he is the technical contact for Weyermann customers and distribution partners around the globe and the famous malthouse in Bamberg. Axel`s role at Weyermann ist to offer customer support in all malt And beer related questions. As a certified Doemens beer sommelier, he also judges at international beer competitions. In his spare time, Axel enjoys the great outdoors with his wife and border terrier Islay and his classic Land Rovers.
Adam Field is the co-owner and head brewer of Fieldcrest Brewing Company in Wilbraham, MA. The small brewery and taproom focuses on American and English style ales, as well as some traditional German style lagers. He is particularly fond of cask ale and has made multiple trips to England for research and to enjoy a couple pints. Prior to opening the brewery in 2019, Adam worked over 25 years in the printing industry. His wife Shannon is a partner in the business and their two daughters work part time at Fieldcrest as well. Adam is a lifelong Massachusetts resident who enjoys music, soccer, restoring old trucks, listening to podcasts, traveling, spending time with family and friends, and of course, beer.
Listen to the whole conversation where you download podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and Overcast.
This episode is sponsored by:
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Em Sauter
Em Sauter is an Advanced Cicerone®, cartoonist, author, beer reviewer, international beer judge and public speaker who runs the award winning website Pints and Panels, which focuses on visual beer education. Her first book "Beer is for Everyone! (of Drinking Age)" was published in 2017 by One Peace Books. Her second book "Hooray for Craft Beer!" was released in April 2022 with Brewers Publications. Em is also co-host of the All About Beer Podcast. She lives in New England with her husband Matt and two cats- Milbo and The Geen.
Don Tse
Living near seven malthouses, Don Tse is a freelance beer and malt writer and consultant known globally as The Don of Beer. He has been active in craft beer for over 25 years and has famously sampled and written tasting notes on almost 27,000 different beers. He is the co-host of the All About Beer podcast. Don has also written for magazines and presented on beer in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine and Singapore. Nobody in those countries thinks his jokes are funny.
