March 22, 2024

351: The Big Friendly Takes A Down-To-Earth Approach to Award-Winning Saisons and Barrel-Aged Stouts

1 hour 11 minutes

Will and Joe Quinlan, brothers and cofounders of The Big Friendly, just make beer. Will loves saison so they make a few saisons every year. Joe loves barrel-aged stout so they make a few of those every year. Their distribution is minuscule so their production is very small, but they do take a meticulous approach to beer making despite their small size.

In this episode, the brothers each recount their approach to the beers they make, and in the process they discuss:

building mixed fermentation cultures out of separate stock strains

resting and conditioning saison

using flavor- and aroma-forward New Zealand hops in saison

tuning sourdough yeast for beer fermentation

barrel-conditioning saison

editing malts in barrel-aged stouts

And more.

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