January 31, 2025

398: River North Explores the Outer Limits of High ABV Brewing

1 hour 8 minutes

Over the past few years, Denver's River North Brewery has collected accolades from top beer competitions around the world—four GABF medals, four World Beer Cup medals, four European Beer Star medals just to name a few—and beers like Father Time and Anniversary 11 have earned top scores from our blind panel. They most recently earned midsize brewery of the year honors at the inaugural Colorado Brewers Cup. While they brew a wide range of beers, including frequent medal winner Nightmare Fuel coffee stout, they're probably most well-known for the beers that push into the peaks of the ABV range—stouts, Belgian-style strong ales, and barleywines that regularly hit 15% and higher.

In this episode, founder Matt Hess and head brewer Matt Malloy share their techniques for making beers that not only turn heads for the their sky-high numbers, but also remain drinkable and as balanced as such beers could be. From controlling fusel alcohols through careful fermentation management, to building layers of flavors through malt selection, they share insights garnered from ten years of pushing the envelope. In this episode, they touch on:

using very high pitch rates and over-oxygenation to maintain healthy yeast

employing dehusked malts to soften roast character in big stouts

pushing yeast into an additional growth phase to increase cell count

keeping osmotic pressure low and feeding fermentations

selecting and adding coffee into stout

managing the oxidative process in barrel aging

And more.

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