August 01, 2025

428: Shaun Kalis of Ruse Layers Flavor and Aroma in IPA With Old and New School Methods (Plus a Healthy Dose of Dankness)

1 hour 3 minutes

Portland, Oregon’s proximity to hop country gives its brewers an enviable perspective on hop flavors, aromas, evolving technologies, and seasonal expressions, and the brewers at Ruse don’t take that for granted. When developing recipes, cofounder Shaun Kalis loves pushing the envelope to find additional intensity using the latest flowable hop products, but he also finds punch and flavor density in previous generations of products, used judiciously in combination with hops in other formats.

Through this episode, Kalis discusses:

using flaked wheat and flaked rice to lower FAN and increase the snap

early pick Columbus for bittering and a healthy dose of CO2 extracted Mosaic or Simcoe with T-90’s for long-lasting hop flavor

selecting different expressions within the same hop variety for layering character in IPA

lifting up hop flavors by boosting underlying dankness

adjusting pH while brewing fresh hop beers

hot side hopping for more impactful and long-lasting flavor

applying new ideas to hazy IPA

And more.

This episode is brought to you by:

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