November 28, 2025

448: West Coast Pils Panel Discussion Live From the Brewers Retreat

56 minutes

This week’s episode comes from a live panel discussion on West coast pils recorded a few weeks ago at the Craft Beer & Brewing Brewers Retreat in Asheville, North Carolina, and features Khristopher Johnson of Green Bench, Bob Kunz of Highland Park, and Evan Price of Green Cheek. Over the course of the conversation, these three brewers cover a range of topics, including:

the impact of lager yeast sulfur production on hops flavor and hops longevity

building hops blends that ground with a classic baseline and expand with contemporary flavors and aromas

creating structure and body with lower-alpha hops

considering "vegetive load" as a means of boosting body

blending base malts for different intended finishing gravities

the impact of floor-malted barley on tropical hop expression

adjusting fermentation to accentuate hop character

swapping headspace carbon dioxide to control sulfur

using a controlled ramp-up in fermentation temperature to balance ester production with ideal dry hop conditions

And more.

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