184: Annie Johnson Embraces the Homebrewer’s Sense of Exploration

“I always figured if the professional killed the spirit to do it at home, then I would never do it professionally, but luckily that didn’t happen.”

Annie Johnson loves homebrewing. The award-winning homebrewer has worked professionally in brewing, but despite turning her passion into a career, she's never given up that sense of creative fulfillment and excitement that comes with each new batch. The self-described “snob” may refer to herself as the “queen of decoction,” but she’s also quick to embrace time-saving methods such as brewing with malt extract.

Learning is a constant for Johnson, and whether it’s unlocking the key to historical brewing problems through a process of reverse engineering, or exploring the flavor and color impacts of wild foraged ingredients, she’s always following an idea or chasing a particular flavor memory in her brewing projects.

In this episode, she discusses:

Concepting beers with a special-ingredient-first approach

Brewing with foraged ingredients and herbs like bay leaf, nettles, and mushrooms

Building subtlety and restraint into ingredient-forward beers

Achieving positive effects with ingredients by adding at high krausen

Taking a cautious approach to toxicity in foraged ingredients

Adhering to traditional methods for traditional beers

Considering visual impact in recipe design

How the process of studying to become a beer judge improved her brewing

An inspirational voice in the world of brewing, Johnson serves as a great reminder to all of us that success in brewing isn’t about scale or profit, it’s about passion and personal fulfillment.

*This episode is brought to you by: *

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