Brewer Q & A (Issue 20)

91 Rating – 3 Floyds Brewing Co. – Zombie Dust

Responses from Three Floyds head brewer Chris Boggess.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
Chris: I did.

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
Chris: I like Zombie Dust's drinkability. For a relatively hoppy beer, you can easily have more than one.

BC: Where does this beer’s name come from?
Chris: It was inspired by a Mötley Crüe song called "The Dirt." I recommend it highly!

BC: Is this your “desert island beer?”
Chris: No, there are other beers I like just as much. I would think I'd be doing things a little differently on a desert island; I would definitely want a handful of different beers!

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Chris: An intensely hopped, gushing, undead pale ale.

BC: Do you know a story -- or have a personal story -- that revolves around this beer?
Chris: Zombie Dust started out as a test brew served exclusively in our pub. It was originally called Cenotaph.

91 Rating – Boulevard Brewing Co. – Unfiltered Wheat Beer

Responses from Boulevard brewmaster Steven Pauwels.

BC: Who came up with this beer’s recipe?
Steven: Boulevard’s founder, John McDonald, was certainly instrumental in the first recipe of our Wheat Beer. Our brewing team has tweaked the recipe over the years, most dramatically in June 1994 when they took out some of the filtration components of the beer, making it truly “Unfiltered."

BC: What’s your favorite aspect of this beer (flavor, aroma, etc.)?
Steven: Unfiltered Wheat Beer is a relief in a craft beer world dominated by hops. The combination of the citrus, apple and grainy wheat notes play nicely together without overwhelming each other. It's a beer you could try to dissect but you shouldn't. Just enjoy it because the first sip will always lead to another one, and another one, and another...

BC: Is this your “desert island beer?”
Steven: As a brewer I would go for more complexity, but I know Unfiltered Wheat Beer is the "desert island beer" for a lot of people in the Midwest

BC: Can you describe this beer in 10 words or less?
Steven: Lively, refreshing, natural, citrusy, flavorful ale with distinctive cloudy appearance.

BC: Do you know a story -- or have a personal story -- that revolves around this beer?
Steven: We only had Unfiltered Wheat Beer available on draft for the longest time because we hadn't figured out how to keep the beer cloudy in the bottle. Right after I started at Boulevard, we installed a centrifuge that allowed us to bottle Unfiltered Wheat Beer. I was super excited when we had the first beer ready, only to find out that we didn't have any packaging for it. So we packaged it in 'filtered wheat beer' packaging and put on a big sticker that said 'New: Unfiltered Wheat Beer.' One of those stickers is still on the mirror in the bathroom next to my office to remind me about communicating with marketing before I want to make big changes to flagship beers!                                                                                                                          

All photos in this story were provided by breweries.