There are few breweries that I revere as deeply as Russian River Brewing Company. Among creating world-class beers (Damnation and Temptation are two all-time favorites), inventing the Double IPA (Pliny The Elder, anyone?), and pushing the boundary of sour beers (since ’99!), owner/head brewer Vinnie Cilurzo has been nothing short of essential…(Read More)
Don’t be busy. Be productive. In the midst of relocating across the country, planning a wedding, enrolling in an MBA program, and diligently writing for Third Leap Brewing & Blending, I went and started another project; SpontaneousBeer.com! Truth be told, I have been itching to share research about American Spontaneous Beer producers for…(Read More)
Evolution is the secret for the next step. Back in December, I wrote about the unoriginal concept of perpetually repitching my foraged yeast into future batches of farmhouse ales. The project, aptly named the Evolution Series, seeks to embrace the natural, spontaneous mutations within yeast over numerous fermentations. Three Evolution batches were brewed in 2016…(Read More)
The mountains are calling and I must go. Things have been quiet at Third Leap for the past several months, and for good reason. I am moving! I have been incredibly fortunate to call New England home for my entire life – from birth, through childhood, college, and even my career. Besides having served as a…(Read More)
It’s no secret that my approach to brewing is more imitation than innovation. I am largely influenced by both commercial brewers and, especially, homebrewers. I do my best to gather, digest, and consolidate as much information from as many resources as possible. But I also recognize that I do not have to reinvent the…(Read More)
“It is not the strongest of species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin was probably not a brewer, but his contributions to the science of evolution certainly apply to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the 150 years since Darwin first introduced natural selection, commercial and homebrewers alike have…(Read More)
I am fortunate to have great friends at Bootleg Biology. In May, Jeff Mello and Isaac Brannon returned five lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolates from a variety of local yeast project captures I sent them earlier in the year. Each isolate was evaluated in the Foraged Bacteria Pilot Batch (blog post forthcoming) and my favorites…(Read More)
“Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile.” My favorite season has finally arrived! Today marks the official beginning of autumn with the arrival of the autumnal equinox. And with the change in seasons comes change at Third Leap. I’m happy to introduce several modifications to the website! New Logo After half of decade of…(Read More)
“Hops are a wicked and pernicious weed,” once said King Henry VIII. Of course, 15th century England was at odds over traditional (un-hopped) “ale” and new (hopped) “beer” during King Henry’s reign. Fast-forward 450 years and India Pale Ale is the #1 craft beer style, totaling $342M. This tremendous demand has surged…(Read More)
Failure is our greatest teacher (or something like that). Since the reincarnation of Third Leap, I have been diligently working toward realizing two beer concepts locked away in the deep corners of my mind; a farmhouse ale and a table ale. To date, I have brewed three versions of each, with the table ale being…(Read More)
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