HOP MAKING SENSE Hops lined up in the tasting room Testing the hops fresh out of the kiln to ensure they’ve been properly dried (note the swanky footwear) Zak Schroerlucke shows Beau Evers points out that when the off a fresh Amarillo hop bales of hops are stored away, the air temperature is recorded HOPMAKING SENSE Relix has teamed up with Kyle Hollingsworth and SweetWater Brewing Company for a different type of jam session, which will yield a new collaborative beer By DEAN BUDNICK OCTOBER_NOVEMBER 2017 | WWW.RELIX.COM | 35 Beer final.indd 35 9/28/17 10:10 PM HOP MAKING SENSE of direct sunlight.) Back in the that range in size from 20 to Panic, Trey Anastasio Band, mid-‘90s, I devoted most of 120 barrels.) Ween, moe., and dozens of my summer brewing efforts to I was fascinated by the other acts on multiple stages, wheat beer, which seemed to process through which Kyle as well as an official after-party be the ideal option for warmer and company created a beer on at Terminal West, headlined weather. This was long before such a scope, from ingredient by none other than the Kyle hefeweizens were quite so selection to pilot brewing and Hollingsworth Band. popular and easy to procure— final production. I wondered It’s safe to say, Kyle had the now, of course, with minimal what it would it be like to proper contact info. effort, you can locate a participate in such an endeavor So we set up a call with Belgian witbier and perhaps and eventually came to the head brewer Nick Nock and even a dunkelweizen or a realization that there are “Minister of Propaganda” weizenbock. plenty of Relix readers who Steve Farace to explain what By the time of Phish’s would similarly want to share we had in mind. They got it Great Went in August 1997, in the experience or, at the very right away and, what’s more, I had refined my recipe to the least, get some eyeballs on the they were game. S KYLE HOLLINGSWORTH AND point where I was moderately action (and of course, some So here we are. I took our seats at a table proud of it and ready to share. taste buds as well). Or there we were, in early covered with newly picked I bought a new 10-gallon kettle So, Kyle and I decided that September at Crosby Hop Farm hops and equally fresh beer, so that I could “mass produce” we would try to find a brewing in Woodburn, Ore., invited our journey was finally it in time for the festival. partner for a three-way collab. to meet their team, tour the underway. It had taken us three The results were actually Our goal was to chronicle facilities and set the whole and a half years to arrive at this quite decent and are even the various stages and then process in motion. (Crosby, point, which is why we were memorialized in print—if you encourage everyone to seek out which is powered by 100 savoring the moment—and, of dig out the very first edition our exceptionally tasty creation percent renewable energy, has course, the beer. Did I mention of The Phish Companion: A at their local grocery store or been growing hops since 1900.) the beer? Guide to the Band and Their “paaackie” (as my native New During our sampling session, In February of 2014, I Music (2000), you can see a Englanders say). we met Blake Crosby, who traveled to the Hard Rock photo on page 650, in which The two of us were good represents the fifth generation Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico Mockingbird Foundation to go, all we needed was to of his family to oversee their to cover The String Cheese founding board member Jack identify said brewing partner 350 acres of hops. He had Incident’s destination event Lebowitz is holding up my (which was easier said than some suggestions for us, as did while writing a Relix story on Great Went Wheat. (There’s done). We continued to toss Zak Schroerlucke and Beau SCI’s first new studio album in no fancy graphic art on the label, ideas back and forth until Kyle Evers, two members of his nearly nine years, A Song in just my cramped handwriting, finally nailed it: SweetWater. team with an encyclopedic My Head. which I like to think inspired While I’ve only had a knowledge of the brewing During a break in the the minimalist design aesthetic few opportunities up in the landscape. band’s mid-afternoon of the illustrious Maine Beer Northeast to sample the As for the SweetWater rehearsals before their first Company—which, maybe offerings from the Atlanta- folks, I knew we had found performance, Kyle and I not so coincidentally, is based brewery (although the right collaborators when shared some quality wort talk. located in the same state as they continue to expand their Steve greeted us wearing a We were both homebrewers, the Phish fest.) flavorful reach), I knew plenty Dead & Company hat, while although Kyle had long since So there are my beer bona of folks who are fans of their Nick and his wife MJ were stepped up his game and left fides, such as they are, in work, which includes 420 happy to share memories of his five-gallon kettle behind all of their 10-gallon glory. Extra Pale Ale, Goin’ Coastal past performances by the to pitch yeast in the big By contrast, when Kyle was IPA and various seasonals and good ol’ Grateful Dead that, leagues. He had not only working on Boulder Beer’s limited brews like the recent it turned out, all three of us proven himself to be an adept Hoopla Pale Ale, Stone’s Torikumi, which is a wasabi- had attended. musical collaborator, but also Collective Distortion IPA infused blonde ale. Of course, while music an adroit brewing partner, (with Alice Cooper guitarist SweetWater opened in 1997, talk segued in and out of our working with Boulder Beer, Keri Kelli) or Cigar City’s and the fact that they proudly conversations, we were there Stone, Cigar City and many Happening Now Session IPA, trumpeted their “20 years of on a mission: to sample some others to release nationally they were using fermentation Heady Beers” certainly marked hops, to talk about recipes and distributed seasonal ales. tanks on another scale, brewing them as a fine fit to me. What’s to enjoy some beer. I had never done anything by the barrel not the gallon. more, they clearly had an Don’t worry you’ll have your like that but I did have one (There are 31 gallons to a barrel appreciation for the musical chance to enjoy our beer early brief, shining moment in and by way of comparison, side of things, as evidenced in 2018. the sun. (Perhaps that’s a one of my favorite local craft by their annual SweetWater Until then, I’ll be your ace poor metaphor because brewers, Westerly, R.I.’s Grey 420 Fest. The 2017 installment cub reporter. homebrewers are quick to Sail, led by “yeast wrangler” at Centennial Olympic Park I’m hyped up already (and decry the deleterious impact Josh Letourneau, utilizes tanks featured music by Widespread hopped up as well). 36 | OCTOBER_NOVEMBER 2017 | WWW.RELIX.COM Beer final.indd 36 9/28/17 10:11 PM HOP MAKING SENSE Clockwise from top left Kyle Hollingsworth inhales some fresh hops while an anxious Crosby staffer asks him to don a safety vest Stripping the hops from the vine and cleaning away the leaves Kyle, Dean Budnick and Nick Nock reveling in the fresh Amarillo After visiting the farm, it was time to sample beers and talk recipes The conveyor carries away the leafy excess Visions of hop mountain! OCTOBER_NOVEMBER 2017 | WWW.RELIX.COM | 37 Beer final.indd 37 9/28/17 5:44 PM.