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Founded in 2018 in Atascadero by Jacque and Ryan Fields, Wild Fields Brewhouse took home its first gold medal from the Great American Beer Festival in 2021. Then, at the 2022 World Beer Cup, Wild Fields took home four medals—all of them gold. Finally, at GABF later that year, they took home three more medals—and all those were gold, too.
That latter feat also earned them GABF Brewer and Brewery of the Year honors in the 501–1,000 barrels size category. (For much more about this brewery, see our article from the Brewing Industry Guide, Wild Fields Wins Again, and check out CB&B Podcast Episode 243: Wild Fields Share Their Winning Ways in Everything From Brown Ale to Mixed Cultures.)
This recipe is the beer that won gold at all three of those events: Pine Mountain Monolith, an easygoing English-style brown ale. Ryan Fields named this smooth drinker after the mysterious monolith—remember the pandemic monoliths?—that appeared in December 2020 on Pine Mountain in Atascadero’s Stadium Park. He says this beer is perfect for taking along on a hike through that same park.
“Notes of baked bread and toasted nuts complement hints of caramel, all backed up by a nice toasty malt backbone,” he says. “Not overly sweet, with a clean and crisp finish.”
There’s a postscript of sorts: We first sent this recipe out to our All Access subscribers in November 2022. One of those who saw the recipe and decided to brew it was Evan Price at Green Cheek in Orange, California. At this year’s World Beer Cup, the gold medal–winner in the English-Style Brown Ale category was a beer called Shhhhhh...This Is Ryan's Award-Winning Brown Ale.
May it bring you similar success.
—Joe Stange