While Other Half began in 2014 as a little Brooklyn brewery without a flagship, it now includes seven breweries that stretch from New York to Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.—plus five core beers, all of them IPAs. One of the most recognizable is Broccoli, which has become a year-round fan favorite.
“Broccoli has been a staple of our portfolio for nearly a decade,” says Sam Richardson, Other Half’s cofounder and brewmaster. “We don’t have one beer that is 70 percent of what we make—we don’t have anything close to that.”
The name references green things: “It’s kind of slang for weed,” Richardson says. “I’ve always felt like this beer is going for a little bit of a citrus profile, but with some tropical hop notes, too. That’s always been the goal, and our Simcoe tends to be pretty pineapple—that’s a strong character in the beer.”
Hoppin’ Broccoli
Broccoli has evolved over the years. Initially, its hopping changed depending on which varieties were available and what combinations the team wanted to try. Over time, the recipe became more deliberate, with hops swapping in and out accordingly and with more intention.
“In the beginning we had Cascade in there,” Richardson says. Now it’s Strata, “which plays better with the whole reference anyway, since that hop has kind of a cannabis character to it.”
Hallertau Blanc was originally in the beer, too—it’s out, but Nelson Sauvin is in. “We didn’t feel comfortable using Nelson at first,” he says. “Broccoli was one of our earlier beers, and we didn’t know if we’d have enough access to Nelson if the brand grew. That’s not a problem anymore.”
The beer also features Simcoe and Mosaic, including Cryo versions of each that provide “another dimension,” Richardson says. “The Cryo reads a bit differently, usually a little cleaner, with a brighter character.” Richardson says they don’t see much biotransformation from the Cryo because in Broccoli, they use it in only small amounts.
Because Other Half is best known for its hazy IPAs, hop selection is paramount for maintaining the brewery’s reputation and beers that are true to brand. “Every single one of these [varieties] is something we select for,” Richardson says. “We’re going for things that are the most pungent, with the least negative characteristics.” In particular, overly resinous flavors don’t work well in hazy IPA, he says, so they rule those out when selecting.
The Other Half team takes two trips out to Yakima for hop selection. Richardson and a couple of director-level employees usually go out to select hops picked earlier in the season, such as Simcoe, Centennial, and Cashmere. To rub and pick the “prime-time hops” such as Citra and Mosaic, they usually send out all their head brewers.
The team has also made the trip to New Zealand a few times. Most of Other Half’s hops from that region come from Freestyle Hops, including all the Nelson that goes into Broccoli.
While most of Other Half’s IPAs get only a modest 60-minute hop addition on the hot side—before more voluminous aroma additions on the cold side—Broccoli is the rare exception that also gets a 10-minute addition. “Then we’ll put about a pound per barrel in the whirlpool, during dilution,” Richardson says. Other Half dilutes its beers at knockout to drop the temperature to 180–190°F (82–88°C) almost immediately. “That’s when we add our whirlpool hops.”
Other Half dry hops at terminal gravity, almost always in one single charge, though the volume varies. While many brewers like to add dry hops during active fermentation, especially for hazy IPAs, Richardson says they prefer to add them afterward. He says he finds that adding them during fermentation “muddles the character of the hops, which negates the reason for us to go select them. Dry hopping at terminal gives you more clarity in the hop profile—that’s why we do it. I want the hops we picked to shine.”
The dry hops go in at 70°F (21°C) and stay for as long as two days. “After two days, I think it’s diminishing returns,” Richardson says. “We’ve already extracted everything good.” The team has experimented with recirculating through hopbacks, but Richardson says the process made the beer taste more astringent. “We just drop it into the top of the tank,” he says, “using the least amount of mechanical agitation possible.”
Broccoli’s Other Elements
For the water, Other Half keeps its calcium levels below 200 ppm, and Richardson says he likes to target chloride levels between 200 and 300 ppm.
The finishing gravity is important to the overall character of the beer, he says. “I feel like it’s very regional.” For example, Midwestern breweries seem to target higher finishing gravities in their hazies. “People make beer for their customers. A lot of breweries [finish sweeter] here, too, but I feel like we’re kind of in the middle.”
For Broccoli and similar hazy IPAs, Richardson says Other Half targets a final gravity around 4–4.5°P (1.016–1.018). “I like it there, where there’s still mouthfeel,” he says, “but the sugars aren’t overcoming the hop character. Too much sugar muddles the hops.”
Broccoli uses a two-row base plus white wheat, flaked oats, and oat malt; the malted oats help with the lauter. “We’re using Thomas Fawcett’s for the oat malt,” Richardson says. “It gives a nice, sweet vanilla character to it, helping with the mouthfeel, making it a little softer.”
For yeast, London III has been the brewery’s house strain since Day One. “It’s a fickle yeast,” Richardson says. “It’ll just die out if you underpitch it, and you don’t really want to overpitch it either.” For the bigger IPAs, Richardson says he finds that 10 percent ABV is about the max—and for those doubles and triples, he says they really have to baby the yeast and get the pitch just right. “The higher-ABV beers are just really hard on the yeast,” he says. “If the yeast isn’t happy, especially on the [big] IPAs, you don’t want to harvest it.”
They knockout at 68°F (20°C) and ferment at 70°F (21°C)—and while Richardson says they could probably ferment it a bit cooler, that tried-and-true temperature has been effective.
Other Half’s seven breweries include three larger 30-barrel systems in Brooklyn, in Canandaigua upstate, and in Washington, D.C., while the other four range from five to 15 barrels. “We brew Broccoli at each location, and we try to keep it consistent,” Richardson says. “There can be subtle differences, usually to do with the water, but you have to be drinking it fairly regularly to pick up on it.”
As excitement around hazy or New England–style IPAs exploded in the late 2010s, Other Half’s reputation spread beyond New York City and the region. Hype culture has waned—the long lines for releases are mostly gone, now—and Richardson says there are positives and negatives to that change. On the one hand, he says, the culture “was really beneficial to beer, in having people be that excited about beer,” he says.
On the other hand, Other Half beers such as Broccoli are so much more accessible to drinkers today. And the excitement around IPA in the Northeast remains palpable; people there view it as something regional.
“I feel like the East Coast didn’t have a super-strong beer culture prior to 2013,” Richardson says. “People on the West Coast had West Coast IPA for decades—it was part of their culture. People weren’t that connected to that here. People here associate IPA with New England–style IPA, not hazy IPA.”
That’s not to say that customer education is a battle that’s been won—that’s an ongoing project for any brewery that aims to win over new drinkers.
“We get a lot of questions asking if there’s broccoli in the beer, especially at festivals,” Richardson says. “And of course there’s not because that would be disgusting. But some people actually get kind of freaked out about it; they say they don’t want a beer with broccoli. You have to be like, ‘What? There’s absolutely no way that we would put broccoli in this.’”
There is, however, still demand for variety—and while Richardson says that demand may not be as intense as it once was, it’s still there.
“I want people to trust in specific beers,” he says, “but I also want them to just trust that Other Half makes good IPA, and they’re not going to be disappointed if they buy [anything] from us.”