Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallett is known for his precision, focus on process, and undying love of malt (he wrote the book on the subject). But the beers he prizes most are beers that showcase a true and honest expression of the ingredients themselves, whether that’s malt-forward beers that taste like the fields of barley they come from, lambics that showcase the incredible interplay of yeast, bacteria, fruit, and wort, or hoppy beers that convey the care with which the hops themselves are selected.
“I’m not going to say Orval because I think probably every brewer in the world says Orval, but it’s a magnificent beer.”
John Mallet is a consummate brewer’s brewer, and his focus on getting it right extends to the exact phrasing he uses to describe beers. Throughout our conversation, he often backed up, rethought, and restated his opinion, so it expressed the exact sentiment he intended to convey. This same attention to detail is evident in the beer he brews at the legendary Bell’s Brewery (Kalamazoo, Michigan), and it’s the same standard he seeks out in the beer he drinks.