He cofounded Weathered Souls, created the Black Is Beautiful beer initiative, now serves as president of the National Black Brewers Association, and recently launched a business to advise fellow brewers called Fresh Consulting—but as far as Marcus Baskerville has come within the business, he’s still a geek at heart.
The best brewers are driven by passion and love as much as opportunity, and Baskerville’s six-pack shows just that. He brought that same kind of enthusiasm into his own brewing, eventually making the jump to pro, but he hasn’t forgotten those pivotal experiences—the beers and moments that showed him what beer could be, how flavor could be expressed, and how this community—brewers and drinkers—could support, develop, and motivate each other.
Today, Baskerville pays it forward, sharing what he’s learned with brewers in earlier phases of their own brewing journeys. But these are beers from his own story—highlights that helped to inspire and push him to make better beer and, eventually, inspire others.
Firestone Walker Parabola 2016
Paso Robles, California
“This is the oldest of the bunch. I chose this 2016 vintage because of all the Parabolas I’ve had, I think that year’s is the best batch they’ve ever made. When I experienced the complexity of that beer, it became the thing that spurred me to want to create my own barrel-aged beers. It’s the one stand-alone beer that, when I had it, I said to myself, ‘I want to be able to make beer like this, at a quality level that matches what they’re doing at Firestone Walker.’ It resonated with me then, and resonates with me now, and to this day it’s still one of my favorite beers of all time. The complexity, the quality of the barrel—it was something I had never had at that time. Notes of toffee, caramel, plum, all the aspects of chocolate—but still getting the blend of barrels—I could talk about this beer forever. But it’s the one beer that made me gravitate to creating barrel-aged beers and inspired the success I’ve had in making them.”
Perennial Artisan Ales Maman
St. Louis
“Maman got me excited again about barrel-aged beers, outside of the things I was creating on my own. We got to a point with barrel-aged beers where it was mostly delving into heavily adjuncted beers—although I’m a culprit of that, as well—but it was getting to a point where the additional ingredients were taking away from what barrel-aged beers were originally meant to be. But I was sharing beers with some friends and got to drink some 2018 or 2020 Maman, and it was by far the best beer of the night. In some ways, it was a counterpoint to Parabola. It was big and thick, viscous, mouth-coating. It had so much chocolate and vanilla and so much nice, deep barrel character. It got me excited about the possibilities again in non-adjuncted barrel-aged beers.”
Bierstadt Lagerhaus Slow Pour Pils
Denver
“I’ve gotten to know Ashleigh [Carter] since COVID, 2020. She came out to Weathered Souls and gave me a lager tutorial, and we’ve had a few chances to hang out since then at her spot. But once I got into the intricacies of what she does, as far as creating the lagers that she creates, it blew my mind. When you get to, ‘I needed a brick-lined copper kettle because I didn’t like the way my lagers were convecting in stainless steel,’ that’s a whole ’nother level of understanding brewing practices and the intricacies of what goes into what you’re trying to create. I can talk about barrel-aging and stouts all day long, but when it comes to lagers, that was a whole other vibe for me. It’s been inspiring to see how her passion drives the quality that she puts into that beer. The consistency is also impressive—every time I’ve had it, it has tasted exactly the same, 100 percent of the time. I’ve had it on draft at the brewery, I’ve had it in cans, she’s sent me kegs—it’s always excellent. To this day, every time I go to Denver, it’s the first beer I have to have. It’s dear to my heart. You know it’s going to be 100 percent quality, 100 percent great. It’s going to stand up to the reputation and hype it has, 100 percent of the time.
“Ashleigh and Bill [Eye] are dope. They came out and broke down the entire process for us. Any questions I’ve had, they’ve answered. When I’ve asked, they’ve sent kegs out for our events—with glassware, because they want their beer served in the correct glassware. She’ll check me and make sure we’re pouring it on the Lukr faucet. To have people who care that much about the quality of their product and care about what goes into the product—I thoroughly appreciate people like that.”
North Park Hop-Fu!
San Diego
“I’ve gotten to know Kelsey [McNair] and Mac [McAlister] over the past few years, and we’ve become really good friends. They’re great individuals, but from my point of view, Kelsey is the leader of the new school of West Coast IPAs. He’s one of the main drivers of the shift in what we think of as IPA in California. A lot of people may say, ‘Marcus is talking crazy,’ but even look at this year’s Pliny the Younger and how Vinnie used some of Kelsey’s methods. A lot of people didn’t have positive things to say all the time about how Kelsey was producing these IPAs because it wasn’t the traditional way of using hop pellets, etcetera. But every time I’ve had an IPA from him, it’s been amazing. Any time I go to California, I seek out their beer first, and any time I go to San Diego, it’s the first place I go. Their approach to quality and innovation is unmatched, and their drive to create something better than what was already there is inspiring. North Park has done that with their West Coast game and the IPAs they’re producing. It’s not just Hop-Fu; it’s also the other beers in the ‘Fu’ series they’re producing, but I’m going to call it all Hop-Fu because that’s their flagship. They deserve to be on this list for their innovation around West Coast IPAs and the quality they’ve found using extracts, oils, and the rest of the modern hop products they’ve been using.”
The Lost Abbey Cable Car Kriek
Vista, California
“This is another old-school pick. I just had this beer about six months ago, and it’s on my list because it has stood the test of time. About a year ago, they rereleased this beer, and did it in a package release. But what a lot of people don’t know about that Cable Car Kriek is that while the 750ml bottle was new, the 375ml bottles were Batch One. When Tomme [Arthur] cleaned out the cooler of the original Lost Abbey, they found multiple kegs of the original Cable Car Kriek, so they went ahead and bottled them up, and that’s how those packages came out.
“It’s always crazy to think about how full circle those things come, because I was in line for original Cable Car and Duck Duck Gooze releases back in the day, and it’s crazy now that I can just send Tomme a text and ask him to send me X-Y-Z. I asked him about this beer, but it never got sent, and I saw his head brewer at Yakima Chief’s Hop & Brew school. I said, ‘I need you to get on Tomme and send this beer.’ I wanted it so badly because a good friend was having a birthday, and one of the top beers on his beer bucket list was Batch One Cable Car Kriek. Tomme sent me two, and the friend and I opened one at the party, then later opened one by ourselves. That beer still tasted like straight cherry-pie crust, with all of the toppings, and it was still so floral with big fruit notes. The acidity wasn’t overbearing. It was a nostalgic thing because I don’t really drink sour beers much anymore, but to be able to sit there and split an entire bottle with one other person? I haven’t done something like that for four or five years, but I enjoyed that beer so much. The oak, the cherry, the overall balance of the bugs and acidity—to me it’s still one of the best sour beers ever made. This was my first time drinking it, and it’s probably eight to 10 years old at this point?”
Jester King Atrial Rubicite Blend 2
Austin
“I specifically have to call out Blend 2 because that’s how I met Jeff [Stuffings]. I drove up to Austin for the Blend 2 release and was first in line. Jeff did his normal thing and went through the line introducing himself and talking to people. I was homebrewing at the time, talked with him about that, and told him I’d love for him to try some of my beers and give me feedback. Next time I went up there, I shared a beer I was making called Gimme That, Becky—it ended up renamed MALTerial Girl, a blonde ale—along with a couple other beers. That’s how our relationship, friendship, and mentorship developed. Today, it goes both directions. I’ve brewed stouts with them and given them advice on IPAs—it’s all gone full circle. But it all started with that Atrial Rubicite release, and that brought us to a long-lasting friendship—one of the most important relationships I have in the beer world.
“But back to the beer itself. That was the first time I had a beer that was as jammy, fruit-wise, with the quality of raspberry that went into it, where you still got enough acidity to make you sweat. The amount of fruit they use keeps the balance toward the fruit over the funky fermentation notes or the acidity, and it was much more intense in that way compared to other fruited sour beers I was drinking at the time. I’d come from the California scene with great brewers like Russian River and Sante Adairius and had high expectations, but Atrial Rubicite delivered on quality, flavor, and intensity. And at the end of the day, it’s meaningful not just for the flavor but also for being the foundation of Jeff’s and my friendship.”
Learn more about Marcus Baskerville's consulting business at freshbeer.co.