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Five years ago, Maplewood Brewing made 1,000 barrels of beer as small upstarts in Chicago’s crowded beer market. This year, they’re on track to brew more than 16,000 barrels—a growth trajectory made possible by their twin focus on quality and ingenuity. While they’ve embraced current styles such as hazy IPA and all manner of flavored imperial stouts, they’ve placed equal emphasis on staple beers such as Charlatan APA and Fat Pug oatmeal milk stout—beers where subtle expressions of creativity and quality matter.
In this episode of the podcast, cofounder and head brewer Adam Cieslak discusses their approach to these classic styles, touching on everything that makes these simple beers stand out:
- Fermenting with highly attenuative yeast
- Using small amounts of wheat to bring beer together
- The big impacts from small whirlpool temperature adjustments
- Short dry hopping with fast crashes for maximum hop aroma
- Eliminating oxygen to improve beer brightness and longevity
- Using lactose strategically in mid-strength stouts
- Building a full-spectrum, flavorful malt base
- Selecting malts to maximize pleasurable flavors
And more.
Maplewood is proof that contemporary creativity can coexist with classic consistency.
This episode is brought to you by:
G&D Chillers
Born in the Pacific Northwest from a lot of hard work and singular goal, G&D has become the best damn chiller company in the world. Like you, G&D never settles—they are relentless and strive to be better every single day because they take pride in the work they do. They are craftsmen who know that "good enough" just won’t cut it. Visit G&D Chillers at the CBC, Booth #3011! Or reach out directly at GDChillers.com.
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