Journey of a Brewer: From Homebrewing to Head Brewer at Parish Brewery

There is the East Coast and there is the West Coast, but aficionados of hazy IPA know not to sleep on the Gulf Coast, thanks largely to Parish Brewing in Broussard, Louisiana. Parish’s Ghost in the Machine has become a juggernaut in the world of hazy IPA, earning accolades such as a 2019 Beer of the Year from Craft Beer & Brewing and a mention on critic Alex Kidd’s top ten list in 2020. More recently, Parish won a spot in the top 20 small regional breweries as voted on by the readers of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine^®. Nor is their success limited to IPA—Parish also picked up a silver medal at the 2023 Great American Beer Festival for its top-selling wheat beer, Canebrake.

In this episode, head brewer (and Master Cicerone) Ryan Speyrer joins the podcast to discuss the ways they brew their iconic hazy IPAs, touching on:

• the evolution of Ghost in the Machine, from West Coast to hazy
• the roles that wheat and oats do (and don’t) play in hazy IPA
• balancing specific hop varieties between whirlpool and dry hop to maximize the expression of each
• using classic hops such as Cascade along with Simcoe in modern, fruit-forward IPA
• the importance of extended cold-conditioning

And more.

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