Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine Podcast 310: Ghost Town’s Justin Burdt Boosts Hop Contrast in West Coast IPA and Pils
Justin's Brewing Journey
- Justin Burdt started his brewing career in 2013 and quickly rose from intern to head brewer in three years at Black Diamond Brewing.
- He joined Ghost Town Brewing in 2016 on a one barrel system doing all hand bottling and grew it to a 30 barrel brew house with a full team.
Hop Selection by Sensation
- Justin selects hops based on the physical sensation they produce, especially a sharp 'wasabi' sting and dank notes, rather than just fruity aromas.
- He prefers hops with an intense dank character that feels like a sting between the nostrils to boost hop expression in West Coast IPAs.
Hop Aroma Contrast Importance
- Hop aroma contrast is crucial; balancing fruity and dank notes creates a compelling dynamic in IPAs.
- Like music dynamics, tension and release through hop flavors make beers more interesting and vivid.
Justin Burdt loves hops, and has developed a unique and somewhat counter-intuitive approach to selecting them for Ghost Town’s award-winning West coast IPAs. His focus on tight and lean intensity relies on boosting expression through embracing some hop aroma notes that give other brewers fits, but it’s the push and pull that gives the IPAs such compelling dynamic range.
In this episode, Burdt dives deep into hops for the first hour of the podcast, before walking through the rest of their IPA brewing process, and finishing on the subject of West coast pils. Along the way, he discusses:
- What makes for “good” hops
- Searching for the stinging physical sensation in intense hops
- How Citra with “cat pee” notes can make better IPAs
- Focusing on hop oil quality over quantity
- Using certain hops in more concentrated forms like cryo
- The unique characteristics of HBC586
- Choosing lager or ale yeast for fermentation based on a beer’s hop profile
- Brewing specific competition batches to increase win percentage
And more.
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