Ep. 203 - Chad Yakobson of Crooked Stave

If you’ve been paying attention to the beer social medias lately, you might have noticed a photo of a Colorado-brewed amber ale making the rounds. It’s called Re-Tired and it’s a clear homage to the original recipe of New Belgium’s Fat Tire. This beer, however, is made by Crooked Stave. Chad Yakobson, the brewery’s founder and brewmaster is here for a conversation.

He founded Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project 13 years ago and originally it focused around Brettanomyces.  As his official bio points out that his brewing master’s thesis was on Brettanomyces and its use in the brewing industry. 

“Wanting to spread the wealth of knowledge, Chad published his research as an open-source website to provide a greater understanding of Brettanomyces yeasts for brewers. Focused on strain-specific fermentations and the major compounds produced during pure culture anaerobic fermentation in wort, the application of these yeasts has proliferated throughout the brewing industry.”

Wild Wild Brett, where I’ll begin the conversation, was a research and development series that really helped drinkers of the time better understand the yeast. But, a changing beer world has it backburnered today. 

Still, everything old can be new again, including amber ales. When New Belgium announced it was fundimentally changing its famed fat tire from an amber ale to more of a golden one, many folks were heartbroken, even if they hadn’t purchased the beer for some time. Chad walks me through how this homage came to be, and how he never thought Crooked Stave would ever make an Amber ale. 

A lot has happened in thirteen years and Chad weaves the story of Crooked Stave and the larger beer industry through the lens of Colorado. 

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• Host: John Holl
• Guest: Chad Yakobson
• Sponsors: Shopify, All About Beer
• Tags: Beer, IPA, Wild, Sour Ales, Colorado, Brettanomyces, Fat Tire