377: Shaun Yasaki of Noble Beast Makes Quirky and Nuanced Lager Work at Pub Scale
Sep 6, 2024
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Shaun Yasaki, head brewer at Noble Beast in Cleveland, shares his innovative journey in crafting nuanced lagers. He explains his unique 10-barrel brewhouse designed for flexibility and the use of high-gravity brewing methods. Explore how he combines cereal cooking with unconventional mash techniques to enhance flavor. Yasaki also delves into the art of yeast selection and decoction processes, revealing how brewing with rice can create intriguing layers in beer. His emphasis on quality ingredients and creativity showcases the evolving landscape of craft lagers.
Shaun Yasaki's unique 10-barrel brewhouse design facilitates flexibility in brewing methods, enhancing the production of high-quality lagers.
Noble Beast Brewery prioritizes creativity over market trends, focusing on traditional lager styles while innovating with experimental brewing techniques.
The brewery's successful high-gravity brewing methods and use of unconventional ingredients contribute to distinctive flavor profiles that capture diverse audiences.
Deep dives
Noble Beast Brewery and Its Focus on Lager
Noble Beast Brewery is designed to excel in producing lagers at a small scale, emphasizing quality and craft in their processes. The brewery features a unique brew house that includes a cereal cooker, allowing for experimental brewing techniques while focusing on the intricacies of lager production. This approach not only enhances the flavor profiles of the lagers but also showcases the brewery's commitment to high-quality brewing. The positive reception of their lagers, exemplified by awards such as the GABF medals for their Baltic porter, mirrors the brewery's specialty and innovation in the lager category.
A Unique Brewing Philosophy
The brewing philosophy at Noble Beast is deeply rooted in creativity and flexibility, enabling the team to experiment with diverse beer styles while maintaining high quality. Despite market trends leaning heavily toward IPAs and hazy beers, the brewery persists in emphasizing lagers, saisons, and experimental brews. Their approach is and has been driven by passion rather than market demands, reflecting a desire to showcase the beauty of traditional brewing methods. This steadfast commitment allows them to provide beers that resonate with true beer enthusiasts while captivating new audiences.
Innovative Techniques in Brewing
Noble Beast employs a variety of innovative brewing techniques, particularly in their use of a cereal cooker for raw ingredients like rice, which adds a unique clean character to their beers. This method allows the brewery to create a 'negative ingredient' effect, drawing attention to more prominent flavors while maintaining a lighter body, especially in lagers. Additionally, the brewery explores different mash techniques and decoction processes that enhance the complexity of their beers, offering an exciting brewing path that consistently challenges traditional brewing norms. By tweaking the process with unique mashing strategies, they are able to achieve specific flavor outcomes that elevate their offerings.
The Evolution of the Beer Program
The beer program at Noble Beast has evolved over the years, focusing on a diverse lineup that reflects both the brewery's strengths and the changing beer landscape. While they produce a limited number of IPAs, they ensure these beers remain interesting and well-balanced, presenting a challenge in a market saturated with competitors. The brewery crafts their flagship IPA as a midwest variant, combining a robust malt character without resorting to traditional crystal malts, thereby setting itself apart in the flavorful yet refreshing category. This careful balancing act allows Noble Beast to cater to both traditionalists and those seeking more modern interpretations of beloved beer styles.
Future Aspirations and Community Engagement
Looking to the future, Noble Beast aims to strengthen its role in the community while continuing to explore innovative brewing practices and maintain high-quality standards. The brewery seeks to create an engaging experience for patrons by providing a welcoming environment and diverse beer options that spark conversations. With a focus on storytelling in their brewing process, securing a sustainable and interesting future becomes a manageable goal. Their hope is to continue to adapt in a rapidly changing market while staying true to their roots and the craft that makes their brewery unique.
After an early stint at Cleveland staple Fat Head’s, and a brief foray into brewery operation with the now-defunct Platform, Shaun Yasaki set out in 2016 to create a brewpub that reflected his interests as a brewer—well-made beers that don’t chase trends but earn repeat business for both flavor and drinkability. To achieve that goal, he designed a 10-barrel brewhouse that could brew any style of beer without compromise, thanks to its dedicated cereal cooker and decoction vessel. Now, with Noble Beast, he squeezes more beer from every batch using high-gravity brewing methods, and the results have garnered notice—two GABF medals for Baltic-style porter Murder Ballads, plus a number of high scores from our blind-judging panel at Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®.
In this episode, Yasaki discusses:
designing a 10-barrel brewhouse with flexibility for cereal mashes, decoction, parti-gyle brewing, and more
exploring “weird” mash regimes to optimize flavor and fermentation performance
finding space for expression within traditional lager styles
maintaining foam-positive proteins through mashing and decoction
finding complementary esters in specific lager yeast strains
milling and cooking raw rice to create “negative space” in beer for other flavors to fill
decocting and cereal mashing IPA
using non-diacetyl-producing yeast in IPA fermentation
high-gravity brewing on a small pub system
And more.
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