Knee Deep Founder Leaves to Start New Venture

What a drag! Breaking bud is a world class brew that really fills a need in the west coast portfolio. Best of luck to him and knee deep going forward

 

All too often when the head brewer leaves a brewery there is a decline in the quality of the beer from that brewery. I hope that Knee Deep does not follow that trend.

Cheers!

 

This is a shame, as Knee Deep hoppy beers really are quite excellent, managing to stand out in a crowded west coast selection. Hope they just stick to the recipes!

 

Brewing is as much about brewing process as ingredients/recipes. As long as the brewers of Knee Deep are as meticulous in the brewing process as Jeremy Warren then everything should be OK.

Cheers!

 

Maybe i will like their beers now. So far, no good.

 

May I humbly inquire if you like any hoppy beers?

 

Now, I'm worried, being hooked on Hop-De-Ranged, Triple Simtra, Hoparillo, and Hop Shortage.

 

If Knee Deep, as a business, has been doing what they should be doing everything will be fine. If not, expect a down tick.

 

"brewing process" could be defined as art. I've watched smart people brew....some do very well and others are wanting. The same recipe does not always produce the same beer.

 

Recipes are defined as the ingredients and the procedure to assemble and process them. Equipment also comes into play, as the process has to be doable on the equipment, or adjusted for the equipment.

 

The variables extend beyond the human part, right? My son is a great brewer and he is casual and makes it happen. He is not a scientist, but his beers are wonderful. I like to think that he has natural gifts, but it's probably much more than that.

 

Some homebrewers make award winning beer on bare bones systems, while some make average beer on systems with all the heels and whistles.

Some pros give out their recipes, Vinnie Cilurzo is one, as they say you can make some like their beer, but you can't exactly reproduce it because you don't have the same equipment and process.

Over the years I have witnessed many breweries have a change to the beers that happen when the brewer leaves. Sometimes for the better, often for the worse.

 

I actually really enjoy a lot of the Knee Deep's IPAs and DIPAs. For the price, you really cannot beat it.

 

Going to disagree a wee bit here. At the end of the day, the variables do not extend beyond the human part.

What is most critical in any complex system when push comes to shove is that human part. While some folks may appear to have a natural gift or inclination to get them started, without a lot of hard work, self-criticism and a continual quest for improving one's self and the result when doing what one does, those natural aptitudes don't count for much in the long run.

For example, Picasso revolutionized the world of modern art 3 times in his lifetime and spent years learning the basics and then re-learning again between "revolutions." In other words what many viewed as natural aptitude was in large part a huge amount of hard work, guided trial and error experimentation, and learning what to keep and what to discard (and why).

So yes, there is much more than natural gifts or aptitudes involved when dealing with the long haul, but its called "hard work."

 

That's also what most people expected to happen when Mike Saboe left TG, sometimes the art in brewing is lost.

 

Both Jeff and Tom had good responses in this thread.

I will discuss one more aspect: attention to detail. I am of the opinion that some people have the capability (or desire?) to attend to numerous aspects with the proper attention to detail. Perhaps some folks do this more 'naturally' then others? Regardless it is a bunch of small things that in aggregate result in excellent beer.

Cheers!

 

This is the difference between a home brewer and running a commercial brewery, IMO.

If you are making beer for the masses, you damned certain better to be able to replicate your recipe for the beer over and over again. Otherwise you simply aren't a very good brewery.

 

I often wonder about the variability of ingredients, from batch to batch. One may think that they are the same, but how does one really know? Also, some people find "hard work" more of a reality than a concept. My Dad worked his ass off, but made it look easy.

 

Variability of ingredients is indeed a great concern when trying to brew consistent commercial beer. Anheuser-Busch has a goal of maintaining consistency of their products. They have a research Pilot Brewery in St. Louis whose principle job is to evaluate new crops of ingredients to ‘learn’ how to brew with them to maintain consistency at the production breweries. Below is a link with more information.

Smaller craft breweries need to take steps in this regard as well but needless to say do not have the luxury of a research Pilot Brewery to perform this function. This is where the judgement and experience of a head brewer is instrumental.

Cheers!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...their-flagship-offerings.290351/#post-3632720