James Howat - Founder & Brewer at Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales

Fueled by the need to explore, Black Project is pushing boundaries at every turn.  James questions everything.  He sees things in a way most adults have forgotten how to.  Guided by the questions "why?" and "what if?" - it's this characteristic that has propelled Black Project into the elite of wild and sour beer breweries.  As the name suggests, Black Project ferments its beers on spontaneous and wild caught microbes - always.  Even their IPA is fermented on a foraged Saccharomyces strain from an apple tree in James' neighborhood. The beers are wonderfully beautiful and display terroir in a playful way.  The complex and thought provoking beers coming out of the brewery are a beer geek's dream; yet, they are approachable enough for a novice to enjoy.  Honestly, go find some now.  

As craft beer continues to evolve, it will breweries like Black Project and people like James and his wife Sarah who will force evolution and encourage exploration.  They'll lead by example, never take no for an answer, and always ask "why?"  We hope you enjoy our chat.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Alex Wallash - Founder The Rare Barrel

The Rare Barrel has become one of the country's foremost producers of sour beer.  That's no surprise if you've had the opportunity to try their beer - it's clean but just funky enough, it's purposeful, and the fruited offerings beautifully display all of the best in the fruits they use.  Batch after batch, The Rare Barrel is consistently impressing thanks to their willingness to dump bad beer and only use the best their massive barrel collection has to offer.  Just last year, the brewery dumped 25% of its stock because of a fluke off flavor that just wouldn't go away.  Rather than attempt to blend away this imperfection, the guys decided that to live up to their standard the only viable option was to dump.  And dump they did.  Hundreds of gallons of beer were poured down the drain.  Doing things like this ensures that when anyone walks in to the brewery they are going to love what is poured in to their glass or is in the bottle they are taking home.  Even more importantly, it protects and furthers the cause which is sour beer by providing quality and consistency with a style that is only now in its infancy here in the states.  Please enjoy our chat (even the "interlude") and grab some Rare Barrel to drink while you do!

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Jeffers Richardson - Director of Firestone Walker Barrelworks

When you think about breweries who exemplify quality, consistency, complexity, and balance, few meet the standard set by Firestone Walker. From Brewmaster Matt Brynaldson on down, the team is committed to achieving the perfect beer every single time.  While Firestone Walker certainly made a name for itself in Paso Robles and around the world for its clean, straightforward approach to saccharomyces fermented ales (and maybe some of you have heard of Pivo Pils), Barrelworks, about 90 miles South in Buellton is bringing Firestone back to its original location to brew old world wild ales.  That project, which in a few short years has already become a major success, is led by Jeffers Richardson, its Director, who was hand-picked to come back and lead the charge on this new venture.  Along with his team, including master blender Jim Crooks "Sour Jim", Barrelworks is producing some of the most complex and balanced wild ales in the country, if not the world.  

Jeffers was Firestone Walker's first brewmaster, Barrelworks is located in Firestone's original location, and the emphasis for the project is on going back in time to recreate and expand upon old world wild beers - everything is coming full circle.  As the program continues to grow, a coolship and more foeders are in the works.  And guess what?  That merger with Duvel isn't changing things for the brewery, at least not in a bad way.  Duvel brings a like-minded approach to beer and affords the team the ability to continue to grow and serve you more of this incredibly high-quality beer.  So quit the trolling.  Things are looking up.  Barrelworks is leading Firestone in to a new era.  Sit back and enjoy it.

Cheers, 

Craft Commander