AltBrau

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08/14/2026

Love Song - 6% ABV

Although I usually opt for California grown malt, for this brew I used Belgian Pils from Mouterij Dingemans and floor malted Bohemian Pils from Weyermann ® Specialty Malts . This mixed culture saison was hopped with a blend of U.S. grown noble hop(ish?) varieties put together by the geniuses at Hopsteiner (thanks Roger Herpst ). Brewed in January 2026 and bottled in June 2026, this beer spent its entire time in the fermenter resting on French oak cubes.

The final beer has overlapping aromas and flavors of candied lemon vest, rose hips, and a touch of acidity. The oak lends a rounded vanilla and soft sandalwood quality and helps integrate all the various components of the beer. The finish is dry but without being sharp. No bitterness but still in balance… although the floral and fruit character impression may direct you brain to something resembling sweetness.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this ones goes with some age.

08/05/2026

Drink more saison.

07/07/2026

How important is grain sourcing in a yeast forward beer style like mixed culture farmhouse ale? Can you really taste the difference between commodity malt and craft malt? I like to think so… but as a former floor maltster, I’m admittedly biased.

I’m reminded, however, of the time I heard a someone say that while taking vitamins daily in pill form is largely a waste (passing right through your system), they thought that the type of person who took daily vitamins was likely also doing lots of other small things to improve their health. The vitamins, in a bubble, were not going to be life changing… but as part of a whole system/life-style, it all adds up.

I’ve met very few brewers willing to invest in quality local malt who aren’t also treating every other ingredient with equal respect and being careful in each step of the brewing process.

So can you taste it? Maybe not… but chances are it’s all part of a million other decisions that makes something unique in the end. And let me tell you… you can certainly taste those beers where ingredients and process aren’t prioritized.

What do you think?

🎶 = ANGEL DU$T

07/01/2026

Are you still drinking saison?

Between craft beer taking a pretty significant dip, farmhouse and wild ale drinkers already being a niche audience, and relocating from Oakland to Sacramento… I’ll be honest… I’ve struggled a bit to find an audience for the beers I’m brewing. This region of California has some incredible lager, IPA, and stout producers… but there aren’t so many folks making unfiltered, naturally carbonated, mixed culture beers focusing on the agricultural aspects of the ingredients. I find myself leaning towards local wine makers in terms of ethos, but their aversion to brettanomyces makes some conversations and sharing of bottles rather challenging.

With all that said, it was really nice having a few folks reach out over the last week asking about how they can try my beers. With these folks living from as close as The Bay Area and as far as China, that is easier said than done. I’m exploring options. Any plans to launch this as a commercial operation have been put on the back burner, for now, but I’m always keeping my ears open for opportunities.

I’ve got a few beers currently conditioning I’m looking forward to sharing and I’m currently looking to contract 2-4bbls of wort to build up a nice volume of stock ale so I can get back into blending and experimenting with different fruit, hops, yeast, etc.

Feel free to reach out if you’re curious about what I’m working on. I’ll do my best to share what I can. Cheers! 🍻

🎥 = some shots from Timmy Lodhi of Bobby Taul and I from several years ago when I was still bottling blends with our friends at Shady Oak Brewing Company

🎶 = The Devil Makes Three

06/28/2026

Over the last 2 years I’ve brewed several times here in the backyard of my new spot in Sacramento CA. I’ve bottled all but 1 of my fermenters and now have about 2bbls of capacity. My plan is to now focus on one base recipe, aging stock beer, and get back to the practice of blending.

When I had barrels aging courtesy of Steve at Shady Oak Brewing Company back in 2017-2021, every beer I made was based on wort produced over 2 brew days with HenHouse Brewing Co. . Barrels would age 6-24 months and then be tasted to determine if it should be bottled as is, fruited, dry hopped, or blended with other barrels before bottling.

One of my favorite experiences blending was with Harrison McCabe for our collab at Beachwood Blendery . I was really inspired by how meticulous Harrison was with his blending and his approach to layering flavors. Pictured here is our note sheet as we tasted various barrels before creating a blend and then tasting that blend dosed with various teas. We would eventually settle on strawberry leaf for our beer “Be Who You Will”.

I also fondly recall sitting in on a blending crash course at Carnivale Brettanomyces hosted by / Bokke and tasting through a variety of lambics. Having the opportunity to taste a similar base style and how each breweries coolship impacted the fermentation profile has made me want to experiment with aging a single batch saison in multiple vessels using a variety of yeast strains.

I’m currently talking with a few pro brewer friends about contracting 2-3bbls of wort of their pilot brewhouses. More info coming soon!

🎶 = GZA

06/25/2026

Biere Piquette 🍇 🥂 5.5% and

Brewed in September 2025, this peach colored mixed culture saison consisting of California grown barley floor malted by Admiral Maltings and German spelt by BESTMALZ took a short rest on Cab Franc pomace before being bottled in November 2025. Hopped with Hallertau Tradition and Saphir in the boil and dry hopped with Hallertau Blanc, this beer has some light floral character on the front end with a bit more herbaceous green notes coming forward as it warms. The grapes provide a small amount of tannic structure to an otherwise fluffy beer as well as some strawberry and raspberry character. On the palate you balanced bitterness, no tart character, and flavors of fresh bread, pear, and a touch of lemon pith. The fermentation character leans towards brettanomyces berry notes with non of the barnyard. The phenolic saison culture of saccharomyces is present without being pungent and blends in with all of the other layers at work. Little to no bacterial souring. When it was young there was some sulfur and green bell pepper character that has since aged out but if you dig hard enough you may find a trace.

Many thanks to Bertus van Zyl for providing me with the pomace. I think a future iteration with a longer rest and using a base with a touch of acidity would be very nice.

I’ve got about a dozen bottles left (750ml and 1500ml) after sending a decent amount to peders - Pisserendens ølkælder for their recent homebrew event in CPH.

More beers coming soon. Please follow Bertus van Zyl as he’s making some incredible wine.

06/20/2026

Spelt Saison for the crew.
Majka Pizzeria

🎶 = Blitz (1980-2007)

05/05/2026

The backbone of every beer but unfortunately rarely talked about…. malted grains are often looked at as little more than sugar source for alcohol production during fermentation but in reality your grist has huge impacts on body, flavor, clarity, head retention, and shelf stability.

Currently experimenting with some Belgian Pilsner malt from and some Munich wheat from for a lower abv blond beer concept. As always, I’ve blended in some Feldblume floor malted pale malt from

🎶 =

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Sacramento, CA

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http://www.altbrau.com/

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