“I’ve become a traditionalist. I’m more interested in going backwards,” Mike Karnowski, founder of Zebulon Artisan Ales tells Craft Beer & Brewing. “As I see what craft beer is turning into, I’m turning around and running back to the 1800s.”
Karnowski discusses his innovative and rear-looking approach to brewing in a recent podcast. He describes how he worked with brewing historian Ron Pattinson to re-create recipes from forgotten brew logs of the past three centuries. At a time when “innovation” tends to mean jumping on the latest trend, Zebulon instead looks backward, creating engaging beers that tell stories and shine light on periods in brewing history.
In the podcast, Karnowski talks about his experience brewing a number of historical beers, from imperial-strength 19th century “mild” that bears little resemblance to its current definition, to 1750s beers with smoked malt, an extremely low-ABV WWI-era beer that resembles beer-flavored seltzer, and post-war IPA that would be unrecognizable to IPA drinkers today.
Listen to the podcast here.
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