This past weekend I had the chance to speak with Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery. I was not able to contact him prior to his arrival in Vancouver, so I do not have a formal interview containing Q&A. I thought it would be unfair  to ambush him with a situation like that and was not looking to make our conversation awkward. However, during our hour long conversation I found a lot of interesting information poured from him and wished to give you my impressions of the high profile brewmaster.

On his next book

Garrett is in the process of writing another book. Unlike his first book, The Brewmaster’s Table which focuses heavily on pairing beer with food, this book will resemble an encyclopedia of beer defining and explaining terminology and techniques.

On making a bacon infused beer

The next big thing coming out of the casks at Brooklyn Brewery will be a beer made with a special malt that is smoked in the same room as bacon. He claims the malt contains so much of the bacon smell it is shocking, and although the beer may sound gross on paper to some people, he is confident it will turn out well. Given that the flavor profile of bacon pairs well with beer, I am not surprised. On paper, chocolate covered bacon sounds horrible, but those who have tried it have had nothing but good things to say.

On social media & marketing

Although not an initial believer, Garrett is slowly warming up to the effectiveness of social media. In fact he is planning on documenting his next trip to europe with a video blog. Part of the reason his faith in the medium is growing has to do with a recent experience on his facebook page. A passionate discussion about knives ended up with him getting a free Korin sushi knife set. Its funny how a little shwag will help open doors to new ideas. That said don’t expect to see him on Twitter anytime soon.

On the British Columbia craft scene

Implying that Garrett was surprised at the health of the BC craft beer scene would be a bit of an understatement. During his time in Victoria and Vancouver he got to taste many of the local beers. I caught up with him the day after his trip to the Alibi Room, a place that no doubt gave him the chance to taste what the BC craft scene has to offer. I think its safe to say he may have expected the passion and quality, but not the sheer amount of brewers in BC producing strong efforts.

On importing to Canada

It turns out, despite sharing a border with its country of origin, Canada is the 12th country Brooklyn Brewery exported to. This was due in large part to the complicated legislation Canada has regarding importing alcohol. Basically they took one look at the amount of hoops they would have to jump through and said “forget that”. It was not until they went through the process of applying to export their beer to Sweden that they finally felt ready to tackle Canada’s complicated documentation. Sweden is notorious for being one of the most convoluted countries to export alcohol to, so after going through that process they were more or less ready for anything.

Its refreshing to see how accessible Garrett has made himself. He takes his beer extremely seriously and as a result gives off the air of artist instead of brewer, albeit some may argue they are one in the same. His passion is without question and I look forward to his continued efforts in both the brewing and writing worlds.

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