442: Fast Fashion Puts Its Foot on the Gas With New Zealand Hops and Extra Anchovy

Seattle’s Fast Fashion has built a reputation for modern, forward-looking IPAs and hop-focused lagers, and the characterful brewery and taproom in SoDo expresses the eclectic interests and aesthetic taste of founder Matt Storm. It’s a funhouse of sorts—a bit like drinking in a thrift store full of budget mid-century furniture, stocked with kitsch that spans the past six decades. It’s busy and not necessarily thematically consistent—much like the beers the brewery makes—but it’s different and unique. You will not confuse it with another brewery.

Over the past half-decade, the beer itself has developed from quick hits of new hazy IPAs filled with the coolest names in hops, to a more diverse lineup of IPAs and lagers—still hop forward and immaculately crafted. Under head brewer Stefano Annicharico, they’ve found a way to make beer that keeps the baseball game-day crowd happy, while also continuing to explore the possibilities in contemporary beer styles.

In this episode, Storm and Annichiarico discuss:

• how Anchovy hops came to have such a unique name
• brewing drinkable, semi-dry hazy IPA with heavy adjunct loads
• building acidity in the mash to promote drinkability despite later dry-hop additions that raise the pH
• boiling hops in hazy IPA with 20-minute additions for more longevity in package
• lowering whirlpool hop amounts and pushing higher loads in post-fermentation dry hops
• finding bits of distinct character in hops such as Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, and NZ Cascade (aka Taiheke)
• avoiding excessive rousing to limit hop burn
• using New Zealand hops in modern hoppy lager

And more.

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