October 23, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode of the DC Beer Show, the hosts engage in a lively discussion about various craft beers, focusing on the unique offerings from Blindhouse Beer Company in Roanoke. Tyler Wert, the brewer, shares insights into the mixed-culture fermentation process, the importance of balancing acidity in beer, and the challenges of maintaining flavor consistency across batches.
The conversation also touches on the growing beer tourism in Roanoke, the influence of Virginia's wine industry on craft brewing, and the community's response to innovative beer styles.
Overall, the episode highlights the vibrant craft beer culture and the dedication of brewers to create exceptional flavors while educating consumers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Welcome everyone to the DC Beer Show.
are at DC Beer across social media.
Brandy, what are you drinking tonight?
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed having a born bohemian actually from denizens.
uh I know it's quite the season for me to be popping open a born bohemian.
(00:28):
I mean, it's always a season for like a Czech bohemian pilsner.
I'm ready for stouts.
I was like, that's easy.
But I had all this.
leftover beer from our fundraiser.
So I was like, oh, and it was perfect.
It hit perfectly with dinner because it goes with everything.
Mike Stein, what are you drinking?
(00:48):
Well, thanks, Brandy.
I'm having Blindhouse Beer Company their Starlight Wheat Saison farmhouse inspired ale.
ah I'm reading the label, which says it was bottled 6,324, which means it was bottled notone, but two Junes ago.
(01:10):
Jake Berg, what are you drinking?
I have here from Orange, California, Hasta La Rise.
You may recall Bluejacket and Breeze Galindo from Me Luna did a collab with the same name.
It's because a bunch of breweries are making a Mexican style dark lager with corn andproceeds go to the Freedom for Immigrants Foundation.
(01:34):
I figure a worthy cause.
They're based in Portland, Oregon.
There are a whole bunch of breweries in on this.
Kudos to Bluejacket, Me Luna locally.
kudos to everywhere out in Orange, California.
So Mike, you mentioned Blindhouse.
We have to be joined tonight by Tyler Wirt of Roanoke's Blindhouse.
Tyler, what are you drinking tonight?
(01:57):
here.
I am drinking a beer called memory tape from my friends down at lesser known beer companyand Winston Salem.
This is a Belgian dark strong.
So was feeling something a little more of the season.
It's not not typically my go to for a Wednesday night, but in my fridge, it was this orMiller High Life.
(02:24):
So this this sounded like a better better fit.
But it's nice malty, uh dark fruit.
uh Yeah, very, very tasty, stronger beer for chilly evening down here.
I'm feeling you, Tyler.
That's what I was just talking about.
I feel like I should have had a stout or porter, but instead I had a born Bohemian checkbills.
(02:48):
Very unlike me.
We're oppositeing, Tyler.
Yeah.
While I have you, before I pass you back off to the guys, I want to know, you make thesedelicious farmhouse style ales and have a beautiful fermentation process.
(03:09):
What is your go-to shift beer?
Like if you couldn't have your beer, what beer would you go for?
Oh, style wise, I mean, I'm a typical brewer.
It's going to be some kind of pale lager variety.
Yeah, pretty basic.
(03:31):
Although lately, I have come back around to some more classic like West Coast IPA's havebeen hit in the spot as well.
But it's kind of yet something pale and light and easy to drink.
Absolutely, cheers to that.
Cheers.
(03:51):
So Tyler, since you brought up the IPAs and we've already talked a little bit about lager,Blindhouse down in Roanoke does neither lager nor IPAs.
Do want to tell us like a little bit about the process that you all do to make beer?
And then I guess my follow up question is for the craft beer aficionado who wants an IPA,what do you have on hand?
(04:21):
Sure, yeah, so um here at Blindhouse, we pretty much entirely focus on mixed culturefermentation.
um So in the lead up to opening the brewery, I sort of went about creating a unique houseculture.
um So that started with just growing up some dregs from a classic Saison bottle.
(04:49):
Um, it was an American made saison.
So I'm assuming they use something like DuPont or something like that.
Um, and then I have some family land about 45 minutes, uh, from Roanoke.
And so in the months leading up, I went down there and just kind of clipped variousflowers, um, cedar leaves, uh, even tree bark and put together like 15 or so samples.
(05:17):
into tiny little uh mason jars of wort, essentially created all these little starters.
Eventually fermentation kicked off in those various samples.
And then it was just a matter of smelling which ones smelled good um and kind of movingthose onto the next round, adding more wort, decanting and growing up yeast from that.
(05:43):
eventually um it was really only, you
two or three of those samples smelled like anything remotely good.
But uh eventually, like, was able to get something together that had some really nicestone fruits, uh citrus aromatics, and a little bit of just a classic farmhouse uh sort of
(06:07):
fermentation vibe to it.
um So I took that yeast and combined it with the classic
Saison strain and that gave us our house culture.
um From there, we don't have any brewing equipment on site.
first actually we were brewing at lesser known for the first nine months or so.
(06:28):
uh Now we do our work production at a brewery called Golden Cactus, which is just about ablock down the street, much easier.
um But I'll brew there, get my warts in a stainless steel tote and just.
truck it down the street and uh send it into our open fermenter with our house culture.
(06:50):
All of our beers pretty much go through about a week, like primary fermentation with thathouse culture.
And then most end up going into oak barrels for an extended aging.
um Every now and again, we'll do all right into stainless for something that's a littlequicker turnaround.
(07:11):
So in regards to your
Second question, I kind of play around with uh some different beers to at least um offersomething hoppy for people if they like that.
I'll offer something malty, but it's kind of got to be in that blind house, wheelhouse.
So it's still going to be mixed culture, but especially the hoppy beers can even comeacross somewhat clean, um depending how we.
(07:40):
how we hop the beers can kind of keep that bacteria at bay.
So it's less sour, less funky and more just like clean hop expression.
So we always have like a couple of uh Belgian pale ales.
Right now we have an Oak Age pale ale called for always.
um And that's dry hops with strata uh and galaxy.
(08:02):
So it's gonna hit some of those, you know.
more modern IPA notes for folks that are looking for that, but it's still going to be inour sort of wheelhouse.
Well, I have to say, Tyler, I had uh through open fields, which uh is marketed as a rusticblonde ale and now I'm having starlight wheat saison.
(08:28):
Neither of them are particularly malt or hop driven.
They are picking up, as you had mentioned, bacteria driven, but maybe they're oak ortannin or kind of neutral, barely driven.
Yeah.
What am I tasting with Through Open Fields the other night, the rustic blond ale, and whatam I getting now out of Starlight, this wheat saison?
(08:53):
How would you describe these flavors to our listeners?
Yeah, mean, yeast ferments extremely dry.
So you're going to get, uh you know, uh that very dry, like somewhat tannic structure tothe beer.
I think you're picking up on that correctly.
(09:14):
And then uh as I touched on just everything going into oak.
they are their neutral wine barrels picked up from various wineries around the state ofVirginia.
But that extra time and oak definitely lends to some of those drier tannins as well.
(09:35):
So with through open fields, mean, that was, that starts as a keller beer of sorts.
So the way I brew that is in November, December, when we get sort of a sustained period oflike 40s, low 50s, I will,
(09:56):
uh literally ferment that outside.
uh And that's the one beer that gets a primary with lager yeast rather than our houseculture.
But primaries with lager yeast and then that beer goes into barrels and gets that houseculture treatment in barrels.
So I think you're picking up on smoke character.
(10:17):
I think you're picking up on just that extreme dryness, lack of residual sugar left overby that yeast.
um would be my guess.
Yeah, certainly the um through open fields uh as it is branded with Keller beer is more, Ihesitate to say neutral, but maybe it is more malt forward, but it's like a subtle
(10:44):
maltiness.
Whereas when you're having a lager, you're not like, malt, you're like, Oh, more of this.
And uh my wife and I polished off the bottle pretty quickly.
um
Whereas the starlight, the wheat saison was certainly more effervescent.
It's bubbling and just juicing out of this glass with this tan and richness.
(11:05):
Acidity is, is definitely more present in, uh, in the starlight than it was, through openfields.
Um, how do you balance acidity or how do you make sure your beers have enough acidity whenyou're considering these sort of, you know, the Keller beer lower acidity.
saison or wheat driven saison higher acidity.
(11:28):
How do you maintain that in your beers?
Yeah, I think that's, um you know, as a mixed culture brewer, think that's like my numberone job.
ah Controlling acidity is like the key.
um I think once you find a nice house culture, it's gonna do a lot of the work of creatingthese beautiful esters, ah these fruit flavors, peach and stone fruit.
(11:55):
um So it's doing a lot of that heavy lifting and then I have to figure out how to
get that acidity level right.
And a lot of it is timing.
So for through open fields, um that's got a much shorter time in oak, just like two tothree months, just getting that short contact time with the yeast, which is enough for it
(12:18):
to uh make its impression, but not long enough for that bacteria to really take over.
um So ah
And then with starlight, you know, that's, that's a much longer, longer contact time.
And then it comes down to hopping as well.
So, um, for through open fields, that's hopped pretty heavily as like a, uh, you know,standard.
(12:47):
Logger process in the boil.
So there's, there's bittering hops in there.
It's, it's getting to 40, 45, IVU.
Uh,
hop levels and that's helping to keep that bacteria at bay as well.
Whereas for Starlight, it's gonna have longer time, know I wanna coax out a little more ofthat bacteria side.
(13:08):
that's getting a lighter uh hopping of more like 20, 25 IBU.
And then it's just constantly checking in on barrels, tasting stuff.
And when it's ready, being able to sort of...
forecast out like oftentimes if you try a barrel and You you feel like the acidity isperfect then it's actually too late because you know, it's gonna pick up more uh As you
(13:37):
finish out that process and go through bottle conditioning.
It's always gonna be adding acidity So it's kind of being able to see Okay, this is thisis at a nice spot now where after after I package this after I add fruit whatever it may
be
the final acidity is going to be right where I want it.
(13:59):
To that end, Tyler, how much are you blending back in when you're working with barrel agedbeer and acidity?
If you've got something you think is like a little bit on the sour side, like if you'retrucking wort over from another brewery, does that make it trickier?
(14:19):
Or do you have something like in reserve, maybe like on stainless or like a
a well used barrel that might pick up a little less of the tan and the oak character sothat you can bring that pH back up just ever so slightly.
(14:39):
Yeah, there's definitely some blending that happens.
um Usually, I don't typically have something in stainless on hand, but I'll usually haveum something in oak that's a little bit fresher.
And so if I need to cut back on some acid on one, I'll just be looking at what my freshestoak barrels are and tasting those and figuring out.
(15:09):
um Which one might blend nicely and cut that acidity back.
I don't have a ton of Like we have brands uh But I'm pretty loose as far as likeconsistency I want them to be consistently good, but sometimes a blend of starlight or m
(15:32):
you know, some other beer might make up a couple different base barrels than the last onedid, you know, but as long as it's hitting that, that right acidity node at the end, that
right like flavor profile, you know, I'm, I'm happy.
Cool.
so I guess one of my questions is from a consumer standpoint is that the starlight youmade like last year is going to taste probably different from the starlight that you made
(16:00):
two years ago and it's going to be different from the starlight next year.
You've got consumers who come in and be like, there's this beer I really like and theydrink it and it tastes different, which I think that when you're working with mixed firm,
that's kind of the point.
But from a consumer education standpoint, how is that working out in Roanoke, out indistribution?
(16:25):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
mean, I'm I'm definitely treating them more like vintages in a way more, you know, akin towine or something like that.
But um it and I think the differences, you know, what I'm talking about are morediscernible for somebody who's like really keyed in on on what it tastes like year to
(16:49):
year.
I think for like the average.
a consumer who just likes our beer and comes in and is trying stuff.
They're not necessarily picking up on like, massive differences, um batch to batch, but,definitely, you know, some people are and it's just, like I said, I think as long as it's
consistently good, um that's, that's the key.
(17:11):
And they're okay with like a little bit of variation um and sort of explaining to people,as you said, like that's a little bit of the magic of mixed culture beer.
I just want people to know, this year, it might not be exactly the same as the last onethat I had, but I know it's going to be good.
And that's just what we're trying to build is, uh yeah, trust that it's going to be good.
(17:36):
doesn't matter what the brand is, what the batch number is, but you're going to enjoy theflavor.
And ah that seems to have resonated with people so far.
But yeah.
seems you've trust.
No, no, it's fine.
I was going to ask about the trust you've built.
em You've been on draft at Andy's, who's run by our good friend of the show, Emily andchurch key.
(18:02):
Another friend of the show, Greg.
Um, we've seen you for sale in Arlington at arrow wine and false church at dominion beerand wine.
Um, tell us about the humans of blind house.
We've got you, Tyler and Nicole, but obviously
There's a number of humans that trust Tyler and Nicole.
So tell us about the humans down there in Roanoke and those you've built trust within ourarea, you know, as DC Beer considers our network and people who are DC Beer members and
(18:31):
Women's Brew Culture Club members.
Tell us a little bit about these people.
Yeah, so I mean, we've we've built a nice little following in Roanoke.
It's it's definitely like uh a different beer market.
I came from Richmond previously, m but my wife, Nicole, and I, you know, wanted to comedown here to get closer to the outdoor recreation that's offered in Roanoke.
(18:58):
So it's a really, really great destination for for hiking, backpacking, cycling.
So it's a great community for that.
There's a solid little beer community here, but definitely felt like we could addsomething different with having this focus.
um And yeah, it's definitely like a lot of education.
(19:23):
People are definitely very unfamiliar with exactly what we're doing.
But what's cool about that is
they're sort of open to trying something new.
And a lot of folks don't necessarily have any preconceived notions about uh mixedfermentation and what that entails.
(19:45):
just kind of like, oh, this is interesting.
This is different.
um Let's try it out.
So it's been cool to see the local sort of following grow.
uh Last year, we just launched our first uh bottle club membership year, which is calledLaurel.
um And that was really nice to get a solid response from that.
(20:09):
And that's mostly just for locals.
It's local pickup.
do a little bit of, um we have some shipping memberships that we'll do throughout thestate and DC, but yeah, primarily, primarily locals um drinking the Saison.
um And yeah, just in the last year or year and a half or so we did, uh
(20:32):
jump out and do a little bit of distribution.
And I know the folks at Allied well for my time in Richmond at Triple Crossing.
So hopped on with them and they've really been great at finding the right spots for ourbeer, finding people that'll enjoy what we do.
(20:53):
And so, you know, a lot of the credit goes to them too for finding folks up in NorthernVirginia.
Folks like Jensen at Highside who I also know have been big supporters.
So yeah, it's such a niche small thing still that we do, but keeping it small, but sort oftrying to cast, as they say, the cast that wide shallow net has been working out pretty
(21:24):
well.
Tyler, how was Snally?
I mean, Snally is a big deal.
And please excuse me, but I don't remember if you were there in years past.
Have you been to Snally before?
And how was this year?
That was the first time at Salagaster in any capacity.
(21:48):
So it was was quite an experience, uh overwhelming.
um Really cool, to to have been invited.
uh Really fun to talk to folks, get some more exposure for us.
A lot of people were, you know, excited to see that that Roanoke had some repute.
(22:11):
representation um up at Snally.
And yeah, it was overwhelming.
mean, there was a there really wanted to get out and try a little bit more, but uh did notend up doing much.
Yeah.
But I did, I did have a good amount of Shunram Hellas at Church Kew later on.
(22:32):
So that was, that was a nice, a nice positive, but yeah, it was fun.
I'm, I'm excited to come back.
Yeah.
Crazy experience.
Well, congratulations for your first Nally.
It was a good one.
you.
there's dead air here.
I'll fill it.
(22:52):
Yeah.
So.
is someone's mic not working?
want to talk a little bit more about the beer consumer and people in Roanoke.
Are you support from a core group of locals?
(23:12):
But also Roanoke is kind of like equidistant between, I would say, us in D.C.
and Nova and Asheville.
It's a well-traveled stretch.
Are you starting to see the beer tourists?
um
kind of drop off 81 hit 581 and go like into downtown Roanoke to seek you all out.
(23:34):
Yeah, we're seeing a little bit more of that.
Yeah, for sure.
um Just this past weekend was Go Fest, which is a big like outdoor extreme sport festivalthat that Roanoke holds every year.
So there's a lot of like, there's people downtown doing, you know, BMX bike expeditionsand rock climbing expeditions and that kind of stuff.
(23:59):
really cool event.
But we
We get a good like out of town crowd.
And I definitely noticed this year, like people coming through saying, you know, we werefrom up Northern Virginia or we're from Asheville and we heard about Blindhouse and,
stopping off.
that's, that's cool.
Um, and yeah, just, just in the years that I've been here, especially Asheville, it'sjust, it's not that far.
(24:27):
And, um,
We're getting like some transplants from there because they're very similar vibe cities,but Roanoke is sort of uh has not been totally taken over by the tourist boom that
Asheville has or had been.
um So we're seeing, we're getting a lot of people that are moving from Asheville into thearea just for the, you know, the similar perks, but a little bit of a quieter, slower
(24:57):
paced uh lifestyle.
from what I've seen.
curious, Tyler, how much of your work with Blindhouse is contingent on the work ofVirginia Wine that's come before and laid the ground?
Of course, there's a gaining reputation with Virginia Wine for being better.
(25:18):
The dig amongst those of us who enjoy Virginia Wine is the good stuff's really good, butit goes for a really good price for the winemaker.
Um, so I'm wondering, you know, how much of that neutral oak comes from Virginia wine andyou're sourcing and access to it versus, uh, someone who would say, no big deal.
(25:41):
just get hungary neutral Hungarian oak or something else had Virginia not had a boomingand growing wine scene.
Yeah, that's a uh good question.
um You know, I keep my barrel stock like relatively tight.
We have about 30 wine barrels and I try to keep those rotating pretty heavily, but I havenot added much to that stock since we've opened.
(26:11):
It's kind of been a good, you know, sweet spot for us.
ah I found that um
In the past, and I think maybe a mistake that a lot of uh breweries made with mixedculture brewing was going a little too heavy into the oak investment and um expecting to
(26:35):
sell, you know, tons and tons of this type of beer and then ending up with a lot ofvinegar in barrels and um
you know, having to dump stuff or having to put out the subpar stuff that maybe burns someconsumers along the way.
um But yeah, it, all my oak, a lot of it came from Pollock Vineyards, which we had arelationship with at my previous brewery, Triple Crossing.
(27:06):
um And uh yeah, it's great to get barrels from uh local
Virginia wineries that treat the oak right, you know, you're going to get something that'snot falling apart.
It's going to hold liquid well, and it's not going to smell terrible.
It's going to be well cleaned and well maintained.
(27:26):
So that's, that's definitely helpful.
And it's good to know that I can, I can source that pretty easily whenever, whenever Iwould need to, you know, retire or replace barrels, but I haven't had to do much with it
thus far.
we're
now approaching three years into it.
(27:47):
So I'm sure in the next year or two, I'll be starting to change some out and hopefully addsome more.
Hopefully I answered your question.
Yeah, absolutely.
and, we're, very interested in, what's happening, you know, just south of us in Roanokebecause, uh you cast a big net.
(28:12):
Um, we know on Saturday you're going to be at Penn druid, friends of the show.
had, uh, Penn druid on actually as cider makers at my cider salon at Snally gaster.
Um, and then after you're pouring at,
In addition to Penn Druid, we're also going to have the Women's Brew Culture event onSaturday.
(28:36):
So it's a big weekend.
There are so many events coming up.
uh Tyler, are you excited about any events either there in Roanoke or any times you'llfind yourself in market, be it Alexandria, DC, or I assume you're not in Maryland yet.
but anytime you see yourself up in the metropolitan DC area, anytime in the next quarter,let's say.
(29:04):
there's, there's nothing specific plans beyond, um, the Pendroot event this Saturday.
Yeah.
I don't have anything the rest of the year.
Um, but I'd love to get back up there, um, and, and find ourselves in DC at some spots.
And I'd love to be able to, you know, get up personally and do, do some tastings at someplaces and, and, uh, talk to people and get around a little bit.
(29:32):
But nothing specific plans.
uh really overbooked myself in October and I am ready to take a break.
also I really need to make some beer because my uh stock is dwindling.
So I need to um get back in there.
(29:52):
Oftentimes, uh winter is where I'm trying to focus production a little more and try to...
um
get a lot of brewing done then and um have some stock to just be sitting and aging in thesort of slower season and then have a lot of stuff ready to go for spring.
(30:15):
Well, Tyler, if you do end up coming back to DC for tastings or just to visit, please letus know because we'll definitely, absolutely help spread the word and get folks out to,
you know, taste your stuff who haven't been able to do so.
Just let us know.
Yeah.
that.
Yeah, I will for sure.
(30:37):
Dwindling stock is a good problem to have for a brewery.
Tyler, thank you so much for joining us.
Everybody, Blindhouse Beer Company, downtown Roanoke, but also available at Better BeerStores in Northern Virginia.
And perhaps the occasional Sixthal will pop up in DC.
Look around for it.
(30:57):
Yeah, but Tyler, thanks so much.
Thanks so much for having me, y'all.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
the idea that you can just like be in Roanoke and there's a place just doing nothing aboutmixed firm and they've got like, you know, 4 % table beer little dancer.
Like it's, phenomenal.
Hey DC beer lovers.
(31:17):
uh Just wanting to remind everyone of the Women's Brew Culture Club Baltimore branch eventthis Saturday.
They are going to Hex Ferment and learning all about uh fermented things,
kombucha and kimchi, and it's going to be a really fun experience.
(31:39):
So if you're interested, just reach out.
We'll get you that information.
And wrapping it back up to me, having a born Bohemian pills from Denizans, our Novemberbeer share, is quickly, maybe too quickly approaching, time needs to stop for a second
(31:59):
sometimes.
uh We're going to be back at Denizans.
on November 9th for our November beer share.
It's an open beer share, so members and non-members can come.
Come meet some cool people and have some delicious beers.
uh Stein, I saw you at the Volume 3 Homecoming release at Third Hill.
(32:24):
Yes, there is so much happening this weekend.
um Tyler with Blindhouse will be at Penn Druid.
I know a number of women's Brew Culture Club members will be at Hex uh out in Baltimore.
um And there is a real really local festival, which is a cask festival across the streetfrom Atlas's new location in the bridge district in Anacostia.
(32:49):
Um, so much going on, but last weekend on Sunday, I was at third hill for the homecomingvolume three with our very own Jordan Harvey.
So go check out third hill for homecoming volume three.
So come on and see us.
at DC BR across social media.
We will see you in November.
Welcome everyone to the DC Beer Show.
are at DC Beer across social media.
Brandy, what are you drinking tonight?
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed having a born bohemian actually from denizens.
uh I know it's quite the season for me to be popping open a born bohemian.
(00:28):
I mean, it's always a season for like a Czech bohemian pilsner.
I'm ready for stouts.
I was like, that's easy.
But I had all this.
leftover beer from our fundraiser.
So I was like, oh, and it was perfect.
It hit perfectly with dinner because it goes with everything.
Mike Stein, what are you drinking?
(00:48):
Well, thanks, Brandy.
I'm having Blindhouse Beer Company their Starlight Wheat Saison farmhouse inspired ale.
ah I'm reading the label, which says it was bottled 6,324, which means it was bottled notone, but two Junes ago.
(01:10):
Jake Berg, what are you drinking?
I have here from Orange, California, Hasta La Rise.
You may recall Bluejacket and Breeze Galindo from Me Luna did a collab with the same name.
It's because a bunch of breweries are making a Mexican style dark lager with corn andproceeds go to the Freedom for Immigrants Foundation.
(01:34):
I figure a worthy cause.
They're based in Portland, Oregon.
There are a whole bunch of breweries in on this.
Kudos to Bluejacket, Me Luna locally.
kudos to everywhere out in Orange, California.
So Mike, you mentioned Blindhouse.
We have to be joined tonight by Tyler Wirt of Roanoke's Blindhouse.
Tyler, what are you drinking tonight?
(01:57):
here.
I am drinking a beer called memory tape from my friends down at lesser known beer companyand Winston Salem.
This is a Belgian dark strong.
So was feeling something a little more of the season.
It's not not typically my go to for a Wednesday night, but in my fridge, it was this orMiller High Life.
(02:24):
So this this sounded like a better better fit.
But it's nice malty, uh dark fruit.
uh Yeah, very, very tasty, stronger beer for chilly evening down here.
I'm feeling you, Tyler.
That's what I was just talking about.
I feel like I should have had a stout or porter, but instead I had a born Bohemian checkbills.
(02:48):
Very unlike me.
We're oppositeing, Tyler.
Yeah.
While I have you, before I pass you back off to the guys, I want to know, you make thesedelicious farmhouse style ales and have a beautiful fermentation process.
(03:09):
What is your go-to shift beer?
Like if you couldn't have your beer, what beer would you go for?
Oh, style wise, I mean, I'm a typical brewer.
It's going to be some kind of pale lager variety.
Yeah, pretty basic.
(03:31):
Although lately, I have come back around to some more classic like West Coast IPA's havebeen hit in the spot as well.
But it's kind of yet something pale and light and easy to drink.
Absolutely, cheers to that.
Cheers.
(03:51):
So Tyler, since you brought up the IPAs and we've already talked a little bit about lager,Blindhouse down in Roanoke does neither lager nor IPAs.
Do want to tell us like a little bit about the process that you all do to make beer?
And then I guess my follow up question is for the craft beer aficionado who wants an IPA,what do you have on hand?
(04:21):
Sure, yeah, so um here at Blindhouse, we pretty much entirely focus on mixed culturefermentation.
um So in the lead up to opening the brewery, I sort of went about creating a unique houseculture.
um So that started with just growing up some dregs from a classic Saison bottle.
(04:49):
Um, it was an American made saison.
So I'm assuming they use something like DuPont or something like that.
Um, and then I have some family land about 45 minutes, uh, from Roanoke.
And so in the months leading up, I went down there and just kind of clipped variousflowers, um, cedar leaves, uh, even tree bark and put together like 15 or so samples.
(05:17):
into tiny little uh mason jars of wort, essentially created all these little starters.
Eventually fermentation kicked off in those various samples.
And then it was just a matter of smelling which ones smelled good um and kind of movingthose onto the next round, adding more wort, decanting and growing up yeast from that.
(05:43):
eventually um it was really only, you
two or three of those samples smelled like anything remotely good.
But uh eventually, like, was able to get something together that had some really nicestone fruits, uh citrus aromatics, and a little bit of just a classic farmhouse uh sort of
(06:07):
fermentation vibe to it.
um So I took that yeast and combined it with the classic
Saison strain and that gave us our house culture.
um From there, we don't have any brewing equipment on site.
first actually we were brewing at lesser known for the first nine months or so.
(06:28):
uh Now we do our work production at a brewery called Golden Cactus, which is just about ablock down the street, much easier.
um But I'll brew there, get my warts in a stainless steel tote and just.
truck it down the street and uh send it into our open fermenter with our house culture.
(06:50):
All of our beers pretty much go through about a week, like primary fermentation with thathouse culture.
And then most end up going into oak barrels for an extended aging.
um Every now and again, we'll do all right into stainless for something that's a littlequicker turnaround.
(07:11):
So in regards to your
Second question, I kind of play around with uh some different beers to at least um offersomething hoppy for people if they like that.
I'll offer something malty, but it's kind of got to be in that blind house, wheelhouse.
So it's still going to be mixed culture, but especially the hoppy beers can even comeacross somewhat clean, um depending how we.
(07:40):
how we hop the beers can kind of keep that bacteria at bay.
So it's less sour, less funky and more just like clean hop expression.
So we always have like a couple of uh Belgian pale ales.
Right now we have an Oak Age pale ale called for always.
um And that's dry hops with strata uh and galaxy.
(08:02):
So it's gonna hit some of those, you know.
more modern IPA notes for folks that are looking for that, but it's still going to be inour sort of wheelhouse.
Well, I have to say, Tyler, I had uh through open fields, which uh is marketed as a rusticblonde ale and now I'm having starlight wheat saison.
(08:28):
Neither of them are particularly malt or hop driven.
They are picking up, as you had mentioned, bacteria driven, but maybe they're oak ortannin or kind of neutral, barely driven.
Yeah.
What am I tasting with Through Open Fields the other night, the rustic blond ale, and whatam I getting now out of Starlight, this wheat saison?
(08:53):
How would you describe these flavors to our listeners?
Yeah, mean, yeast ferments extremely dry.
So you're going to get, uh you know, uh that very dry, like somewhat tannic structure tothe beer.
I think you're picking up on that correctly.
(09:14):
And then uh as I touched on just everything going into oak.
they are their neutral wine barrels picked up from various wineries around the state ofVirginia.
But that extra time and oak definitely lends to some of those drier tannins as well.
(09:35):
So with through open fields, mean, that was, that starts as a keller beer of sorts.
So the way I brew that is in November, December, when we get sort of a sustained period oflike 40s, low 50s, I will,
(09:56):
uh literally ferment that outside.
uh And that's the one beer that gets a primary with lager yeast rather than our houseculture.
But primaries with lager yeast and then that beer goes into barrels and gets that houseculture treatment in barrels.
So I think you're picking up on smoke character.
(10:17):
I think you're picking up on just that extreme dryness, lack of residual sugar left overby that yeast.
um would be my guess.
Yeah, certainly the um through open fields uh as it is branded with Keller beer is more, Ihesitate to say neutral, but maybe it is more malt forward, but it's like a subtle
(10:44):
maltiness.
Whereas when you're having a lager, you're not like, malt, you're like, Oh, more of this.
And uh my wife and I polished off the bottle pretty quickly.
um
Whereas the starlight, the wheat saison was certainly more effervescent.
It's bubbling and just juicing out of this glass with this tan and richness.
(11:05):
Acidity is, is definitely more present in, uh, in the starlight than it was, through openfields.
Um, how do you balance acidity or how do you make sure your beers have enough acidity whenyou're considering these sort of, you know, the Keller beer lower acidity.
saison or wheat driven saison higher acidity.
(11:28):
How do you maintain that in your beers?
Yeah, I think that's, um you know, as a mixed culture brewer, think that's like my numberone job.
ah Controlling acidity is like the key.
um I think once you find a nice house culture, it's gonna do a lot of the work of creatingthese beautiful esters, ah these fruit flavors, peach and stone fruit.
(11:55):
um So it's doing a lot of that heavy lifting and then I have to figure out how to
get that acidity level right.
And a lot of it is timing.
So for through open fields, um that's got a much shorter time in oak, just like two tothree months, just getting that short contact time with the yeast, which is enough for it
(12:18):
to uh make its impression, but not long enough for that bacteria to really take over.
um So ah
And then with starlight, you know, that's, that's a much longer, longer contact time.
And then it comes down to hopping as well.
So, um, for through open fields, that's hopped pretty heavily as like a, uh, you know,standard.
(12:47):
Logger process in the boil.
So there's, there's bittering hops in there.
It's, it's getting to 40, 45, IVU.
Uh,
hop levels and that's helping to keep that bacteria at bay as well.
Whereas for Starlight, it's gonna have longer time, know I wanna coax out a little more ofthat bacteria side.
(13:08):
that's getting a lighter uh hopping of more like 20, 25 IBU.
And then it's just constantly checking in on barrels, tasting stuff.
And when it's ready, being able to sort of...
forecast out like oftentimes if you try a barrel and You you feel like the acidity isperfect then it's actually too late because you know, it's gonna pick up more uh As you
(13:37):
finish out that process and go through bottle conditioning.
It's always gonna be adding acidity So it's kind of being able to see Okay, this is thisis at a nice spot now where after after I package this after I add fruit whatever it may
be
the final acidity is going to be right where I want it.
(13:59):
To that end, Tyler, how much are you blending back in when you're working with barrel agedbeer and acidity?
If you've got something you think is like a little bit on the sour side, like if you'retrucking wort over from another brewery, does that make it trickier?
(14:19):
Or do you have something like in reserve, maybe like on stainless or like a
a well used barrel that might pick up a little less of the tan and the oak character sothat you can bring that pH back up just ever so slightly.
(14:39):
Yeah, there's definitely some blending that happens.
um Usually, I don't typically have something in stainless on hand, but I'll usually haveum something in oak that's a little bit fresher.
And so if I need to cut back on some acid on one, I'll just be looking at what my freshestoak barrels are and tasting those and figuring out.
(15:09):
um Which one might blend nicely and cut that acidity back.
I don't have a ton of Like we have brands uh But I'm pretty loose as far as likeconsistency I want them to be consistently good, but sometimes a blend of starlight or m
(15:32):
you know, some other beer might make up a couple different base barrels than the last onedid, you know, but as long as it's hitting that, that right acidity node at the end, that
right like flavor profile, you know, I'm, I'm happy.
Cool.
so I guess one of my questions is from a consumer standpoint is that the starlight youmade like last year is going to taste probably different from the starlight that you made
(16:00):
two years ago and it's going to be different from the starlight next year.
You've got consumers who come in and be like, there's this beer I really like and theydrink it and it tastes different, which I think that when you're working with mixed firm,
that's kind of the point.
But from a consumer education standpoint, how is that working out in Roanoke, out indistribution?
(16:25):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
mean, I'm I'm definitely treating them more like vintages in a way more, you know, akin towine or something like that.
But um it and I think the differences, you know, what I'm talking about are morediscernible for somebody who's like really keyed in on on what it tastes like year to
(16:49):
year.
I think for like the average.
a consumer who just likes our beer and comes in and is trying stuff.
They're not necessarily picking up on like, massive differences, um batch to batch, but,definitely, you know, some people are and it's just, like I said, I think as long as it's
consistently good, um that's, that's the key.
(17:11):
And they're okay with like a little bit of variation um and sort of explaining to people,as you said, like that's a little bit of the magic of mixed culture beer.
I just want people to know, this year, it might not be exactly the same as the last onethat I had, but I know it's going to be good.
And that's just what we're trying to build is, uh yeah, trust that it's going to be good.
(17:36):
doesn't matter what the brand is, what the batch number is, but you're going to enjoy theflavor.
And ah that seems to have resonated with people so far.
But yeah.
seems you've trust.
No, no, it's fine.
I was going to ask about the trust you've built.
em You've been on draft at Andy's, who's run by our good friend of the show, Emily andchurch key.
(18:02):
Another friend of the show, Greg.
Um, we've seen you for sale in Arlington at arrow wine and false church at dominion beerand wine.
Um, tell us about the humans of blind house.
We've got you, Tyler and Nicole, but obviously
There's a number of humans that trust Tyler and Nicole.
So tell us about the humans down there in Roanoke and those you've built trust within ourarea, you know, as DC Beer considers our network and people who are DC Beer members and
(18:31):
Women's Brew Culture Club members.
Tell us a little bit about these people.
Yeah, so I mean, we've we've built a nice little following in Roanoke.
It's it's definitely like uh a different beer market.
I came from Richmond previously, m but my wife, Nicole, and I, you know, wanted to comedown here to get closer to the outdoor recreation that's offered in Roanoke.
(18:58):
So it's a really, really great destination for for hiking, backpacking, cycling.
So it's a great community for that.
There's a solid little beer community here, but definitely felt like we could addsomething different with having this focus.
um And yeah, it's definitely like a lot of education.
(19:23):
People are definitely very unfamiliar with exactly what we're doing.
But what's cool about that is
they're sort of open to trying something new.
And a lot of folks don't necessarily have any preconceived notions about uh mixedfermentation and what that entails.
(19:45):
just kind of like, oh, this is interesting.
This is different.
um Let's try it out.
So it's been cool to see the local sort of following grow.
uh Last year, we just launched our first uh bottle club membership year, which is calledLaurel.
um And that was really nice to get a solid response from that.
(20:09):
And that's mostly just for locals.
It's local pickup.
do a little bit of, um we have some shipping memberships that we'll do throughout thestate and DC, but yeah, primarily, primarily locals um drinking the Saison.
um And yeah, just in the last year or year and a half or so we did, uh
(20:32):
jump out and do a little bit of distribution.
And I know the folks at Allied well for my time in Richmond at Triple Crossing.
So hopped on with them and they've really been great at finding the right spots for ourbeer, finding people that'll enjoy what we do.
(20:53):
And so, you know, a lot of the credit goes to them too for finding folks up in NorthernVirginia.
Folks like Jensen at Highside who I also know have been big supporters.
So yeah, it's such a niche small thing still that we do, but keeping it small, but sort oftrying to cast, as they say, the cast that wide shallow net has been working out pretty
(21:24):
well.
Tyler, how was Snally?
I mean, Snally is a big deal.
And please excuse me, but I don't remember if you were there in years past.
Have you been to Snally before?
And how was this year?
That was the first time at Salagaster in any capacity.
(21:48):
So it was was quite an experience, uh overwhelming.
um Really cool, to to have been invited.
uh Really fun to talk to folks, get some more exposure for us.
A lot of people were, you know, excited to see that that Roanoke had some repute.
(22:11):
representation um up at Snally.
And yeah, it was overwhelming.
mean, there was a there really wanted to get out and try a little bit more, but uh did notend up doing much.
Yeah.
But I did, I did have a good amount of Shunram Hellas at Church Kew later on.
(22:32):
So that was, that was a nice, a nice positive, but yeah, it was fun.
I'm, I'm excited to come back.
Yeah.
Crazy experience.
Well, congratulations for your first Nally.
It was a good one.
you.
there's dead air here.
I'll fill it.
(22:52):
Yeah.
So.
is someone's mic not working?
want to talk a little bit more about the beer consumer and people in Roanoke.
Are you support from a core group of locals?
(23:12):
But also Roanoke is kind of like equidistant between, I would say, us in D.C.
and Nova and Asheville.
It's a well-traveled stretch.
Are you starting to see the beer tourists?
um
kind of drop off 81 hit 581 and go like into downtown Roanoke to seek you all out.
(23:34):
Yeah, we're seeing a little bit more of that.
Yeah, for sure.
um Just this past weekend was Go Fest, which is a big like outdoor extreme sport festivalthat that Roanoke holds every year.
So there's a lot of like, there's people downtown doing, you know, BMX bike expeditionsand rock climbing expeditions and that kind of stuff.
(23:59):
really cool event.
But we
We get a good like out of town crowd.
And I definitely noticed this year, like people coming through saying, you know, we werefrom up Northern Virginia or we're from Asheville and we heard about Blindhouse and,
stopping off.
that's, that's cool.
Um, and yeah, just, just in the years that I've been here, especially Asheville, it'sjust, it's not that far.
(24:27):
And, um,
We're getting like some transplants from there because they're very similar vibe cities,but Roanoke is sort of uh has not been totally taken over by the tourist boom that
Asheville has or had been.
um So we're seeing, we're getting a lot of people that are moving from Asheville into thearea just for the, you know, the similar perks, but a little bit of a quieter, slower
(24:57):
paced uh lifestyle.
from what I've seen.
curious, Tyler, how much of your work with Blindhouse is contingent on the work ofVirginia Wine that's come before and laid the ground?
Of course, there's a gaining reputation with Virginia Wine for being better.
(25:18):
The dig amongst those of us who enjoy Virginia Wine is the good stuff's really good, butit goes for a really good price for the winemaker.
Um, so I'm wondering, you know, how much of that neutral oak comes from Virginia wine andyou're sourcing and access to it versus, uh, someone who would say, no big deal.
(25:41):
just get hungary neutral Hungarian oak or something else had Virginia not had a boomingand growing wine scene.
Yeah, that's a uh good question.
um You know, I keep my barrel stock like relatively tight.
We have about 30 wine barrels and I try to keep those rotating pretty heavily, but I havenot added much to that stock since we've opened.
(26:11):
It's kind of been a good, you know, sweet spot for us.
ah I found that um
In the past, and I think maybe a mistake that a lot of uh breweries made with mixedculture brewing was going a little too heavy into the oak investment and um expecting to
(26:35):
sell, you know, tons and tons of this type of beer and then ending up with a lot ofvinegar in barrels and um
you know, having to dump stuff or having to put out the subpar stuff that maybe burns someconsumers along the way.
um But yeah, it, all my oak, a lot of it came from Pollock Vineyards, which we had arelationship with at my previous brewery, Triple Crossing.
(27:06):
um And uh yeah, it's great to get barrels from uh local
Virginia wineries that treat the oak right, you know, you're going to get something that'snot falling apart.
It's going to hold liquid well, and it's not going to smell terrible.
It's going to be well cleaned and well maintained.
(27:26):
So that's, that's definitely helpful.
And it's good to know that I can, I can source that pretty easily whenever, whenever Iwould need to, you know, retire or replace barrels, but I haven't had to do much with it
thus far.
we're
now approaching three years into it.
(27:47):
So I'm sure in the next year or two, I'll be starting to change some out and hopefully addsome more.
Hopefully I answered your question.
Yeah, absolutely.
and, we're, very interested in, what's happening, you know, just south of us in Roanokebecause, uh you cast a big net.
(28:12):
Um, we know on Saturday you're going to be at Penn druid, friends of the show.
had, uh, Penn druid on actually as cider makers at my cider salon at Snally gaster.
Um, and then after you're pouring at,
In addition to Penn Druid, we're also going to have the Women's Brew Culture event onSaturday.
(28:36):
So it's a big weekend.
There are so many events coming up.
uh Tyler, are you excited about any events either there in Roanoke or any times you'llfind yourself in market, be it Alexandria, DC, or I assume you're not in Maryland yet.
but anytime you see yourself up in the metropolitan DC area, anytime in the next quarter,let's say.
(29:04):
there's, there's nothing specific plans beyond, um, the Pendroot event this Saturday.
Yeah.
I don't have anything the rest of the year.
Um, but I'd love to get back up there, um, and, and find ourselves in DC at some spots.
And I'd love to be able to, you know, get up personally and do, do some tastings at someplaces and, and, uh, talk to people and get around a little bit.
(29:32):
But nothing specific plans.
uh really overbooked myself in October and I am ready to take a break.
also I really need to make some beer because my uh stock is dwindling.
So I need to um get back in there.
(29:52):
Oftentimes, uh winter is where I'm trying to focus production a little more and try to...
um
get a lot of brewing done then and um have some stock to just be sitting and aging in thesort of slower season and then have a lot of stuff ready to go for spring.
(30:15):
Well, Tyler, if you do end up coming back to DC for tastings or just to visit, please letus know because we'll definitely, absolutely help spread the word and get folks out to,
you know, taste your stuff who haven't been able to do so.
Just let us know.
Yeah.
that.
Yeah, I will for sure.
(30:37):
Dwindling stock is a good problem to have for a brewery.
Tyler, thank you so much for joining us.
Everybody, Blindhouse Beer Company, downtown Roanoke, but also available at Better BeerStores in Northern Virginia.
And perhaps the occasional Sixthal will pop up in DC.
Look around for it.
(30:57):
Yeah, but Tyler, thanks so much.
Thanks so much for having me, y'all.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
the idea that you can just like be in Roanoke and there's a place just doing nothing aboutmixed firm and they've got like, you know, 4 % table beer little dancer.
Like it's, phenomenal.
Hey DC beer lovers.
(31:17):
uh Just wanting to remind everyone of the Women's Brew Culture Club Baltimore branch eventthis Saturday.
They are going to Hex Ferment and learning all about uh fermented things,
kombucha and kimchi, and it's going to be a really fun experience.
(31:39):
So if you're interested, just reach out.
We'll get you that information.
And wrapping it back up to me, having a born Bohemian pills from Denizans, our Novemberbeer share, is quickly, maybe too quickly approaching, time needs to stop for a second
(31:59):
sometimes.
uh We're going to be back at Denizans.
on November 9th for our November beer share.
It's an open beer share, so members and non-members can come.
Come meet some cool people and have some delicious beers.
uh Stein, I saw you at the Volume 3 Homecoming release at Third Hill.
(32:24):
Yes, there is so much happening this weekend.
um Tyler with Blindhouse will be at Penn Druid.
I know a number of women's Brew Culture Club members will be at Hex uh out in Baltimore.
um And there is a real really local festival, which is a cask festival across the streetfrom Atlas's new location in the bridge district in Anacostia.
(32:49):
Um, so much going on, but last weekend on Sunday, I was at third hill for the homecomingvolume three with our very own Jordan Harvey.
So go check out third hill for homecoming volume three.
So come on and see us.
at DC BR across social media.
We will see you in November.
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