Live Oak founder Chip McElroy and head brewer Dusan Kwiatkowski explain why shallower horizontal tanks have a treasured place in their fermentation cellar.

Dusan Kwiatkowski , Chip McElroy Jun 1, 2022

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Live Oak Brewing in Austin, Texas, is best known for their old-fashioned, highly drinkable, award-winning lagers and wheat beers. Many of those beers involve Old World ingredients, traditional decoction mashes, or significant portions of smoked malts.

In this wide-ranging, opinionated, 68-minute conversation, founder Chip McElroy and head brewer Dusan Kwiatkowski detail the how and why of the recipes and processes behind their beers—in particular, they zoom in on their pre-Prohibition–style Pre-War Pils and remarkable Polish-style Grodziskie, brewed with 100 percent oak-smoked malt.

Among other topics, they discuss:

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Are you ready for this one, lager nerds? In this discursive but detailed video course, Live Oak founder Chip McElroy and head brewer Dusan Kwiatkowski talk smoked beers, pre-Prohibition lager, cereal mashes, decoctions, and much more.

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