Recently, I spent a full day learning how to make beer with my brother Noah, already an incredibly accomplished brewing craftsman, despite being only 22 years old. The lesson was not purely for fun – Some of you already know about our fledgling brewing operation, Bissell Brothers. As our story continues to unfold, it is clear that my role will be rooted in the marketing and business areas (and raw physical work when it comes time) as opposed to the actual making of the beer – My brother will always be the wizard behind the curtain in that respect – but I needed to know more than I did about the actual brewing – Which was essentially nothing until Noah walked me through the process.

I had already learned a great deal about the culture and history of beer thank to my brother, as well as developed a palette for many different types of brews. But the actual process of making the end product was still largely foreign to me, and we both decided that was something that needed to be remedied.

The raw materials needed, and the actual processes, are simple and few – but like most crafts, it gets infinitely deeper, more complex, and much more of an art if you want to become truly good at it.

Spending the day brewing a batch of our Substance IPA, I gained an even deeper respect for brewers everywhere -

Making a fermented beverage is easy.

Making a great beer is an art.

The “Krausen”, a yeast starter

a brewer’s house will have many refrigerators

Frozen Hop Varieties

Making the wort

Water & Malt = Wort

Hops at their final stage in the boil (left) and beginning stage as a seedling (right)

Adding hops to the boil

Noah’s own hop garden

Brewers get thirsty too!