Episode 473: Source Material with Firestone Walker: Deep Roots and Twisting Bines

When you look at the top restaurants around the world, no matter what cuisine they may focus on, there’s one commonality they all share, and that’s deep relationships with those who grow and raise the very best ingredients. It’s the same in beer—you can’t be the best at what you do without the meaningful, personal, financial, and long-standing relationships that ensure the brewery has access to the very best quality ingredients. These relationships don’t materialize overnight, but for Firestone Walker, they’re the product of 30 years of work. In this series, we highlight a number of these crucial growers, brokers, and processors who have played a role in the world-class beer that Firestone Walker makes. *Episode 2: Deep Roots & Twisting Bines * One of the keys to maintaining a consistent supply of the very best hops is long term relationships and deep commitment paired with the very best analytical science and process improvement, and the purpose of this series is to explore just what that means with some of the key players in this story of ingredient quality. In this episode, Firestone Walker Head Brewer Dustin Kral and Bud Hollingbery of hops broker Hollingbery and Son talk about the way that Hollingbery has worked closely with Firestone Walker for decades now to source and process hops, how current dynamics in the brewing and hops industries are impacting hops growers, and a lot more. Over the years, Bud has seen some remarkable change in the hop industry, and he’s not afraid to tell you exactly what he thinks. Intro music: VintageGroove / Pond5