About This Course

This course includes 93+ minutes of video

In this 93-minute course, included in your All Access subscription, Urban Artifact cofounder and COO Bret Kollman Baker opens the books on what he’s learned about brewing tasty, fruit-first beers that drink well below their strength. Along the way, he covers:

  • why you should cook your strawberries
  • the smart sourcing of whole fruit
  • the benefits of leaning into purees
  • what to know about using fruit juices and concentrates
  • why you should avoid dehydrated fruit but experiment with freeze-dried
  • aseptic versus frozen purees
  • delivering the fruit flavor promised on the can
  • the careful use of fruit-flavor extracts for top notes
  • using WONF products (those “with other natural flavors”)
  • what to ask your supplier about their fruit
  • working directly with farmers for custom purees
  • making connections at the farmer’s market
  • adjusting beer’s other flavors to emphasize the fruit
  • the importance of yeast nutrient when fermenting fruit beers
  • adding manganese as a nutrient for Lactobacillus
  • when to add the fruit
  • fruit-first or beer-first, and choosing a base beer style
  • key considerations for natural-tasting acidification
  • respecting the power of vanilla
  • spices, hops, and pragmatic flavor considerations
  • adding and dialing in tannins for greater drinkability
  • how yeast selection affects fruit flavors
  • the Urban Artifact approach to brewing fruit tarts
  • fermenting for a cleaner lactic acidity

And more.


Instructor

Drinkers today are drawn to recognizable flavors—especially fruit flavors—and we have more options than ever for adding fruit to our beers. Yet there’s an underappreciated art to making flavorful, delicious, balanced, drinkable beers that really taste like the fruit that’s in them—those where you have to keep going back for more. Few breweries have had as much success with fruit beers—or have accumulated as much intelligence on what works and what doesn’t—as Cincinnati’s Urban Artifact, known for their “fruit tarts” such as berry-laden Gadget, lemon-lime Spyglass, and tropical Teak—which we named one of our Best 20 Beers in 2022.

Bret Kollman Baker

Cofounder and COO, Urban Artifact

Course Curriculum

  • 01

    Introduction

    Show Content

    • Hi! Here’s How We Became Fruit-Beer Specialists.
  • 02

    The Forms of Fruit

    Show Content

    • The Pros, Cons, and Perils of Whole Fruit

    • Using Fruit Juices and Concentrates

    • Dehydrated vs Freeze-Dried

    • Aseptic vs Frozen Purees

    • Fruit-Flavor Extracts

    • On WONFs (“with Other Natural Flavors”) and Pragmatism
  • 03

    Digging into the Details

    Show Content

    • How to Get the Best Purees You Can Get

    • Key Brewing Considerations, from Acidification to Nutrients and More

    • Vanilla, Spices, Hops, and the Fun of the Modern Flavor Sciences

    • The Many Benefits of Tannins

    • Choosing the Right Yeast for Your Fruit Beer

    • Brewing a Fruit Tart at Urban Artifact (with Many More Tips)
  • 04

    Parting Thoughts

    Show Content

    • Parting Words—and More Tips!—and Thank You
  • 05

    Bonus Tracks

    Show Content

    • Case Study: Urban Artifact Doubles Down on Fruit

    • Podcast Episode 165: Bret Kollman Baker of Urban Artifact is Fastidious About Quick-Soured Beers

    • Recipe: Urban Artifact Teak

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