Third Hill Brewing Company

On this episode of the DC Beer Show, we dive into the stories behind innovative collaborations and the art of brewing with purpose.

Discover how Third Hill Brewery’s owner, Jason Sliter, and head brewer, Matt Cronin, are pushing boundaries with techniques like decoction mashing and smoked yeast reuse, creating beers that surprise even the most seasoned palates.

We break down their latest brew, There Might Be Sirens, a Helles with a twist—infused with subtle smoked character from a German helles yeast process borrowed from Silver Branch, proving that good innovation isn’t just about flavor, but community too.

You'll learn about the collaborative spirit that built Third Hill to a vibrant hub where local homebrewers get their shot at the big leagues through competitions and hands-on brewing experiences.

Perfect for craft beer lovers craving fresh ideas and community-minded brewers seeking inspiration, this episode unlocks the secrets to making beer that’s not just consumed, but celebrated. Whether you’re a homebrewer, a seasoned aficionado, or just beer-curious, you’ll walk away with a new appreciation for craft that’s crafted together.

Join us as we toast to innovation, community, and the future of brewing—because the best beers are built in collaboration. Cheers to breaking molds and building bonds that extend beyond the taproom.

In this episode:

• The story behind Third Hill founder Jason Sliter's transition from homebrewer to brewery owner.
• The technical and creative process of their unique decocted Rauch beer, a collaboration with Silver Branch.
• How Third Hill fosters community, making their brewery a true neighborhood hub.
• Exclusive details on the release of a hazy IPA with complex biotransformation techniques.
• Special shout-outs and upcoming events, including Matt Cronin's farewell party and the third annual homebrew competition.

Resources & Links:

• Third Hill Brewing
• Silver Branch Brewing

Thank you for tuning in! Follow what's happening in the DC scene at DCBeer.com and @dcbeer on social media. Support us at Patreon.com/DCBeer

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Creators and Guests

Host

Brandy Holder

This southern girl got a late start in the beer world, but with such a bold and intoxicating personality behind the name, booze was destined to be a part of her endeavors.

Host

Jacob Berg

Jake’s beer education began when his dad brought home a 6-pack of Brooklyn Lager in the mid-90s. It was love at first sip.

Host

Jordan Harvey

As a born and raised Georgian, lover of music, and HBCU advocate, Jordan’s affinity for craft beer kicked off after being exposed to the craft beer scene in Pennsylvania and the legendary beer scene in Europe.

Host

Mike Stein

Michael Stein is President of Lost Lagers, Washington, DC’s premier beverage research firm. His historic beers have been served at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the Polish Ambassador’s residence.

Producer

Richard Fawal

President of DC Beer Media LLC and Publisher of DCBeer.com and The DC Beer Show

What is The DC Beer Show?

The official podcast of DCBeer.com! Everything you need to know about the people, places, and brews that make the DMV America’s best beer scene, including the best local places for eats, brews, trivia, live music, and more! Learn about the latest trends in craft beer – from the beers, to the breweries, to the business – from the editors of DC Beer.

JB (00:06)
Welcome

everyone to the DC Beer Show. We are at DC Beer across social media. Jordan, what are you drinking this lovely St. Patrick's Day Eve?

Jordan (00:17)
Well, you know, I'm shifting and I'm keeping people on their toes. It's not a hazy. It's actually a hellish lager, which you'll hear a lot about tonight. It is, there might be sirens. I made by 30 Hub Row & Company. And it's a return slash, it's a variant really of one of my favorite beers from 2025. So I'm really enjoying that. But Brandy, what's in your handy? What are you having tonight, love?

Brandy (00:44)
Well, because it's St. Patrick's Day, I feel really terrible for not drinking any beer because I drank probably my body's weight in beer yesterday slash the day before, because why not? And one of those things that I had was the Bespoke Collective. it was a barrel-aged Belgian dark strong ale from none other than Third Hill. Feel like a

theme coming on. I don't know if it's just me, but Mike Stein, what are you drinking tonight?

Michael Stein (01:19)
Well, thanks for asking Brandy keeping the theme going with Maryland beer. have crab town classic, which is a decocted lager, a nerd alert. We're going to talk about decoction on this episode. ⁓ so I've got this nice Amber lager, technically Vienna lager out of Laurel brewed by Rob Fink. I got to see Rob, one of our friends of the show, great brewer in Maryland, but we have some very special guests this evening. We have

Jason owner of Third Hill and Matt ⁓ head brewer of Third Hill soon to be going back to the other side of the globe. Welcome aboard. ⁓ Jason, what are you drinking this evening?

Jason (02:02)
I too am going to stick with the There Might Be Sirens by our very own Third Hill. I did pour in a glass and I do find this quite delicious. I will be moving on to, at some point tonight though probably, Smoke Signals, our collaboration with Silver Branch. So Ralph Beer, it's really good too. Cheers.

Michael Stein (02:23)
Matt, it's so good to have you on the DC Beer Show. What are you drinking this evening?

Matt C (02:29)
Yeah, good to see you guys. Great to be part of the podcast. Ditto with Jason and Jordan. I've got There Might Be Sirens, which is a nice little hellas that we used yeast from our smoked beer that we collaborated with Silver Branch on. So yeah, tasty.

Michael Stein (02:48)
It's really nice to see a practice used at the hell of home the brow high hell of room from Bamberg ⁓ in Germany. You know, they're the famous smoke beer. probably know them dear listener should you have been so lucky to try schlenker law, you know that their hell is doesn't have any smoke malt in it, but it actually has yeast from a previously smoked beer like a Mertzen or an urbac and it seems Matt you've you've copied this process from Silver Ranch take us through that.

Did you did you brew smoke beer and just take the yeast and chuck it into a Hell's? Was there forethought walk us through it?

Matt C (03:24)
Yeah, so I mean, it all kind of came about, you know, a few beers with Jonathan, the head brewer, Jonathan Reeves at Silver Branch. And we wanted to smoke beer. And Jason was, you know, you know, pretty keen on that too. And we finally got our act together, decocted a Marzen Rausch beer and it went through the normal processes. So essentially

All the base grain is smoked malt, beechwood smoked malt from Wehrmacht in Germany. And then we're specialty malts of Karamunich, Munich 1 and Munich 2. We had a slightly more technical process on this. I don't know if you want me to dive into that now or... Okay, yeah. So we have a pretty standard two vessel system. So what we did, we ⁓ split off a third of the grain.

JB (04:13)
Let's get nerdy, please.

Jason (04:16)
Heh

Matt C (04:24)
And while we mashed in our mash tun, we also mashed in our boil kettle. And to keep it circulating, we used the whirlpool mechanism on our boil kettle. So we mashed around 152. And then after an hour, we brought it up to boil in the boil kettle. And we boiled it for roughly 20 minutes and then pumped it over to the mash tun and then brought up that temperature to a higher stack.

breast and then mash out and just a one third decoction single. But it really added a lot of melanoid and kind of character to the beer and certainly it can increase a little bitterness. So we sort of had to adjust some of our bittering units, but I thought the beer came out great. And as we used the H generation

yeast ⁓ from our mates down at Silver Branch on that beer and once it had finished fermenting, I'd reuse that beer from the Rochefee into a Hellas, which is based off our beer, would be, ⁓ what's it called again, Jase? There might be sirens, something about, sorry, a day without sirens, yeah, I'm terrible at names, I just make the beer. But yeah.

Jason (05:43)
A day without sirens. Yeah.

Jordan (05:43)
Dave's outside. Yeah,

Jason (05:47)
It's wishful thinking, really.

Brandy (05:50)
Ha!

Matt C (05:50)
So

anyway, you and it was always a of like, you're definitely picking up someone like that smite character, but as it sort of matured and whatnot, I think there's a little bit there, but I don't know if it's in my mind tricking me into it. I'm always intrigued when people drink it just to see their reaction if they're picking up any of that character. But both beers came out really great, super clear and super flavorful. So we're really stoked on it.

JB (06:20)
So.

Brandy (06:20)
be the

judge of that. ⁓ I want to try this ⁓ slightly smoked helles. We never asked Jake, Jake, what are you drinking tonight, my love?

JB (06:29)
⁓

I'm having an, liked it so much. bought the company moment. ⁓ You belong to me, which is not just a Carly Simon tune, but also the French Pilsner from Lost Generation, which I had many, many pints of at ⁓ Matt's unofficial going away party. ⁓ It's just, it's an absolute dynamite beer. I kept on looking at the Lost Gen menu and just going, no, you know what? Another French Pilsner. ⁓ It's, it's a phenomenal beer.

It's in cans. Yeah. Get you some.

Brandy (07:00)
so perfect. It was so perfect. Yeah.

Michael Stein (07:03)
Wait a minute. I thought,

hold on. I thought Matt's going away party was on Saturday. Jason, I swore I saw you on Instagram prep us for one more, one more hazy IPA. Tell us what's happening at, at third Hill this weekend.

Jason (07:22)
Yeah, well this this weekend is a bonkers weekend. We've got a ton of stuff going on. We start off with announcing our homebrew competition winners from three to five that day. So if you're interested in that kind of thing, want to see who wins the homebrew contest, that's that's the time to come out. But after that, we are having, I guess, a more public. I don't know if I'd say official or not official. I think one was a little more close knit. One's a little more public hurrah for.

our friend Matt to take off on his new adventure. this Saturday from 6 30 till the party ends, ⁓ is when you're going to want to come out and say goodbye to Matt and, drink just one more. We do have a special Matt special hazy and the tanks that'll be ready to go on Saturday. I will not nerd out on Matt's beer because he deserves that privilege at this point. ⁓ but we'll be, we'll be keying it off to, ⁓ icing the cake, I guess is a better way to say it with a booze Island kind of our

Resident house band rocking the Ruja. So it's gonna be every bit of party So definitely come on out and say goodbye to Matt. See him off. Say farewell or see you later, mate and Wish him well

Jordan (08:33)
Yeah, you know, I'm looking forward to Saturday. It's always special to have my neighborhood ⁓ hop in great beer factory, ⁓ know, cranking out good beers. But, know, Jason, lot of folks, you know, this is going be, you know, some of their first store or they just haven't heard from you as much as I think they should. So what number home brew competition is this? Is this your first, second, third? Just tell us more about this initiative.

Jason (08:56)
Yeah, this is our third. Um, and I wanted to do it because I love the homebrew community. Um, I mean, I came from it. I think a whole ton of the brewers that I've had a chance to meet and brewery owners kind of came from it. I know not everybody has, but, um, it was just something, a way to like, kind of give back to the community, so to speak, where they can, whoever wins it gets to have their beer brewed on our system. Uh, and they get to come and help out, help, you know,

design the recipe a little bit. You know, they might not know what ordering is for a commercial brewery. there's always some tweaks to account for that, but it's always a good time. They come out, they get his hands on as they want to be or not want to be and just watch. They can do everything from, you know, loading bags of grain into the crusher to turning valves and pitching yeast and all that stuff. So it's a really good time. And then you get to come back and be a guest bartender and throw a party for yourself.

on the release of your beer and ⁓ homebrew competition number two, is undercover lover is Sean Moffitt's winning beer. won the with a British strong ale and ⁓ he brought a party. it's a good time. So really it's just a way to connect with the community that's near and to my heart and I love and I do feel like sometimes homebrewers don't get all the love they get when they go to a brewery. ⁓ But we don't want to be that we want to show them the love they deserve.

That's kind of the genesis and we're at number three.

Brandy (10:27)
That was Sean's beer, Undercover Lover. I fucking love that beer. was just there last Tuesday and I was like, I'm not leaving without cans of this again. And it wasn't there, so I got this Bespoke Collective, which is also very delicious. dude, that's awesome that that was Sean's homebrew win. Hell yeah. All right. Well, whoever is the next winner, y'all better bring that shit.

Jason (10:49)
Yep, yep, fantastic. And still Sip and Spoke.

in that the Belgian Dark Strong you're drinking is a barrel-aged version of the homebrew contest number one winner. So we're all enjoying these winning beers.

Brandy (11:03)
okay, cool.

Matt C (11:05)
Yep,

Bye, broi.

Brandy (11:07)
Can I

real quick go back, I don't wanna talk too much, but I wanna go back to the smoked, the Rausch beer and how you ended up doing that as a collab. I have heard one or two other breweries decide to do a collab Rausch beer because if you ask any brewer, because we're always asking, complaining like why aren't there more Rausch beers made?

make a Rausch beer and everyone's like, no one buys it, no one buys it, no one drinks it. And so it was a way to kind of split up the amount of Rausch beer each brewery had. And so you're not just sitting on way more, but I think this needs to be a new trend. I 100 % support this sharing of the Rausch beer, collab Rausch beer. Yeah, so I applaud you for that.

⁓ and going in on that with Super Ranch. It's really cool and it's delicious, so go try it.

Matt C (12:06)
Thank you.

JB (12:08)
Yeah, I just want to follow up. I think Brandy makes a good point. And that's how did you all decide on a collab Rauch beer as opposed to something else? We figured that with Jonathan Reeves involved, ⁓ it was probably going to be a lager of some sort, but a smoked one. mean, it makes us over here at DC Beer very, very happy. But I know that for those breweries that have sales reps out ⁓ in the area, ⁓

Jordan (12:08)
Yeah, and.

JB (12:37)
it often confuses them.

Matt C (12:44)
of this or do you want to like go in and out on this?

Jason (12:50)
Well, I'll say my part real quick because Matt and Jonathan were really the masterminds of the idea and kicked it off in the beer style. But I love the idea, I guess a little bit. So we didn't have way too much rock beer that we could ever move through quickly. But also, you know, the two remaining breweries and Silver Spring coming together, just kind of representing good beer out of Silver Spring and just building kind of that beer community with our fellow brewery.

That's why I was pumped about it, probably more so than we each get to split a batch and not have as much hanging around. But either that's a little part of it, we're honest. But Matt can tell you more about the genesis of how it all happened. Because we let the breweries or the brewers in the brew team just run with this. And it was just kind of fun to be around, fun to watch.

Brandy (13:24)
Yeah.

Matt C (13:43)
like, you know, Jonathan and his brew team would come up and, you know, they're a wonderful group of guys. ⁓ you know, we just kind of got talking on styles and, know, I was trying to push the decoction method on the two vessel system and Jonathan came up and we went through some of the engineering issues with that and like, you know, workarounds and whatnot. And we came up with a pretty simple scenario. ⁓ and we kind of just like, this is a good.

learning experience. like while a great beer came out of it, was more a, you know, an opportunity for, you know, both brewing teams to kind of spend time together and like really see how like a system can really get pushed and work together and make it work. And it all came together and it was a fabulous day.

It's definitely a long day, but ⁓ I think it really reflects in the finished product. So yeah, we're pretty stoked with it. And you know, Jonathan is ⁓ very attuned to what he wants. you know, certainly we have ⁓ very tight hold on what we want as well. And so trying to make sure that we

you know, bridge everybody's expectations. You know, it's kind of a fun part of the process and kind of just amps it up a little bit more because there's a little bit more riding on it, but you learn a lot and, you know, there's such a great amount of wealth of knowledge, you know, with our mates down the road and, you know, we're just really excited to be part of it and hopefully they got a lot from us as well.

Jordan (15:34)
Yeah, and you know, I'm not the biggest smoke beer fan, but I will say it is definitely tasty. And the character it adds to There Might Be Sirens is definitely something I didn't think I would enjoy as much as I am. It's subtle. It's not as you know, it's not the smokiest beer I've ever had in life. I enjoy it and I appreciate you guys doing that. And also as a Silver Spring local, it's always good to see the two powerhouses and the two remaining breweries.

coming together and working together to do those things. But ⁓ Jason, I want to hear bit more from you, ⁓ You talked about kind of one of your initiatives with the home brew. Obviously, folks that follow the show or that follow me know that you and I, brew together. The three of us, you, Matt and myself, are our annual homecoming beer. But folks might not know a lot about you and or Third Hill. So what should folks know about Third Hill? Just coming from directly from the owner.

Jason (16:33)
⁓ I think that's a lot actually. Hopefully, know, hopefully the gateway is that the beer is good, right? You know, I think that has to come for something. ⁓ But hopefully you get a chance to learn a little bit more about us that we actually are quite intentional about building community, ⁓ creating an atmosphere where you come in the door. If you come in by yourself, there's a good chance you're going to leave with a new friend.

Jordan (16:37)
Softball, softball.

Jason (17:02)
And we've just seen this over the years where people are meeting each other at the brewery. They're getting to know each other. They're becoming friends. They're hanging out outside the brewery. We try and support as many local endeavors as we can. We've done a lot of, know, obviously we've, like you said, Jordan with Harvey Wilder Foundation. worked with ⁓ Black Water Conservation Association. We've worked with more, which is the Mid-Atlantic Offroad Enthusiasts. We did some stuff with the LLS. ⁓

But we just want to build community and see community built. And the more that we can foster that attitude and foster that environment in our place, the better I think we're doing. And that's the best job that we can be doing. So beer's good, gotta have good beer. ⁓ But hopefully that's the gateway into new friends, new communities, making memories together. And I think that would be it, really. If I had to pick one thing is that

We want to care about our community. We want to take care of the people that we get to serve and be a part of. And nobody owes us anything. We opened our doors. Nobody has to walk through them. Right. And I know we don't ever want to take that for granted. We want to be grateful for every person that comes in and treat them like family.

Jordan (18:14)
Yeah, and just one more follow up before we get to, you someone who he didn't really get permission from us to move to Australia. So before we get to that, just one more thing from you, Jason, you know, you started off as a home brewer, as you kind of mentioned at the top of the show, you know, what has that transition been like from home brewing to now you're a brewery owner, a Sunnitbee brewer. How has that transition looked for you and, know,

any highlights or any peaks and valleys that you speak to for just for the listeners.

Jason (18:46)
man, it's been a wild ride, I guess. ⁓ our original plan was to, for me to be a brewer when we opened the spot, right? We didn't, we didn't decide to create third hill and open third hill because there was an opportunity to acquire the assets of Astrolab. We were way down the road in the process looking at another space, just kind of hit an impasse with that landlord when Astrolab reached out to us as one of those, maybe I should.

at least have this conversation because it came out of the blue and maybe this is good thing. So we went and met or I went and met and talked to Matt and Emma and here we are now. So like the plan from the jump was that I would be doing the brewing at the the brewery. ⁓ Obviously, as I got to know Matt and kind of our agreed upon transition time, it just felt like a really good fit. And it felt like if we can keep them on, if we get lucky and

I do like to think Matt got a little lucky to get to stay with us, ⁓ but we definitely got lucky in that it worked out. think there was a of a similarity in beer philosophy and appreciation for the beer and also though a similarity in what the tap room could be and should be ⁓ that resonated with Matt because I think if he thought it was going to be garbage, I don't think he'd do it. ⁓

So that was a good opportunity and it just let me have just kind of a slower, flatter learning curve, I guess, just to be around, see the process and kind of understand a little better without having to be thrust right into it, which I would have been okay with, but this is the way it went. So this is the way I'm thankful for. ⁓ So going forward, know, obviously ⁓ there's an expectation of our beers and you know,

And so like there's, there's always a little bit of nervousness, like, can I pull it off? Can I do it? Can we continue to move forward? And, ⁓ but I think so. ⁓ otherwise I would make a different decision and try and hire another head brewer or something like that. But for right now, I think it's an opportunity for me to kind of get back into something that, that I loved doing before and I kind of miss doing. And I like, I love the whole concept of how many of my friends.

can I get to like the beer that I'm making right now or this recipe that I'm coming up with? That was really what I thought of with almost every recipe is like, how many of my friends will like this? Will everybody like it? It's like, no, these guys don't like IPA, so they won't like it, but maybe everybody else will or whatever. So just to kind of get back to that and be a little more hands on with that, kind of excited for that.

Matt C (21:31)
Yeah, and if I could just add to that, you know, I received notice of our departure a while back. So this has been well planned. So Jason has been producing quite a few of these beers that are coming out now. like he's been kind of front of house running the business. So now he's kind of taken on the brewing aspect. So he's kind of spinning a few plates. So but like we're

Jordan (21:32)
Yeah.

Matt C (22:00)
In terms of the consistency of the beer, I don't see that changing at all because the transition has been so tight.

Brandy (22:09)
do want to say, and this may be off putting initially, but hear me out. I vividly remember when AstroLab was closing, we were all very upset. Matt and Emma did the most amazing job creating this wonderful ⁓ group of people who came day in and day out to come support AstroLab and drink the beer. And we were all salty. ⁓

when we found out that they were closing. even Jordan was like, I don't know about this new third hill. I don't even know. But I'm throwing you under the bus, Jordan, because you were like, I'm not going to third hill. I'm going to miss Matt and Emma. But I will say, because Matt stayed on, I think it helped the whole general community of Silver Spring and the previous Astrolab community, knowing that Matt was staying on and that it was

Jordan (22:50)
Okay.

Brandy (23:08)
You know, it's like leaving to go to a new place like Matt is about to do, there was a bit of a connection there. And I'm really thankful that because of that, because of Matt's did stay on to brew the beer, that allowed everyone to be like, OK, and give Third Hill the chance that it deserved instead of just saying, I'm not, it's a new brewery and I'm not going to that, blah, blah, blah. I mean, I

Everybody was saying that and I will throw you under the bus when I see you in person at our beer share at Third Hill on April 17th. But I'm really glad that that happened because I was just at Third Hill last Tuesday after our Jake and I spoke on this panel thing at the CraftCon and I sat at the bar, knew the bartender from Hellbender.

⁓ met a new person who was visiting from wherever he was visiting from and a regular just sitting there. And it was so lovely. And Jason and Matt and Third Hill in general, you've done a really great job with making the regulars feel welcomed. Like it was almost a seamless transition. And that is impressive. I feel the love in Third Hill, genuinely.

It might have started out a little salty, but here we are on a sweet note.

Jordan (24:32)
You

Matt C (24:36)
Yeah, but

I think you the nail on the head there, Brandy. Seamless transition, and that's pretty much what the Astrolab Third Hill deal was. It was seamless. We had similar philosophies, and it was easy for me to come on board. Jason and his family are wonderful people.

great values and they work hard and we have the same philosophy and we want to make great beer and they work hard in the front of house. I see them working hard, that's great motivation for me. I thought it was just, you know, it just worked out. You know, I wasn't expecting it to, but so I was very grateful.

Brandy (25:24)
Yeah, don't think

Jordan (25:25)
Yeah.

Brandy (25:25)
any of us were expecting it to, but look, here we are and it's awesome. So I'm really happy for Jason and ⁓ the rest of the crew there. And ⁓ please continue.

Jordan (25:39)
Yeah, you know,

one thing you said, Jason, that really kind of jumped out at me was, you know, I guess, you know, who should feel lucky? I think if anything, people like myself should feel lucky that we have, you know, awesome beer in a community and a third space to go to at Third Hill. All right. I mean, I

I've met so many new friends, so many new memories, which I think you have that as like you have a board on in your tap room where folks can take pictures with like a, almost like a disposable, excuse me, a Polaroid camera where you can take pictures with whomever and like post that. And I've just seen the community that you guys have built over the past, over the few years that you guys have been in operation. And Brandy's right. I mean, I think it's pretty well documented that I was skeptical, but I've blown away and I've been fortunate enough to kind of

to be a part of the Third Hill family, but also just to get to know you and your family. But, you know, one thing I have to point out is, you know, ⁓ Ashilat was known for being a Hayes factory. And I was skeptical because I'm not the bigger, I wasn't the biggest lager fan, say three or four years ago. Things have changed. And I think in large part to ⁓ me growing up and maturing a bit, but also just to the fact that you guys have cranked up some great beers.

You alluded to a new IPA that's coming out on Saturday and Matt, this may be ⁓ one of your ode or farewell letters to the DMV area. Could you tell us about this, Hazy?

Matt C (27:08)
Jason does promise to find me back once in a while. Yeah, no, yeah. So anyway, I kind of put together my favorite hops and you know, you know, basically made a hazy IPA. Like not withstanding, I do have a like a colch coming out, like we're packaging tomorrow hopefully with just pure ⁓ cologne malt.

⁓ from Germany and Halitau and Littlefro, actually sorry, Halitau and ⁓ Birbsbrucke, so pretty classic. So I still need to finish with a hazy, so classic then a little bit more, I guess neo classic now. So I had a little bit of Phantasm stashed away, Satura Mosaic at the sleeve, so I...

Do you want me to go into a little bit of technical stuff or? Okay, I can, I'll make it brief. I'll make it brief. basically, you know, regular mash, Pilsner malt, a of wheat, a little bit of raw wheat and a touch of dextrin mashed in, added some Phantasm.

Jordan (28:09)
I do just because people think IPAs are very boring. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Matt C (28:32)
into the mash, just to sort of play with some thio pre-cursors. Not that I was using a thio yeast, but I just really want to push some of the flavor aspects. So Phantasm is a saffron blog grape powder from New Zealand, more or less, and it helps generate extra flavors within your beer. From there, we added a touch of citra just to break some of the oil.

Brandy (29:02)
you

Matt C (29:06)
I'm losing my chain I thought. So I added some Citra into the boil just for some base bittering because you know Citra's great. And then added a little bit of cold water at ender boil, Whirlpool with Citra and Mosaic, my two favorite American hops at 185s. Yep, bang.

Brandy (29:24)
Mosaic!

Matt C (29:28)
Then it's like, well, Rewarker's got a special place. So I dropped the Whirlpool again to 175, added Rewarker just to really extract some of those passion fruit characteristics. Then pumped into the fermenter, added, well, Citra has to be again. So 300 mL of liquid Citra Spectrum, which is one of the new hot products from PASS products. So that went into the fermenter. And once it hit,

Pete Krausen, I added...

11 pounds and hand selected Nels and Savion from Freestyle Hops and hand selected Freestyle Hops Rewalker, bit of biotransformation. So we're kind of getting like a Savion Blanc, Passion Fruit, Bomb, Yeast, you know, a bit of a Yeast character driving some of that Citroen note there as well. And then once right at the end of

fermentation still a little bit of biotrans still there. Well, I added another 11 pounds of Nelson, hand selected stuff. And then I dropped it after, uh, after two or three days, uh, dropped all yeast and then added, uh, 11 pounds of hand selected New Zealand freestyle hops, New Zealand cascade. And, um, yeah, I gave that 40.

40 hours and I make Jace tasted it today. He'll be able to us further, but all spandered at the end, all naturally carved. And, you know, I think it's kind of everything I've learned in that building at 8216 Georgia Avenue, which you'll be able to see the space this weekend with Booze Island in there. But yeah, I pretty much just put everything.

that I know in that space and the ingredients that I use and the ingredients I love and certainly showcasing New Zealand ⁓ but as a New Zealand American I you know I love citrus, mosaic, Simcoe but Simcoe didn't make the card on this one ⁓ but really want to get the ingredients that I love there and yeah I think I think you're gonna like it.

Jordan (31:50)
You know, I think I'm going to like it too for one reason as well for two reasons that are obvious. A, I can't see through it. So with all those hops, it's like a hop broth, a hop soup almost. So I'm looking forward to that. ⁓ But I'm also going to love it just because you guys have not cranked out a bad beer at Third Hill. So I'm really looking forward to having that. I'll be there on Saturday for all the fields.

Brandy (31:50)
You had me at Mosaic.

Matt C (31:52)
Yeah.

Jordan (32:18)
and all of that. And I think there's a few more questions, but just, just, you know, one last thing for me and Jason, really appreciate all that you've done for the local service brand community, Montgomery County. I think it's a better space having third hill there. ⁓ And, you know, I have no doubt you'll continue to crank out some awesome beers and Matt, know, you were one of the first commercial brewers to ever give me a bag of hot pellets to use in my home brews. So I will never forget that. And I always cherish that. So

You know, good luck to any and everything that you guys do next third hill. I'll be along for the ride, but I don't know if I'll be making any 16 hour flights to the Gold Coast anytime soon. So that's TBD. But yeah, that's all for me.

JB (33:02)
So, Matt, savvy listeners and those who know you, I think have clocked your accent and that you are from New Zealand, but you're moving to Australia. How offended are you going to be if you end up in a brewery in Australia and they start trying to sell you on Galaxy and Vic Secret as opposed to Burwocka, Nelson Sauv and Motueka? I imagine there's a little friendly rivalry there between Australia and New Zealand.

Matt C (33:30)
That's a good galaxy and that's the good, ⁓ I mean, as they opened up acreage in Australia, ⁓ some of the quality declined, but there are good lots and, you know, maybe that's come together. I haven't used it for a while. ⁓ so, you know, I hope to be pleasantly surprised, but yeah, you're right. ⁓ I am moving to an area where my accent will be no longer unique. so that's going to be interesting.

Brandy (33:57)
You

Matt C (34:01)
Yeah, yeah, look, I think it'll be okay. I've scoped out a couple of breweries and I can see that they're using plenty of New Zealand hops for the Geno C quest. So I think I'll be all right.

Michael Stein (34:15)
Yeah, for sure. ⁓ Well, Matt, I wanted to ask you, you know, you've got Citroen mosaic, ⁓ Roa walker, and not just Citra, but liquid Citra, a product called spectrum and Nelson. ⁓ How different is this IPA that we're going to have a third hill? I'm super excited to see everybody on Saturday at third hill. How much variation has occurred? Obviously.

⁓ Shameless plug for the DC beer show episode 214. We had Shayna Solarda to talk about flowable hop products, but you started in 2018 flowable hop products were around, but they were really in their infancy. There wasn't all this. How much that's in this IPA that we're going to have at third Hill on Saturday has come about in the last 12 to 24 months versus what you were doing back in 2018.

Matt C (35:09)
Yeah, so we only use 300 mLs ⁓ of liquid in there, we've used some powder product into the mash as well. But in terms of the actual beer, it's just a full-flavored IPA. Every molecule in it has a flavor and aroma compound. ⁓ It is packed. mean, it's a little ridiculous. ⁓

Jason and I had it today when it's not quite finished yet. It's got about a tenth of a volume to pick up. And hopefully we can get that just from its maintaining head pressure. But in terms of when I started, yes, I didn't see any liquid products come out at all. And I hadn't used any. And the first one I got was a

little like a silver bullet from freestyle of rewok it might've been actually my to work it, which ⁓ we made a beer called candy jail. ⁓ it's, ⁓ which was, ⁓ we kind of edited it in line going into the fermenter and, and it was fantastic. And it's like, it was basically just a concentrated, ⁓ bomb, like ⁓ not a lot of bittering. So, you know, it's kind of adding

I guess ⁓ no bittering but like all those nice citrus or passion fruit characteristics ⁓ into your liquid but without any of the bittering or any of the vegetative material coming through. ⁓ It's a wonderful product but like it can... What I have read and what we've played with in the brewery just by adding that to beers is

Brandy (36:50)
you

Matt C (37:05)
like a little goes a long way and by adding too much it can overpower it and make it taste sweet. So I think we aired on the side of caution and I think we aired the right way. ⁓ I think it's going to be a banger. Jason, thoughts?

Jason (37:23)
I think y'all are gonna love it. As we say, no drama, just a good hazy, right? Something like that.

Jordan (37:34)
That works for me. That works for you.

Matt C (37:38)
Is there anything else specific, Mike, that you wanted to cover like in terms of the liquid?

Michael Stein (37:44)
No, that's great. I think, you know, you really made a name for yourself with with Astro lab. ⁓ And I think, you know, Jason, you've done a great job of bringing a new brewery on the block with third hill, but in the space that you know, some of us were fortunate enough to get to ⁓ back in 2019. ⁓ So no, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, gents.

JB (38:11)
So in addition to this Saturday being Matt's last day, the home brew comp and Booz Island at Third Hill, Brandy, something else happening this Saturday.

Brandy (38:23)
So I will see you all on Saturday. I initially was gonna stay inside because I've had my body's weight in alcohol, like I previously mentioned. And so I can't say no. I'm gonna be at Third Hill on Saturday, but I'm also gonna be at Chacho. So I don't know if you guys keep up, but Chacho's last day at the Brick and Mortar Distillery, which was such a huge deal, which was the former Don Ciccio space.

It's their last day. So I will be probably not driving. I will be hitting up third hill and saying goodbye to Matt again, probably bringing camera and then saying bye to Chacho. Cause that was such a wonderful space and I love Dan. It really is unfortunate that this neighborhood, this area can't keep any sort of place, a local bar, dive, anything.

⁓ in between Three Stars and Hellbender. It's a mess. And I'm glad that Imani is opening Urban Garden in the former Right Proper original Shaw location, but she was supposed to open up over here in Fort Totten. So if you are listening and you have money, please open a brewery or a dive bar or any place in the Fort Totten Riggs Park area, please. Thank you. ⁓ But I will see you on Saturday.

Matt C (39:48)
you

Brandy (39:49)
And next month, if you didn't make it to our women's panel at other half, which was today or tonight, Thursday, March 19th, we hope to see you next month in Baltimore. is Amber's turn again to host the Women's Proculture Club Baltimore branch edition since we were partying in Cancun, Mexico for her wedding in February. So thanks.

for coming to the Women's Panel. We will have another Women's Panel probably in April, so stay tuned for that. But stay tuned for the Women's Food Culture Club ⁓ April edition with Amber. And I will definitely see everybody on Saturday partying, drinking lots of alcohol, and not driving.

JB (40:33)
Cool.

Yeah, again, thank you, Matt. It's one last chance for us to hoist the pint with Matt, but we have many more chances to do so with Jason. Thank both of you for your appearance here. We are at DC Beer and obviously we depend on the support of viewers, listeners and readers like you, dcbeer.com slash Patreon. All right, we're back at it in two weeks, everybody. Be well.

Jordan (40:34)
Thanks

Brandy (40:59)
Cheers. And I want to say cheers to Matt wherever he ends up landing, brewery-wise, they are very lucky to have him.

Matt C (41:00)
Thank you.

Jordan (41:00)
Cheers.

Jason (41:02)
Thanks, yeah.

Matt C (41:09)
thank you for doing everything you do for craft beer. You've been It's not farewell, it's until next time.