Reviving Tradition: Heirloom Corn in Craft Beer

In this episode, Jake, Mike, and Brandy chat with Matt Furda from Mayan Monkey Brewing, diving deep into the world of craft beer, particularly focusing on unique ingredients like heirloom corn. 

The conversation kicks off with everyone's current beer selections, highlighting a variety of Mexican-style lagers. As the discussion unfolds, Matt shares insights into his brewing process, emphasizing the importance of local ingredients and traditional methods. He reveals his efforts to revive a nearly extinct corn variety, which he plans to use in future brews after growing it in his backyard, showcasing a commitment to both heritage and innovation in brewing.

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

Thanks to our monthly supporters

• Quinten Patterson
• C Sandoval
• Gilbert Glickstein
• Ethan Sapperstein
• Sean Whipkey
• Randy Mills
• Ryan
• Llalan Fowler
• Michael Losi
• Adam Heisenberg
• Brian
• Jeff Lucas
• Micaela Carrazco
• Lauren
• Sean Moffitt
• Anthony Scipione
• johnna infanti
• Catherine Ramirez
• Kristin
• Adam Frank
• Tyler Lynch
• Jared Prager
• Jeff
• Michael O'Connor
• Favio Garcia
• Josh
• Ellen Daniels
• Juan Deliz
• Mike Lastort
• James Wisnieski
• Chris Frome
• Sam
• Chip
• Tory Roberts
• Chris DeLoose
• Lauren Cary
• Clifton B
• Scott Pavlica
• Greg Antrim
• jeffrey garrison
• Alexis Smith
• Dan Goldbeck
• Anthony Budny
• Greg Parnas
• Frank Chang
• Kim Klyberg
• Chris Girardot
• Alyssa
• jeffrey katz
• Andrew MacWilliams
• Jamie Jackson
• Meegan
• Mike Rucki
• Jason Tucker
• Nick Gardner
• Amber Farris
• Sarah Ray
• Peter Jones
• Blue2026
• Brad Stengel
• Bill and Karen Butcher
• Jordan Harvey
• Stephen Claeys
• Julie Verratti
• DFA Howie Kendrick

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

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. are at DC Beer across social media. Mike Stein, what's in your Stein tonight?

Michael Stein (00:13)
Not in my Stein, but in my Willy Becker, I've got Chula Mexican style lager. It's from Mayan monkey. It's got pills, corn, Vienna and double kilned Munich malt. The hops are Holladao, Middlefru, Zaatz and hers, brocker. It's a tasty pint. Brandy, what are you enjoying? What's in your glass?

Brandy (00:37)
Well, I was looking for the Lost Loggers logo, but is the Virginia Porter not a Lost Loggers beer? ⁓ I don't see. Well, we got to talk to somebody about this. I am drinking a Dynasty Virginia's Porter, ⁓ which I did a video back seems like forever ago with Fabio and Mike Stein talking about this beer. And it is just a delightful, lovely, seemingly light because it's

Michael Stein (00:41)
It's, it is a Lawslagers beer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Brandy (01:07)
just over 5%, but it drinks like it's like a light 8, 9 % porter. It's quite lovely. It's not quite stout and Baltic porter day, but it's close enough. What are you drinking, mister? ⁓ go ahead.

Michael Stein (01:19)
Well, Brandy, says Virginia, I'm going to step

on Jake's for just a moment. Virginia Porter brewed with all Virginia malt.

Brandy (01:30)
That's right. You're right. I remember now. What are you drinking Jake?

JB (01:36)
So like Stein, I have here a Mexican style lager. But unlike him, this has some carbon miles on it. This is from Wiseacre. This is Skydog Mexican lager. I believe it has a GABF metal. And ⁓ we'll see about that. ⁓ I had grand plans to interview the folks from Wiseacre. They never materialized, but they sent us beer all the same. That's very cool of them. And so shout out to Wiseacre. Hey.

Matt Ferda from Mayan Monkey. What are you drinking tonight?

Matt Furda (02:11)
I am drinking one of our beers. So Moreno, our amber Mexican lager, came out last week. It is Maryland grown Vienna malt and then Indiana grown Oaxacan green corn malt from Sugar Creek.

Brandy (02:29)
you use a bear branch, correct?

Matt Furda (02:33)
Yeah, yeah, use, so everything we do is small batch craftmall. So from roughly, you know, the localish East Coast all the way out to Indiana. So Riverbend in Asheville, we'll do Murphy and Rude in Charlottesville.

Bear Branch, of course, and then some Sugar Creek in Indianapolis. So they've all got slightly different selections. They've all got their different character to them. So I kind of pick and choose and I try to keep each beer specific to a certain maltster.

Brandy (03:06)
Thanks

Awesome. I have one very important question. It's the most important question of all the entire show. When are you going to brew that smoked oat lager again? And ⁓ how many cases can I get of it?

Matt Furda (03:31)
Hahaha.

JB (03:37)
That's right, we want La Lombre.

Matt Furda (03:37)
Yeah, the smoked helles. The smoked helles. ⁓ We shall see. The way you smoke beer sells, it's looking like I can do. ⁓ know, the smoked helles for six months out of the year. And then in about a month from now, we'll have ⁓ Rosa, our smoked amber. ⁓

And just flip flop between the two every six months. Maybe one year we'll get to brew three batches in a single year. We'll see.

Brandy (04:12)
Just drop it at the DC beer crew location. We'll take care of it. We'll drink it all.

Matt Furda (04:18)
Perfect,

perfect.

Brandy (04:19)
I want to know, Matt, what you have brewing right now.

Matt Furda (04:25)
So this past week, it's Monday, last week I brewed Alma, which is going to be a premium Mexican lager. So it's going to be around 5.5%, 525.55. All Avalon Pilsner, so a nice really pale Pilsner malt. And then 22 % is a white heirloom masa harina.

So, nexthimalized corn. ⁓ Really then a little bit of ⁓ sapphire and hollertown middle fruit in the boil. know, notes of spice and citrus, really subtle notes on this really nice pale crispy tortilla backbone. ⁓ So, we'll have chula are 4%, Alma are five and a half, and then Moreno are dark.

Brandy (05:10)
Mm-hmm.

Matt Furda (05:19)
as our kind of Mexican lager base. then the plan is to just keep on marching forwards with heirloom corn and really showcase different varietals and different corn preparations and brewing processes using corn.

Brandy (05:36)
Yeah, I'm glad you segue into that, because we were going to talk about this whole corn situation. So for those of you who didn't see my Instagram post, I went and visited my monkey and I walked in and Matt was like, oh, hey, Brandy. I was like, oh, hey, Matt. So we chatted about beer, obviously, and I tried some of his current beers. But you were telling me, about this whole

special varietal of corn that they thought was not around anymore and you're trying to bring it back. I'm so curious. I'm sure most other folks will be nerdy about that too, including Mr. Stein. Tell me about this corn.

Matt Furda (06:20)
For sure, yeah.

⁓ to give backstory and context for the corn and the reason I'm seeking it out, ⁓ my great, great, great grandfather was a German brewer and he was hired to come to the United States ⁓ to Baltimore to brew at Bremen Sons Brewery.

which this was late 1800s, it's like 1890s. The Bremen Sons brewed a single beer called One Great Only. It was like a premium or expert style lager.

and they prided themselves on not switching up their ingredients. So they're very likely using like some nicer imported hallertau saaz ⁓ and piecing, I can't find an exact recipe, but piecing together advertisements, ⁓ overlaid on what was actually available at the time.

It's sounding like their recipe would have been six row barley, some rice, about 15 % rice, and then about 15 % corn.

The rice at the time that was widespread was Carolina Gold Rice. So it's been popularized and really brought back into full production by Anson Mills. And it's in the Slow Foods arc of taste. If you're not familiar with Slow Foods, it's a...

local movement to support local food and agriculture ⁓ in restaurants. they have something called the Arc of Taste where they get together every year and they decide on what foods are worthy of putting in this Arc of Taste and worth protection. So Carolina Gold Rice is one of those. And the other widely available corn, a white corn that would have been used for brewing at the time, have been Cox White prolific corn.

So it was thought to be extinct until 2019 when a 94 year old in South Carolina was found seed saving and replanting. And it has since made it into the Slow Foods arc of taste. But the only thing is it is not yet been made commercially available.

⁓ You can buy seeds though, so that's what I've done. I've bought some seeds and my plan is to ⁓ take over a good portion of my backyard this summer and cross my fingers for at least 30 to 50 pounds of dry corn.

JB (09:13)
do you plan on letting the wind do its thing? Or are you going to ⁓ take tassels and

Matt Furda (09:22)
I'm planning on letting the wind do its thing. I should have a nice ⁓ solid block of corn. My backyard's fairly windy, so I'll let nature do it. Maybe if we don't get much wind, I'll go out there and shake them around and pretend I'm a corn stalker.

JB (09:24)
All right.

I asked because, yeah,

I had backyard corn once and it took me to figure out that I actually did have to do and cover your ears kids, some manual stimulation in order ⁓ to get the ears of corn ⁓ to mature and develop. ⁓ One day I'll tell you all you about the birds and the bees.

Matt Furda (09:52)
Okay. Okay.

Michael Stein (10:00)
you can you

Matt Furda (10:03)
I'll keep that in mind.

Michael Stein (10:03)
can add you can add a hand hand pollinator to Jacob scoops Berg's long editorial history

Brandy (10:08)
You

Oh God, I love it.

JB (10:15)
Yep, that's just me in my backyard in Northeast DC on a ladder with some corn tassels going, ⁓ OK. ⁓ This feels wrong, but I guess this is ⁓ how you get corn. It wasn't very good corn, though.

Matt Furda (10:26)
Yeah

Michael Stein (10:31)
Well, it's fascinating. I was going to say it's a fascinating story, Matt, and it actually reminds me of Bloody Butcher, ⁓ the story of a variety of corn that was once thought extinct, and were it not for the prolific efforts in this case of a seed saver, ⁓ not an octogenarian, I forget what what 90 year olds are called. ⁓

JB (10:32)
Maybe I'll do Bloody Butcher next time.

Michael Stein (11:00)
I don't know, not 90 plus year olds, not quite centenarians. But should they be so lucky 100 year olds. ⁓ But it's really interesting. I'm curious, Matt, this beer I have I'm enjoying chula this Mexican style lager. You know, you've got Pilsner, corn, Vienna, double kill Munich, and then the hops are hollered out zots and hers broker, kind of sort of German, maybe check hops. ⁓ How did you come about the combination like writing?

Brandy (11:00)
Do it.

Michael Stein (11:28)
these recipes, they all seem pretty, you seem pretty dialed in on your recipes. How do you come about with your corn, Barley's hops combinations?

Matt Furda (11:39)
thank you. have, Chula, I have changed so much every single time I have brewed it. So I brewed batch six or seven last week and I changed it again. ⁓ So, you know, this is the first brewery I've worked at where I'm just a solo guy, ⁓ no sounding board.

⁓ So I sit down with a piece of paper and you know after I've already made these recipes and I'm going through pretty much everything except flavor. I'm thinking like, okay, like snappiness, mouth feel, texture. ⁓

structure, like, you know, how the beer drinks rather necessarily than how the beer tastes. ⁓ You know, if you look at the hop combination for that beer, ⁓ when I hear Mexican lager, I don't necessarily think any specific hop or associated with this specific hop. So having that noble blend keeps it somewhat consistent batch to batch. ⁓ But also like, just I think gives it enough

subtle mystery that it just drinks nicely and full of flavor. ⁓ But then, you know, the goal really is to stay true to like North American and Central American brewing with a double mash, doing a cereal mash, doing a decoction. ⁓ And I'm doing that probably

more true to how it was originally done in American brew systems with just a simple single infusion system. I mill in by hand ⁓ into the kettle and the mash ton. I run two mashes and I blend them together by hand. ⁓ know, laborious, but I think worth it for getting the flavor I'm actually looking for.

⁓ and then as far as corn goes, ⁓ Masienda is, you know, an awesome company. They're like America's fastest growing, ⁓ masa company. ⁓ the founder was interning at Blue Hill when he dreamed up connecting, this, ⁓ creating a network of

direct trade ⁓ corn farmers in Mexico with restaurants in the US and they've really done the groundwork of laying out all these corn varietals. So for me, it was as simple as like, hey, these are the beers I'm trying to brew with the flavor profiles I'm looking for. What corns would you suggest?

Michael Stein (14:41)
Nice. Yeah. ⁓

Brandy (14:42)
That's cool.

JB (14:46)
got a corn question, but it ties into dry January. And so the first is, have you all discussed, thought about like a chicha morada, something non-alcoholic on, but still might showcase something of a corn flavor, not thinking of like the overly back sweetened like ones you can get at a Peruvian chicken joint, but ⁓ something that you would make. And the second thing is I'm hearing some anecdotal evidence that people are less dry this January.

given world events. Have you all noticed any of that given that we're about halfway through January?

Brandy (15:16)
Hmm

Matt Furda (15:21)
I think, well, Chicha Morada, ⁓ that'd be super cool. I mean, if I had just an unlimited amount of interested customers, I would have a whole non-alcoholic, weird, lacto-fermented menu on its own, right? But...

We'll see. We'll see. I'd love to do more fun N.A. beverages and, you know, I do the cocktails as well. So I've thought about ⁓ doing some masa infused cocktails and getting real weird with that.

⁓ As far as dry January goes, I think I'm kind of with you. ⁓ My wife doesn't drink a ton, ⁓ so she's got a ⁓ foot in that world.

I would agree. think two years ago is really when I saw kind of the peak of people into dry January. And I think people are somewhat settling in their camps.

Michael Stein (16:44)
Yeah. It's, seems to bear out that, ⁓ what we see sort of in the pubs down the pub at the brew pubs will be when Jake and I look at trends that can actually preempt what the market writ large sees. So sometimes we see little micro trends in pubs where it's like, people are not, not having a non-alcoholic cocktail. ⁓ my wife and I just had one last night, but we're also having.

a sour beer from Germany and we're having some high quality lager from Schilling. Tonight I'm having your high quality lager that or heater Alan right? Yeah, for sure. Kevin and Lisa's firm up in McMinniville, Oregon, but it's interesting to me because you you have full control there at the pub, but you have to make what your customer wants, right? The old adage is like brew for

Brandy (17:23)
Heater out.

Michael Stein (17:44)
brew for the king live like a pauper brew for the paupers live like a king, which is this old idea that you give the customer what you want, you will have a comfy business setup. Do you find that to be true? You have to give your customers what you want? Are you sort of hand holding to bring them to the flavor profiles you're developing in your lagers and ales and stouts?

Brandy (17:47)
You

Matt Furda (18:09)
I have always felt that if something drinks right, people will know.

So, you know, I don't expect most people to pick out the nuanced kind of like deeper caramels or melanoidins of a decocted lager or like the enhanced frettiness of a really lightly decocted lager, but those beers tend to drink better, be a little moreish.

make you want to take another sip while still remaining refreshing. And I think that is a language people speak even if they don't really understand the breakdown of all the grammar there. ⁓ I also happen to just like really love these corn beers, you know, prior to...

Mayan monkey ever existing, I was making a menu for a brewery post-landmade and that never came to fruition. And what I really wanted to do was bring these, you know, pre-perhibition American lagers into the modern palette. Because I think they would fit really nicely. ⁓ The success of like,

The Czech pale lager, I think, says that. And frankly, in a place like DC, where you have a lot more humidity, I think they're better suited beers.

Brandy (19:57)
such a large space, Matt. You could even invite folks in to talk about the beers that you're making. ⁓ those of you who haven't visited Mind Monkey, it's a couple of stories high, and there's a lot of event space and music space. Matt's up at the top bar right now, it looks like, yeah.

Matt Furda (20:18)
Yeah.

Brandy (20:21)
⁓ as like a stage and everything, but you have so much space, Matt. Like you should do a, you should bring in the home brewers. You don't have any sounding boards for your beers. Just bring in some friends. ⁓

Michael Stein (20:31)
What what careful you might

Matt Furda (20:31)
Yeah

Michael Stein (20:34)
have too many sounding boards with?

Matt Furda (20:34)
you

No, I'd love to. A few of the members of BIRP come in pretty regularly and I'm trying to make it out to one of their meetings and I think having it here would be a great idea.

Brandy (20:51)
Yeah, Mike Tonsmeyer still comes out to homebrew meetings ⁓ in DC. I'm assuming he does in the Maryland one, too, but he's been to a couple of the DC one. it's nice. It's nice when brewers, successful local brewers still come and be part of the scene. I think it's really cool and aspiring to, you know, understand that's the community that you came from and started and continue to help it grow. I think that's really cool. So.

Matt Furda (21:21)
I think, you know, in a lot of ways, the humburs are still the ones pushing the industry. They're at the forefront of like interest in beer and ⁓ training their palates and really kind of knowing and respecting what's going on. you know, when...

I picked up home brewing again when I had a stint of not being able to brew on a big system. It's just like, yeah, I love to do it.

Michael Stein (21:58)
Yeah, I think you're spot on Matt home brewing drives creativity and that creativity can push the industry forward. ⁓ Brandy when you're talking about Mike Tonsmeyer, the co owner of sapwood sellers. Mike is a longtime DC home brewers club member and still is he just happens to co own arguably the most R &D brewery the most are in your research and development forward brewery in Maryland. ⁓ Point being, if you

tune into what homebrewers bring to the conversation. It's like, try this and the old Monty Python and now for something completely different. ⁓ That that can be hit or miss, but it generally tends to be like variations on a theme and one of those variations, one of those batches is going to be better than the next one and more, more showcase worthy. ⁓ But I think, you know, again, if you're if

Brandy (22:38)
You

Michael Stein (22:56)
Listeners, if you're seeking out homebrew, come to a DC homebrewers meeting. Check out burp Brewers United for real potables. ⁓ There is a hotbed of activity in you in the Maryland area. You know, I would add in addition to sapwood sellers, I would add Rob Fink, the head brewer at jailbreak, doing some really creative stuff. You know, the first West Coast IPA to go on draft at Port City in Alexandria, Virginia.

was brewed in jailbreak. I think similarly, Matt, people are looking to you for the old methods, the classic American jump mash or decoction, as we would say, as we get more familiar with the German techniques. But these corn beers are uniquely situated to DC where we have crazy high humidity, little bit of corn lighter body more drinkable that 4 % you know, I'm loving this 4 % Mexican style lager. And it's January, you know, we were

Unfortunately, the most void of humidity we've been all year, but I just have to commend you on these efforts.

Brandy (23:58)
to know how you feel being a celebrity after being in beer, Phil Renko's beer and review. With long hair, by the way.

Matt Furda (23:59)
Thank you.

Oh yeah,

JB (24:07)
Mama, we made it!

Matt Furda (24:09)
yeah, yeah, I've got the haircut now. I think every beer person in the area secretly hopes that they get to, you know.

be interviewed for that. And the last year he did it as well. you know, it feels good. It does feel good. Especially since I had like a year hiatus out of beer. And I would, you know, I would read it and go, oh man, like I wish I was part of that scene. So yeah, yeah, it feels good.

Brandy (24:28)
Good. Yeah.

Yeah, I think my favorite part about Phil Runko's ⁓ yearly article write-up ⁓ is not only seeing all my friends on the list, but seeing what the local brewers drink. I love that that's a question that he asks each brewer. What beer that you don't make do you like right now? It's a great way to really showcase the support that brewers give each other.

⁓ And hey, I'm loving Elder Pines such and such. I think it's a great community. It's a great question. And what did you respond? I don't remember.

Matt Furda (25:27)
Yep, the beers, said ⁓ Dolly Hide by Milkhouse. So I live in Mount Airy, in the Mount Airy Farmers Market. Milkhouse is always representing a lot of the farmers markets around here. But, know, Wednesday night, hot in the summer, grab a nice saison, little bit of chamomile in there. ⁓ For me, Milkhouse's beers are always like these like simple, never disappointing, delicious. ⁓

and they're a big supporter of Marilyn Malt and so am I. And then the other one I did was Elder Pine's seven grain situation. I couldn't even, there's no way can name all the grains that were in it, but Fonio Oats, I'm sure like rye, wheat, spelt maybe, barley, but.

That was a beer that really excited me from a like brewer's creative perspective because I got to get something that was drinkable, refreshing, ⁓ but I could also sit down and like really think about it. ⁓ So tasting the different components that came from the different brains. It was, it's just a type of creativity that

feel like I don't see a lot in beer. ⁓ More attention should be paid to the grains. ⁓ And yeah, I had a good time drinking it.

Brandy (27:02)
Awesome. This could go in your resume now ⁓ listed on Phil Ronco's Beer and Review. Mike, take it away.

Michael Stein (27:02)
Yeah.

Matt Furda (27:08)
Perfect.

Michael Stein (27:09)
Beer. Yeah.

Beer. Final beer in review reviewer. Um, but, but to your point, Matt, about seven grain situation, this beer from Elder pine, I had one, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a can. And I was like, let's see what Matt, what all the fuss is about. And to your point about both being enough to contemplate a contemplative beer, it was very easy drinking. So with my 16 ounce can, I had to slow down and be like,

Brandy (27:15)
You

Michael Stein (27:39)
Okay. Where's the phonio lighter in body? Where's the Roaqa hops? Is this a New Zealand sort of you know, like like like Nelson Sullivan hop bomb? No, it's not I can get the New Zealand back to think about it. And it's always brilliant to me when the beer is simplistic enough for anybody you know, your aunt, your uncle who only drinks Mick Ultra, and then one day of the year at the holiday function, the family reunion, they were like,

Okay, I know you're beer nerd, like, what do you got? And then you give them this and they're like, this is interesting. But they like it, they finished the pint. It's that kind of thing where, ⁓ you know, we can't list the seven grains, we know phonios in there. And phonio is this West African, almost like sorghum or millet type of grains, a tiny grain like like sand in your hand, if you could hold a handful of it. But Garrett Oliver

JB (28:08)
you

Matt Furda (28:21)
Mm-hmm.

Michael Stein (28:32)
you know of Brooklyn brewery who Richard our producer our co owner DC beer has talked about Garrett Oliver didn't know about it. But he met ⁓ the gentleman whose name fails me who brought phonio to the US and then launched all these beers with it. And it's like it finally landed phonio the grain finally got into an elder pine beer. But it's also got rye and oats and flake barley and wheat or whatever you know, I forget all the grains but

That is it. It's simplistic and you can just cruise through it. But it's also contemplative. You know, you think about it enough, you can really pick it apart, which is just chef's kiss.

Matt Furda (29:12)
For sure, yeah, it's inspired me. I've got ⁓ a beer coming late spring or so. It's gonna be a unfiltered lager Keller beer, ⁓ which we're calling our bodega series, just direct translation, Keller cellar bodega. ⁓ That's gonna be barley, wheat, rye, and ⁓ yellow heirloom massahorina.

So should be some interesting flavors going on. That'll be bodega rustica. So I'm excited for that one.

JB (29:53)
Stein, you can compare that with a chopped cheese. I would probably go bacon, egg, and cheese myself, but yeah.

Michael Stein (29:53)
That's exciting.

Brandy (29:53)
Yum.

Matt Furda (29:56)
hahahahah

Michael Stein (29:57)
You know it, you know it. Are

we doing Kaiser, are we Bialli, is this a bagel situation? We'll find out.

JB (30:04)
I, at a bodega, it's Kaiser all the way. Hit it with a little bit of butter.

Michael Stein (30:09)
You gotta watch out for those Bialis and Yonkers. I have to say, I've had many a Yonkers BEC, and sometimes the B is Biali. It's not bacon, and cheese.

JB (30:19)
one more question for you since we've talked a lot about corn, but something like 45 out of every 100 pints of craft beer sold in this country are IPAs.

how is the corn being received over at Mayan Monkey? What do you have for like the hop heads out there? Because I feel like every other person who is vaguely into craft beer is like, ⁓ know, Stein mentioned Ruwaka. Elder Pine has, I think a very light depth touch on seven grain situation there. But, you know, they also have like Ruwaka archives where it's like, bang, ⁓ here are, know,

Matt Furda (30:40)
Mm.

JB (31:00)
double digit pounds per barrel of hops.

Matt Furda (31:03)
Yeah, so, well, I will say our Chula and Moreno right now are our two top sellers. ⁓ So the corn beers are doing well. I mean, you pair it with a Mexican menu and it's kind of what you want. So it makes sense. But behind that will be Hazy IPA. Then we, I call it American IPA. It's really a West Coast. It's TOTOS. It's... ⁓

Brandy (31:32)
that was good. I had that one.

Matt Furda (31:32)
Getting up there, 7.75

% called Totos because it's a ton of hops. It's Nelson, Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe, Crush. So that one's doing really well. And...

The hoppy beers that I'm doing for the most part are like over the top aromatics. So at least four and a half pounds per barrel, just the dry hop up to six. And I have been getting and tasting a lot of the West Coast. ⁓

Versions that people are going crazy about and they always blow me away. So I'm I'm dipping my toes into Hop extracts, which is something I have, you know always turned my nose up at especially, you know brewing at land made and Having everything be very like romanticized farm Traditional way of doing it. I'm not using hop extracts. I can taste them and now I'm like these are better

So, yeah, dipping my toes into that. the crazy thing that I'll add onto that, I'm actually going to transition to just doing a single hazy, and it's going to be a hazy pale ale. Because that's what's actually doing really well here. And I'm all for it. That's what I like.

Michael Stein (32:50)
Hehehehehe ⁓

Brandy (33:15)
Nice.

Michael Stein (33:15)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's it's it's fascinating. I was mentioning Rob think the jailbreak Brewer and this West Coast Pilsner, but he had Nelson three types or four types like pellet flowable hop product hop Keith, whatever I'm forgetting or butchering. Forgive me, Rob. But, you know, with modernity, there are good things. It's not all bad all the time. Right. So I applaud you for

for leading into extract. You know, at a certain point, right, you got it. So for the lay listener, if you put hop particulate, you know, whole leaf pellets, that's matter, vegetal matter. You know, the hop is a flower. It's a plant that will absorb liquid. Whereas with extract, you don't lose all of this liquid when you put all of this vegetable matter in. ⁓ A while back, we had Shayna Solarte. ⁓

Matt Furda (33:44)
Yeah.

Michael Stein (34:09)
who works for a major hop company. And we were talking about flowable hop products. And it really seems that, especially with like hazy pale ale, if you want to deliver a dynamite product, that's something you might want to consider, you know, as a brewer.

Brandy (34:24)
That was such a great conversation we had with her. I learned a lot, actually. It was, that was a great show.

nerds. Okay. Matt, I want to encourage everyone to go visit you at My Monkey because A, the space is really lovely and you are cranking out some really fantastic beers and it's cool sitting at the bar and then just looking straight into your workplace because the brewery is right, nestled right behind the bar, the main bar. And I would like to

Matt Furda (34:37)
you

Brandy (34:58)
encourage everyone to go if they haven't been to Mind Monkey because it's not that old. You guys haven't even been open that long. So ⁓ it's very fun. I think it's kind of near Silver Branch and it's not too far from the Rockville area.

Matt Furda (35:15)
Yeah, Silver Branch Rockville location is 10, 12 minutes away. Awesome beer, by the way. Another brewery that has once again made me change my recipe for chula. yeah, we're right on the train tracks, Old Town Gaithersburg ⁓ in historic...

Brandy (35:21)
Yeah.

Matt Furda (35:44)
building. This has been a brewery for 35 years. We're brewing on the original 1994 equipment and you can feel that the building has been refurbished, refinished. It's beautiful, it's modern, but you can still feel the character of the whole place.

Brandy (36:03)
Yeah, it's hella cute. Matt, thank you for coming on. We've been trying to get you on it for a while. Yeah. ⁓ Jake, I know there's some stuff going on. Everyone will be listening to this the week that our live podcast show debuts with our collaboration beer. Matt, did you hear? We brewed a Kentucky common with Blue Jacket.

Matt Furda (36:05)
Thanks for having me.

I did, I did. I am going to have to see if I can make it to that live show next week.

Brandy (36:29)
I'm excited.

Well, if you can't,

I understand because you have an 18-month-old child, there are a couple of cool February events we should talk about because it's almost February. Jesus.

JB (36:47)
Yeah. So on that note, the day before the Super Bowl, Port City has an anniversary. They turn, is it 15? That is super, super cool. 2011, 2026. The same day. Matt, mentioned Silver Branch, Silver Branch, Silver Spring, Stark Beer Fest, Strong Beers, you enjoy January.

Matt Furda (36:48)
Yeah.

JB (37:15)
and then go have a Doppelbach and a teeter totter on the Metro or bus or ride share home, don't drive. And perhaps last but not least, and most importantly, we DC Beer are at Metro Bar that day, Saturday, February 7th, ⁓ supporting black breweries, black owned breweries in the area. Come see us. We'll drop the link to the Eventbrite and such.

Brandy (37:23)
Huh!

JB (37:45)
But again, Matt, thank you so, so much. Everybody please go check out LionMonkey.

Brandy (37:51)
And this is our fifth year of doing the Black Brewers event at Metro Bar with Black Brew Movement. And I'm looking forward to some of the beers that Black Beauty's coming with. And the day before that, it's gonna be a very boozy weekend, everybody, because the day before that, Friday, February 6th, it is our beer share of the month. We are gonna be at Right Proper Brookland again. Bri and Chris have been so kind enough to give us the back.

Matt Furda (37:51)
Thank you.

Brandy (38:19)
the brewing area once again, and we're doing a Friday night beer share, which those always turn out so well. I guess everyone's just thirsty for a Friday night beer or 20. So please join us that weekend. It's a packed weekend, but you can do this. We believe in you. Matt, thanks again for coming on.

Matt Furda (38:39)
Thanks for having me. It's been fun.

Michael Stein (38:41)
Matt Furda, Mayan Monkey, putting the ⁓ in DMV as we cover it on DCBeer.com. Don't forget to follow us across social media, DCBeer.com slash Patreon. Come be a supporter. We'd love to have you.

Brandy (38:47)
You

Cheers.

Michael Stein (38:58)
See you in the future, cheers.

Matt Furda (38:58)
Cheers.