Matt Brynildson is a Minnesota native who had a background in chemistry and was on the verge of enrolling in med school. Instead he got a job at Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Company (Kalsec) in Michigan and was fortuitously placed in their hops lab. He became a voracious home brewer and was inspired by Bell’s Brewery, “a pioneering craft brewery in the Midwest. Larry Bell, the original owner and brewer, was eccentric, brewing big hoppy beers before anybody in the industry was thinking about it.” Kalsec sent Brynildson to the Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy in Chicago, the nation’s oldest brewing school. When he returned to Kalsec, he was “no longer interested in being a lab rat,” so he got a job in Chicago at Goose Island Beer Co. He rocketed through the ranks to become a head brewer by the mid ’90s. Now Brynildson is brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company in Paso Robles. He recently discussed his background and approach over the phone.

How did you become so interested in beer?
When you live in the Midwest you don’t have this big wine influence, beer is predominant. I attribute a couple things to my interest in beer. As part of my undergrad studies, I spent six months in Europe and got exposed to a completely different brewing culture. I came home and started home brewing…being in Kalamazoo where Larry Bell was doing this amazing brewing…and I was working in this hops lab…I have this one memory where I went to this college party. It was a typical schlag keg college party, this guy tapped me on the shoulder and took me aside and had a little stash of beers that he brought home from the brewery and handed me a Bells Porter. “Holy shit that tastes so much different than anything else I ever tasted.” I was done with mass produced industrial lager and wanted to move on to the next level..Like they say, either make it your profession or go broke.

Would you say that you have any brewing mentors?
It’s a long list of people that I learned from. One person in particular is Rudy Held who was born and raised in Germany. He was a brewmaster at Stroh’s and later took over hops division as Kalsec. He was a brewmaster and I was a home brewer; whenever I had a question I’d ask Rudy. Being he was German, there were no grey areas in brewing…One of the moments I remember, he found out I was going to be a brewer, his words to me were “attention to detail.” Make sure it’s perfect or don’t do it at all.

I had a bunch of influential instructors at Siebel. Jim Helmke. Walter Swistowicz started brewing during Prohibition. His first brewing job was in 1933. By the time we went through school in the ’90s, he’d been brewing for over 60 years. One of his jobs during the war was to re-commission breweries for the Allied forces. Lynn Kruger, the current President of Siebel, started brewing in South Africa. These are people who have amazing wealth of knowledge.

What was the first beer you ever brewed?
A brown ale, a pretty simple beer. Bravery Tail Ale. It was a recipe I went back to many times and tried to perfect. I was never overly creative when I started. I was more fixated on the process and trying to perfect the steps, trying to make the cleanest, most perfect beer I could.

What’s your first beer memory?
Back in Minnesota, my grandfather handing me a can of Blatt’s when my mom wasn’t around, trying to see if I’d take it and drink some. I was strangely aroused.

What’s the most recent beer that you developed and what was your approach with it?
This year we’ve had the opportunity to design a few beers, but most recently, we’ve been working to develop a new beer for the Nectar Ales line, the idea being that we have three session beers and want to come out with something a little more over the top. Black Xantus is kind of this crazy beer, a 12% alcohol Russian Stout, but it has oats in it, so it’s kind of an oatmeal stout. We’ve been playing with that on the Firestone side with Parabola. With Black Xantus we’ve infused coffee into the beer. We’re aging it in brandy barrels and bourbon barrels. It will see the light of day in September, probably 300-350 cases.

Who are some other local brewers you respect?
Central Coast in my mind is Ventura County up to SLO County line. One brewer I’ve really been impressed with is Eric Rose at Hollister Brewing in Santa Barbara. He’s super modest, not one of those guys who’s pounding his chest or tooting his own horn. If you go inside his brewpub, you can’t find a bad beer and the last time I was there he had 14 beers. More locally, Steve Courier in SLO at Downtown Brewing. You can always go into his pub and have an outstanding IPA. Of course I’m partial to my staff. In California, it’s insane how many great brewers are in this state. I was happy brewing in Goose Island…but I was inspired to move to the West Coast because I saw the innovation.

Where do you like to drink in Southern California?
It’s a little different scene in the Central Coast than the rest of California. Our beer bar here in our county is Spike’s. I live in San Simeon, a city of 400 people, so I drink at San Simeon Lodge. Outside of Central Coast, Hollister Brewing Company in Santa Barbara is an awesome pub. As far as beer bars in the L.A. area, I really like Blue Palms in Hollywood. Brian, who buys and manages the place, is super enthusiastic about craft beer and goes out of his way to get interesting beers. I’m a big fan of Father’s Office, they have good beer and good food. Lucky Baldwin’s is another one. It’s so well established. They’ve done a lot to educate the beer public.

If you could only drink one more glass of beer, what would it be?
People ask what’s your favorite beer, and I say it’s the freshest beer at that given time. Desert island beer: that would either be Trumer Pils or Herren Pils. If it was one final beer, I’m on my deathbed, then I’d have to take Parabola Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout and blend it 50/50 with a Flanders style red ale, maybe Rodenbach Grand Cru. Then have a Firestone Pale Ale beer-back because it’s a heavy beer and I’d have to wash it down with something hoppy.

Related Posts

1. L.A. Beer Blast #32: Top Beer Publications, Q&A with Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson, Fifth Amendment Alehouse, Beachwood BBQ, Blue Palms Brewhouse, Boneyard Bistro, BottleRock LA, The Daily Pint, The Golden State, Lucky Baldwin’s, Simmzy’s, 38 Degrees, The York
2. Firestone Walker and The Must team on Beer and Dessert Pairing
3. Firestone Walker Brewing Co. – Paso Robles, CA – December 26, 2009
4. Q&A with Alpine brewmaster Pat McIlhenney
5. Q&A with Brewery Ommegang brewmaster Phil Leinhart

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