When I got the chance to sit down and talk beer with Danny Gold of Fretboard Brewing, I knew I was in for a treat. Not only was the beer going to be great but Danny has a long history in beer so I was bound to learn a lot. We had a great time talking about beer styles as well as what Fretboard is doing.

Needless to say, the conversation was really valuable so I’m bringing the summary to you.

After reading, I’d love to hear from you. Comment at the bottom of this page, send me an email or message me on social media and let me know where you think beer style trends should be headed.

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Quick Background On Fretboard & Danny Gold

Fretboard Brewing is one of the many new breweries in Cincinnati. They opened their doors in early November of 2017.

Check out this article to learn more about them

From the beginning, they had big plans to bring beer and music together in their taproom. And they weren’t shy about their desire to get their beer into bars and restaurants throughout the city. But that’s often the case when a brewery opens, they all have big aspirations.

In many ways, Fretboard has lived up to their early predictions as their tap handles have popped up all over the city.

In addition to aggressively selling their beer, they haven’t been shy about bringing some well known names onto their team. One of those names is Kevin Moreland who is known for his work at Listermann Brewing and Taft’s Ale House. The other is Danny Gold who handled all things beer for The Party Source for years and was the man behind Quaff Bros. which brought Cincinnati some of the best barrel-aged beers around.

These additions just added to the ammunition that this brewery already had. The future is looking good at Fretboard Brewing.

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Talking About Beer Styles With Danny Gold

As the beer buyer at The Party Source (one of the largest liquor stores in the nation), Danny is one of the most knowledgeable people around when it comes to understanding what beer styles sell best.

And while many of us might think we know, he has firsthand experience. Couple that with his connection to the die-hard craft beer community and you’ve got a lot of information that a brewery can use to help them grow their brand. And you’d better believe that is one of the many things that Danny will be doing at Fretboard.

Here’s the specific beers styles we discussed and how we see them fitting into the current craft beer world.

ISP – India Session Pilsner

Haven’t heard of an ISP? That’s because this is a new beer style that Fretboard has developed.

One thing that the team at Fretboard knows is hoppy or light beers sell the best. So they are creating this style to meet the flavor preferences of both.

The ISP is silmilar to a Hoppy Pilsner but has a few unique characteristics.

First off, you’ll find the ISP to have a lower ABV (sub 5%) than the Hoppy Pilsner along with being unfiltered.

As I tried their current ISP, City Life, and compared it to their award-winning Pilsner, VLAD, there was a few flavor characteristics that stood out.

A Pilsner will give you a big crisp, lager flavor throughout. It is unapologetic yet drinks very smooth and light. The ISP is much softer in its approach. The lager edge is there but in a much smaller way. In addition, the hop aroma and flavor are there. They provide a nice hop bitterness that balances the malt of the Pilsner.

Balance is the key here as the hops are not aggressive as you might expect in a Hoppy Pilsner or Session IPA.

This style meets the beer drinker wherever they are. If you love hops, you’ll find some here. If you want a light, easy drinking beer; you’ll get that as well. And since it’s made by a great craft brewery, you won’t be sacrificing flavor.

Traditional Styles

Much like the discussion about the ISP, Danny and I both see eye to eye when it comes to traditional beer styles – they are coming back in a big way.

Well actually, they really never went away. Pale Lagers and Pilsners have always been the top selling styles of beer when you consider all beer – not just craft beer.

It’s just now we are seeing more craft breweries pay attention to these styles and the drinkers that love them. As craft beer grew, breweries embraced big, bold flavors as that is what made them unique and attractive to those that didn’t like macro beer. Now there’s a strong movement to get back to the styles that started it all and many of these will be lagers.

It’s been a slow shift but there is movement as more and more breweries realize that lagers provide the ability to reach more drinkers and sell more beer.

Fretboard knew that traditional styles would be one of their many focus areas when they opened. And they didn’t waste any time producing an award-winner. Their Pilsner, Vlad, won silver at the World Beer Cup. Winning is always a great honor but is especially meaningful when it happens so quickly after opening.

Traditional beer styles aren’t easy to brew as the simple recipes and lagering mean there’s nothing to hide behind. Any off flavors or mistakes are quickly noticed. So as breweries move to these styles, it is critical that they ensure the highest level of quality.

Fruited Beer

Sam Adam’s Cherry Wheat was my gateway into craft beer; so I’ve got a long history of enjoying the fruited beer style. But I often hate the way it is treated by those that are craft beer aficionados. They act as if adding fruit to beer makes it less of a beer.

While some beers have an extreme amount of fruit that some may not like; I’m not above admitting that fruit in beer can be amazing. It doesn’t make it any less of a beer either.

And for those that are new to craft beer, it can be a great entry point to liking craft beer – especially new styles.

For that reason alone, I am a huge fan of fruited beer. Anything that invites more people into craft beer is good and worthwhile.

Fretboard will proudly tell you that they are seeing great results from their Strawberry Blond Ale, Reba. It was just released last month and is already on pace to be their most popular beer yet.

This isn’t too surprising when you get to try it. It has the light body of a blonde ale with the perfect level of strawberry. It is not an overly sweet fruit beer either. The use of strawberry preserves gives it the slight tart and dry flavor you’d expect from a fresh strawberry.

There’s already talk of making this s year round beer if the demand continues.

Brown Ale

The brown ale can often be a forgotten beer style. It sits awkwardly in the middle of the ale family – kinda like the middle child. It is dark but doesn’t have many of the characteristics found in porters or stouts. It isn’t hoppy like pale ales nor does it have a uniquely sweet or sour flavor.

But there’s a lot to love about this style; it has the malty, toffee, caramel-like flavors but in a very approachable fashion. Brown Ales typically have low bitterness, medium body and a moderate ABV. It’s perfect for when you want something with flavor but not hop-forward or high ABV.

This is a style that many breweries should look to leverage as they look to find new fans. It is approachable, easy but still full flavored.

And to top all of that, it can handle adjunct flavors. For example, Fretboard has taken a brown ale and loaded it with the flavor of french toast, vanilla and cinnamon. They call it Fugee and it’s the kind of flavors you’d expect to see added to a 10% ABV Russian Imperial Stout.

But instead it is in a 6% Brown Ale and it works perfectly. This is the kind of unique beer that I think may are searching for because it has the flavor but has an ABV low enough that you can have more than one.

Pushing The Boundaries & Honoring The Past

After Danny and I spoke, I looked over their beer menu one more time and something became really obvious. To have a great beer list, you have to be able and willing to offer a traditional beer just as often as you make a beer that is a product of the modern craft beer era.

Their beer list has a very broad range of beers. The only two things missing were sour beer and barrel-aged beer (and I’m sure the latter is on its way).

In addition to the Pilsner, they also had a Dunkelweizen but right next to that was a Chocolate Red Ale they call Shimmy Shimmy. I don’t think those two beers could be any further apart.

There are so many different types of beer drinkers that it is critical that breweries are able to meet the needs of as many as possible.

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What About IPAs?

So as you can see, I didn’t mention IPAs. Danny and I discussed IPAs and even enjoyed a few from Fretboard.

But it didn’t seem like a relevant topic since we know that IPAs are going to continue to be popular. So we didn’t talk about them much as it was much more interesting to discuss other trends and understand Fretboard’s strategy for providing a well curated list of beers for all of their customers.

Knowing their popularity, I couldn’t write an article about craft beer without at least giving a few thoughts on the future of the style.

So here’s just a quick snapshot of my thoughts on IPAs and were they are headed.

First off, most breweries must have a flagship IPA. I say most because a sour beer focused brewery doesn’t need one. Nor does a brewery that only does lagers. But for everyone else, a solid IPA is a must as it’s the most popular style of craft beer.

Outside of a flagship IPA, customers expect breweries to experiment and offer up new IPAs on a regular basis. Most of this will consist of using different hops. But the brewery should also look to play with fruit, malt and ABV to find new ways to present IPAs to their customers.

Finally, a brewery must decide if they are going to follow every IPA trend or not. Currently, New England IPAs and Milkshake IPAs are very popular. And while I don’t think they are going away; they fascination about them will eventually be replaced by something else. So breweries must dive in or stick to what they know best.

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Conclusion

I truly enjoy talking about beer just as much as drinking it. Not sure if that is a good thing or not . . .

So talking about beer styles with Danny Gold was a real honor. He gave me fresh perspectives on many beer styles and also provided some insight into how Fretboard Brewing is approaching them.

It’s easy to see that craft beer will always evolve as new ideas and ingredients create the next great craft beer. But what we don’t know is exactly where styles will go.

I never would have guessed that we would be drinking IPAs named after milkshakes. So I look forward to seeing where brewers and beer drinkers lead us in the future.

My final thought: let’s not put beer flavors into a box.

Instead, flavors should flow between styles. Beer styles will change over time. It is this evolution that makes craft beer so enjoyable.