The Alpha Acid Beer Blog

Where we post about brewing science, our beers, and what's happening at the brewery.

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April 30th, 2026

By Jack DeHarpport

It started, as most things here at Alpha Acid do, over a pint of beer.

Specifically, about how to get all the details of what makes our beer special out to the people who drink it. Social media posts are short and to the point for the casual drinker, but we needed a way to reach the real beer nerds. You know... our people. We are a brewery run by beer nerds who want to scratch our own itch.

Here's a taste of what we'll be covering:

Hop science — process deep dives, biotransformation, terroir, the ever-expanding world of experimental cultivars, and why our accountant is always crying.

Yeast Whispering — strain comparisons, fermentation temperature experiments, pressure effects, and anything else microbiological.

Water chemistry — because nothing humbles a brewer faster than trying to understand something as plain as salt.

Style history and evolution — where beer styles actually came from, how they've mutated, and what's happening on the cutting edge.

Tasting notes done differently — not the usual prose about waves of kumquat and whispers of baby poop, but genuine attempts to describe what's in the glass and how it got there using sensory panel approved descriptors.

Honest brewery life — the batches that didn't work, the decisions we second-guessed, the things we learned the expensive way

This is not a brewery marketing channel

Still, you'll hear about our experimental beers and what we are thinking about in the back of house. If you're interested in what's going on in the taproom (events, beer releases, taproom updates) you should subscribe to our monthly newsletter using the button above. The newsletter will also link to new blog posts, so that's the best way to be notified of what's going on here too.

We'll occasionally pick fights.

Craft beer has accumulated a lot of received wisdom that deserves some scrutiny:

Is sour beer genuinely complex or just the easiest way to hide a flawed fermentation

Is pastry stout a refined style or just sugar appeal

Whether "local" is genuinely important or a marketing shortcut that lets mediocre beer skate on geography.

We have opinions.

A word on who this is for:

If you drink beer and find yourself curious about what's actually happening in the glass (chemically, historically, culturally) you're in the right place. You don't need a brewing background. You just need to be the kind of person who, when handed a particularly good pint, wants to know why it tastes good.

We've been brewing at Alpha Acid for over a decade now.

We're still finding rabbit holes we haven't fallen into yet. European lager alone could keep us busy for a decade. The history of British ales could occupy another. The emerging hop breeding work coming out of the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand feels like it's going to rewrite what IPA means all over again.

So grab a pint and pull up a stool. There's a lot to talk about.