Northern California’s Slice Beer has quickly built a reputation for evocative and expressive IPAs in both West Coast and hazy veins. Partner and head brewer Zack Frasher shares his philosophy and technique for brewing with hops across styles.

Jamie Bogner Jul 8, 2022 - 5 min read

Zack Frasher loves hoppy beers about as much as he loves exploring new techniques for maximizing their expression. His past decade and a half of brewing—first as a homebrewer then as a pro—has been marked by research and testing in the hoppy genre, dialing in recipes and processes for clean and tight hop presentation. Over the past year at Slice—in Lincoln, California, just north of Sacramento—that determined work has borne fruit: a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival and a gold at World Beer Cup, both for juicy or hazy strong pale ales. Frasher is no stranger to winning; his beers also won four GABF medals in five years at his last brewery, nearby Moonraker in Auburn.

In this episode, he dives deep into brewing hop-forward beers, both West Coast and hazy, and discusses:

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Jamie Bogner is the Cofounder and Editorial Director of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®. Email him at [email protected] .

The Wyoming-born brewmaster of the Private Landbrauerei Schönram in southeastern Bavaria digs into the details of how they brew their captivating, award-winning lagers.

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