Q&A w. Chris Arndt

How did you get into home brewing?
I got into brewing beer for a few reasons. First, and perhaps most obvious, is that I really like beer. It’s awesome. It tastes great (duh, it’s beer), but there’s more than that -- it’s honestly a pretty beautiful thing. That might sound sappy for something like beer, but honestly, I think it’s incredible that humans have figured out a way to take four ingredients and create something with such a wide variety of flavors and textures. It’s the same reason I’m so fascinated by chess and wine and bread and coffee and tea--all these things seem so simple when you look at what goes into them, but each also provides lifetimes upon lifetimes of unique experiences and expressions. I find that super exciting. Plus, beer is such an important part of human history and culture! The oldest known recipe, written on a 4,000-year-old stone tablet, is for a kind of beer. I wish they taught that in history class. I definitely would’ve paid more attention. Anyway, on top of all that, beer has become a way for me to connect with my family. Both of my parents, all of my aunts and uncles, and all of my grandparents have always loved beer. Dad used to brew on ships when he was a sailor; Mom tells stories about trips to brewpubs in England. Beer began to take on meaning far beyond fizzy, malty, delicious liquid, and so, a few years ago, I decided to ask dad if he would take up brewing again and show me how it all worked. I doubt I’ll ever stop!

How would you describe the beers you and your father brew?
We’ve never brewed any lagers, but we have brewed a bunch of different kinds of ale. Dad is super methodical, so he’s great about tracking recipes and experimenting with single variables at a time. I’m very interested in the science behind brewing, but when it comes to actually crafting recipes, I get really excited and start thinking of crazy things to try, which dad does a good job of tempering to a reasonable degree. He also knows exactly what styles he really likes and how he likes them (within ales, he’s a fan of IPAs of all sorts and most English ale styles), so we mostly stick to brewing those kinds of beers, though I’ve thrown in a few wild cards. We’ve got some annual traditions at this point--every summer we brew a few crisp IPAs, and every winter we make a batch of spiced brown ale for the holidays--but for the most part, we brew whatever we’re in the mood for. We haven’t started mashing our own grain or keeping our own yeast cultures, though we’ve got some plans to move things in that direction. The common threads that seem to draw all of our beers together are full-bodiedness (neither of us like watery tasting beers, and we don’t skimp on ingredients) and that kind of yeasty middle-of-the-tongue kick which comes with most homebrew.

Any breweries you’ve dreamed of visiting or collaborating with?
Yes! Absolutely. In terms of brewing, we love what we do, but we have so much to learn. We never know exactly how a batch is going to turn out. We would love to work with people who brew professionally, and it would be so much fun to share our passion for beer with other people! The breweries which immediately come to mind are Lagunitas, Founders, Sierra Nevada, Ballast Point, Samuel Smith, and Dogfish Head, but collaborating with microbreweries would be amazing too. I’d also love to collaborate with a brewery musically. Everyone knows that beer and music go together better than peanut butter and jelly. As someone who loves both, I can’t imagine a more perfect union of passions.

If you’re not making music, what are your hobbies / passions?
I think all of my hobbies and passions boil down to four main things: art, food (which is art but is also important enough to go in its own category), learning, and puzzles. I love art in all forms, from literature to cinema and everything in between. I’ve been trying to teach myself to draw for the past few months (but I’m still terrible), and one of my favorite ways to relax is to read some poems. I’m also guilty of more than a few day-long Netflix binges. That counts as art, right? In terms of food: do I really need to explain anything? Eating and drinking are two of the greatest sources of pleasure and fun anyone can ever have. I’m trying to learn to cook (again, still pretty terrible), and I spend about 90% of our time in the car watching cooking videos on YouTube. Food is the best, period. For learning, I just really like learning things. Random documentaries, books on history, stories, academics, pretty much anything. There’s probably some really witty quote from some English poet about the quest for knowledge being its own reward that would be perfect in this context, but I haven’t learnt it yet. Finally, puzzles: they’re just so much fun! That’s why I studied Computer Science in college. It was like getting a degree in puzzle solving. Math is the same way for me. I wouldn’t consider myself an expert at puzzle-solving, but it’s one of my favorite ways to relax and is always a dependably fun day-off activity.

Do you have any hidden / special talents?
Snowboarding! I was an instructor at Gore Mountain during high school. It was a pretty awesome job. Beyond that, I totally love to cook, and I’m getting better at it! I also own the Harry Potter books in German (I bought them while I was taking German in college) and am currently about 5 chapters into the first one. Like I mentioned above, I’ve been trying to teach myself to draw, but I’m still pretty bad at it. I’m in the same boat with regards to magic. I’ve watched a few YouTube tutorials, but I just can’t make my fingers do what they need to do for all the good tricks.

What does it mean to you to be making music with your sister?
It’s amazing. She’s my best friend, and it’s been that way for as long as I can remember. I wouldn’t want to be doing this with anyone else. We have a really strong connection, especially with regard to music. We understand each other enough to fill in the blanks when one of us has an idea they can’t quite articulate, and we’ve worked with each other long enough to be open with one another and resolve artistic disputes in productive ways without compromising musical quality. We are in this together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!