Photo by Erik Kabik

For a while, a lot of the creativity in the craft brew realm seemed to be with the IPAs and the double IPAs but lately, at least from my perspective, a lot of that is now taking place with other styles. What are your thoughts?

I agree. That’s where people are getting a bit little malted out. I think the sweetness and the heaviness of some of the IPAs can be a little much at times. There’s the whole session craze, which is more of a summer thing with the lighter malt bodies but hoppy. So I find that people have been trying to make beers that are still hoppy but not as heavy, not as sweet. I think what’s happening is that people are going toward funkier, different types of yeast strains. At some point, it can become bad—“Something has happened to this beer that is not supposed to happen.” It’s one of those things where we’ll see how far people’s taste buds can go but I’m leaning a little more that way.

When you collaborate with a brewery, what is that process like?

It depends on which brewery. With Ska, which is down in Durango, we did a FaceTime and we went back and forth with recipes. Other times when it’s local or when I flew out to Stone, I’m there throughout. With Stone we did multiple tastings. I flew out once and we took all the elderberries and all the different things we wanted to do with them and we tested it out and tasted it and then came back the next time and actually made it.

So it’s kind of a mixture of two different things. When I collaborated with Robert Hunter [On the song “45th of November”], that was more like the collaboration I did with Ska, it was more virtual. We met over the internet and sent files back and forth. I’ve also written some songs recently with Bonnie [Paine] from Elephant Revival, where we get in the same room and collaborate. I think it works both ways and you can get either good products or bad products out of that, you never know.

With a song, you have the results right away. A beer takes more time. Obviously it’s science, but at the end of the day there’s still some mystery to it. Are you ever surprised by a beer?

Recently I made Amacron Hibiscus Hoppy Wheat with Odd13 Brewing and the ingredients made me a little bit nervous. We had passionfruit and hibiscus, and I thought, “I don’t know, it could turn out to be like Kool-Aid or something.” But sometimes you have to wait on the beer—over two weeks it can grow on you and change. I was pleasantly surprised.

Jumping to music, you just announced a new album with String Cheese, Believe. Do you have a solo project in the works as well?

Hopefully I’m going to have an album next year at some point around this time. I’ve been working in the Lab, releasing tracks one by one. I have about six songs with some more go and then hopefully I’ll release it next fall.

With String Cheese, we’d started the pre-order a couple days ago. We’re super psyched about that.

String Cheese has been sharing some songs via the Sound Lab. Will there also be material on Believe that has not yet been heard live or from the Lab?

Yes, there will be some songs that people have not heard. One of my songs on Believe I wrote in a more Ben Fold Five style, kind of a piano-Wurlitzer written, driven kind of rock song. I think it’s quirky in a cool way, but I’ll be really curious about people’s reactions.

Bringing it back to the show on Saturday, if folks are on the fence about coming out for Hoppy Holidays, can you make a brief pitch for them to join you at the Fillmore?

I mean, when do you ever get to see Billy and Kyle duet on stage, so that’s the first thing. Second of all, I think it’s a great thing to do to support Conscious Alliance. Also it’s an opportunity to try some unique beers from breweries around the Colorado area that have been personally chosen by me. And then you get to see a great show at the Fillmore on a Saturday night.

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