Threes Brewing’s Josh Penney on the Lager Renaissance and Craft’s Resilience

One thing Josh Penney noticed after moving to Brooklyn from Los Angeles late last fall – aside from markedly less sunny weather – was a broader diversity in beer styles across brewery taprooms.

“It seemed to be a wider range of things that were really appealing to everybody,” he said. “Because out on the West Coast, you might have a robust porter, but then you have, like, six different IPAs.”

Penney is the head brewer at Brooklyn-based Threes Brewing, a role he took on last year after leaving Los Angeles’ Highland Park Brewing.

He joins this week’s Brewbound Podcast to share insights gleaned from his bicoastal brewing career, which kicked off in earnest more than a decade ago with a honeymoon-turned-road trip to attend the UC Davis Brewing Program. Penney, his wife Meg and their late dog Bronson (a very good boy) trekked from Massachusetts to California with a camper in tow.

In addition to Penney’s pleasant surprise at New York’s varied beer taste, he is also delighted by craft lagers’ moment in the proverbial sun. Lagers make up about 75% of Threes’ portfolio, and almost all non-hazy recipes use lager yeast, Penney said.

“It’s nice to be able to have beers like that that are really well-made,” he said. “Those, in my opinion, are the ones that really show your prowess as a brewer, because you can’t really hide behind roasted malts and crazy dry hopping or adjuncts or anything like that. It’s all about the fermentation and selection of your ingredients and making sure that they all coexist in a peaceful way.”

Before the interview, the Brewbound team breaks down Molson Coors’ latest corporate restructuring and dives into the scuttlebutt surrounding that ornery New York Times op-ed about one writer’s personal issues with craft beer.

Listen here or on your preferred podcasting platform.

One thing Josh Penney noticed after moving to Brooklyn from Los Angeles late last fall – aside from markedly less sunny weather – was a broader diversity in beer styles across brewery taprooms. “It seemed to be a wider range of things that were really appealing to everybody,” he said. “Because out on the West Coast, you might have a robust porter, but then you have, like, six different IPAs.”