Mitch Steele and the New Realm of American IPA

Article by Jim Vorel of pastemagazine.com.

The vast majority of professional brewers will never reach the kind of high status position enjoyed by Mitch Steele when he was the brewmaster of Stone Brewing Co. There, he was the famed brewing mind behind one of the country’s most beloved craft brewers, the 9th largest in the U.S., according to the Brewers Association. He was the man who literally wrote the book on IPA—you can find a copy in any homebrew store. Aspiring homebrewers with dreams of opening their own breweries would have killed to be in his position.

And then, Mitch Steele walked away.

In June of 2016, Steele announced he was departing Stone to get back to his small brewing roots, in a project that eventually developed into New Realm Brewing Co. in Atlanta. As the brewery built out and tested future beers this summer, we grilled Steele on the shape of his future brewing ambitions. Now, as 2018 dawns, New Realm just had its public opening, so we present a few highlights of that conversation in honor of Steele’s new project.