Science teacher-turned-beer geek Dan Stampone isn’t afraid to experiment—like most science educators, he’s always been interested in changing variables to produce something new. Now the head brewer at Batson River Brewing and Distilling, Stampone’s entry into the beer world was quite serendipitous.
“I was working in a room adjacent to another science teacher’s classroom, and he happened to be the head brewer at a small, local brewpub,” explains Stampone. “He was assigned to be my mentor, but I had been teaching for a number of years at that point. He basically said, ‘I’m not doing much to earn this extra stipend. You’re pretty low maintenance—you don’t need a whole lot from me,’” Stampone laughs. “And I said, ‘Well, I need you to teach me how to make a beer!’”
Working alongside his mentor during a pseudo-apprenticeship, Stampone learned the basics of the beer-brewing process. “I got bit by the bug and I couldn’t shake it,” he recalls. “I decided that was how I’d like to steer my career and my future—by applying my knowledge base of science and my interest in craft brew into the production side of things.”
Stampone’s scientific background and inherent curiosity are two traits that lend themselves well to the beer brewing industry, a world where testing out new concepts and successfully bringing them to market is not an easy task. Take, for example, the cold IPA: It was only two years ago that Stampone first heard of the style, and Batson River’s take on the trend is already award-winning.
“The cold IPA is a fairly new style,” he explains, “but it does seem to be an offering that more breweries are starting to include in their portfolio.” Cryoscape, the cold IPA that Stampone and his team developed at Batson River, won the gold medal in the US Open Beer Championship’s Specialty IPA Category this summer—the only brewery or beer submission from the state of Maine to win an award.
“I wanted to put something out there that’s hop-forward but still light and easy to drink,” Stampone says of his inspiration for the crushable brew. “It seems the palate for a lot of craft beer drinkers has evolved, and a lot of them are trending toward lighter-bodied, lower calorie beers that are more refreshing.”
Stampone admits Batson River typically trends toward traditional beers, but “it’s always nice to play around with new styles and challenge ourselves as brewers.” One of the biggest challenges when approaching the up-and-coming cold IPA style was the lack of guidelines. “It’s a little difficult to define, just because it’s still an emerging style. There haven’t been hard and fast guidelines set by the beer certification program,” Stampone notes.
According to Hop Culture, the cold IPA was first pioneered by Wayfinder Beer in Portland, Oregon, circa 2018 when brewmaster Kevin Davey began experimenting with IPAs in an attempt to leave his own mark on the category. Davey used a lager yeast strain, incorporated rice and corn in the grain bill, and dry-hopped his brew toward the end of its fermentation period, resulting in a hop-forward ale similar to an IPA but with the drinkable, crushable characteristics of a lager.
One key aspect that makes the cold IPA different is the fact that—surprise!—it’s fermented at colder temperatures. “[Cold IPAs] are fermented with either a lager yeast at a mid-to-warmer range temperature than would be typical for a lager strain, or with an ale strain at a cooler temperature,” explains Stampone. “There’s still a little bit of debate as to which one is the right way to do it, but then again, it’s an emerging style, so there isn’t really a rule book.”
The rule book Stampone is referring to does exist—it’s the Beer Style Guidelines, published by the Brewers Association and used to determine styles for both the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival—but the cold IPA doesn’t have an entry yet. For reference, the hazy or juicy IPA wasn’t added to the guidelines until 2018, so we’re guessing cold IPAs will see their day.
Because the cold IPA is fermented at a cooler temperature regardless of yeast strain, it results in a crisper, cleaner beer with a hop-forward taste. “Lighter bodied and really drinkable is the target, regardless of how you get there,” Stampone says. “Your end goal is to make a beer that’s far more drinkable than your standard IPA or New England IPA—it’s meant to be considerably more sessionable, drinkable, and refreshing.”
The jury is still out on whether the cold IPA should stand in a category of its own. “A lot of people have made the argument that a cold IPA is essentially an India Pale Lager, or IPL. Stylistically, they’re very similar,” Stampone says. According to Davey, who invented the cold IPA category, it’s not an IPA vs. IPL debate; he designed cold IPAs to enhance the West Coast IPA style, known for its bitter taste and bold hop aroma.
Testing out the cold IPA process is where Stampone’s past life as a science teacher really shines through. “When we first brewed Cryoscape, for the sake of experimentation, we did a parallel fermentation experiment where the only variable that we changed was the yeast. Cryoscape was fermented with an ale yeast at a cold temperature, and then we made an IPL with a lager yeast at a cold temperature,” he explains. “The only variable there was the strain of yeast, and they produced wildly different beers. It was sort of what I expected, but I just wanted to put the debate to rest, at least internally,” he laughs.
If you thought winning a gold medal in taste was impressive, you should know that Cryoscape has earned even more recognition: In addition to being named one of the Top Ten Best Beer Labels at the 2023 US Beer Open Championship, the brew’s label received an American Package Design Award from Graphic Design USA. “There can be a lot of discussion about what to name a beer,” Stampone says. “Can we design cans that stand out on the shelf? If this catches a customer’s eye, is it a name that will bring them one step closer to trying the product? [Branding] is a really fun part of the process, but it can also be very painful.” If a beer is part of a limited run or a seasonal feature, the name is often lighthearted or goofy, “but when it’s one of our initial offerings that we’re packaging in cans and putting into distribution, there has to be a bit more consideration going into the name,” he says.
So, why Cryoscape? “In addition to being fermented at a colder temperature, we use Cryo hops in the recipe, which are a cryogenically processed product,” Stampone explains. “Given the artwork that we chose, we were spinning our wheels on the name. I messaged our designer and said, ‘How about Cryosphere? We’re bringing in the fact that the geology of Maine was shaped by the cryosphere, by glaciers, plus the beer’s cold fermentation,’” Stampone says. “And our designer said, ‘Yeah, but it’s more of a landscape on the can, so why don’t we call it Cryoscape?’”
No matter the name, Stampone and his team at Batson River are right on the leading edge of the trend with their crisp, drinkable, award-winning cold IPA. Looking to the future, Stampone thinks the cold IPA style is ripe for experimentation. “I think it’s something that a lot of brewers have interest in, and as they have time and space available, I think they’ll experiment with it. I know a number of brewers locally who have played around with the idea, but I don’t know of any who have put a cold IPA into regular production,” he says.
We’ll keep our eyes peeled and our taste buds ready.
“I wanted to put something out there that’s hop-forward but still light and easy to drink.”
"The name brings it all together—the fact that the geology of Maine was shaped by the cryosphere, by glaciers, plus the beer’s cold fermentation."