One of Harris’ beers, in a glass to match.
Interview by Megan Cole
There are a few things you may not know about Aaron Harris, Palms and ex-Isis drummer. One example is that his grade seven music teacher never thought he’d be a musician, and it seems like he’s done pretty well in that department. But another little-know fact about Harris is that he’s a full-fledged beer nerd and home brewer. Harris travels the world for work, and while he’s touring he makes the most out of all of his stops and samples local beers.
We recently talked to Harris about home brewing and the trendy craft beer culture
As if being a musician and producer isn’t enough work, I heard you’re also busy making beer. How long have you been doing that for?
I’ve been doing it for about four and a half years. I started doing it kind of midway through 2009.
How did you become interested in it?
My dad got me into it. We had been talking about beers, and I grew up back east in Maine, and we’d talk over the phone about different beers. There are so many different beers in California, compared to what he has out there, and he just decided he was going to start brewing. He brewed some and sent it to me, and he got really good at it. I couldn’t be outdone, so I had to try and do some myself. He sent me a starter kit for Christmas and I started that way. He’s a lot better at it than I am. He does all-grain brewing. He has his own kegs and taps. He has his whole operation over there.
I’ve been interested in trying it myself. What’s the learning curve like for home brewing?
It’s not so bad. You have to be patient and really clean. Depending on what you’re going to brew, you have temperature variabilities and controls you have to think about in that sense. If you’re thinking about brewing something that needs a warmer climate, you may want to try that when it’s appropriate because you may not have as good of luck over the winter. There are different times of year to consider different kinds of beer to brew. But it’s not as complicated as people probably think it is. You just need the patience to do it because it takes about a month. And the space.
What’s your favourite beer that you’ve made so far?
My favourite was a West Coast pale ale that was a copy of a Sierra Nevada; they make my favourite beer. I got a recipe for a copy of that and it was my favourite one. I’ve made some that haven’t come out so great, but for the most part they’ve all been pretty good.
Harris’ Full Circle pale ale
Do find that you’re getting more and more into the craft beers that breweries are making, and are you tasting more when you’re touring?
Yeah, I have been able to try a lot. But I do feel like the market has been flooded with so many beers nowadays, and everywhere I go it seems the beer menus are just lots of IPAs and Belgian-style ales; just lots of really heavy, high-alcohol beers, which is cool, but I’d like to see there be more of a wide variety of things. So if you want a nice beer that tastes good, but won’t get you hammered, there is still that option. I get a little disappointed in the amount of IPAs out there, and I do like IPAs, but I feel like it has gone a bit overboard. Here in southern California there are so many breweries, it’s hard to keep track of them all, and they keep popping up all over the US and all over the world, really. In my travels I’ve been able to learn a lot about beer and try a lot of different styles, especially in Belgium, getting to try some of the super-exclusive monk-made beers. I got to try the winner of the 2007 best beer in the world, which is this beer in Belgium made by some monks and it’s call Westvleteren. I remember some people over there telling me about getting it, and how you could only go on a certain Sunday on a certain day in the month. And they would only sell you so much; it was this big thing where people would try to go and buy more than they would be allotted, so they would buy some and then put on disguises and try to go through and buy more. The beer was pretty damn good.
What are some of your favourite breweries you’ve stopped at?
I like Three Floyds a lot, in Illinois. I like Firestone, and Stone Brewery. I like Harpoon, and got a chance to tour their brewery outside of Boston. I also like Coopers down in Australia a lot, and obviously having a Guinness in Ireland is something I would suggest, if you are able to. Just going somewhere like Ireland and being able to have a Guinness there is something cool to do. There are so many breweries all over the world.
Is it nice as a touring musician to have local craft breweries to choose from where you play, instead of the usual macro-brews?
It’s really cool, and usually on our rider we will ask for a few mainstays, but also ask for something local so we get to try something from wherever we go. And most of the time it’s really good, so it’s nice have a really cool surprise that we haven’t tried before.
Palms released their self-titled debut album in 2013 on Ipecac Recordings. The Los Angeles-based band, featuring Harris, two other former Isis members and Deftones’ frontman Chino Moreno, will be hitting the road for a southwestern tour in September.
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