My start brewing
I started out home brewing and was given the opportunity of a professional brewer almost 18 years ago and it’s just – it’s something that I fell in love with and I consider myself a chef of sorts. And it’s a passion. It’s something that I love to do. I love bringing new beers out, and being able to offer something a little bit different to everybody.
I’ve been in the industry for quite a while, but being in the industry and you know having the schooling and all the years experience combined. The good food and good beer go hand in hand. I’ve always said that people come to micro breweries for beer but if you have the good food to compliment then that always helps. And good service is always key. Since I’ve been in the Craft Brewing Industry I believe that people are starting to make that transition to drinking better beer, better quality and not necessarily quantity. Having the experience that I do and brewing… let’s see that this is brewery number 4… the experience of using different equipment… and steam vs. gas fire. It’s is a little bit trying at first going from one brewery to the next but as long as you have the knowledge and the understand of what it is that you need to do then, you know, you generally figure things out.
My mission statement for craft beer would be craft beer is so diverse that there’s
something out there for everyone. There’s so many different styles that if you can’t find a craft beer that you like then you’re just a very closed minded person.
Being a Brewster
It’s great. To be a female brewer in the state, or one of the only female brewers in the state, is an honor. Women were doing the brewing before men were ever doing it. I like to think that’s the main reason the craft is still around. And I’ve never looked at it as a challenge. It’s something I love to do and I’ve never let anything hold me back. I think women’s touch in brewing has a lot to do with organization. I think women are a little cleaner than men as far as keeping things in order. It doesn’t surprise me that men are 75 percent of the population of beer drinkers and women are only 25 percent, and there are organizations out there to educate women and get them interested in craft brews. Breweries, I know, have had ladies night or just special nights where women come in and meet the brewer and get educated on different beer styles and familiar with ingredients in the brewing process.
Craft beer – a healthier drink
I think that it probably surprises people a little bit about the ingredients in the beer, only because craft brewers use a little bit better choice ingredients – a little bit more uality, as opposed to the macros, which you know, micro breweries don’t normally use rice or corn unless it’s a specialty beer that calls for that and adjuncts, which basically cheapen the beers up. Craft beer is getting better in Indiana – Indiana’s been so far behind the times for a long time and I think everybody’s just, as far as the reason that there’s more and more out there is that a lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon. There are a lot of people that know what they’re doing, and others that don’t. It’s all about knowing what everything is going to entail, and that you’re going to have a good quality product in order to succeed. The first time you try a craft beer it might be a little cloudy, that’s because young and the brewery may not filter and there’s still some yeast in suspension, which yeast is vitamin B, which is a good source for you. The comparison between buying it fresh from the brewery is that you’re getting it straight from the source as opposed to, like you say, buying it from the store and you don’t know how the distributor handled it -if it’s been kept warm, if it’s been kept cold, how old it is before it reaches the store, and how long it’s been sitting on the shelf. Whereas the brewpub you can go straight there and it was probably made you know within a month or two of your purchase. I see every brewery as a complement to one another that we are all in this together. We are such a small part of the big game that we need to stick together and it’s such a great industry, everybody is always willing to share information, you know the brewer’s association has a forum where you can get on there and ask a question and you will get multiple answers back and yeah it’s just it’s such a great industry as far as comradeship.
Craft beer future
As far as growth in Indiana… I see other parts of the state that it is quite possible. Indianapolis I know is becoming quite saturated for the size of the city that it is and you know I would like to see more micro-breweries in southern Indiana and then eastern and western as well. It is just, like I said before, it is all going to depend on the quality of the product and what you have to offer as far as if you are pub or if you are a micro-brewery that’s a that’s key. Well we always have release parties for our new beers. We are having one for our IPA tomorrow night and we just we like to get all of our regular customers that are our face book fans… The opportunity to come in first and try something new that is on tap and to we can talk to them and find out what their feelings are and just, you know, drinking beer and having a good time. Some of the things that I find and probably most often as that there are a lot of hop heads out there and beer specific style people which is good in a way but it is also unfortunate because you know you have some people that drink only one style of beer and that is all they will drink but yeah… variety is a spice of life and if everybody drank the same thing then you know where would we be?
