THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1481

THE WAKKER WEEKLY – Issue #1481 – Posted on: 17-Jun-2019

BUSHWAKKER NEWS

NEWS FROM THE BREWERY! Head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports our seasonally available BOMBAY IPA, PREMIUM PALE ALE, BARON BOCK and MANGO BLONDE ALE are currently on tap. There are also batches of CHICO LIGHT IPA, GRANNY’S BITTER and BUSHVAR CZECH PILS working their way through the brewery.

Our June Premium Wine Features are from the Ares De Madeiros Winery in Portugal. The white is a 2016 vintage Viognier blend with Verdelho and Arinto and the red is a 2014 vintage Syrah blend with Aragonez and Touriga Nacional.

Our GUEST TAP is pouring a small keg of TEATOTALLER BROWN ALE from Saskatoon’s Temperance Brewing Co-operative. This is the sophomore offering from the first consumer co-op brewery in Canada. Next up is a PINK IPA from Saskatoon’s High Key Brewing. This will be followed by the CIDER & BLACK apple and black currant cider from Crossmount Cidery.

THE BUSHWAKKER GOODNESS IS SPREADING!  ALL SIX REGINA SLGA stores are now offering a varied selection of Bushwakker beers in 650ml bottles. The Quance street SLGA store is also offering growler fills of our DUNGARVON IRISH RED ALE. Regina’s Urban Cellars east location and Metro Liquor also offers a selection of our bottled beers. ATTENTION SASKATOON RESIDENTS! You can find our DUNGARVON bottles in the Saskatoon Metro Liquor store!

BUSHWAKKER EVENTS

June 17: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. 8’S ENUFF. Mini big band delivers powerful jazz and swing. 8:00 PM.

June 19: Wednesday Night Folk. LADIES OF THE PRAIRIE AND THE MALE ORDER BAND. Three part female harmonies, guitar, banjo, steel guitar, mandolin and more! 9:00 PM. *Please note the later show time. We will be closed to the public for a private function for Saskatchewan Trade & Export Partnership between 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM.

June 20: CROSSMOUNT SUMMER CIDER TASTING EVENT. The popularity of ciders continues to rise. We are delighted to showcase the offerings of a fellow Saskatchewan local producer. Sample a half dozen ciders with the head cider maker from Saskatoon’s Crossmount Cidery who will present their traditional offerings as well as some boundary – pushing creations! Tickets only $20. 7:00 PM.

June 24: Monday Night Jazz & Blues. ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT. Veteran Regina act delivers popular jazz and adult contemporary tunes. 8:00 PM.

June 26: Wednesday Night Folk. MITCHELL MOZDZEN. Blues rock trio from Manitoba makes their Bushwakker debut. 8:00 PM.

June 30: CYCLONE BARLEYWINE RELEASE: On June 30, 1912, the infamous Regina Cyclone tore through the heart of the Queen City and destroyed the original building where The Bushwakker now stands. 107 years later to the exact day, we pay tribute to this incredible force of nature with the release of one of our strongest ales. Our Cyclone Barleywine is an English-style barleywine which packs a big malty punch with plenty of alcohol warmth and complexity. Limited bottles available. See you at noon on Sunday!

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BREWPUBS: UPPING THEIR GAME

By Jack Curtin, Amahl Turczyn, Jill Redding

Brewpubs are continuing to hold their own. In 2018, the category was up 13 percent from the previous year, with much of that growth coming from new openings, according to Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson.

With increasing competition from taprooms that have food offerings such as food trucks and other options, brewpubs are constantly upping their game.

“Brewpubs are going beyond the simple pub concept, and more and more present themselves as brewery/restaurants,” said Watson. “They almost always feature locally sourced food menus, rather than just burgers and pizza, and are putting their own twists on meals. The variety that customers can choose from continues to grow, such as ethnic dishes that you would never have expected five or 10 years ago.”

Increasingly, it’s not only about the beer, as cocktails, wine, and spirits—many of them locally produced as well—are now offered. “Brewpubs see themselves as restaurants with an on-premise brewery,” said Watson.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s happening in the U.S. brewpub scene.

Hyper-Local
Wrightsville Beach Brewery, which opened in Wilmington, N.C. in January 2017, produced 1,200 barrels in its first year and bumped that up to 2,050 in 2018. Seventy-five percent of sales were on-site.

The Wilmington area has grown from having one brewery to 16 over the last four years, but founder Jud Watkins has no concerns about other local tasting rooms.
“We never viewed other craft breweries as direct competition,” said Watkins. “In fact, when a new brewery opens, we usually see a bump in sales on those weekends. I think a new brewery puts beer on everyone’s mind and we all benefit.”

Watkins, who started out as a homebrewer, is a licensed commercial fisherman who grew up oystering with his father and grandfather. He describes his brewery’s beers as “beach beers,” sessionable brews ideal for a trip to the beach and an afternoon of throwing the frisbee around.

“What we used to call local beer was from a 300-mile radius, a two- or three-state area,” said Watkins. “But the definition of local has changed. Now customers expect that if you call something local, it’s from within 50 miles, maybe only 30.”

Watkins sees the movement toward hyper-local not just in the brewery’s beer. “We see it with the oysters we feature—people want to know exactly where they are being harvested.”

Wrightsville Beach Brewery will be adding barrel-aged beers to its lineup and is adding new tanks, as there are no current plans to grow outside its current location.

Branching Out
Business is booming for Chilly Water Brewing, a music-themed brewpub in the Fletcher Place neighborhood of Indianapolis. The five-year-old brewery produced 650 barrels last year and is now on pace for 1,000, thanks largely to a new taproom that Chilly Water opened about five miles away.

“The new taproom has really surprised us,” said owner Skip DuVall, so much so that he’s looking into adding more locations.

DuVall comes from a brewing background, including a stint at Alcatraz Brewing. “As an owner of a brewpub, I know that the food side can be a tough part of the business,” he said. “At our taproom location we are just handling the beer, and it’s a breeze.”

Chilly Water partnered with local restaurateur Kristina Mazza for the new location (called Hoagies & Hops), which is located near Butler University. “We don’t get a lot of students there, but we do get a lot of professors,” said DuVall. The Hoagies & Hops menu includes hoagie sandwiches, cheesesteaks, and hot dogs, along with an extensive Chilly Water beer menu.

“She’s a rock star in the restaurant world here and has the pedigree,” said DuVall of Mazza.

Chilly Water’s original brewpub location has a music-themed food menu of pub fare including sandwiches, wraps, burgers, and salads. Brewer/partner Dan Krzywicki brews up a selection of core and seasonal beers, including Built to Last Pilsner, Blood on the Tracks Blood Orange IPA, and One Hop Wonder IPA, along with a Sour Series.

“The beer scene in Indianapolis is definitely growing,” said DuVall, who is quick to credit veteran craft brewers for leading the way. “Sun King [Brewing] is the reason Indianapolis is who they are. There’s a lot of solid beer here.”

Craft In The Panhandle
Co-owners Joe and Andrea Margheim, partner Peter Meyer, and brewer Derek Ordway pioneered Flyover Brewing Company in Scottsbluff, Neb. midway through 2018, and putting down roots in the community has allowed them to grow the business organically. “There was a lot of excitement leading up to our opening, as we are the first brewery in the Panhandle,” said Margheim. “Business was incredible right from the start, and many of our established regulars and supporters help us spread the word.”

Flyover is a big proponent of social media and sharing its experiences with its fan base. “We don’t do a lot of big dollar advertising, so we love sharing awards and reviews on social media,” said Margheim. “Also, the degree to which we built out the brewery, down to the finishes we chose, helps tell that story, and reinforces the importance of the entire experience.”

Their current brewhouse capacity of 2,500 barrels is sufficient for now, but success has prompted thoughts of expanding into new markets. Still, they are taking a pragmatic approach.

“There are many stories of system upgrades within the first years of operations, and we wanted to be sure we had capacity for years’ worth of growth,” Margheim continued. “In the near future, we are looking into distributing to eastern Nebraska. We don’t plan to expand into massive production, but look at using distribution as a marketing tool to spread awareness to different areas of the state.”

Margheim considers it paramount to work in tandem with other local businesses to  strengthen community ties—even taprooms in the area are seen as opportunities, not threats. While there are no other breweries in the area, two small taprooms have opened within a 45- minute drive of Flyover.
“We absolutely see them as allies,” Margheim said. “Many people will travel somewhere purely to visit their local brewpub, so if our area now has three options that will just help put the region on the map and create a bigger customer draw.”

As with so many other brewpubs, local is critical to Flyover’s success, but while some breweries like Wrightsville Beach focus on hyper-local, Flyover takes a more expansive view of the concept.

“Here in western Nebraska, we may not have as many truly local sources as some other communities, so we have expanded our view of small, local companies to include northern Colorado and Wyoming,” Margheim said.

Every operation in the brewpub benefits from local products, said Margheim. “Our brewing equipment is from Lincoln, many of our malts come from Nebraska malting companies or the Front Range [of Colorado], and many of our beer names reflect the region.”

Flyover’s signature seasonal beer, Campaign, is an amber lager brewed with locally grown sugar beets, in honor of the annual beet harvest. A portion is aged in barrels for a secondary release known as Rehaul. In the kitchen, that mentality continues, with juicy Colorado peaches used on a peach and brie pizza in the summer, honey produced in Scottsbluff, micro greens and herbs from a local grower, and more.

Just as local food products are used in the beer, the house beers are used to craft cuisine. Flyover uses beer in its cooking as much as possible, including the classic beer cheese made with Helles Lager and served with handmade pretzels. Stout is used in a chocolate cake, and Vienna Lager is incorporated in queso served with spent grain tortilla chips.

“All of our food is made in-house, including the pizza dough, pretzels, salad dressings, and wing sauces,” noted Margheim.

Storming Across Michigan
Stormcloud Brewing, on the shores of Lake Michigan in Frankfort, Mich., opened in 2013. Since that time, they’ve grown from 1,400 barrels to 2,500, and added a 20-barrel production brewery in east Frankfort early in 2018 with 4,500 barrels of annual capacity.

As is the case with Flyover Brewing, Stormcloud’s location dictates the definition of local. Co-owner Rick Schmitt admitted, “While hyper-local is important in urban settings, for Stormcloud we have many travelers and customers with second homes on the lakes in the area. We have the benefit of being their local brewery even when they are 200 miles away.”

Although Schmitt believes that, at least to his customers, the significance of “local” applies more to beer than food, hyper-local eats are still a part of Stormcloud’s game plan. “We have our own StormGarden onsite, so we can harvest ingredients right out the back door, which is fun.” The brewpub serves local menu items such as a whitefish spread (fresh from Lake Superior) and locally made bratwurst.

Rainmaker Ale, a Belgian-style pale ale, medaled at a recent Great American Beer Festival, but Schmitt believes local accolades are just as significant. “Equally important for us was the recognition of Top New Brewery in Michigan by MLive in 2016, which resonates with everyone in the area. But at the end of the day, our customers are the ones who gauge the level of quality in our products, and they aren’t shy about doing so on social media. Even if they are not active on Yelp, Untappd, or TripAdvisor, the message still gets out. We pay a great deal of attention to the various websites/ apps that operate in our space and communicate frequently with those users.”

Despite the record number of craft breweries opening in Michigan, when Stormcloud opened, the closest brewery was about 50 miles away. “Now there are four within 20 miles,” said Schmitt, and Stormcloud works closely with them as allies and supporters.

Expansion through distribution, mainly with can sales, focuses on incremental markets and sustainable growth. “We started with just 10 counties locally, and after a year and a half we are in 35 of 83 counties in Michigan,” said Schmitt. “Our goal is to cover the entire state by the end of 2020. At this time, our commitment is to expand that footprint significantly, perhaps into the northern reaches of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as that population has an affection for northern Michigan.”

Regardless of their location, U.S. craft breweries that serve their own handcrafted food on-site continue to represent a winning business model.

TIME OUT- More Real Life Zen Teachings

6. If you think nobody cares whether you’re alive or dead, try missing a couple of mortgage payments.

7. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.

8.If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.

9. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

10. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably well worth it.

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