Interview with David Bryan, owner/brewer New American Brewing; Ankeny, IA

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New American BrewingAnother newer brewery in Iowa is New American Brewing located in Ankeny Iowa. Brewer/owner David Bryan was kind enough to take time out from his schedule to answer a few questions about his brewery and his beer. To find out more about New American Brewing visit their website at: www.newamericanbeer.com.

Q: What was your story before opening New American? How did you get involved in brewing?
I have been in the telecommunications business for the better part of a decade both here in Iowa and in Kansas.  My wife is from the Des Moines area so we moved here to be closer to family.  I had been brewing beer at home for about 7 years and became very passionate about the process.  One of the best parts of brewing for me was always getting to share my beer with other people.  I began thinking of turning pro several years ago and really started to research what it would take to make it happen.  During this research and planning phase I met my business partner and we began planning our brewery together.  After almost a year of finding funding, shopping for equipment, leasing a space, and building the brewery we sold our first keg in Nov of 2013.
Q: Do you feel any pressure to follow beer trends and brew what’s popular?
No, I don’t feel any pressure to follow trends.  I have always brewed the beer that I like to drink and if I couldn’t brew what I like to drink, I don’t think if would have nearly as much fun.  I started the brewery to pursue my passion for creating great beer, not to do what other people expected me to do.
Q: How many beers will be available at the brewery? Any plans for seasonals or special releases?
Right now we don’t have any beer available at the brewery, we are draft distribution only.  Currently we have 2 core beers that we will offer year round.  Independence Pale Ale and 1789 Porter.  We are going to rotate our IPA seasonally.  For the spring we have Shenanigans Session IPA.  As we move through the year we will offer a Double IPA, and Black IPA, possibly a brown or red IPA for the fall.  We also have a winter only beer called Elves’ Revenge, a 9% winter warmer spiced with Vanilla, Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Q: What is the beer that you are most excited about?
I’m really excited about changing up our IPA seasonally.  It give me a chance to brew different beers throughout the year and not get bored.  I love hoppy beers and I really like brewing and experimenting with different techniques.  Changing our IPA offering gives me a chance to do this and keeps a fresh new beer in the marketplace throughout the year.
Q: Was opening a brewery in Des Moines area pretty easy? Was their any resistance? 
No, opening a brewery was not easy.  It was very challenging and stressful with long hours and lots of  work.  With that being said, Iowa is a great place to open a brewery.  Iowa has a lot of things going for it, like self distribution, reasonable tax codes, alcohol laws that are fairly progressive, and most importantly the people of Iowa have received new breweries with open arms and are very excited to support local businesses.  There are still a few laws and that breweries would like updated and made better, but overall Iowa is a great place to be a brewer.  
Q: Can you discuss short term/long term goals for the brewery?
Short term we are looking to add growlers to the brewery.  We would like people to be able to come to the brewery, try our beer, see what we are all about and be able to take beer home with them to enjoy.
Long term we are looking to add a full tasting room with some type of outdoor space and expand our current brewing capacity.  That would mean that we would buy a larger brew house and increase our fermentation space.  Right now both my business partner and I still have full time jobs outside of the brewery, in the future we are looking to be working at the brewery full time.
**Beer not available at the brewery yet but you can New American Beers at the following locations:

~el Bait Shop

~University Library Cafe

~The Exchange

~Confluence Brewing Co. 

~515 Brewing Co.

~Louie’s Wine Dive

~On The Rocks

~O’malley’s 

~Praire Trail Hy-Vee 

~The Keg Stand

~OverTime

~Dublin Bay Pub & Grill

~Number 7 Brewing Co.

~Thunderhead Sports Bar & Grill

Interview with Quinton McClain; brewer/owner Lion Bridge Brewing

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lion bridgeQuinton McClain was kind enough to take time out from a very busy schedule to answer some questions about his new brewery, Lion Bridge Brewery in Cedar Rapids, IA. I’ve been multiple times now and absolutely love what Quinton and his staff is going. The smoked chocolate stout is amazing and the Mad Max is terrific as well. Check out Quinton and his beers soon!

Q: Would you classify your beers as traditional or more of a unique style?
            
  I wouldn’t say the beers I am making are traditional.  Some of them are representing specific styles, but they have subtle changes that I think make them intriguing. These initial beers are not brash. Uniqueness is often associated with brashness and rightfully so. These initial beers are subtle and I think some people equate subtlety with traditional styles. I am very proud of the beers we have now and as inventory steadies and I branch out to more high abv, etc beers, I will be excited for different flavor possibilities.
I think our uniqueness will come from my ability to improvise and grow a portfolio that represents a lot of different beer styles.  I believe a great portfolio makes a great brewery.  There need to be session beers, experimental beers, herb and spice variants, and oaked beers…all available at the same time. There are no beers I am afraid of making for fear of ruining my classification.
Q: How many beers will be available at the brewery? Any plans for seasonals or special releases?
 
Lots of plans for new beers.  We have 21 taps, and I hope to have at least 12 dedicated to my beers by the end of the year. I am aging a wheat wine in Cedar Ridge Brandy Barrels right now.  A rye IPA is coming up, and I will be doing some cask beer in a few more weeks.
Q: What was your story before opening Lion Bridge? How did you get involved in brewing?
    
   I was a brewer at the Fort Collins Brewery for a few years, took a Siebel Course before that and has an internship at Millstream.  I wore a lot of hats at FCB and helped put together a brand new facility that really helped me understand the guts of a brewery. Before all this, I worked in some craft beer stores, brewed at home a bit, traveled a lot, and really loved the stories and culture behind beverages and food. There is nothing more important in the world than getting together with friends for a beer and food.  I truly believe that. I felt the best way to live out that belief is to make beer and be around it all the time. It’s a spectacular feeling to provide people with the joy of good beer.
Q: Do you feel any pressure to follow beer trends and brew what’s popular?
     
   I think the trends are what make beer great.  We have few rules as brewers and people are always pushing the envelope. It’s important to remember that the beer that’s most popular is a macro lager…by a longshot.  I  want to bring people into the fold of craft beer; to convert them away from a light macro lager that I feel is not very fulfilling on a lot of levels. I want to have a portfolio big enough that I can brew a little bit to follow a trend, as well as keep some beers on tap to try and convert that person who comes in and wants a pitcher of Busch Light.
Q: What is the beer that you are most excited about?
I am excited about my pre-prohibition beer with corn and rye.  It’s called Usonius. It will be dry and refreshing with a little bit lactic tartness. A fun beer with a fun name that I think will pair great with summer and our patio (hopefully we get that in soon). A few IPA’s in the works and a big stout that won’t be ready until Fall. I have 1600 square feet in our basement that is just empty space right now. As soon as things calm down a bit, I might start filling it up with barrels.
About every other beer I make now is a new beer. They are all exciting.
Q: Was opening a brewery in Cedar Rapids area pretty easy? Was their any resistance? 
Opening a brewery anywhere creates it’s unique challenges, I imagine.  It’s a steep learning curve to understand the laws on local, state, and federal levels. I greatly respect anyone who goes through the process and makes it out with their own beer.  It’s easy to say, “I want to open a brewery.” It’s a big deal to actually get it out there making beer. People in our community were very supportive.  I had great mentors and advisors from many different types of businesses.
Q: What’s your favorite trend in the craft beer world right now?
I think beer and food is a growing trend that I like. It might be increased attention to detail with beer all together. Restaurants and bars care more about glassware, about serving temps, about food and beer. It gives beer more credibility. The customer is demanding a heightened experience to pair with heightened flavor, and I think publicans are responding. It raised the bar for everyone and this is a good thing for beer.
Q: Will there be food at the brewery?

We have an appetizer and snack menu and it will always be just that. It is a conscious decision on our part to stay more of a “beer hall” and not a restaurant.  We serve beer, cider, artisan sodas, and small plates.  That will be it. Our kitchen is big enough and has enough bells and whistles to put on some elaborate beer dinners.  I see that being a time when we shine with the food. I also have some plans to bring in guest chefs to do dinners.
Q: Can you discuss short term/long term goals for the brewery?
Keep filling kegs with beer. Start doing more self-distribution which is a great part of being a Native Brewery. I will assess in September/October needs for more tanks. We have space for about 12 more 20bbl tanks and a capacity of about 8,000-10,000bbls a year if we ever decide to go full on.  Maybe thrown in a Meheen bottler or a cask canner.  Who knows.  Right now, I just want to get my beer out there as much as possible, bring people into the tasting room, and get people aware of the Lion Bridge brand. I am taking it a day at a time, but always dreaming of where I would like to see things go. 

Coming to Shelves: New Belgium, Boulevard, Founders

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boulevardHave some beers that are going to be making their way to Eastern Iowa shelves soon. Some are new and some are seasonals that we’ve seen before. From beerpulse.com.

Coming from Boulevard for the Tasting Room pack:
*ESB
*Ginger-Lemon Radler

Here’s more from the brewery:

Brewmaster Steven Pauwels encourages our brewers to brew whatever they’d like and then the best beers are given the opportunity to leave the brewery to be shared with a wider drinking audience. The two Year-Round beers featured in our upcoming package will be Unfiltered Wheat Beer and Single-Wide IPA. Rotating in from the Tasting Room series will be an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) and Ginger-Lemon Radler.

foundersFrom the Founders:
Rubaeus
Old Curmudgeon

From the brewery:

Be on the lookout for Rubaeus, our summer seasonal. It will be available in May–or earlier in some of our markets. It’s brewed with fresh raspberries added during multiple stages of fermentation.

Curmudgeon Old Ale, an old ale brewed with molasses and an insane focus on the malt bill, then oak-aged, has already started hitting shelves and draft lines. It’s our April-June specialty release.

New Belgium is releasing a familiar brew but also has a collab in the works with 3 Floyds.

From New Belgium:
Skinny Dip
FOCOllaboration w/Odell Brewing (American Pale Ale)
Gratzer Ale w/3 Floyds

gratzerGratzer is a Polish beer style composed primarily of oak-smoked wheat. More from the brewery:

NEXT WEEK:

Skinny Dip makes a comeback this summer as the Revival Beer in bottle Folly Packs. This full-bodied, highly drinkable beer made its mark as a summer seasonal.

JUNE 1ST:

We teamed up with our hometown hop heroes at Odell to brew a FOrt COllins collaboration. Our proximity allowed sharing of ingredients to create this unique Pale Ale. If only we could employ prairie dogs that in habit the space between us to courier the Fawcett malt, an Odell standard, we used to complement our favored Centennial, Cascade and Citra hops.

In the heart of the Midwest is a very small brewery with a very big reputation. In spite of their super limited distribution, Munster, Indiana’s 3 Floyds is known far and wide for beers like Alpha King, Dark Lord and Dreadnaught. We got together and brewed a gratzer with them and in June we’ll release it as part of the Lips of Faith series.

Left Hand to Iowa in Late Summer

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left handI just received word from a very credible source that Left Hand Brewing will be hitting the shelves in late Summer being distributed by Johnson Brothers. Visit lefthandbrewing.com or look below for info on their year round lineup.

*400 LB Monkey – English Style IPA
*Black Jack Porter
*Milk Stout Nitro
*Milk Stout
*Polestar Pilsner
*Sawtooth Ale – Amber Ale
*Sawtooth Nitro
*Stranger Pale Ale
*Wake Up the Dead Imperial Stout

KBS Release Event: Oakland Road Hy-Vee, 5:00 p.m. Tuesday April 1st

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kbsI received the following information regarding the highly-anticipated Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout release, this one coming from Oakland Road Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids. I’m sure we’ll hear more from other liquor stores leading up to the big release tomorrow, if you get news on any other release times feel free to send them my way and I’ll add them to this post. Thanks!

Its Founders KBS time at your Oakland Rd Hy-Vee. We will be releasing our KBS at 5:00 pm Tuesday, April 1st. Just like the hopslam event we will hand out tickets starting at 5:00 which will be good for one 4 pack of KBS. Supplies of KBS are highly limited but don’t worry if you don’t get a KBS we have stashed back some Backstage Series Beers for some extra excitement!

 

Stone Saison coming in Mid-April

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stoneTheir first real “seasonal” beer according to beerpulse.com is coming this April. More from beerpulse.com:

Though the company has released beers like Double Bastard Ale on an annual basis, it has been steadfast that those not be considered “seasonals.” That changes with Stone Saison which is branded as a “spring-to-summer” beer according to marketing materials.

As a Saison fan I’m very excited to see what Stone brings to the table with a Saison. Their Matt’s Burning Rosids was very good, very smoky, and pretty heavy on the ABV being in a 22 oz bomber. With the Saison 6-packs I’m hoping for a more moderate 6% ABV and having a few after the first few morel mushroom hunting sessions of the spring. Here’s more from Stone:

In spring 2011, Stone bought the farm, literally, taking over 19 acres of fertile Southern California soil where we now grow pristine fruits, vegetables, herbs and more for our Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens restaurants. A taste of our homespun farm-to-table is provided in this farmhouse ale stoked with lemon zest, lemon thyme and lavender straight from Stone Farms. This spring-to-summer saison is citric and herbal on the palate with a dry, peppery finish. Thanks to the infusion of fresh West Coast ingredients, Stone Saison isn’t your everyday saison. It’s our saison — 100% Stone. Celebrate the sunny season with an authentic taste of our farm and, with it, our commitment to quality.