WEBVTT
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Little Red got the it's from the United States Beer Tasting Championship, and they've got 18 categories of beer uh that they'll evaluate for each session.
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So we've gotten a fair number of uh Midwestern, best of the Midwest awards, and then we've gotten two uh grand champions.
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Uh one was the uh Little Red, which you mentioned, that one for the amber or red ale, and then the other one was the Maple Pecan Pie.
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Maple Pecan Pie.
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Yeah, went over really well with the customer base here uh and uh with the judges.
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Um, I'm Brandon Miller.
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The city of Omro has beautiful parks, active organizations, and thriving businesses, in partnership with Future Omro, the Amro Area Community Center, and Miller Hill.
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We'd like to welcome you inside OMR.
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We're at the Omega Brewing Experience in Omroe, Wisconsin, talking with Steve, the brewmaster, you consider owner brewer, manager, all of the above.
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Perfect.
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So tell me a little bit about Steve.
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How did you uh get started with Omega?
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What did he do before?
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Well, I got started with uh Omega back in 2016 uh when I bought this building.
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Uh met uh found out about this building through some folks in Omro, future Omro, and one of the uh owners of a business in the industrial park.
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So uh they all treated me really good, and when I came into town here, uh was felt very welcomed and uh bought the building and uh got started on setting it up as a brewery.
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Uh that was during my second retirement.
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I uh originally worked in engineering program management uh with Oshkosh Corporation, Oshkosh Truck at the time, but then Oshkosh Corporation, uh retired from there in 2011, uh took a year off, went back uh to work uh in Allentown, Pennsylvania, did some work out there for two or three years, uh, retired from that, and that was when I bought this building in 2016 and started renovating it.
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Now, right after I bought this building, I went back to work for the third time, and that was in South Bend, Indiana, uh and I worked there for five years, and for the first two years while I was uh working uh out of state, uh come back on the weekends and we'd be renovating this building and prepping it to open up, which we eventually opened up in uh 2018.
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Uh April of 2018 was when we first opened the doors, and I think we started with eight beers on tap, and that was about it.
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Um very slow start, uh very soft opening, if you want to call it that.
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Uh then we gained some traction, uh, went through a few setbacks with regard to uh some of the sidewalks and redoing uh construction out front.
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Uh we shut down for about three weeks or something like that shortly after opening, and then um I think everybody's aware of COVID.
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That was a setback for us where we were pretty much doing uh a lot of uh carry-out sales.
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All right.
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So for crowlers, growlers, that type of stuff.
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When you say crawlers and growlers, for those that may not know what that is, what what what are those?
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Well, a growler is a 64-ounce carry-out of uh beer.
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Uh we fill it from the directly from the taps.
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Uh a crowler uh would be a canned uh version of a 32-ounce carry-out beer, and the howler is actually the glass version of the growler in 32 ounces.
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Got those out orders, so sorry about that.
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Absolutely.
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Uh and when I say for those that don't know, I I didn't know either.
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So, how long have you been doing the the brewing?
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I started at uh out as a home brewer.
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Uh, probably did my first uh brews in the early, my early 20s, which would be about 40 years ago.
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Wow, before I was 45 years ago, and then got serious about it uh as our kids got older and uh they my uh oldest son got interested in brewing, then my youngest son got interested in brewing.
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Uh so did my daughter at one point, my youngest daughter at one point.
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Uh but uh you know, so we got back into it, and then my uh youngest son and I decided to open the brewery up, uh, and that led to buying the building in 2016 and then ultimately opening in 2018.
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Wow, wow.
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So you've been doing it for a long, long time.
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Um I didn't, I mean, I know that homebrews have been kind of popular the last 10-15 years.
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I guess I didn't realize that people were even homebrewing was legalized in the 70s by Jimmy Carter.
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Okay.
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It took off quite rapidly from there.
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So the homebrewing thing has been on for quite a while.
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Of course.
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And craft brewing uh has been very popular, I would say, for the last 30 years.
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Okay.
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You know, late 80s, early 90s kind of thing.
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Sure.
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So Omega is considered a nanobrewery.
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Um nano brewery would be the term that we would fit into, and we would be at the smallest size of the nanobrewery.
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We brew uh one to two barrels per batch.
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Uh, and typically uh a nanobrewery would be do brewing uh five barrels or less.
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Okay.
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Sure.
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And then it goes from nano to micro, I'm assuming.
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Okay.
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And what's a microbrewery do as well uh there's a very broad range in there.
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There's some very large microbreweries uh out there doing thousands of barrels per year.
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Okay, sure, sure.
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And how how many barrels do you typically do uh per year?
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Uh we'll do somewhere in the 50 to 60 barrels.
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50 to 60 barrels.
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How how are barrels measured?
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Are they measured by the gallon or uh one barrel of beer is 31 gallons?
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So and typically we'll put our beer in half barrels, which would be 15 and a half, quarter barrels, which would be 7.75 gallons, and sixth dolls, which is a sixth of a barrel, which would be 5.16 gallons.
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Wow.
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Learning all kinds of stuff today.
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Trivial.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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How many on average, how many beers do you have on tap?
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Uh we'll typically maintain about 12 beers on tap, including uh our heart seltzer, which is considered a beer product because it's made with ingredients that are typically used in beer.
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Okay.
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So full disclosure, I don't know hardly anything about craft brewery or seltzer or anything along those lines.
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So I know that um you know beers can go from uh a nice amber to a really you know dark almost black color.
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Seltzers are more clear.
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What's the difference between the the seltzers and and the beers?
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Well, the hard seltzer we make uh pretty much with dextrose, uh, and there'll be yeast nutrients that we have to use with that, and obviously the yeast.
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Uh we'll do some water treatment to get the right balance that we want, like a um uh you know, get some minerality in it.
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And then we do a soda fountain approach with us where we'll use natural flavors so you can have uh a uh pineapple flavored heart seltzer, a mixture of pineapple and mango, or blueberry, strawberry, or however, whatever we have on hand, you can mix it up however you would like.
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Okay, so you make the seltzer and then you can just the consumer can kind of pick the flavor and that's the way we do it.
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Others will make a given flavor for a hard seltzer, and that's what they'll offer from the tap.
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We do the soda fountain approach.
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Sure.
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Now the seltzer, hard seltzers are becoming, you know, I mean, pretty popular uh this this day and age.
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So um somebody that's never had a craft beer, how does it what makes it special compared to your traditional beers?
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Definitely the bigger thing is going to be more variety.
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Uh you'll get a whole host of varieties of beer from uh IPAs, which people either love or some people just hate them.
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Uh you've got a whole bunch of standard historic beers, uh Belgian Abbeys, uh, those kinds of beers.
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You've got the classic Pilsner beers, which the mainstream beers are based on a Pilsner recipe.
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They're usually a lot lighter than most of the craft beers, lighter in flavor and lighter in alcohol from that standpoint.
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So the the the craft beer industry can be a big transition for some people that are coming out and deciding to try it, and they'll, you know, we we have what we would call introductory beers, uh, which you know, probably the main one that we would offer up would be our Kulsch beer, which we call Oz.
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It's a Kulch style ale, Pilsner based, typically around 5%.
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Um, so that's a nice transitional beer.
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There's others that we have uh that also serve as transition beers for people that are interested in trying craft beers, but not ready to go to an IPA or uh Belgian beer or something like that.
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Sure.
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So is I think about wines and how wine is kind of an acquired taste, and you really have to, I don't know if it's figure your palette out or figure out it takes some time to get to find what you like, I guess, maybe is is the right way to go about uh describing it.
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So I assume that you know, do people start off with that introductory bigger and then you know, after a year or two, maybe they're drinking IPAs and uh saying that in a year or two they're drinking IPAs, there's people that are totally opposed to them.
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Sure.
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But there are people that do, and it is an acquired taste, much like uh some of the dry red wines, things like that, uh, it takes time to acquire a taste for that.
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Your palate adjusts.
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Um I also tell people that um, and they get tired of me saying this, but when they try a new beer, you got to taste it at least three times before you know whether you're gonna like it or not.
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Because your palate's got your palate's got to adjust to whatever the beer is you're having versus what you may have had before or what you ate before.
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Sure.
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Um, because some things don't go with certain beers, other things do.
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So uh it's just like anything when you're trying something new, uh your your palate has to adjust to it.
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It's interesting because I think you know, when you're wine drinkers, obviously there's cheese that goes along with wine, and there's dark chocolate is a very popular thing that goes along with wine.
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What um are are there different foods that people prefer to go along with with craft beers?
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Well, a lot of that is person more personal, but we have hosted wine-paring dinners where we will uh feature a given beer.
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Uh typically a dark beer would go with some type of uh or could go with some type of dessert.
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IPAs go good really good with steaks and other uh other uh things like that.
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But there's whole you can research it out there.
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There's if if you have a traditional palate, there are certain things, certain beers that you could have with certain uh types of entrees or certain snacks, uh certainly for that matter.
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Obviously, the you know the potato chips, we got popcorn in the back, we do hot pretzels occasionally, um, and like I said, we've done the uh our beer pairing dinners uh as well, uh, and people generally like that.
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You're open Friday, Saturday from three to eight.
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What does a week and life look like?
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Uh it varies rather dramatically.
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Um the weekends, uh, you know, it'll be basically making sure that we've got the right beers we want to untap.
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Uh I don't want to have something that's about to kick and we have to swap the kegs out during service.
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Uh but other than that, uh an example would be uh today.
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I was preparing the next two recipes for uh brewing.
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We'll be brewing this Thursday and next Thursday.
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Uh uh the next beer we're probably brewing is our Amro, which is named after the city.
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Um and it goes along with the story on how one of the stories on how Omro got its name from a uh French uh blacksmith and fur trader, so it's a French Saison that we called OMRO, and we spelled OMRO the old way.
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A-M-E-R-E-A-U, uh as opposed to the O-M-R-R-O.
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Uh the other beer we have uh would also be are that we're gonna be brewing is a we call it a Slowpo Pils, uh, which is about a 5% Pilsner, a classic Pilsner beer.
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A lot more flavor than what's out there in the mainstream, uh, but uh it'll be received pretty well, especially uh during the summer months and the rain or the summer months.
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So we got the brew two brew days in there.
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Uh tomorrow I'll be cleaning kegs so that when I keg one of the next beers that's ready, uh we'll have nice clean kegs, and then we'll get those downstairs.
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And uh so it goes from a brew day to cleaning kegs to kegging beer, um harvesting yeast.
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Did that this morning um uh from one of our beers, so we'll reuse that yeast uh if the right beer comes on schedule while that yeast is still fresh.
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Wow.
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So you can use the yeast more than more than once.
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Correct.
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Interesting.
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Um how long does it take to start to finish make a beer that's ready for the tap?
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I would say the shortest duration would be somewhere in the three weeks to four weeks, uh depending on in and really I tell I also tell people the beer will tell me when it's ready.
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All right.
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It has to go through the fermentation process, then it has to go through a rest period, then you do a cold crash, harvest the yeast, then you carbonate it, and uh keg it from there.
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So the shortest duration would be three to four weeks.
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Uh the longest duration, I have a beer in a barrel uh right behind you, and that beer was put in that barrel uh late January of this year, and it'll be ready in probably the next 30 to 45 days.
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Wow.
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And that would have been brewed in December.
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So so eight, nine months is for a if it's a barrel-aged beer, that's the other extreme.
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And then there's a whole range in between there.
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When you're doing a lager, you typically cold ferment that, and that takes uh longer in the process to complete the fermentation.
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Then you go through uh a resting period for that, and then uh you'll lager that for an extended period.
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An example of the classic lager is uh what's going to be coming up for October.
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Uh the typical Marzen beer would have previously been brewed in March, uh, and then it would have been laggered through the entire summer months and then released for the Oktoberfest event in Germany uh in October.
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Well, late September, early.
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You're saying lagered like like a verb.
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Am I catching that right?
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Yeah, well, lagering it is you're you put it downstairs in a uh 38 uh 36 to 38 degree environment, and uh it the beer matures in that environment.
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And that's called lagering, okay.
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And that's where the name uh a lager type beer comes from.
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And well, and the other part of it is there's two basic types of beers.
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They're ales and lagers.
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Uh ales are uh top fermenting yeast, and lagers are bottom fermenting yeast.
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Interesting.
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And the other difference between those is ales typically will ferment at higher temperatures, lagers at the cooler temperatures.
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Interesting.
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Quite quite the science behind there's a lot of science behind it, yes.
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So I was um another acronym that came into my vo vocabulary was IBU.
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I wasn't uh wasn't sure what that was.
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I was reading some of your Facebook posts and you you put out what the IBU rating, I believe it would be a rating is on there.
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Um explain IBUs a little bit.
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Well, IBUs are a measurement of the uh bitterness of a beer or the hop character of a beer.
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Uh IBU stands for International Bittering Units, and the typical uh range for IBUs would be from zero, which means there's virtually no bitterness in there, to a hundred.
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Uh some beers are higher than a hundred, but as I understand it, the average human palate can detect up to about a hundred IBUs.
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Once you go beyond that, most people can't tell that it's more bitter or less bitter or not.
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But uh it is a it gives you a range of the bigger the number, the more bitterness, the more hop character you could expect from that beer.
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Okay, like a stout or or a heavier beer.
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That doesn't necessarily mean that they've got a high IBU.
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Some do.
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Um and the Imperial Stouts typically will have uh IBUs somewhere in the 40 to 50 range, uh which is typical for.
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But when you get into the stouts, you're going to be talking a bit of different type of bitterness, and you actually do pick up some bitterness uh from the grain.
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The darker grains will give you a little bit of a classic uh bitter character that you would pick up in addition to the hops that are used.
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And in most dark beers, you're using classic type hops uh that aren't for uh the extreme flavoring of uh citrus or uh you know um uh earthy flavors, things like that.
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The classic ones would give you a little bit of that.
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Okay.
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Interesting.
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You had three different beers that um three that I know of anyway, that you receive national awards for, or well, a couple regional and then one national.
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Uh the little red I think was the base here, uh and uh with the judges.
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Um we haven't had it for uh a while now, uh, but we're getting ready to brew it again.
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But that one uh uh grand champion uh as well in the uh uh local ingredients where we used the maple sap to produce that beer.
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Okay.
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Local maple maple syrup or maple sap?
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Local local maple syrup.
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We also did a beer and it's on uh schedule here right around the list right now, the sapy brunette, that we uh used pure maple sap for it.
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We did not use the syrup.
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We we basically did the mash with maple sap heated up to 163 degrees, and we did the mash in, and then we did the sparge with the uh maple sap as well.
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So when when a beer is when a beer tells you that it's ready, um how long what's the shelf life of the beer?
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Uh it'll depend on the beer.
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Uh typically uh loggers can lager for an extended period.
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Um uh IPAs will lose some of the hop character with time.
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Typically, those should be consumed within a six-month time period, if I'm recalling right.
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Uh others will age well.
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Uh barrel uh age stouts, those will age well.
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Regular stouts will age well uh you know uh for some time.
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So but there is a limit out there.
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Um usually the beers don't last to that limit, they're gone before then.
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Hopefully, right?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Yeah, I don't I I was curious if you brew based on how much you know is consumed, um, which I'm sure you probably do.
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Um, but uh it is your role to sell out of a particular beer, you know, in a weekend or in two weekends or uh no.
00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:59.119
Uh we brew one to two barrels at a time, and I'm not really too worried about our beers getting old and stale.
00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:12.000
Um if I want to uh keep something for an extended period, I'll leave a sixth downstairs and then I'll bring it down six months, bring it out six months later, put it on tap, uh obviously make sure nothing has happened to it in the meantime.
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:16.880
But those are typically barrel-aged beers and they generally get better with age.
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:17.839
Oh, nice.
00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:27.359
So you have your tap room, which is kind of a unique experience because it it's a bar atmosphere, but it's also where you actually brew the beer.
00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:44.880
Um so you've got the equipment people can actually see um all of the different pieces of machinery, if you will, or or equipment that that brews the beer, um, rather than it being behind a you know a closed off area that that that you can't see.
00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:49.119
What what made you decide to go that route versus the closed off?
00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:55.200
Well, our brew system is actually uh separated from the customer base.
00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:56.960
The fermenters are out there.
00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.680
Uh basically it's due to space limitations.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.279
Uh but uh the brew system should be away from the customer base as well.
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:18.480
And then we have to make sure that uh nobody has unauthorized access because this is a uh state and federally controlled product, so we can make sure that it is in a secure environment.
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:29.759
And obviously we're in a 800 square foot building, so we can pretty much see what's going on wherever and make sure nobody is messing with fermenters or the brew system.
00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:40.880
Uh you know, and for us it's it's kind of it's kind of a joke uh that you know we can basically give a brewery tour from their seated stool while they're having a uh beer at the bar.
00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:42.559
So absolutely.
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:53.359
So yeah, the they can see the brewery equipment and the fermenters, but it's it's they can't access it or or it's it's away from the customer base, sure.
00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:59.759
So I assume your primary delivery aspect is the the tap room itself.
00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:04.559
Um do you distribute to any other businesses or anything?
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:06.960
Uh we've done limited distribution.
00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:10.319
If uh if we do any distribution, generally I do it myself.
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:15.440
We don't work through a distributor, we aren't big enough for sure any distributor to be interested in us.
00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:21.200
Uh but uh we we've done it to several places, uh primarily in Oshkosh area.
00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:23.200
Like restaurants and stuff like that.
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:23.680
Sure.
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:25.039
Nice.
00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.640
Oktoberfest is a big event for for you guys.
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:32.400
Um, you also have a lot of entertainment throughout the year.
00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:38.400
You'll have um, I see Lucy Rose has been here a couple different times, Drew Hicks and friends.
00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:41.119
Um, how do you decide when it's time to do an event?
00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:51.359
Uh well the the time to do it uh for us, since we're such a in a small location, is summer, so we can take advantage of the riverfront and all of that.
00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.960
Uh so we've had a few food trucks so far this year.
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:57.839
Uh we've had some music already this year.
00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:00.880
Uh we're kind of getting more into that season now.
00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:06.079
Um it's a little warm at this point, so when it cools down a touch, that'll be nice.
00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:08.559
Uh but we'll have some more food trucks.
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:12.880
Uh we'll do uh special events over the Oktoberfest timeframe.
00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:26.880
We'll do an Oktoberfest release party uh in mid-September, and then with the Oktoberfest in AMRO here, uh we generally do the after party, uh, so we'll have uh Drew Hicks and Company for that.
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:35.359
We'll have uh a food truck from Appleton, Guten Appetite, that specializes in German, German cuisine, uh, which we've had before.
00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:57.759
So, and then we'll try to sprinkle stuff in between that with uh we we've used, you mentioned Lucy Rose, Drew Hicks and Company, Major Tom, uh Stumble Brothers, and we've had a couple of people stop by recently that are interested in uh you know playing some music for us, and then we'll uh we also have another food truck that's interested in coming out here.
00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:58.559
Nice.
00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:00.799
In addition to the events and so forth.
00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.400
So you guys don't do any any food yourselves?
00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:09.599
Uh we do snacks and pretzels and stuff, but it's very whatever we do is very limited.
00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:25.359
Our focus is on the beer uh and that product, and we try when you know that was part of our strategy when we first came into Amro was partner with the restaurants in town, uh, which worked out well, but there's been a turnover in restaurants.
00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:30.960
But fortunately, the new restaurants that have come in are interested in doing uh similar things.
00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:46.240
Moore's Den is one, um, and they've got a good following with our customer base here, where they'll come in on a Friday or Saturday, and their plan is we're gonna be here for an hour or so, and we're gonna order some pizza from uh or whatever from Moore's Den.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.880
They have more than just pizza and it's good.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:50.079
Yeah, absolutely.
00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:58.240
Yeah, and I you know, we've done podcasts with with Drew Hicks uh from Slovino's, you know, and he talks about working with you guys.
00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:04.720
And that's one of the things that I keep reiterating in every podcast is how this community works together.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:09.440
And you know, it really makes it a a destination, if you will.
00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:14.720
You know, cut come into Omega, um, have your craft brew.
00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:29.519
Um, you've got menus right on your your uh countertop for for Moore's Den and other restaurants, and you can pick up the phone call, have the order delivered, or have a couple beers, go go patronize the other omro community.
00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:34.640
So it's it's refreshing because it's not like that in a lot of communities.
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:41.680
You don't have that almost a drive to to keep it a community and work together with other businesses.
00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:44.319
So I I really admire that about OMRO.
00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:48.240
What made you decide to choose OMRO to set up the brewery?
00:26:48.559 --> 00:27:08.000
Well, I kind of mentioned that before when I met with Future OMRO and um one of the uh owners of a business in the industrial park uh that was so welcoming and came through here and uh checked out the the buildings and it just worked out and seemed to make sense.
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:14.559
So um and there's never been a this is the first brewery that's ever been in AMRO.
00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:16.559
Yep, so you're gonna say you're the first.
00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:17.359
That's awesome.
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:18.000
Yeah.
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:20.960
What's uh what's future plans?
00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:21.839
We'll see.
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:23.680
We'll see how that uh how things go.
00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:27.039
I do own the building next door, so right now that's storage.
00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:30.240
We're looking at what we can do with that building and what makes sense.
00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:35.920
Uh so but without it right now, we'd be a lot more crowded in here than uh we would be otherwise.
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:36.720
Sure.
00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:42.079
So you have some of the you're using that basically as storage or uh right now it's storage.
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:53.039
Yeah, I'm talking to different uh contractors on what the art possible is over there and what we could do to make it a uh good venue for to complement the brewery here.
00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:54.319
Okay, sure.
00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:58.000
Um any any ideas or just your two or three?
00:27:58.480 --> 00:27:59.039
Lots of ideas.
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:04.240
What lots of ideas, but nothing concrete enough to say anything.
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:07.839
Well in in the perfect world, what would you like to see over there?
00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:16.799
Well, it'd be an expansion of the tap room uh and you know uh make more uh space available for the brew system here.
00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:17.440
Sure.
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:17.920
Okay.
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:21.200
Um what does a typical 3 to 8 p.m.
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:25.119
look like on a Friday and Saturday night for people that haven't been in before?
00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:29.839
Well, it depends on you know whether it's a holiday weekend or not.
00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:32.160
Uh it can vary dramatically.
00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:39.039
Uh it is difficult to be able to uh try to predict.
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:42.319
I would say typically it'll start out slow.
00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:58.799
Um and then I would say from the if we're gonna be busy, it's gonna be in the uh five to you know six thirty, seven o'clock time frame, and uh and then sometimes we'll get a uh uh a rush of folks at 7.30 or something like that.
00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:07.039
So but it's nice when we we we can have you know if we have music and we've got a food truck, it's definitely a lot more steady.
00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:18.240
So that helps us in predicting things and also helps people know that you know there that there's other things to do in town here, so they are uh happy to come down.
00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:18.880
Yeah.
00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:27.119
What was the or what's the thought process between the three to eight o'clock opening versus your traditional bar hours, if you will?
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:35.359
Um uh real uh you know, the this is a retirement project for me.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:36.400
So yep.
00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:41.200
I'm not one that wants to stay up for the two o'clock bar closing kind of thing.
00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:42.000
Yep, for sure.
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:44.240
Uh so you know it's craft beer.
00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:53.119
People want craft beer, uh, you know, they want to enjoy it as opposed to you know uh going to the you know two o'clock uh bar scene.
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:54.000
Yep, for sure.
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.079
So that was that was our priority.
00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:58.240
Yeah, well it makes a lot of sense, you know.
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:05.519
Come in, relax, you know, have uh have a nice beer and uh yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:08.079
Nothing nothing wrong with that for sure.
00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:14.240
No TVs or sports bar type venue either, so that was that was by design as well.
00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:24.480
Yeah, come in and actually talk with each other and you know we'll usually have music in in the background, and uh but it'll be a little place where people come and visit.
00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:25.920
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.839
I know uh I've been in here uh I don't know a couple times.
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:33.920
Um I'm not a huge uh um drinker by any means.
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:38.079
Um I got all that out of my system when I was younger, I think.
00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:44.160
But uh you know, every time I've come in here, it's you know it's been I don't know if I want to say filled up.
00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:47.839
I mean there's always a place to sit, but uh it's always been busy.
00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:55.839
Um and the conversations have always been um fun, you know, to engage in and and listen to.
00:30:56.400 --> 00:30:57.440
They can be pretty entertaining.
00:30:57.759 --> 00:30:58.640
Yeah, for sure.
00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:02.559
So it's um it's not your typical bar atmosphere for sure.
00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:03.920
It's it's a whole lot.
00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:11.119
I mean it it's relaxing, it's laid back, it's uh it's a nice environment to to be in for sure.
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:11.519
Yep.
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:12.240
Good.
00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:15.920
So and our little red American red ale.
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:27.200
Uh we produce those in larger volumes, and uh we can that as well, and then uh we'll have we try to have that on all of the time, or certainly most of the time.
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:38.480
Then we'll rotate through other beers, the ones that go over well, you know, people are not bashful about saying, hey, when you making that other beer again, if we get enough of a request, we'll we'll put it back on.
00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:44.400
But there are ones that we have in our portfolio that we just we bring back regularly.
00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:53.759
I wouldn't say it's gonna be on, you know, uh seasonally or anything like that, but we bring it back when when I feel like bringing it back.
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:54.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:31:54.640 --> 00:32:10.000
So and that that is kind of an interesting thing, also, is you know, I I was as I was listening to another podcast that you did, and I think one of the questions that they asked you was, do you brew for your customers or do you brew for yourself?
00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:27.920
And I think your answer was well both, but you do it's kind of nice that you do have the ability to you know be able to try what you think you would like and then see how it goes over with the customers or or what have you.
00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:32.160
So it's gotta be it's gotta be fun to experiment, I would imagine.
00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:32.880
Right.
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:42.000
Well, you know, as a brewer, I want to brew things that I like, and uh new stuff that I want to try, uh develop new recipes, those kinds of things.
00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:48.240
But you also have to have um, you know, product that people want.
00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:53.119
So, you know, they're generally gonna let you know what they like, what they don't like.
00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:59.519
Um and uh, you know, so we try to work out a balance there that we're trying new stuff.
00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:00.640
And and it's interesting.
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:10.160
Some sometimes the customer base drives you to producing beer, the same beers, uh, you know, so that you have something steadily available.
00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:18.400
And then others, you know, some come in and say, Well, I was here six months ago and I had this beer, you know, do you still have it?
00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:22.160
Others come in and say, you know, what's new?
00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:35.759
Um so you got you got both uh you're getting pulled in both directions to try to balance having uh you know having stuff that's predictable and having stuff that's new and you know, in some cases pushing the limits.
00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:36.480
Yeah.
00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:37.039
Yeah.
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:39.359
Pushing the limits sounds like fun.
00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:41.039
It can be.
00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:41.839
Can be.
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:42.640
Yep.
00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:44.640
Um any mistakes?
00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:45.680
Any mistakes?
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:50.720
Yeah, have you had any mistakes or nothing that's got on the other side of the bar.
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:51.200
No.
00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:54.400
Yeah.
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:57.599
So I made a lot of mistakes and learned from them.
00:33:58.880 --> 00:33:59.519
Sure, sure.
00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:00.000
Yeah.
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:11.119
Um I I would imagine any any um visionary is gonna make mistakes and you know say, well, yes, that that that wasn't the answer or what have you.
00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:16.320
So it's all part of refining your craft, if you will.
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:20.079
So I think we covered a lot of ground here.
00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:20.800
I think we did.
00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:22.480
I think it was a good podcast lot.
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:26.400
A lot of uh I was educated a lot for sure.
00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:29.760
So I appreciate uh what you've done here.
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:31.039
This is this is interesting.
00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:32.880
Yeah, very much so.
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:33.920
All right, excellent.
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:41.199
Well, thanks for having us, and uh we hope to see you at uh Omega Brewery downtown Amaro, and uh we'll talk to you soon.
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:42.400
All right, thank you.
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:10.160
Little Red got the it's from the United States Beer Tasting Championship, and they've got 18 categories of beer uh that they'll evaluate for each session.
00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:19.359
So we've gotten a fair number of uh Midwestern, best of the Midwest awards, and then we've gotten two uh grand champions.
00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:28.320
Uh one was the uh Little Red, which you mentioned, that one for the amber or red ale, and then the other one was the Maple Pecan Pie.
00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:29.679
Maple Pecan Pie.
00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:36.079
Yeah, went over really well with the customer base here uh and uh with the judges.
00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:38.640
Um, I'm Brandon Miller.
00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:51.439
The city of Omro has beautiful parks, active organizations, and thriving businesses, in partnership with Future Omro, the Amro Area Community Center, and Miller Hill.
00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:54.079
We'd like to welcome you inside OMR.
00:00:54.640 --> 00:01:06.159
We're at the Omega Brewing Experience in Omroe, Wisconsin, talking with Steve, the brewmaster, you consider owner brewer, manager, all of the above.
00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:06.959
Perfect.
00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:08.799
So tell me a little bit about Steve.
00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:10.879
How did you uh get started with Omega?
00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:12.000
What did he do before?
00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:18.959
Well, I got started with uh Omega back in 2016 uh when I bought this building.
00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:28.640
Uh met uh found out about this building through some folks in Omro, future Omro, and one of the uh owners of a business in the industrial park.
00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:41.120
So uh they all treated me really good, and when I came into town here, uh was felt very welcomed and uh bought the building and uh got started on setting it up as a brewery.
00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:43.920
Uh that was during my second retirement.
00:01:44.159 --> 00:02:12.560
I uh originally worked in engineering program management uh with Oshkosh Corporation, Oshkosh Truck at the time, but then Oshkosh Corporation, uh retired from there in 2011, uh took a year off, went back uh to work uh in Allentown, Pennsylvania, did some work out there for two or three years, uh, retired from that, and that was when I bought this building in 2016 and started renovating it.
00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:35.840
Now, right after I bought this building, I went back to work for the third time, and that was in South Bend, Indiana, uh and I worked there for five years, and for the first two years while I was uh working uh out of state, uh come back on the weekends and we'd be renovating this building and prepping it to open up, which we eventually opened up in uh 2018.
00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:44.000
Uh April of 2018 was when we first opened the doors, and I think we started with eight beers on tap, and that was about it.
00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:49.039
Um very slow start, uh very soft opening, if you want to call it that.
00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:59.680
Uh then we gained some traction, uh, went through a few setbacks with regard to uh some of the sidewalks and redoing uh construction out front.
00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:07.039
Uh we shut down for about three weeks or something like that shortly after opening, and then um I think everybody's aware of COVID.
00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:13.199
That was a setback for us where we were pretty much doing uh a lot of uh carry-out sales.
00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:13.680
All right.
00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.680
So for crowlers, growlers, that type of stuff.
00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:23.840
When you say crawlers and growlers, for those that may not know what that is, what what what are those?
00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:30.240
Well, a growler is a 64-ounce carry-out of uh beer.
00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:33.199
Uh we fill it from the directly from the taps.
00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:46.719
Uh a crowler uh would be a canned uh version of a 32-ounce carry-out beer, and the howler is actually the glass version of the growler in 32 ounces.
00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:49.360
Got those out orders, so sorry about that.
00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:50.960
Absolutely.
00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:54.639
Uh and when I say for those that don't know, I I didn't know either.
00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:00.879
So, how long have you been doing the the brewing?
00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:03.599
I started at uh out as a home brewer.
00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:10.159
Uh, probably did my first uh brews in the early, my early 20s, which would be about 40 years ago.
00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:24.319
Wow, before I was 45 years ago, and then got serious about it uh as our kids got older and uh they my uh oldest son got interested in brewing, then my youngest son got interested in brewing.
00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:28.079
Uh so did my daughter at one point, my youngest daughter at one point.
00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:42.399
Uh but uh you know, so we got back into it, and then my uh youngest son and I decided to open the brewery up, uh, and that led to buying the building in 2016 and then ultimately opening in 2018.
00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:43.360
Wow, wow.
00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:45.759
So you've been doing it for a long, long time.
00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:52.959
Um I didn't, I mean, I know that homebrews have been kind of popular the last 10-15 years.
00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:59.279
I guess I didn't realize that people were even homebrewing was legalized in the 70s by Jimmy Carter.
00:04:59.680 --> 00:04:59.839
Okay.
00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:02.800
It took off quite rapidly from there.
00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:05.759
So the homebrewing thing has been on for quite a while.
00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:06.240
Of course.
00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:11.680
And craft brewing uh has been very popular, I would say, for the last 30 years.
00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:12.160
Okay.
00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.879
You know, late 80s, early 90s kind of thing.
00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:15.519
Sure.
00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:19.120
So Omega is considered a nanobrewery.
00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:25.360
Um nano brewery would be the term that we would fit into, and we would be at the smallest size of the nanobrewery.
00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.720
We brew uh one to two barrels per batch.
00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:34.319
Uh, and typically uh a nanobrewery would be do brewing uh five barrels or less.
00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:35.199
Okay.
00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:36.000
Sure.
00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:39.439
And then it goes from nano to micro, I'm assuming.
00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:39.839
Okay.
00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:44.319
And what's a microbrewery do as well uh there's a very broad range in there.
00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:48.800
There's some very large microbreweries uh out there doing thousands of barrels per year.
00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:50.319
Okay, sure, sure.
00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:54.319
And how how many barrels do you typically do uh per year?
00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:56.800
Uh we'll do somewhere in the 50 to 60 barrels.
00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:58.079
50 to 60 barrels.
00:05:58.319 --> 00:05:59.519
How how are barrels measured?
00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:04.160
Are they measured by the gallon or uh one barrel of beer is 31 gallons?
00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:18.560
So and typically we'll put our beer in half barrels, which would be 15 and a half, quarter barrels, which would be 7.75 gallons, and sixth dolls, which is a sixth of a barrel, which would be 5.16 gallons.
00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:19.360
Wow.
00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:21.279
Learning all kinds of stuff today.
00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:22.079
Trivial.
00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:23.600
Yeah, absolutely.
00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:28.000
How many on average, how many beers do you have on tap?
00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:41.360
Uh we'll typically maintain about 12 beers on tap, including uh our heart seltzer, which is considered a beer product because it's made with ingredients that are typically used in beer.
00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:42.079
Okay.
00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:50.639
So full disclosure, I don't know hardly anything about craft brewery or seltzer or anything along those lines.
00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:59.920
So I know that um you know beers can go from uh a nice amber to a really you know dark almost black color.
00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:01.600
Seltzers are more clear.
00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:05.759
What's the difference between the the seltzers and and the beers?
00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:15.360
Well, the hard seltzer we make uh pretty much with dextrose, uh, and there'll be yeast nutrients that we have to use with that, and obviously the yeast.
00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:24.399
Uh we'll do some water treatment to get the right balance that we want, like a um uh you know, get some minerality in it.
00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:42.240
And then we do a soda fountain approach with us where we'll use natural flavors so you can have uh a uh pineapple flavored heart seltzer, a mixture of pineapple and mango, or blueberry, strawberry, or however, whatever we have on hand, you can mix it up however you would like.
00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:48.879
Okay, so you make the seltzer and then you can just the consumer can kind of pick the flavor and that's the way we do it.
00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:55.360
Others will make a given flavor for a hard seltzer, and that's what they'll offer from the tap.
00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.759
We do the soda fountain approach.
00:07:58.079 --> 00:07:58.319
Sure.
00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:04.560
Now the seltzer, hard seltzers are becoming, you know, I mean, pretty popular uh this this day and age.
00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:15.839
So um somebody that's never had a craft beer, how does it what makes it special compared to your traditional beers?
00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:19.839
Definitely the bigger thing is going to be more variety.
00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:27.040
Uh you'll get a whole host of varieties of beer from uh IPAs, which people either love or some people just hate them.
00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:35.279
Uh you've got a whole bunch of standard historic beers, uh Belgian Abbeys, uh, those kinds of beers.
00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:42.720
You've got the classic Pilsner beers, which the mainstream beers are based on a Pilsner recipe.
00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:51.039
They're usually a lot lighter than most of the craft beers, lighter in flavor and lighter in alcohol from that standpoint.
00:08:51.279 --> 00:09:08.799
So the the the craft beer industry can be a big transition for some people that are coming out and deciding to try it, and they'll, you know, we we have what we would call introductory beers, uh, which you know, probably the main one that we would offer up would be our Kulsch beer, which we call Oz.
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:13.600
It's a Kulch style ale, Pilsner based, typically around 5%.
00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:16.559
Um, so that's a nice transitional beer.
00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:28.559
There's others that we have uh that also serve as transition beers for people that are interested in trying craft beers, but not ready to go to an IPA or uh Belgian beer or something like that.
00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:29.279
Sure.
00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:48.320
So is I think about wines and how wine is kind of an acquired taste, and you really have to, I don't know if it's figure your palette out or figure out it takes some time to get to find what you like, I guess, maybe is is the right way to go about uh describing it.
00:09:48.399 --> 00:10:05.360
So I assume that you know, do people start off with that introductory bigger and then you know, after a year or two, maybe they're drinking IPAs and uh saying that in a year or two they're drinking IPAs, there's people that are totally opposed to them.
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:05.600
Sure.
00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:15.759
But there are people that do, and it is an acquired taste, much like uh some of the dry red wines, things like that, uh, it takes time to acquire a taste for that.
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:17.360
Your palate adjusts.
00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:27.120
Um I also tell people that um, and they get tired of me saying this, but when they try a new beer, you got to taste it at least three times before you know whether you're gonna like it or not.
00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:34.960
Because your palate's got your palate's got to adjust to whatever the beer is you're having versus what you may have had before or what you ate before.
00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:35.519
Sure.
00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:39.759
Um, because some things don't go with certain beers, other things do.
00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:46.159
So uh it's just like anything when you're trying something new, uh your your palate has to adjust to it.
00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:57.440
It's interesting because I think you know, when you're wine drinkers, obviously there's cheese that goes along with wine, and there's dark chocolate is a very popular thing that goes along with wine.
00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:05.279
What um are are there different foods that people prefer to go along with with craft beers?
00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:14.559
Well, a lot of that is person more personal, but we have hosted wine-paring dinners where we will uh feature a given beer.
00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:20.639
Uh typically a dark beer would go with some type of uh or could go with some type of dessert.
00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:26.639
IPAs go good really good with steaks and other uh other uh things like that.
00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:29.519
But there's whole you can research it out there.
00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:41.279
There's if if you have a traditional palate, there are certain things, certain beers that you could have with certain uh types of entrees or certain snacks, uh certainly for that matter.
00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:55.279
Obviously, the you know the potato chips, we got popcorn in the back, we do hot pretzels occasionally, um, and like I said, we've done the uh our beer pairing dinners uh as well, uh, and people generally like that.
00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:59.600
You're open Friday, Saturday from three to eight.
00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:04.000
What does a week and life look like?
00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:07.519
Uh it varies rather dramatically.
00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:14.639
Um the weekends, uh, you know, it'll be basically making sure that we've got the right beers we want to untap.
00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:20.399
Uh I don't want to have something that's about to kick and we have to swap the kegs out during service.
00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:25.440
Uh but other than that, uh an example would be uh today.
00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:29.200
I was preparing the next two recipes for uh brewing.
00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.720
We'll be brewing this Thursday and next Thursday.
00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:39.039
Uh uh the next beer we're probably brewing is our Amro, which is named after the city.
00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:53.360
Um and it goes along with the story on how one of the stories on how Omro got its name from a uh French uh blacksmith and fur trader, so it's a French Saison that we called OMRO, and we spelled OMRO the old way.
00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:58.480
A-M-E-R-E-A-U, uh as opposed to the O-M-R-R-O.
00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:10.559
Uh the other beer we have uh would also be are that we're gonna be brewing is a we call it a Slowpo Pils, uh, which is about a 5% Pilsner, a classic Pilsner beer.
00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:20.159
A lot more flavor than what's out there in the mainstream, uh, but uh it'll be received pretty well, especially uh during the summer months and the rain or the summer months.
00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:24.799
So we got the brew two brew days in there.
00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:34.799
Uh tomorrow I'll be cleaning kegs so that when I keg one of the next beers that's ready, uh we'll have nice clean kegs, and then we'll get those downstairs.
00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:42.799
And uh so it goes from a brew day to cleaning kegs to kegging beer, um harvesting yeast.
00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:54.320
Did that this morning um uh from one of our beers, so we'll reuse that yeast uh if the right beer comes on schedule while that yeast is still fresh.
00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:55.120
Wow.
00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.399
So you can use the yeast more than more than once.
00:13:58.720 --> 00:13:58.960
Correct.
00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:00.159
Interesting.
00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:08.159
Um how long does it take to start to finish make a beer that's ready for the tap?
00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:20.960
I would say the shortest duration would be somewhere in the three weeks to four weeks, uh depending on in and really I tell I also tell people the beer will tell me when it's ready.
00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:21.519
All right.
00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:33.440
It has to go through the fermentation process, then it has to go through a rest period, then you do a cold crash, harvest the yeast, then you carbonate it, and uh keg it from there.
00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.799
So the shortest duration would be three to four weeks.
00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:53.519
Uh the longest duration, I have a beer in a barrel uh right behind you, and that beer was put in that barrel uh late January of this year, and it'll be ready in probably the next 30 to 45 days.
00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:53.759
Wow.
00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:55.679
And that would have been brewed in December.
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.600
So so eight, nine months is for a if it's a barrel-aged beer, that's the other extreme.
00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:03.919
And then there's a whole range in between there.
00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:11.840
When you're doing a lager, you typically cold ferment that, and that takes uh longer in the process to complete the fermentation.
00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:18.240
Then you go through uh a resting period for that, and then uh you'll lager that for an extended period.
00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:23.519
An example of the classic lager is uh what's going to be coming up for October.
00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:37.519
Uh the typical Marzen beer would have previously been brewed in March, uh, and then it would have been laggered through the entire summer months and then released for the Oktoberfest event in Germany uh in October.
00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.039
Well, late September, early.
00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.159
You're saying lagered like like a verb.
00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:44.240
Am I catching that right?
00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:56.559
Yeah, well, lagering it is you're you put it downstairs in a uh 38 uh 36 to 38 degree environment, and uh it the beer matures in that environment.
00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:58.480
And that's called lagering, okay.
00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.159
And that's where the name uh a lager type beer comes from.
00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:06.480
And well, and the other part of it is there's two basic types of beers.
00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:08.960
They're ales and lagers.
00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:15.120
Uh ales are uh top fermenting yeast, and lagers are bottom fermenting yeast.
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:15.840
Interesting.
00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:23.519
And the other difference between those is ales typically will ferment at higher temperatures, lagers at the cooler temperatures.
00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:24.799
Interesting.
00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:29.840
Quite quite the science behind there's a lot of science behind it, yes.
00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:37.440
So I was um another acronym that came into my vo vocabulary was IBU.
00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:39.600
I wasn't uh wasn't sure what that was.
00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:48.399
I was reading some of your Facebook posts and you you put out what the IBU rating, I believe it would be a rating is on there.
00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:50.559
Um explain IBUs a little bit.
00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:57.679
Well, IBUs are a measurement of the uh bitterness of a beer or the hop character of a beer.
00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:09.519
Uh IBU stands for International Bittering Units, and the typical uh range for IBUs would be from zero, which means there's virtually no bitterness in there, to a hundred.
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:19.599
Uh some beers are higher than a hundred, but as I understand it, the average human palate can detect up to about a hundred IBUs.
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:26.559
Once you go beyond that, most people can't tell that it's more bitter or less bitter or not.
00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:35.440
But uh it is a it gives you a range of the bigger the number, the more bitterness, the more hop character you could expect from that beer.
00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:39.119
Okay, like a stout or or a heavier beer.
00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:43.119
That doesn't necessarily mean that they've got a high IBU.
00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:45.039
Some do.
00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:53.920
Um and the Imperial Stouts typically will have uh IBUs somewhere in the 40 to 50 range, uh which is typical for.
00:17:54.240 --> 00:18:03.599
But when you get into the stouts, you're going to be talking a bit of different type of bitterness, and you actually do pick up some bitterness uh from the grain.
00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:12.319
The darker grains will give you a little bit of a classic uh bitter character that you would pick up in addition to the hops that are used.
00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:29.039
And in most dark beers, you're using classic type hops uh that aren't for uh the extreme flavoring of uh citrus or uh you know um uh earthy flavors, things like that.
00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.920
The classic ones would give you a little bit of that.
00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:32.640
Okay.
00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:34.000
Interesting.
00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:47.359
You had three different beers that um three that I know of anyway, that you receive national awards for, or well, a couple regional and then one national.
00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:53.759
Uh the little red I think was the base here, uh and uh with the judges.
00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:58.720
Um we haven't had it for uh a while now, uh, but we're getting ready to brew it again.
00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:09.039
But that one uh uh grand champion uh as well in the uh uh local ingredients where we used the maple sap to produce that beer.
00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:09.680
Okay.
00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:13.279
Local maple maple syrup or maple sap?
00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:16.160
Local local maple syrup.
00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:26.000
We also did a beer and it's on uh schedule here right around the list right now, the sapy brunette, that we uh used pure maple sap for it.
00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:28.799
We did not use the syrup.
00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:40.960
We we basically did the mash with maple sap heated up to 163 degrees, and we did the mash in, and then we did the sparge with the uh maple sap as well.
00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:50.240
So when when a beer is when a beer tells you that it's ready, um how long what's the shelf life of the beer?
00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:52.240
Uh it'll depend on the beer.
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.920
Uh typically uh loggers can lager for an extended period.
00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:03.359
Um uh IPAs will lose some of the hop character with time.
00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:08.960
Typically, those should be consumed within a six-month time period, if I'm recalling right.
00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.039
Uh others will age well.
00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:14.240
Uh barrel uh age stouts, those will age well.
00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:19.119
Regular stouts will age well uh you know uh for some time.
00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:21.519
So but there is a limit out there.
00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:25.440
Um usually the beers don't last to that limit, they're gone before then.
00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:26.799
Hopefully, right?
00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:28.319
Yeah, absolutely.
00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:40.160
Yeah, I don't I I was curious if you brew based on how much you know is consumed, um, which I'm sure you probably do.
00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:50.880
Um, but uh it is your role to sell out of a particular beer, you know, in a weekend or in two weekends or uh no.
00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:59.119
Uh we brew one to two barrels at a time, and I'm not really too worried about our beers getting old and stale.
00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:12.000
Um if I want to uh keep something for an extended period, I'll leave a sixth downstairs and then I'll bring it down six months, bring it out six months later, put it on tap, uh obviously make sure nothing has happened to it in the meantime.
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:16.880
But those are typically barrel-aged beers and they generally get better with age.
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:17.839
Oh, nice.
00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:27.359
So you have your tap room, which is kind of a unique experience because it it's a bar atmosphere, but it's also where you actually brew the beer.
00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:44.880
Um so you've got the equipment people can actually see um all of the different pieces of machinery, if you will, or or equipment that that brews the beer, um, rather than it being behind a you know a closed off area that that that you can't see.
00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:49.119
What what made you decide to go that route versus the closed off?
00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:55.200
Well, our brew system is actually uh separated from the customer base.
00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:56.960
The fermenters are out there.
00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.680
Uh basically it's due to space limitations.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.279
Uh but uh the brew system should be away from the customer base as well.
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:18.480
And then we have to make sure that uh nobody has unauthorized access because this is a uh state and federally controlled product, so we can make sure that it is in a secure environment.
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:29.759
And obviously we're in a 800 square foot building, so we can pretty much see what's going on wherever and make sure nobody is messing with fermenters or the brew system.
00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:40.880
Uh you know, and for us it's it's kind of it's kind of a joke uh that you know we can basically give a brewery tour from their seated stool while they're having a uh beer at the bar.
00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:42.559
So absolutely.
00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:53.359
So yeah, the they can see the brewery equipment and the fermenters, but it's it's they can't access it or or it's it's away from the customer base, sure.
00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:59.759
So I assume your primary delivery aspect is the the tap room itself.
00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:04.559
Um do you distribute to any other businesses or anything?
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:06.960
Uh we've done limited distribution.
00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:10.319
If uh if we do any distribution, generally I do it myself.
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:15.440
We don't work through a distributor, we aren't big enough for sure any distributor to be interested in us.
00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:21.200
Uh but uh we we've done it to several places, uh primarily in Oshkosh area.
00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:23.200
Like restaurants and stuff like that.
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:23.680
Sure.
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:25.039
Nice.
00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.640
Oktoberfest is a big event for for you guys.
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:32.400
Um, you also have a lot of entertainment throughout the year.
00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:38.400
You'll have um, I see Lucy Rose has been here a couple different times, Drew Hicks and friends.
00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:41.119
Um, how do you decide when it's time to do an event?
00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:51.359
Uh well the the time to do it uh for us, since we're such a in a small location, is summer, so we can take advantage of the riverfront and all of that.
00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.960
Uh so we've had a few food trucks so far this year.
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:57.839
Uh we've had some music already this year.
00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:00.880
Uh we're kind of getting more into that season now.
00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:06.079
Um it's a little warm at this point, so when it cools down a touch, that'll be nice.
00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:08.559
Uh but we'll have some more food trucks.
00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:12.880
Uh we'll do uh special events over the Oktoberfest timeframe.
00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:26.880
We'll do an Oktoberfest release party uh in mid-September, and then with the Oktoberfest in AMRO here, uh we generally do the after party, uh, so we'll have uh Drew Hicks and Company for that.
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:35.359
We'll have uh a food truck from Appleton, Guten Appetite, that specializes in German, German cuisine, uh, which we've had before.
00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:57.759
So, and then we'll try to sprinkle stuff in between that with uh we we've used, you mentioned Lucy Rose, Drew Hicks and Company, Major Tom, uh Stumble Brothers, and we've had a couple of people stop by recently that are interested in uh you know playing some music for us, and then we'll uh we also have another food truck that's interested in coming out here.
00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:58.559
Nice.
00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:00.799
In addition to the events and so forth.
00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.400
So you guys don't do any any food yourselves?
00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:09.599
Uh we do snacks and pretzels and stuff, but it's very whatever we do is very limited.
00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:25.359
Our focus is on the beer uh and that product, and we try when you know that was part of our strategy when we first came into Amro was partner with the restaurants in town, uh, which worked out well, but there's been a turnover in restaurants.
00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:30.960
But fortunately, the new restaurants that have come in are interested in doing uh similar things.
00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:46.240
Moore's Den is one, um, and they've got a good following with our customer base here, where they'll come in on a Friday or Saturday, and their plan is we're gonna be here for an hour or so, and we're gonna order some pizza from uh or whatever from Moore's Den.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.880
They have more than just pizza and it's good.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:50.079
Yeah, absolutely.
00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:58.240
Yeah, and I you know, we've done podcasts with with Drew Hicks uh from Slovino's, you know, and he talks about working with you guys.
00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:04.720
And that's one of the things that I keep reiterating in every podcast is how this community works together.
00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:09.440
And you know, it really makes it a a destination, if you will.
00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:14.720
You know, cut come into Omega, um, have your craft brew.
00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:29.519
Um, you've got menus right on your your uh countertop for for Moore's Den and other restaurants, and you can pick up the phone call, have the order delivered, or have a couple beers, go go patronize the other omro community.
00:26:29.599 --> 00:26:34.640
So it's it's refreshing because it's not like that in a lot of communities.
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:41.680
You don't have that almost a drive to to keep it a community and work together with other businesses.
00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:44.319
So I I really admire that about OMRO.
00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:48.240
What made you decide to choose OMRO to set up the brewery?
00:26:48.559 --> 00:27:08.000
Well, I kind of mentioned that before when I met with Future OMRO and um one of the uh owners of a business in the industrial park uh that was so welcoming and came through here and uh checked out the the buildings and it just worked out and seemed to make sense.
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:14.559
So um and there's never been a this is the first brewery that's ever been in AMRO.
00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:16.559
Yep, so you're gonna say you're the first.
00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:17.359
That's awesome.
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:18.000
Yeah.
00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:20.960
What's uh what's future plans?
00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:21.839
We'll see.
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:23.680
We'll see how that uh how things go.
00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:27.039
I do own the building next door, so right now that's storage.
00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:30.240
We're looking at what we can do with that building and what makes sense.
00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:35.920
Uh so but without it right now, we'd be a lot more crowded in here than uh we would be otherwise.
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:36.720
Sure.
00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:42.079
So you have some of the you're using that basically as storage or uh right now it's storage.
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:53.039
Yeah, I'm talking to different uh contractors on what the art possible is over there and what we could do to make it a uh good venue for to complement the brewery here.
00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:54.319
Okay, sure.
00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:58.000
Um any any ideas or just your two or three?
00:27:58.480 --> 00:27:59.039
Lots of ideas.
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:04.240
What lots of ideas, but nothing concrete enough to say anything.
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:07.839
Well in in the perfect world, what would you like to see over there?
00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:16.799
Well, it'd be an expansion of the tap room uh and you know uh make more uh space available for the brew system here.
00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:17.440
Sure.
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:17.920
Okay.
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:21.200
Um what does a typical 3 to 8 p.m.
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:25.119
look like on a Friday and Saturday night for people that haven't been in before?
00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:29.839
Well, it depends on you know whether it's a holiday weekend or not.
00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:32.160
Uh it can vary dramatically.
00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:39.039
Uh it is difficult to be able to uh try to predict.
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:42.319
I would say typically it'll start out slow.
00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:58.799
Um and then I would say from the if we're gonna be busy, it's gonna be in the uh five to you know six thirty, seven o'clock time frame, and uh and then sometimes we'll get a uh uh a rush of folks at 7.30 or something like that.
00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:07.039
So but it's nice when we we we can have you know if we have music and we've got a food truck, it's definitely a lot more steady.
00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:18.240
So that helps us in predicting things and also helps people know that you know there that there's other things to do in town here, so they are uh happy to come down.
00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:18.880
Yeah.
00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:27.119
What was the or what's the thought process between the three to eight o'clock opening versus your traditional bar hours, if you will?
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:35.359
Um uh real uh you know, the this is a retirement project for me.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:36.400
So yep.
00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:41.200
I'm not one that wants to stay up for the two o'clock bar closing kind of thing.
00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:42.000
Yep, for sure.
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:44.240
Uh so you know it's craft beer.
00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:53.119
People want craft beer, uh, you know, they want to enjoy it as opposed to you know uh going to the you know two o'clock uh bar scene.
00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:54.000
Yep, for sure.
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.079
So that was that was our priority.
00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:58.240
Yeah, well it makes a lot of sense, you know.
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:05.519
Come in, relax, you know, have uh have a nice beer and uh yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:08.079
Nothing nothing wrong with that for sure.
00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:14.240
No TVs or sports bar type venue either, so that was that was by design as well.
00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:24.480
Yeah, come in and actually talk with each other and you know we'll usually have music in in the background, and uh but it'll be a little place where people come and visit.
00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:25.920
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.839
I know uh I've been in here uh I don't know a couple times.
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:33.920
Um I'm not a huge uh um drinker by any means.
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:38.079
Um I got all that out of my system when I was younger, I think.
00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:44.160
But uh you know, every time I've come in here, it's you know it's been I don't know if I want to say filled up.
00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:47.839
I mean there's always a place to sit, but uh it's always been busy.
00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:55.839
Um and the conversations have always been um fun, you know, to engage in and and listen to.
00:30:56.400 --> 00:30:57.440
They can be pretty entertaining.
00:30:57.759 --> 00:30:58.640
Yeah, for sure.
00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:02.559
So it's um it's not your typical bar atmosphere for sure.
00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:03.920
It's it's a whole lot.
00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:11.119
I mean it it's relaxing, it's laid back, it's uh it's a nice environment to to be in for sure.
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:11.519
Yep.
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:12.240
Good.
00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:15.920
So and our little red American red ale.
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:27.200
Uh we produce those in larger volumes, and uh we can that as well, and then uh we'll have we try to have that on all of the time, or certainly most of the time.
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:38.480
Then we'll rotate through other beers, the ones that go over well, you know, people are not bashful about saying, hey, when you making that other beer again, if we get enough of a request, we'll we'll put it back on.
00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:44.400
But there are ones that we have in our portfolio that we just we bring back regularly.
00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:53.759
I wouldn't say it's gonna be on, you know, uh seasonally or anything like that, but we bring it back when when I feel like bringing it back.
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:54.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:31:54.640 --> 00:32:10.000
So and that that is kind of an interesting thing, also, is you know, I I was as I was listening to another podcast that you did, and I think one of the questions that they asked you was, do you brew for your customers or do you brew for yourself?
00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:27.920
And I think your answer was well both, but you do it's kind of nice that you do have the ability to you know be able to try what you think you would like and then see how it goes over with the customers or or what have you.
00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:32.160
So it's gotta be it's gotta be fun to experiment, I would imagine.
00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:32.880
Right.
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:42.000
Well, you know, as a brewer, I want to brew things that I like, and uh new stuff that I want to try, uh develop new recipes, those kinds of things.
00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:48.240
But you also have to have um, you know, product that people want.
00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:53.119
So, you know, they're generally gonna let you know what they like, what they don't like.
00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:59.519
Um and uh, you know, so we try to work out a balance there that we're trying new stuff.
00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:00.640
And and it's interesting.
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:10.160
Some sometimes the customer base drives you to producing beer, the same beers, uh, you know, so that you have something steadily available.
00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:18.400
And then others, you know, some come in and say, Well, I was here six months ago and I had this beer, you know, do you still have it?
00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:22.160
Others come in and say, you know, what's new?
00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:35.759
Um so you got you got both uh you're getting pulled in both directions to try to balance having uh you know having stuff that's predictable and having stuff that's new and you know, in some cases pushing the limits.
00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:36.480
Yeah.
00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:37.039
Yeah.
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:39.359
Pushing the limits sounds like fun.
00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:41.039
It can be.
00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:41.839
Can be.
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:42.640
Yep.
00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:44.640
Um any mistakes?
00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:45.680
Any mistakes?
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:50.720
Yeah, have you had any mistakes or nothing that's got on the other side of the bar.
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:51.200
No.
00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:54.400
Yeah.
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:57.599
So I made a lot of mistakes and learned from them.
00:33:58.880 --> 00:33:59.519
Sure, sure.
00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:00.000
Yeah.
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:11.119
Um I I would imagine any any um visionary is gonna make mistakes and you know say, well, yes, that that that wasn't the answer or what have you.
00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:16.320
So it's all part of refining your craft, if you will.
00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:20.079
So I think we covered a lot of ground here.
00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:20.800
I think we did.
00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:22.480
I think it was a good podcast lot.
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:26.400
A lot of uh I was educated a lot for sure.
00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:29.760
So I appreciate uh what you've done here.
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:31.039
This is this is interesting.
00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:32.880
Yeah, very much so.
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:33.920
All right, excellent.
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:41.199
Well, thanks for having us, and uh we hope to see you at uh Omega Brewery downtown Amaro, and uh we'll talk to you soon.
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:42.400
All right, thank you.
