MicroBrewr 024: Real ale in the mountain bike capital of the Northwest, with Brewers Union Local 180.

MicroBrewr 024: Real ale in the mountain bike capital of the Northwest

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Ted Sobel quit his high-paying job as a software engineer and took a couple years off to walk around the United Kingdom. When he was done walking, he opened Brewers Union Local 180 in Oakridge, Oregon.

Although they get calls about unionized labor, it’s just a clever name. Brewers Union focuses first on providing a traditional English “public house.” It’s a “third place,” a place other than home and work. It’s the local.

They make English-style cask conditioned ales, and they have guest beers on tap to support the locals and the many passersby who come to Oakridge for mountain biking and other outdoor recreation.

Ted says that the biggest mistake he made was working too hard. This month marks their 6th year in business and Ted looks forward to finally taking a vacation. He recommends starting with more money and hiring staff.

In this episode, Ted advises to:

  • Follow your vision, even when others tell you to do otherwise
  • Take time to drink the beer you make

Listener question:

From Hayden Little: What is your least favorite beer that you produce? Why do you keep producing it?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Session beer

Other resources:

You can reach Ted Sobel and Brewers Union Local 180 at:

NOTE 7/28/2020: Brewers Union Local 180 us under new ownership and is now called The 3 Legged Crane Pub and Brewhouse.

Brewers Union Local 180:

The 3 Legged Crane Pub and Brewhouse:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

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MicroBrewr 023: Keep striving to be better, with Pecan Street Brewing.

MicroBrewr 023: Keep striving to be better

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Patty Elliott met her husband at Armadillo Music Hall. Years later, even while running their export business, they saw an old hardware building in their town and decided it should have a brewpub in it. So they started Pecan Street Brewing in Johnson City, Texas.

While they spent 3 years renovating the building, their son, Sean, practiced brewing.

They strive to make Pecan Street Brewing a “third place.” A third place is a place other than work or home, where people can spend a large amount of time and feel just as comfortable as at the other places.

Patty has a hard time defining success. “We want to be perfect and we know we wont be there,” she says, “but we want to keep striving to be better. So I don’t know if we could say if we’ve ever succeeded because we just keep wanting to get better.”

Patty shares some fun stories about the names of their beers. She also has lots of great advice including:

  • Be sure you have enough funds
  • Be ready to stick with it

Listener question:

From Christopher Kirby: What’s the best beer you have ever had?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

India Pale Ale

Other resources:

You can reach Patty Elliott and Pecan Street Brewing at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

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MicroBrewr 022: Expanding to... India! with Arbor Brewing Company.

MicroBrewr 022: Expanding to… India!

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Matt Greff fell in love with beer while at university in Germany. He and his wife, Rene Greff, opened Arbor Brewing Company Brewpub in Ann Arbor Michigan in 1995. Since then, they opened a microbrewery in nearby Ypsilanti, Michigan and, just a year and-a-half ago, opened a brewpub in Bangalore, India!

They operate under the principle of “capitalism with a conscience.” Rather than being focused solely on profits, they aim for their business to be good for the community and good for their employees. “The best decision we every made,” says Matt, “was giving our management team a lot of autonomy.”

Do you want to open a brewery? This is Matt’s advice for you to start doing tomorrow:

  1. Develop a vision
  2. Do your homework
  3. Get experience

Matt also talks about:

  • How his love affair with beer started
  • How to use geothermal cooling to reduce energy costs
  • How being named “best brewpub in the Midwest” affected their sales

Support Arbor Brewing Company’s crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo

ABC Microbrewery Needs a Kitchen

(Deadline: September 4, 2014, 11:59 p.m.)

UPDATE: They met the goal of their fundraising campaign. Woohoo!

Listener question:

From Tanner Munro: Have you thought about pairing beer to food, as a compliment beverage to food?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Session IPA

Other resources:

You can reach Matt Greff and Arbor Brewing Company at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

Subscribe on iTunes             Listen to Stitcher

MicroBrewr 021: The most expensive beer that’s been poured in Pinellas County, Florida, with 7venth Sun Brewery.

MicroBrewr 021: The most expensive beer that’s been poured in Pinellas County, Florida

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Justin Stange opened 7venth Sun Brewery in Dunedin, Florida in January 2012. They’re contributing to the explosive growth of beer in Florida by focusing on consistency and creativity. 7venth Sun made the first canned Berliner Weisse in Florida. And their first beer sold for $203 per pint—the most expensive beer that’s been poured in Pinellas County, Florida!

About his proudest moment as a brewery owner, Justin says: When I saw my beer being poured out in other accounts for the first time, that was really cool because then I felt amongst my peers, the other friends I have that own breweries, and even the national brands, too. You really feel like you’re part of the club then.

Among other great info in this episode, Justin advises:

  • Double-batch to correct mistakes
  • Utilize mobile canning to win a bet
  • Take good notes on every batch

Listener question:

From Jon Tiffany: What do you feel are the most important aspects of your brewing? How do you approach improving on that?

Book recommendation:

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

Your Free Audio Book

An upcoming beer style:

Berliner Weisse

Florida Weisse

Other resources:

You can reach Justin Stange and 7venth Sun Brewery at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

Subscribe on iTunes             Listen to Stitcher