Greetings
Rob and all your friends, followers, family and others!
I’m
E.T. Crowe, a.k.a the Ann Arbor Beer Wench, a.k.a. part owner and
marketing director for the Wolverine State Brewing Co. in Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
I
am not a brewer, but I pay a couple of guys to be so.
I
was not a craft beer “person.” I am now though and there is no
advocate more annoying than a convert.
I
sold stuff for a living for many years. First I sold “warm fuzzy
feelings” for various non-profits, then my services as a marketing
consultant to several caterers, architects and other small businesses
in the Ann Arbor Area. Then, I sold houses. And I did, as they say,
very well. But I did not enjoy it much, despite making a very good
living at it.
Long
about 2008 (remember that year?) I was approached by a couple of Ann
Arbor guys who had a beer, and a concept for marketing craft beer
that intrigued me. I did some research, found an entire spectrum of
life embodied the Craft Beer Universe and fell for it, hard.**
Since
then, we’ve opened our commercial brewery and Tap Room doors, way
outsold our targets and have expansion plans in the works after just
one year.
I
chronicled my craft beer journey (and our “small business opening
nightmare…erm…journey”) on a new blog: www.a2beerwench.com
that is now enjoyed by many folks around the world. I have been known
to get snarky, dare I say bitchy, but my task to continue to educate,
encourage and enlighten about the craft beer biz from my uniquely
female perspective is fun and I take it very seriously.***
Michigan
is, depending on when you look, either the 5th or 6th
largest in the U.S. in terms of craft beer production and sales. As
“The Great Beer State” we are lucky to have had some big-time
pioneers around, a few you have no doubt heard of: Bells, Founders,
New Holland, Arcadia. We also have a lot of “cult stars” like
Shorts, Dark Horse, Jolly Pumpkin, and a few others. Frankly, the
whole state is craft-beer nutso and we are up to something like 103
licensed microbreweries between the shores of the Great Lakes.
We
brought something a little different to this mix.
Lagers
have always been our focus. We built our entire business plan and
brewery with them in mind, constructing a huge cooler, investing in
large expensive glycol systems and folding the natural bottlenecks
and pinch points that lager beers create by their very nature into
the mix. We have had a lot of success at it so far thanks to a
talented and creative brewery staff, a great group of Tap Room
servers, and our robust use of social networks to get the word out
early and often.
We
have even declared 2012 the year of the LAGER REVOLUTION, wherein we
push craft beer in a new direction using both traditional lager
recipes (our flagships are “Premium,” “Dark,” and “Amber”
in bottles and draft) and messing about with other stuff like Czech
Pilsners, Classic American Pilsners, Schwarzbiers, California
Commons, Baltic Porters and other hybrids, and even true Oktoberfests
(ours gets brewed March 1).
But
the real fun stuff involves going beyond the “lager norm.” Our
brewers have come up with a concept that takes “hybrid” one step
further.
The
Gulo Gulo (geek note: this is the scientific name for “wolverine”)
started out as a “hopped up lager” and has morphed over the past
year into what is, quite honestly, an “IPL.”
Yes,
I said that.
The
Gulo is a deep golden brew, made using classic India Pale Ale
recipes, and fermented using lager techniques. If I say anything more
specific, my brewers will have my head on a platter.
To
develop this further, in March we will release round two of our Gulo
Series: Gulo Noir (or Nox, or Nocturnus, depending on where we are in
our current Mexican stand off on this name). It is a classic example
of what we do best. If we were to declare a style, India Black Lager
would be it. A crisp, black and roasty lager beer, balanced
with clean malt character, charged with unique hop flavor and aromas
that are definitive of American hop varieties. Showcasing a citrusy
and tropical fruit profile with an essence of hops you can only get
from an India Black Lager made by the Wolverine State Brewing Co.
(whoops, let my brewer talk for a minute---smacks him and sends
him back into the cellar).
Both
of these beers come in at about 6-7% ABV with international
bitterness units in the high sixties/low seventies.
We
are also trying our hand at an “extreme” lager this year. “The
Massacre” is an Imperial Dark Lager, currently sitting at 10.5% ABV
that will be transferred this Thursday into Rye Bourbon barrels I
fetch from my buddies down in Louisville, KY myself. We will
alternate room temp and cold storage for the barrels, then do a final
conditioning in one of our lagering tanks. We plan to have it ready
in October but it’s one of those beers that will set its own
timeline we think in order for it to reflect the amazing flavor
profile it will likely develop. Watch for it…
Our
website has pictures, tap room details and is in the process of being
re-constructed to reflect our Lager Revolution message so bear with
us but book mark it: www.wolverinebeer.com
I
contribute once a month to a regional beer publication, MittenBrew
and this month I wrote a little history of our humble company, as a
fairy tale. Check it out.
http://mittenbrew.com/2012/01/beer-time-story-lagers-for-all/.
It
sorta says it all, in prose.
Viva
La Revolution!
E.T.
Crowe
Facebook:
TheBeer Wench
Twitter:
beerwencha2
**Oh,
I also have an extreme obsession with Sam Calagione. It’s a known
fact, but essentially harmless.
***WARNING:
I have been known to get distracted by hot soccer players on my blog,
so deal with it.
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