Mitch Ermatinger - Speciation Artisan Ales

To steal a quote from Greg Koch, founder of Stone Brewing Co., "this beer from Speciation is an awesome example of why the craft brewing industry is so awesome right now."  When pressed further, Koch says "because things like Speciation can exist.  Even just a few years ago, no one would have bought this.  Today, thankfully, people have wised up a little bit as populists.  They're like, 'wait a minute - that crazy thing that one guy is doing at that one place all by himself, it's kind of delicious.' So that's why it's awesome."  It is pretty cool that one year in, Mitch, that guy by himself in that place he makes beer in, is getting the attention of not only locals and other craft beer friends, but some of the biggest and most influential presences in the industry.  This, all while bottling, label, corking, and wire capping each and every bottle by hand - a far cry from Greg's multiple state of the art breweries across the world.  

Mitch is connecting with people.  He's doing so by creating beautiful and innovative beer, exploring terroir, and filling a gap for sour beer lovers in a state dominated by Founders and Bell's.  Speciation has found itself rated amongst the top breweries in the world  on Untappd for months and it's clear this success isn't going to stop.  They're expanding production, exploring new concepts and ideas, and playing more with oak in the coming months. Speciation is only getting started and Mitch is riding his forklift into the next level.  It's a great time to be alive for craft beer fans, Speciation is a shining example of why. 

Cheers,

Craft Commander

James Howat - Founder & Brewer at Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales

Fueled by the need to explore, Black Project is pushing boundaries at every turn.  James questions everything.  He sees things in a way most adults have forgotten how to.  Guided by the questions "why?" and "what if?" - it's this characteristic that has propelled Black Project into the elite of wild and sour beer breweries.  As the name suggests, Black Project ferments its beers on spontaneous and wild caught microbes - always.  Even their IPA is fermented on a foraged Saccharomyces strain from an apple tree in James' neighborhood. The beers are wonderfully beautiful and display terroir in a playful way.  The complex and thought provoking beers coming out of the brewery are a beer geek's dream; yet, they are approachable enough for a novice to enjoy.  Honestly, go find some now.  

As craft beer continues to evolve, it will breweries like Black Project and people like James and his wife Sarah who will force evolution and encourage exploration.  They'll lead by example, never take no for an answer, and always ask "why?"  We hope you enjoy our chat.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Miguel Rivas - The Beer Trekker

As craft beer continues to grow in popularity there are those who are taking to document the growth and developments in style, technique, and culture.  Visual historians of sorts.  Miguel is one these people.  At all times he carries with him a passion for the liquid in the glass, an eye for the beauty in its production, and thankfully for us, a camera.  Miguel and those like him are documenting a historic time in craft beer that many of us will look back at as the "golden years".  New breweries opening daily, each with their own personality, portfolio, and style. Growth, growth, and more growth.  Blasting through the proverbial ceiling.  When the dust settles, when everything becomes a blur in our minds, guys like Miguel will have preserved the images which represent the little moments that made this time so special.  

Watch us chat about beer photography and pick up some hints on how you can take your own beer photography to the next level.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Josh Hambright - Co-Founder & Head Brewer Central State Brewing

Superstars and magicians.  Central State is pushing out complex and thought provoking beers, focusing on drinkability, and last year put 800 barrels of beer out of their 800 square foot production facility on the market.  Table, their flagship rustic blonde ale, is spicy, dry, aromatic, and full bodied at 4% abv.  It portrays the beauty of the French and Belgian farmhouse ales we've all come to love.  It's incredibly complex and easy to drink at the same time.  It's just a beautiful beer.  The brewery also excels at brewing a playful and refreshing Gose, sometimes influenced by fruit and always seeking to push the traditional style by marking it with their house culture.  As the brewery moves into a new production space, we can expect to see more mixed fermentation in oak and more creative expression.  More volume means more states will be able to get their hands on these wonderful beers and hopefully, that Central State will be able to create the wonderful brett forward beers for a long time to come.  We're excited about what's to come.  This success couldn't be happening to better guys!

Cheers!

Craft Commander

Chad Yakobsen - Founder Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

When art and science collide, you get Crooked Stave.  It's a delicate balance between creativity, exploration, precision, and hyper technical attention to detail that sets Chad Yakobsen's beautiful project apart from the pack.  Chad, if you didn't know, is an expert on all things brettanomyces.  He's written a dissertation on it, he's brewed countless beers with it, and he's quite frankly, one of the most proficient users of wild yeast and bacteria in the country.  If you couldn't tell - I am in love with his brewery and have the utmost respect for what he's able to produce there on a consistent basis.  On a personal level, the brewery is inspirational and thought provoking - but on a global scale, Crooked Stave is incredibly important to the wild and sour beer industry, as they put their phenomenal beers on shelves across the country and pushing the styles forward into the mainstream for all to enjoy.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy our chat.  You even get a small tour of Chad's house in the process! 

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Alex Wallash - Founder The Rare Barrel

The Rare Barrel has become one of the country's foremost producers of sour beer.  That's no surprise if you've had the opportunity to try their beer - it's clean but just funky enough, it's purposeful, and the fruited offerings beautifully display all of the best in the fruits they use.  Batch after batch, The Rare Barrel is consistently impressing thanks to their willingness to dump bad beer and only use the best their massive barrel collection has to offer.  Just last year, the brewery dumped 25% of its stock because of a fluke off flavor that just wouldn't go away.  Rather than attempt to blend away this imperfection, the guys decided that to live up to their standard the only viable option was to dump.  And dump they did.  Hundreds of gallons of beer were poured down the drain.  Doing things like this ensures that when anyone walks in to the brewery they are going to love what is poured in to their glass or is in the bottle they are taking home.  Even more importantly, it protects and furthers the cause which is sour beer by providing quality and consistency with a style that is only now in its infancy here in the states.  Please enjoy our chat (even the "interlude") and grab some Rare Barrel to drink while you do!

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Council Brewing Co.

Focused. Driven. Passionate. Creative. Hungry. All adjectives that can be interchanged or used in tandem to describe the people behind the beer at Council Brewing Co.  Husband and wife team Curtis & Liz Chism (CEO & Head Brewer, respectively) and Jeff Crane ("The Wild Man") are responsible for producing not only aggressively hopped West Coast IPAs but also for producing an impressive lineup of fruited sour and wild ales, led by Beatitude, a 4.5% tart saison.  They brew beers to drink by the glass.  Beers that can be dissected or enjoyed without a thought.  They're beers for beer nerds and new beer drinkers alike.  Beers that are complex and approachable all at once.  If you couldn't tell, we love them.

The trio, each with their own unique personality and perspective, brings something different to the table.  All complementing the other and putting their mark on the end product.  Liz and Curtis, BJCP judges extremely critical of each and every batch, ensure that what you have in that glass in front of you is special.  Still, it's not just about the beer.  They're people's people.  They treat their employees like family.  Most importantly, they love their fans and anyone who walks in the doors of the brewery for the first time, just the same.  The embodiment of what craft beer is about. 

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Karl Volstad & Evan Miller - Founders Civil Society Brewing Co.

Hops are king at Civil Society.  They stand front and center, grab your attention, and satisfy your craving for those tropical juice bombs hop heads have come to love.  While they've built a strong following for their hoppy beers, the rest of the offerings on the menu are well made, balanced, and just as exciting.  The trio of founders never worked in a professional brewery before opening Civil Society.  Karl homebrewed among other things, Evan worked on yachts, lost at sea for months at a time, and Chris, pitched in the major leagues, spending time with the Marlins.  Yet, even with no professional brewing experience, the group brought the required skills to run a successful brewery to the table.  Lots of brewing experience and a seafaring fixer ready to tackle the day to day set up and mechanical issues most brewers have to pay someone to figure out.   Even more important, they have a thirst for knowledge and perfection that is the driving force behind their brewery.  Beers like Fresh, brewed over and over, making seemingly minor improvements each time, each one leading to a higher quality product.  It's that kind of attention to detail that is bringing the early success that the brewery is enjoying and will continue to ensure their growth in the industry. Find their beer but first enjoy our chat!

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Jeff Mello - Bootleg Biology

Homebrewing and small scale experimentation is pushing the envelope in brewing.  The lack of a production schedule and a required consistent core line-up allows small scale non-professional brewers and some pro brewers to explore technique, develop styles, and go out and find yeast cultures that most pro brewers don't have the time or ability to play with.  Jeff is one of those homebrewers turned "yeast wizard" that is pushing beer forward.  Culturing wild yeast, working to catalog yeast in every zip code and internationally, and most importantly, reminding brewers to constantly evolve and learn.  He's a steward of the craft and for all the right reasons.  This chat was fun and insightful but most of all, inspirational.  Jeff was a reminder of why craft beer has become such a large part of our lives and why we're excited to see what breweries that make the time and space for exploration in yeast and fermentation are going to come up with next.  If you brew, check out Jeff's site.  Buy the yeast wrangling kit. Buy one his proprietary cultures.  Brew a beer completely unique to yourself.  Contribute to his project and be a part of brewing history.  Most of all, explore the craft - the sky's the limit.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Gerard Olson & Daniel Endicott - Founders of Forest & Main Brewing Company

Unique.  Unapologetic.  Creative.  Magic.

Forest and Main is a wonderfully complex brewery.  This complexity is not only found in the beautiful liquid that has garnered Gerard and Dan, the founders, critical acclaim and fandom across the world.  You can find it in the labels that Dan paints himself and which tell a story that evolves as time moves forward.  You can find it in the beautiful Victorian house Forest and Main calls home.  You can find it in the two owners and their band, their love for Belgian and English beers, their desire to fully immerse themselves into any and all endeavors, and finally in their execution of the "split house" which is Forest and Main.  

Things like creating vintages of beer through the use of locally foraged yeast, captured every year, act as a snapshot of their community.  Forest and Main relies upon the community which surrounds its taproom to survive.  They're in love with the romantic idea that they can supply their neighbors, family, and friends with this piece of the puzzle of their lives.  As Dan put it during our chat, as much as the brewery was theirs as they planned, brewed, and built it, it has since become their community's.  That's one lucky community. 

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Troy Casey - Founder Casey Brewing & Blending

If you've had any of Troy's beer, you know why people drive hours for a bottle.  You understand that each bottle contains a 750ml picture of Glenwood Springs, CO, represented by microflora, grains, and fruit from surrounding farms.  So incredibly balanced, complex, and thought provoking.  Delicate and purposeful.  The beers are just beautiful.  

Troy's been lauded as one of the best brewers in the country - the attention to detail and precision he employs in the production of the at times untamable wild ales he's producing only helping support that notion.  While he quickly shrugs off that assertion early on in our chat, Casey Brewing & Blending is just one of those breweries that stands out amongst an ever-growing crowd.  Catch our chat hear to learn more about Troy, his brewery, and what goes in to making these truly world class beers.   

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Averie Swanson & Sean Spiller - Jester King Brewery

It's no secret that Jester King holds a special place in our hearts.  Fantastic people making fantastic beers.  Beers that scream Jester King - the place, the mixed culture of yeast and bacteria that lives in every bottle, and the finger print of the brewers who make them.  Since we last spoke with the brewery on Craft Commander, they have purchased the land surrounding the brewery and are beginning to grow more of the ingredients that will influence their beers, they've worked hard to get the spontaneous fermentation project going, and they've continued to push the boundaries of what it is their beer can be.

Averie and Sean are two vital pieces of the puzzle at Jester King - brewing and caring for the beautiful beers that the brewery is known for and that craft beer lovers have come to expect.  They possess an immense knowledge of brewing and fermentation science and use their endless creativity to craft, coax, and influence the ingredients and the living, breathing, and totally unique mixed culture that the brewery uses to give its beers that "thing". Go find a bottle, crack it open, take a whiff and then a taste, and you'll know exactly what we mean.  Jester King and it's constant pursuit of quality and experimentation is what craft beer is all about.  It's always a pleasure to get to hang with these guys, we hope you enjoy our chat!  

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Eric Drew - Casa Agria Specialty Ales

A sense of place - terroir.  A phrase brewers around the country are keeping at the forefront of their minds.  Striving to embrace, represent, and showcase that sense of place is driving wild and sour beer producers in their pursuit of being something truly unique.  As Casa Agria became closer to being a reality, the phrase became a mantra.  For Casa Agria, being regional and showcasing terroir doesn't necessarily mean only using local fruit, grain or hops, it's the presentation of who and what has shaped the culture Ventura County. Not limiting themselves to strict style guidelines allows them to continue to shape their beers into just that - a sense of place.

Sit back, relax, grab a beer, and enjoy.  Casa Agria is creating some exciting beer already and it's only the beginning.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Creature Comforts Brewing Co.

Starting a business is tough.  Starting a brewery is tougher.  Add to that starting a brewery in a state whose laws are some of the toughest in the country and you've got a real challenge in front of you.  Yet, it's this inherent difficulty in opening a brewery in Georgia that is a true testament to what Creature Comforts is capable of.  The South is coming in to it's own in terms of craft beer and at the forefront of that charge are breweries like Creature Comforts.  The guys are pushing the envelope by developing a complex and growing sour and wild beer program all while continuing to impress with their beautiful and balanced clean offerings.  They're making a name for themselves and helping the South continue to grow into a wonderful and diverse beer region.  Point is, despite the challenges, Creature Comforts is here to stay.  We're glad they are.  Tropicalia, their ever popular IPA justifiably sells out almost immediately in bars around town and cans have become trade bait for those lucky enough to find a fresh six.  The rest of their portfolio is no different.  Find some and drink it, you'll be glad you did.

Join us as we chat about the beginning and future of the brewery and some of the beers that have made them famous.  We hope you enjoy watching our chat as much as we enjoyed having it.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Kevin Osborne - Cellador Ales

As craft beer continues to become increasing regional and even local, breweries like Cellador will become increasingly more abundant.  Small batch wild ales which seek to express a time and place displaying the identity of the brewer and the locality.  Most of all, breweries like Cellador don't believe in rules and style guidelines - it's all about creating an experience.  The approach is catching on and the beers we're seeing around the country are becoming more expressive than ever before.  Kevin Osborne, the man responsible for the beers that will soon come out of the brewery, is taking this opportunity and running with it.  The beers are balanced, tart, refreshing, and complex.  They look beautiful in the glass and have wonderful aromas.  We're excited for Kevin and Cellador and we can't wait to see where the brewery is this time next year.  Reach out to Kevin, go try some beer before they open, and last but not least, watch this conversation to learn about Cellador, brewing these beers, and what we can expect from the brewery going forward.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Peter Bissell - Bissell Brothers Brewing

Bissell Brothers is quickly making a name for itself by producing some of the best hop forward ales around.  Hazy, juicy, fruity, a soft mouthfeel, and incredibly aromatic, the beers are just beautiful.  They're also as "to the point" as Peter is - they are what they are and there's no excuses being made.  It's incredibly refreshing both literally and figuratively.  

With no commercial brewing experience in either brother's resume the move into Bissell Brothers Brewing was gutsy.  There would be no easy fix when things went wrong, there would be no pedigree to draw upon when seeking capital, and everything would a first time thing.  Huge hurdles by any account; yet, after chatting with Peter, these things seem like positives to a certain degree for the brothers.  It gave them a blank slate to work from and zero pre-conceived notions of how things had traditionally been done.  In other words, it set the stage for creativity and a hunger to succeed which has propelled Bissell Brothers into an expansion and incredible growth just two years in.  It's just the beginning for Bissell Brothers and we can't wait to see where they end up!

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Evan Watson - Founder Plan Bee Farm Brewery (Part Deux)

Since our last chat, Plan Bee has moved from a 1 BBL brew system in a small shed to a 10 BBL brewhouse on a farmstead in Poughkeepsie, NY, and Evan and his wife Emily have begun to cultivate the land which some day in the future will supply most if not all of the ingredients used in Plan Bee's fantastic beers.  This was a conversation we were dying to have, to see the progress on the farm, talk a little less about the basics of Plan Bee (see prior interview), and to really get into what it means to be a farm brewery.  The result - an honest and raw conversation.  A discussion about the struggles of such a grand undertaking, a real look at the life behind the shiny exterior of this craft beer boom, and most importantly, complete candor.  Plan Bee is and will always be one of our favorites, not only because of the quality of the product but for the ideas the couple stand for.  The back to basics and "life's priorities" driven mentality that guides their business decisions.  The fact that Evan prides himself on handing each bottle of his beer to the consumer just one example of what makes this brewery so special.  We hope you enjoy our conversation and take the time to learn more about Plan Bee and the Watsons.  

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Jim Crooks - Master Blender Firestone Walker Barrelworks

Barrelworks wasn't a goal of Firestone's ownership and it wasn't necessarily a welcome guest at the brewery either.  The beautiful beers coming out of Buellton today come to us as a result of lots of hard work and a little bit of sneaking around on the part of Jim Crooks, now the master blender of what was almost a scrapped project.  Thankfully his perseverance with the project and constant curiosity about the processes at work inside of his small collection of barrels led to a full time and recognized piece of the Firestone Walker brand.  A piece of the brand that is only getting bigger and better.

Off on their island one hour and one half south of the Paso Robles facility, Barrelworks is exploring the realm of wild beer.  No concerns about infecting any clean beers, no limits or boundaries, and full control over the production of the wildly complex (pun intended) ales leaving the facility on liberation days. With Jim at the helm, the crew is producing some of the most beautifully nuanced and complex beers around.  Beer that give the most curious drinker something to think about while giving the novice craft beer and wild ale drinker a wonderfully balanced introduction to what wild ales should and can smell, taste, and feel like.  Honestly. The beers are beautiful.  The people are awesome.  Jim is no exception.  Listen in on our chat about all things Barrelworks, wild beer, and attempting to produce beers like these at home.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Ashley Smith - Brewer Cigar City Brewing

Cigar City Brewing has led the charge for craft brewers in Florida.  Not only leading by example in the brewing process, ensuring quality and consistency from beer to beer, but also in their advocacy of the issues that face the industry in our state.  It's not luck that has allowed their rapid growth and place of importance in the country's brewing culture.  With that, Cigar City has continued to build on their facility, improve their process, and make additions to their team that will bring new perspectives and enhance the quality of the product leaving the brewery.  Ashley is the latest addition to the brewing team.  She brings a west coast perspective to an east coast juggernaut.  She brings an attention to detail and love for brewing to enhance an already meticulous and passionate team. Most of all, she's just awesome. We chatted with Ashley about all things beer, the future at Cigar City, the importance of women in the industry, and "brewpies".  We hope you enjoy.

Cheers,

Craft Commander

Bob Sylvester - Founder/Brewer Saint Somewhere Brewing

Before the term "farmhouse ale" became a cool buzz word that people used as a symbol of their arrival in the craft beer scene, Bob Sylvester was delivering some of the best and most complex "Belgian-ish" farmhouse ales in the world.  Small batches, everything done by hand, and everything done with a purpose - Authenticity.  Authentic.  It's the best word to describe Saint Somewhere and Bob alike.  Unapologetic for who he is and what he stands for, the brewery an extension of this sadly, dying character trait. 

Saint Somewhere is a shining star in Florida and a source of inspiration for other breweries around the country.  A great representation of Florida's past, future, and present.

Cheers,

Craft Commander