Waconia Brewing Company Review

For those who missed it, I interviewed the owners of Waconia Brewing Company back in March of this year before they had started construction on their new building.  You can read my interview HERE if you want to learn more about Bob and Peter DeLange.  Since that interview I have been lucky enough to hang out more with them and their lovely wives (and co-owners) Kaye and Dee, and have been able to follow the progress of the brewery over time.  During the summer they offered up Founders Club packages (T-shirt, pint glass, bottle opener, sticker, and 12 growler fill tokens) for adventurous locals to buy into.  Founders also get a larger glass of beer at the taproom, which is never a bad thing.  I have membership number 1!  I figured I had to try to support these fine folks in my own town. 

The brewery had a soft opening just for Founders Club members the week prior to their official opening date October 22 of 2014.  I was able to swing in and try their first three batches of beer, but didn't want to do an official review until they were fully open and rolling.  I also got to take part in the Terra Waconia/Waconia Brewing beer dinner just before Halloween and blogged about that previously.  Just recently the brewery had their official Grand Opening bash featuring a pizza truck and live band.  I stopped by briefly and the place was standing room only!  So here is my "official" review so far of the brewery--keeping in mind that the place has only been open a month.

The brewery itself is located right in the middle of downtown Waconia, near Unhinged Pizza, taking the former space of a children's daycare.  So sad that they tore out the old tiny toilet seats.  It would have been hilarious watching taproom patrons trying to figure out how to deal with that!  The entrance is off to the side of the building, not incredibly visible from the parking lot. 

Entering into the taproom, I was impressed with the look right away.  While outside the place looked like any other strip mall, the inside transports you to another, more rustic land.  The walls are of reclaimed barn wood and offer a rural quality to the taproom that fits very well with our location out in the hinterlands of the Twin Cities.  Chairs and tables are massive things of solid steel and heavy distressed wood.  The bar itself is quite long and solid as well with plenty of seating.  A pop of technology in the rustic place are the two small iPad stations set up for credit card payments at the bar.  On one wall a large WBC logo made up of hundreds of blackened screws is drilled into the wood in an impressive work of artistry.  Some framed pictures of local photos take up space on unoccupied walls.  A cozy fireplace surrounded by four soft easy chairs takes up one corner near the entrance.  Overall one is struck by the natural and almost primitive look of the place, but beneath that is an eye to detail and sturdy construction.  This taproom is no slap-dash thrown-together afterthought, but rather a well thought-out comfortable place to share a beer and talk.  From my previous interview with the brothers, this is exactly the feel they were hoping to hit, and I think they have outdone themselves.  I find it aesthetically to be one of my favorite taprooms, right up there with Indeed for those who have been out there.

They have a good selection of WBC swag including t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats in several different styles and colors.  Two TV's are mounted above the bar, for the odd "game" but this is no sports bar...we already have plenty of those in town. 

But what about the beer?  One can order nonic pint glasses or samplers to taste all the beers.  The samplers come out in a heavy locally made wooden tray with an inlaid steel Minnesota shaped plate.  At this point the folks at WBC aim to have four standard beers: IPA, amber, kolsch, and wheat, on tap all of the time.  They will be doing a constantly rotating bunch of seasonal and experimental beers as well throughout the year.  I have now had the beers a few times and am ready to give my review.  Keep in mind that these are the first batches of beer that the brewer Tom Schufman has made on this brand new system and that he is just now learning the in's and outs of the process and of our local water supply. 

Carver County Kolsch: I like this beer.  It has a little bitterness on the tail end that is out of style that is likely from our very hard Waconia water.  The beer has a very clean and drinkable character that will appeal to folks used to drinking fizzy American lager beers.  I do get a hint of the fruitiness that comes from the kolsch yeast and sets it above those lagers in my opinion. 

255 Amber: A well done American amber that combines light hopping with a malty caramel backbone.  This is easy to drink but has some color and more distinctive ale flavors to appeal to a different audience.  A good transitional beer for sure.

Waconia Wit: This one wasn't my favorite.  Cloudy (but is actually required for the style) with lots of citrus flavor from orange peel in the boil.  I get too much sulfur from the aroma and flavor, probably from yeast.  I know that this one has not been as popular and they have already replaced it with WacTown Wheat--a more traditional and well done American Wheat beer served in a tall weizen glass.

90 K IPA: This is my favorite of the bunch!  A solid IPA that rides right in the middle of the style.  It has a very strong citrus hop aroma and flavor, but is not astringently bitter like some versions.  There is a bit of malty sweetness to balance the beer out.  Very easy to drink a pint of.  Interestingly I have talked to several people who think it is either too sweet or too bitter, proving that taste is very subjective for this style of beer! 

Belgian 342:  This was an experimental Belgian pale ale made with an experimental unnamed hop number 342.  It doesn't have quite as much Belgian yeast character as I'd like, but this probably makes it more palatable to more taproom patrons!  A sharp but pleasant hop bitterness pushes the boundary of the style, but in the end this beer is quite nice. 

Overall I think the beer quality already exceeds my initial expectations for a new brewery, but could certainly be tweaked a bit to make the recipes even better.  I actually try not to judge the beers from breweries under 4 months old and was going to wait on writing this up, but decided that they were good enough already to go ahead and do so.  I think that the current round of beers is better than several Minnesota breweries that have been open more than a year.  This gives me high hopes for the upcoming beers from WBC!

The brewery itself is a sparkling new stainless system that boasts a whirlpool tank for clarifying (and for hopping) the beers.  This is one of most spotless and well-lit breweries I've seen!  They serve beers directly from large serving tanks located in the walk-in refrigerator behind the bar. 

(Deliberately blurry…for that dreamy "I'm in a brewery" feel!)

I finally got a chance to meet up with Head Brewer Tom Schufman and ask him a few questions about himself and his ideas about brewing. 

1) JABlog: Tell us a little bit about your background: what did you do before coming to work for Waconia Brewing Company?

1) Tom:  I grew up in Eden Prairie (graduated 2000) then went to school at Bemidji State to pursue an Environmental Studies degree. Did a little work in that field and found I needed to go back to school in order to find a decent job. I decided to keep working odd jobs until I took a tour at Summit Brewing. There, I inquired about a temporary packaging position they were looking to fill, which I landed! Mostly grunt work, but I loved being there and got to leave with a few cases of beer at the end of my shift. It also helped my resume for an opening at Northern Brewer Minneapolis as a full time employee. There I got to brew multiple times a week and create recipes for people every day. It was a great job. New products to play with, new hop varieties always coming out, Blichmann Top tier in the classroom to pilot batch...again, great job. I also got to meet a ton of cool homebrewers & professional brewers while there. Brian Hoffman of Fulton often showed up to shop for the brewery and he posted an assistant brewer position on the cork board. I went for it, had a great interview, and got the job...part time to start. So full time at Northern Brewer, part time assistant at Fulton...living for beer! That lasted a few months before I quit Northern Brewer and went on full time at Fulton. As a fast paced & growing company, I moved up the ladder quickly learning a lot from Peter Grande (owner and brewmaster). I got promoted to shift lead brewer and got to work with a great crew before I heard of the Head Brewer at Waconia Brewing job. I live in St. Boni, so felt obligated and excited to apply. The dream of being so close to home, doing what I love and having a ton of control on the beer was a possible reality. I had a fun & professional interview with Bob & Pete and they ultimately chose me for the role, and I could not be any happier!

2) JABlog:  What is your favorite beer style to drink? (Or to brew for that matter!)  Also what are you planning on brewing us over the next few months?

2) Tom: I'm a seasonal drinker. Right now I'm digging on maltier beers and holiday spiced beers...but you can't deny Sierra Nevada Celebration in winter! I like to brew seasonally too. I'm brining in an English yeast strain soon & am planning on some dark beers for Dec/Jan. English beers are some of my personal favorites (Fullers ESB was my gateway beer). Expect some lower ABV hoppy beers for spring as well as a Maibock towards May. December will also bring our first single hop IPA series. Australian Topaz will be the first of many cool hops I've nabbed over the last few months. It gets me excited to try all the new hops out there and some JAB guys agree with me it's a cool experience to get to know hops like that. Small batches (10BBL) so they stay fresh but won't be here long and a small number of growlers will be sold. Watch our website and facebook/twitter for new releases in that series.

3) JAB:  How about longer term plans for the brewery?  Any barrel aged or strong ales on the horizon?

3) Tom:  With J. Carver Distillery down the road & a ton of wineries around us...barrel aging seems like a no brainer! Right now, we don't have the space for a serious program but I do plan on having a small fleet of barrels to play around with. I'm a big fan of brett barrel aged beers so down the road we will do that :) Also, with that English strain in house I'll definitely be making a Barleywine or RIS, I just don't know exactly when--as we need to keep up on our production beers which you can now find at some local bars & restaurants. I will find room to play around though! Oktoberfest for 2015 too!

4) JAB:  Have you had any new revelations/discoveries/fiascos since starting to brew on your new system?

4) Tom:  No new revelations, but it keeps me up at night sometimes trying to figure out a solution to some of our problems. I knew it was going to be tough to get it all running smoothly & keep it running smoothly. Our boiler had the wrong pressure sensor installed, and when I tried boiling water, it wouldn't boil. Dan at Enki had told me to check the boiler because the same thing happened to them, so tip of the hat to him!

Fulton had a 20BBL system and we have a 10BBL so it's was easier to go a bit smaller that it would be to go larger. Bob really has helped me a ton with troubleshooting help, running lines, keeping me sane while the buildout was in progress. The TEK mechanical guys out of Hutchinson did a great job for us too. You never know what's going to happen, but there is always a fist pound after Bob and I have a successful brew-day where minimally to nothing bad happens. If you ask other brewers, they will tell you "it's always something...." For real though, things seem to be running smooth now.

JAB:  Thanks Tom, so much for taking the time to respond and give us more info about you and the brewery!  I look forward to seeing what you do in the coming years!

For a newly opened brewery Waconia Brewing Company seems to be on the right track.  I like the beers overall, and love the feel of the place.  This is exactly what I was hoping for when I first heard rumors of someone opening a brewery in my town.  The DeLange family has done things right and one can tell that they put not just their money, but their hearts into this enterprise.  Since I have gotten to know the folks involved here, I can no longer claim to be perfectly unbiased, but I try to be honest with myself and my readers.  At this point as a Founders Club member, I'm invested in this!  I WANT to be excited about getting a growler of WBC beer to take home.  I WANT to hang out in this taproom with my friends.  So far so good!

Waconia Brewing Company: An Early Preview!

In case you folks haven't been paying attention, "this craft beer thing" has really been taking off over the past few years!  There are production breweries, brewpubs, micro-breweries, nano-breweries, and more popping up all around the state of Minnesota (as they are across the United States.)  Many more are in the planning and construction stages as I write this.  Some naysayers have been decrying this boom as a fad and one that will crash like the ill-fated early 1990's brewery bust, but I think that is unlikely to happen.  This generation of craft beer drinkers is (mostly) not in it for the funny name or fancy label, but for variety and flavor.  Now nearly every bar or restaurant with a liquor license has at least a few craft beers on tap, or at least some transitional ones like Sam Adams or Blue Moon.  Many servers know their beer styles these days and some places even have full fledged Ciccerones on staff.  However with this craft beer rise, there is still only so much marketshare for that small piece of the beer-drinking pie.  The burgeoning craft beer enterprise will probably hit a certain saturation point and some of the weaker breweries (those with inferior beer or poor business sense) will likely fall by the wayside.

A way to get around this growing competition for tap-handles and shelf space is to focus more on a neighborhood or local market.  This is actually a trend that harkens back to the pre-prohibition days when nearly every town had its own brewery, before the massive consolidation of breweries into a few monolithic multinational corporations.  As a beer blogger I'm certainly seeing a trend toward this, especially out in the more distant suburbs of the Twin Cities.  Enki brewery in Victoria has already breathed new life into the sleepy downtown area, appealing to a lot of locals to fill their tap room.  Roets Jordan Brewery is poised to open this summer and aims to supply the local market in that historic city.  And now in my own town we have another contender for small local brewery on the horizon: Waconia Brewing Company!  Looking at my handy copy of Land of Sky Blue Waters by Doug Hoverson, I discovered that the last brewery in Waconia shut down between 1888-1890.  Its about time we had another!

I had heard rumblings about the brewery from a few of my sources, but information was sketchy.  Since I live in Waconia, I wanted more news!  So I stalked these poor unsuspecting entrepreneurs and invited them over for an exclusive interview for the JABlog.  I was lucky enough to get a chance to meet with Peter and Bob DeLange the other night at my bar to discuss their plans for the upcoming brewery.  Here is the scoop as of this writing.

Just who are these mysterious men who want to bring craft beer to the city of Waconia?  Bob and Peter are two of four DeLange brothers who have a history of working together when younger in a family run restaurant.  Peter and his wife Dee have been living in the area for several years and are currently building a new home in Waconia.  Bob recently moved here from Iowa with his wife Kaye and son, but we'll forgive him for that since he was smart enough to move to Minnesota!  Talking to the two of them one can easily tell they are brothers, as they share a camaraderie and comfort level with each other that can only come from being close family.  They obviously share a love of craft beer, but I was intrigued to discover that they are avid board game aficionados, even getting all four brothers together each year for several days of gaming and beer drinking.  Now that is a way to stay close to your family!  Currently Bob is in charge of organizing the construction aspects of the brewery and will be doing much of the "operations" work once the brewery opens.  Peter is doing most of the business planning.  Dee is working hard on the tap room design, branding and social media for the brewery.  Their younger brother Kevin is involved with the award winning Dry Dock brewery in Colorado, and is offering consultation on brewery design and set-up.  This is truly a family business!

When asked about the brewery itself, the two have a lot to say!  Obviously, there is still a fair amount up in the air at this stage in planning, but some decisions have been made already.  The brewery will be right downtown in Waconia, next to Unhinged Pizza, in the space that once housed a daycare center.  I can bet right now that pizza sales are going to sky-rocket!  They have already ordered their 10 barrel brew system, with 20 barrel fermenters and serving tanks.  The goal at this point is to have about half of the brewery building be taken up by a tap room and the other half for the brewery itself.  Initially they plan to focus on the taproom experience with growler sales at the brewery, but allowing room for a bottling line and distribution in the future.  They also aim to have some kegs on tap at local area bars and restaurants as well.  They hope to open in late Summer or early Fall of 2014, but construction, inspections, and licensing can sometimes throw breweries for a loop and cause delays.  I've got my fingers crossed for them to get things rolling as quickly and easily as possible!

Why Waconia?  They had asked themselves years ago, "Why does Waconia not have a brewery yet?"  Now with Bob moving to the area, this seed of an idea is becoming a reality.  They decided to name the brewery after the city of Waconia because, according to Peter they are proud of this town!  From a location and branding standpoint it makes sense too--just look at Excelsior Brewing's popularity.  Bob mentions one of his main goals as "Bringing the craft beer experience to the area."  I think that is a wonderful ambition, and one I've been encouraging for several years as well through this blog and the Jack Of All Brews Homebrew Club.

When asked about the philosophy of the brewery, Peter and Bob both seem to agree that their main desire is to create a local taproom that has a very comfortable and community atmosphere.  They want the environment in the brewery to be relaxing and laid back, allowing people to get together to socialize in town.  They hope to have game or trivia nights and possibly host acoustic music from time to time.  I think this type of setting will certainly appeal to me, and will offer something not available in the current downtown Waconia bar scene.

But what about the beers?  Beer details are still up in the air a bit at this point, but the brothers do have some ideas on that front.  Peter is a homebrewer and loves hoppy styles, so they will need something with some hop character to satisfy him.  Bob is a big fan of double IPA and really wants one of those on tap, but also likes German Hefeweizens.  They hope to have a stable of 4-5 regular beers with another 5-6 rotating special beers for variety.  They will likely have a lighter style like a kolsch or a wheat beer to appeal to the craft beer newbies as well.  They do plan on hiring an experienced brewer as they get closer to opening, so if you know anyone who fits the bill, please pass this information on!  The small size of the brew system will allow them to experiment a bit and try new things--something I'm always a fan of.

After hanging out for an hour and half with these guys at my bar and sharing my homebrews, I have a good feeling about this venture.  Both Peter and Bob are personable, friendly and open to new ideas.  They have been working hard behind the scenes to make this dream a reality and are now ready to move on with the nuts and bolts of construction and with endless reams of paperwork.  This is why you will never see me quitting my day job to open a brewery!  I think the DeLanges have the right idea with their current business plan: the aim of appealing to the local taproom drinker with an assortment of well-crafted quality beers.

I appreciate these guys taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with me for this interview.  I hope that I'll be able to share more information about Waconia Brewing Company over the coming year, and look forward to sipping a pint of their beer and playing some Lords Of Waterdeep or Settlers of Catan at their taproom!  Head over to their Facebook page HERE and like them now!

Addendum 10/2014:  Waconia Brewing is open!  My initial impression is that these guys are on the right track.  I'll be writing up a more in-depth review when I get a chance.