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Sweet Spot Fruity flights and Milkshake IPAs make Suncreek Brewery a nice night out for beer and dessert-lovers alike. STORY: VICTORIA SCHLABIG
ill Downs first started buying simple craft beer kits in college, and about five years later began using all types of grains. Grains used for making beer include barley, wheat, corn, rye, rice and oats. Giving it a rest for a while, Bill later returned to brewing and along with his wife, Sheila, began planning to open a brewery.
Suncreek Brewery’s crafts beers
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≈ PHOTOS: NICOLE HAMEL
“I bought a professional small batch system, and just started developing recipes that we’re using today,” Bill says. The couple opened Suncreek Brewery to become a part of Clermont’s “Master Plan” in September 2018, and today each batch at Suncreek makes around 7 to 15 barrels of beer. Along with his brewer, Christian Frances, Bill says, “We just kinda think of a style we want to make, do some research on it, and just formulate a recipe. The recipes are mostly mine right now, but he’s developing some himself.” Bill’s favorites are the Clermont Champions Lager and the Sun Squishy IPA. “The Clermont Champions Lager is a light lager around the 4.4-4.5 percent
Alcohol By Volume (ABV), which means it has less alcohol than say an IPA, so you can drink more of them without getting too inebriated. The Sun Squishy IPA is a very citrus-forward IPA with a hint of strawberry in it that has 7 percent ABV, almost twice as much as the lager,” Bill says. The Clermont Champions was a lighter beer and can definitely be compared more closely to a domestic, for those drinkers with a shy palate. Style team member James Combs adds, “Rather than being adventurous, many beer drinkers faithfully stick with the triedand-true beer that they love and know. With the Clermont Champions Lager, beer drinkers don’t have to deviate very far from their favorites. This beer, which contains