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Out loud Jeremy Cowan: 'Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah' tells saga of Shmaltz Brewing founder's intoxicating adventure in the world of small business By Louis Peitzman SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE Beer and Judaism go together like - well, by all accounts they don't. But although the Jewish religion may not have a rich history of brewing, Shmaltz Brewing founder Jeremy Cowan notes that the "Jews don't drink beer" stereotype is way off the mark.
"As I've said for years, and as we know from experience," he says, "the Jewish fraternity guys, like my father, probably drink just as much beer as the non-Jewish fraternities next door." With the release of his book "Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How It Took 13 Years, Extreme Jewish Brewing & Circus Sideshow Freaks to Make Shmaltz Brewing Co. an International Success," Cowan tells the story of his brewing company's humble Bay Area beginnings, and how Shmaltz Brewing grew. Writing it all down was always part of the plan, but when Cowan founded his company in 1996, he wasn't sure how far it would go. "For many years when I was starting the business, and it was such a struggle to break even financially, I always thought that it would make a fantastic story," he says, "even if it wasn't a spectacular business." The impressive growth of Shmaltz Brewing - including two lines of beer, He'brew Beer and Coney Island Craft Lagers, as well as having sold more than 10 million bottles of beer to date - should serve as inspiration to anyone thinking about starting his or her own business. At the same time, "Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah" highlights the challenges Cowan and his employees have faced not to mention the amount of work it takes to keep the company afloat. "We really are living the dream," Cowan says, but "we really do work incredibly hard for such small margins, no paid sick days and obsessive dreams about work." Although "Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah" is a memoir of sorts, it was important to Cowan that he leave the story unfinished. After all, this is far from the end of Shmaltz Brewing. "The point of the book was to give a glimpse of a small business and an owner's perspective while in the throes of the project," Cowan says. "The reader at the end of the tale realizes that we are still in the middle of the story and are writing the adventure every day we stay in business." And while "Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah" does pair well with Shmaltz Brewing's beers, Cowan says his book should also appeal to nondrinkers. It goes without saying, but being Jewish isn't a requirement either. "Anybody who has dreamt of or is obsessed by owning their own business, and anyone who gets a kick out of the challenges involved ... should be able to appreciate the book," Cowan says. "My goal from the beginning was to simply write a compelling story that would stand on its own as a meaningful work of writing."
WHAT PEOPLE DRINK JEREMY COWAN
FOUNDER SHMALTZ BREWING CO. Interview by Alan Kropf // Photography by Ian Andreae
Shmaltz Brewing Co., has officially passed into adulthood. The Jewish inspired brewery celebrates its 13th year and has taken on epic projects for its bar mitzvah including distillation and super-barrel aged beers. Mutineer Magazine schlepped over to San Francisco to talk to founder, Jeremy Cowan, about these endeavors and some of the other stuff that He’Brew.
WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU DRANK? Thirty seconds ago I took the last sip of my FiftyFifty RyePA from a Northern California brewery called FiftyFifty, one of my favorites that don't distribute far and wide. It's a treat to get them at City Beer. SO BEER, WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING RIGHT NOW, WHAT ARE YOU INTO? We've had a good run of some barrel aged stuff, so I've been exploring those directions with a lot of different breweries from around the country at beer festivals in particular, also with rye beers. We put out a beer called Vertical Jewbelation, which just came out this year. It's a blend of seven different anniversary beer recipes, all aged in Sazerac six-year rye whiskey barrels, and that has been an amazing transformation for us. It's the most complicated beer we've ever made; each one of the beers is complicated to brew. Then creating them all separately into the barrels and blending them together to create that last über eighth beer was a total delicious adventure. And then on the rye side, from years ago I loved Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, and for my tenth anniversary, I wanted to do a tribute to Lenny Bruce, who was a Jewish comedian from the ‘50s and ‘60s. He was known for having a very aggressive sense of satire, but he also was known to have a bit of a softer side to his private personality. I called the beer Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A., and it's a rye-based double IPA that's brewed with 20% rye malt and three different types of rye malt. It's 10% alcohol, and brewed with just about every hop in the brewery. The goal with that beer was to create a very different direction with a double IPA. I love Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Stone Ruination IPA, the big Bell’s Hopslam and Lagunitas Hop Stoopid. I love those beers, but they tend to be a little bit paler in color and focus on bitterness, citrus and fruit. We wanted to make a double IPA that was built around the rye malt and the malt profile, and the hops are kind of layers and layers of experience inside the construct of the rye malt. So that's what we were shooting for with that beer, which we barrel aged the hell out of last year and released for the first time in bottles. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HOW IT CAME OUT? I was thrilled; it was even more aggressive than I was anticipating, and we had been experimenting with one or two barrels of it in past years. They came out with this soft vanilla, nougat kind of candy bar booze and hops. I just absolutely adored the soft version of it, but the Sazerac six-year barrels just accelerated what was already a 10% rye double IPA. You really taste the rye whiskey. It's a little bit more aggressive, and I wouldn't necessarily say harsher or more abrasive because it depends on what you're used to. For me, I love rye whiskey and it's been a great way to tie in my curiosity about rye whiskey with bringing this beer even more into the rye arena. SO YOU’RE A BIG RYE WHISKEY FAN? Yeah I'm trying, and it's one of those passions that if you're in the right place at the right moment, you're incredibly lucky. I got to taste the whole lineup of the boutique ends of the Buffalo Trace Sazerac family at a distillery here in Northern California when I was dropping off a 3-gallon barrel of Hudson Baby Bourbon Whiskey that we were going to use for a project called Shmaltz Liquor that we're just starting to do. Basically we're taking Jewbelation, our anniversary series, the rye double IPA, R.I.P.A. and Human Blockhead from the Coney Island line, and we're distilling all three of those separately and then aging them in different formats. So we did the first one for SF Beer Week a couple weeks ago, and it was a huge success. We're incredibly excited about the flavors, and that night I got to try the whole lineup of boutique spirits from Buffalo Trace, who uses a lot of rye in what they do. WHAT DO YOU DRINK WITH BREAKFAST ON A TYPICAL DAY? I've been toying with going back to the good old days. I used to drink a ton of milk when I was a little kid. Lately, to compliment my beer drinking and whiskey explorations, I've been trying to drink a little more milk in the morning. So, I'm sticking with 1% for the moment. Throw in a little orange juice to spice it up. I'm a fan of Martinelli's apple juice. I don't know if I'm a sucker for that damn little glass apple. For Shmaltz Brewing Company, I suppose people would expect us to be interested in packaging, but it also tastes really fantastic.
Jeremy Cowan at City Beer Store San Francisco, CA
WE TOUCHED ON WHISKEY AND BEER, DO YOU DRINK WINE AT ALL? It's funny because I love a little bit of wine, and for the life of me I'm the worst at remembering brands. But lately, I've been enjoying everything, and actually this spring, I've been drinking a little more wine than usual because I had an incredibly intense winter with travels and beer. I figured I'd mix it up just a little bit. I usually like blends; I like wines like I like our beers. I like hybrid styles that aren't classics of any particular genre. I'm more interested in finished flavor than I am in the purity of the process, so lately I've been enjoying some red blends that might have cab-merlot or meritages or some white kind of unusual blend of varietals. I enjoy that more than the benchmark chardonnay or the benchmark pinot noir. It may just be the genetics of my palate, but I enjoy multilayered taste experiences. That tends to come more from hybrids, experimentals and blends than it does from this kind of purity of varietal. NON-ALCOHLIC, WHAT DO YOU DRINK? I'm a big fan of sparkling (not that particularly bizarre), but juice related sparkling drinks. I just haven't been able to follow the kombucha craze. I just like quality non-high fructose sparkling juice drinks and again a lot of blends. Up the street from my house in the Mission District in San Francisco, there are endless delicious bodegas that have fresh fruit drinks, aguas frescas, everyday. I always get a half cantaloupe/half strawberry or a little bit of pineapple and watermelon, so I love drinking those kinds of drinks. I had an incredible guided tour through very high end teas here in San Francisco at a friend's tea house, and it blew me away. It was so much fun and so interesting the differences that come from these very specialty tea varieties. That was something I have never experienced before. YOU MENTIONED YOU'VE BEEN DOING A LOT OF TRAVELING. WHAT'S THE BEST RECENT BEVERAGE RELATED TRAVEL EXPERIENCE THAT YOU'VE HAD? Oh man, I was on the road the last four months of last year pretty much straight, and we had everything from a 28-draft line beer dinner in Jacksonville – 28 draft lines in one night of just our stuff, everything that we've ever made and a few things we've never released – which was pretty spectacular. All the way through to just recently in SF Beer Week, the distillery event we just did. Taking 650 gallons of five different versions of Jewbelation, distilling it down and tasting it right off the still as it blended together on the other end was exceptional. It was like something I've never tried before, and that was a really meaningful marker for how far this little project has evolved. That was a good run. I mean, I'm spoiled because when I get to travel, I'm around the best beer in the world everywhere I go. It's the best beer from everywhere in the country everywhere I go, so I'm usually in the better beer bars where people are passionate about this craft beer explosion. I get to explore brands from all over the country that don't ever get distributed outside of their state or special one-offs that are from local breweries. THROW OUT A COUPLE OF NAMES. I like being in Michigan, and I think Short’s is making awesome beer. Ithaca in upstate New York, who doesn't distribute very widely. I think they’re making exceptional beers that are small batch series. On the West Coast, I mean we're obviously spoiled with having access to Pizza Port, Lost Abbey and Russian River, but FiftyFifty and even some of the brew pubs now are making absolutely world-class beer that you could put up against anybody in the world. You could put it up against Stone and Dogfish Head of course, but you could put it up against brewers from all over the world. The talented brewpub brewers now are making amazing stuff. I had a spectacular lineup of beers at Triple Rock in Berkeley the other night. Those guys have been in business for almost longer than anybody, and they have some very, very talented brewers who have been experimenting and always have something unusual and fantastic. One of my favorite beers lately was at the opening night of SF Beer Week, Hop Salad from Drake's. I just thought it was a totally interesting, unique and yet an absolutely delicious take on a strong IPA.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Shmaltz Brewing founder tells his company's story in new book By Evan Benn Jeremy Cowan launched Shmaltz Brewing Co. in 1996 by selling cases of his He'Brew beer out of the trunk of his grandmother's Volvo. Today, Shmaltz's brands — He'Brew and Coney Island Craft Lagers — are available in 25 states, including Missouri, and Cowan's company is a definitive success story in the increasingly competitive field of craft beer. Cowan will be in St. Louis for two appearances this week to read from and sign copies of "Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah" (Malt Shop Publishing, $16.99). On Thursday he'll be at the Jewish Community Center as an addendum to the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival; on Nov. 19, he'll stop at Left Bank Books downtown. The book explores Shmaltz's first 13 years in business and looks at how Cowan has carved out a niche with equal parts envelope-pushing beers and pun-filled shtick. Cowan spoke with the Post-Dispatch about the book, his love of writing and the stereotype that Jews don't drink beer. Q • You write the text for all of your beer labels, which are often full of history and some tongue-in-cheek humor. Why is it important for you to communicate with your customers in that medium, and why not farm it out to a marketing person? A • I think our labels really show more of our personal sensibilities than a concrete marketing decision. We use those as a way to answer, "Why are we doing this? Why does this product exist?" The stories on the side of our labels, we hope, reflect the inspiration for the liquid inside the bottle. We want all of that — the narrative, the packaging, the marketing, the events we promote — to bring an even deeper, more exciting, more delicious experience for the people who enjoy our beers. Q • Was the book a natural progression from the other writing you do for the company? A • (Laughs.) Yeah, I was like, I really like to write beer labels, so why not try an entire 300-page book? To me, there is something very romantic and glamorous about books and writing. My grandmother was an English teacher, and she selfpublished a few works. I was a literature and humanities major, so I also love books. But more than that, it was an opportunity to tell the in-depth story about our company. The compliments I get that I'm most proud of are when someone comes up and says, "Hey, I read your book. The whole thing. I actually finished it." So many books about businesses are painfully boring and self-congratulatory. (Co-author James Sullivan) and I didn't want to do that. We wanted to show the roller coaster of starting and running a small business and keep that story moving forward so people are actually compelled to read it all the way through. Q • How do you manage to toe the line of shtick without crossing over to gimmickry? A • We certainly use a lot of humor, irreverence, bombast and showmanship. But there is a reason for each joke, for each seemingly silly, playful element that we put out there. The reasons usually tie into culture, history, the Jewish calendar, the ingredients we use. And the idea is that all of that comes through in the beer itself. On the surface, if you're someone who doesn't like puns, you might have a hard time wrapping your brain around Shmaltz Brewing. But for the rest of us, we're trying to make craft beer a fun experience. Q • People think Jews don't drink beer. Where did that notion come from, and what do you make of it? A • For years, I've been thinking that should be our bumper sticker: "Jews Don't Drink Beer. Shmaltz Brewing Co." That stereotype is so prevalent, but I know for a fact it's not true. We're actually working on a second book right now, with a journalist in Brooklyn who has been doing some wonderful research about the history of Jews and beer, from ancient Mesopotamia to modern craft brewing. It's been a really fun process, digging up this history that shows how involved Jews were in Central and Eastern Europe in the beer trade. And now you can look at places like Asia, New Zealand and of course the United States, where tons of breweries have been started by Jews.
FREAKTOBERFEST KICKS SERIOUS ASS
Beer Trails by John Fortunato An eclectic array of hardened beer enthusiasts converged at popular Park Slope, Brooklyn, music club Southpaw to try some of the best offerings ever available under one roof. From the righteously stylized to the diligently experimental, Freaktoberfest 2011 had something for everyone this breezy Friday evening.Trendy Black IPA’s and sour ales generally took a backseat to prodigious dark ales, autumnal pumpkinspiced concoctions and some frolicking, fruited fare. As expected, the real story here at the third annual Freaktoberfest had to be the contagiously incessant do-ityourself spirit of Shmaltz Brewery host Jeremy Cowan, whose two successful product lines (Shmaltz’s expansive Hebrew series and the ensuing sideshow-inspired Coney Island lagers) habitually astound ardent beer geeks. Selling over 10 million beers since ’96, Cowan’s bi-coastal contract brewing company has regaled San Francisco and New York City and many cities inbetween from its auspicious inception ‘til now. Another seasoned DIY-spirited maverick perusing Southpaw at this gathering was Gotham Imbiber web host Alex Hall, a ‘real ale’ fanatic, promoting not only cask conditioned libations but also a new Massachusetts brewery whose inspirational Englishstyled ale got the party started for yours truly.I immediately make my way through the crowded front hall at around 7 p.m. with fellow beer enthusiast Dennis Flubacher. Making me feel like a privileged rock star, NewYork City Homebrewers Guild President Chris Cuzme recognizes me upon entering and welcomes us to the main open area post-haste.Now lobbying for Massachusetts’ newly operational Wandering Star Brewery, the long-time beer maven (and professional musician) proudly serves us samples of the perfectly rounded Wandering Star Mild At Heart— a creamy schwarzbier-like English dark mild with crystal-malted dried fruiting and caramel-burnt chocolate spicing. “There were three licenses supposedly readied for brewers,” Cuzme says as we work our way over to the opposite side of the table to quaff Two Brothers Heavy Handed IPA, a wet-hopped dry body with peach, pear, orange and tangerine fruiting emanating from Illinois. “But Massachusetts’ ridiculously antiquated laws could be a drawback to getting a brewery started. The state
changed the way to determine what qualifies as a farmhouse brewery. Sam Adams and Harpoon qualified previously. At court, we argued that growing hops and barley on premises should let us qualify.” Opened June, 2011, Wandering Star’s all-star crew includes above-mentioned cask ale expert Alex Hall, whom I didn’t get to speak to even though our elbows rubbed during dangling conversations. Between sips Cuzme declares, “We’re really proud of our traditional mild ale. We try to give our beers extreme flavor without extreme alcohol. At the moment, we’re working on a Lemongrass Wit brewed with cardamom and lemongrass. Then, there’s a spelt-grained Saison and an Alpha Pale Ale that hasn’t been tapped.” After cheering it up with Cuzme, Dennis and I head downstairs to the dank catacomb-like cellar, where a coppertopped corner bar serves a cornucopia of fascinating bottled beers and Shmaltz’s latest one-time seasonal, Geektoberfest Sour Brown Ale.A vinous, cherry-soured, raspberry-tart, grape-dried, high-octane ale made in coordination with respected New York brewers Captain Lawrence and Ithaca, its elegant bourbon theme caressed chocolate-malted marzipan sweetness and ginger-spiced, fig-raisin tartness. A few previously untried libations that were bottled got examined next. The collaborative Shmaltz/Terrapin Reunion Ale ‘11, a succulent Imperial Brown Ale with advertised chili-peppered cocoa nibs and vanilla adjuncts, retained a creamy chocolate-milked Kahlua, coconut and chocolate cake sweetness. Dryhopped Belgian-styled golden ale The Bruery Mischief used sour brettanomyces yeast to punctuate the farmhouse-wafted, basil-thyme seasoning and lemon-rotted bittering of this persuasive Californian. Pretty Things Baby Tree, cleverly formulated herbal-spiced, citric-hopped, floral-accented Massachusetts-based ale replicated Belgium’s finest Abbey quadrupels. As we trek back to the main floor, the crowd has doubled in size, but the sampling tables are still easily accessible. I finally get the chance to try a few of Greenport Harbor’s well balanced, eagerto-please brews.The newest Long Islandbased brewery to pop up since 2009 (alongside Great South Bay and Barrier) proved it’s not necessary to make only ‘big beers’ for snooty aficionados. Greenport’s Harbor Ale brought crisp
Amarillo-hopped wood dryness to light, wheat-cracked dried citrus bittering. Leaf Pile Pumpkin Ale’s creamy, cinnamon-toasted pumpkin pie sweetness contrasted leafy hop foliage above allspice-cardamom-nutmeg spicing. Black Duck Porter wrangled cocoa-powdered, soy-milked black chocolate creaminess out of brownsugared grain toasting and dark-roasted hops. Next table over, I found a few herbalspiced Belgian-styled pleasantries.Sourfruited Saison farmhouse ale Sly Fox Grisette Summer Ale may’ve bettered the equally upscale citric pepper-spiced Empire Golden Dragon (a Belgian golden ale utilizing garden-grown Thai basil). Excitedly, I encounter the Shmaltz homebrewer table to taste a few oneof-a-kind ‘gypsy brews.’These so-called gypsy brews, generally local craft beers with no permanent home base made at the whim of adventurous zymurgists, prove the entrepreneurial American spirit hasn’t died yet. A true gypsy brewer, Jeremy Goldberg started up Cape Ann Brewing Company in 2004. Last year, the Gloucester, Massachusetts, company presented a musty, caramel-glazed pumpkin beer that had Freaktoberfest ’10 patrons dazzled at Brooklyn’s smaller Rock Shop venue.This year, Goldberg brought down an eccentric potion known as Cape Ann Fisherman Tea Party, a fig-dried, ESBlike barleywine with earthen hops and smoked peat malting appeasing black and green tea adjuncts. Next up was Smuttynose’s latest edition to its established Big Beer Series, a casually splendid Belgian IPA dubbed
Homunculus.Its tart lemony orange tang lingered through apple, apricot and pear fruiting as well as earthen grassy-hopped leathering and floral jasmine-honeysuckle herbage. Nearly as rewarding and not far removed taste-wise, Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA saddled its mild woodyhopped, grapefruit-peeled bittering with bright peach, pear and orange rind illusions that grazed a leathery alfalfahay earthiness. Shmaltz loves to promote home brewers. And a few scored high. The most ‘active’ amateur brewer at this evening’s event may’ve been Fritz Fernow, whose cool website, fritzbrew.com, features a Beerography and Beerjoints section. His Shmaltzsponsored Horny Ryenocerous Rye IPA was aimed at “people who like to geek out on hops,” Fernow claims. “There’s Chinook and Magnum bittering hops. Then, for flavoring, Centennial hops were used.Aroma hops include Citra and more Centennial.Then it’s dry-hopped with Simcoe and Amarillo,” the cordial Fernow explained like a wellversed pro. For me, the final product loaded lemony grapefruit rind bitterness atop caramel-roasted crystal rye malts. Also worth investigation was Zomerfest, a homebrewed Dutch twist on a German ale. Its crisp lemony entry and almond-toasted easement picked up citric-floral nuances from Sorachi Ace hops, leaving a nifty gin and tonic finish. For dessert, I choose a tremendous cocktail-like elixir from a tiny Detroit suburb and a magnanimous barrelaged tonic celebrating Shmaltz’s 15th anniversary.
I’d met the Kuhnhenn family (father Eric and sons Eric and Brett) at their intimate Warren, Michigan, brewery several times in the past. And it was great to have them here in New York, even if they didn’t know where their serving table was assembled.Though I did find Kuhnhenn’s station unmanned, a leather-jacketed dude thankfully started pouring Dennis and I a few samples of the excellent Kuhnhenn Extraneous Ale. Months of aging changed the profile, complexion and complexity of this wonderful ‘big beer.’ While its original tapped version provided a heady bourbon piquancy and Cassis-like blackberry curdle, tonight’s vintage tasted like a Mai Tai with its coconut-pineapple conflux, caramelized whiskey malting and candied apple sash. Lastly, the stimulating Shmaltz Genesis 15:15 Barrel-Aged Barleywine gave its pomegranate-juiced fig, date and Concord grape adjuncts a fantastic rye whiskey malting atop smoky hop roasting. Red-wined chocolate liqueur, Kahlua, and brown chocolate illusions settled beneath the profound dried fruiting, finishing like an awesomely full-bodied, brandied barleywine. As mustachioed emcee Donny Vomit proceeded to juggle knives and swallow a fake sword in honor of Coney Island Sword Swallower Pale Lager, I finished up my samples and grabbed some Chinese food across the street before heading home. Without a doubt, this was one of the best beer-related gatherings I’ve ever attended. Can’t wait for next years’ shindig, wherever it’s at.
I t i s r e c om m en de d th at be er ge ek s a nd r o ck fr e ak s go to J o hn For tun at o’s we bs i te, b ee r me lo di e s.c o m, for r e c om m en da tio n s a nd s al uta ti on s. 22 ARTS WEEKLY OCTOBER 12, 2011 www.theaquarian.com
NY Craft Beer Week Begins: Freaktoberfest by Allegra Ben‐Amotz September 19th, 2011
NY Craft Beer Week kicked off this Friday with Freaktoberfest, a party hosted by Shmaltz Brewing Co. that featured representatives from over 20 breweries, a bevy of Coney Island freakshow performers, 2 floors of live music, and a mustachioed emcee named Donny Vomit who juggled knives and swallowed balloons between sets. The third annual celebration went down at Southpaw, a raucous music venue in Park Slope, Brooklyn where beer geeks boogied and sipped unlimited tastings alongside soul singers, industry types, and burlesque dancers. The spirit of the event was embodied by its highlighted beer and official drink of NY Craft Beer Week: Geektoberfest, a collaboration between Captain Lawrence, Ithaca Beer Co., and Shmaltz Brewing Company, is a blend of seven barrel-aged sour brown ales. The beer, only available on draft during Craft Beer Week, is a spirited, tart ale with hints of raspberry, a kitchen-sink project that brings together sours with history all over the state. We sampled the national launch of Genesis 15:15, Shmaltz’s new barrel-aged harvest barleywine ale with a whopping 13.4% ABV, brewed with pomegranate juice, fig juice, date & grape juice, aged in rye whiskey barrels – the perfect tipple for the Jewish New Year! Shmaltz also celebrated the recent launch of the world’s tiniest craft brewery, Coney Island Brewing Company, who welcomed five of the guest brewers they had at their facility this summer (we especially liked The Horny RYEnocerous, a dry-hopped rye IPA, brewed by Fritz Fernow). Other notable participants were Greenport Harbor, a two year old Long Island brewery who served up a double IPA; Ommegang with a palate-cleansing, summery Belgian pale ale; Speakeasy, who shared a two-month release from their Bootlegger Limited Series (Butchertown Black Ale, a roasted but light-bodied IPA-type brew); and Goose Island, a Chicago-based brewery who featured Matilda, a dark, fruity pale ale targeted at wine drinkers, and Sofie, a tart, Belgian-style farmhouse ale aged in wine barrels with orange peel . Freaktoberfest had all attendees in high spirits, ready to embark on a week-long celebration of New York’s finest brews.
By Josh Noel, September 7, 2011 If you’ve enjoyed a craft beer lately, it probably wasn’t a lager. There are a few reasons for that: Ales are cheaper to make (their fermentation requires less time and higher temperatures) and more robustly flavored, and their boldness is a more profound reaction to mainstream beer drinking, the vast majority of which is pale lagers (hello, Bud Light). When the craft beer movement took root, therefore, it largely came in the form of ales. Lagers — a style developed in southern Germany in the 16th century producing a simple, smooth flavor — have largely been left behind. The craft pendulum, however, is swinging back. Many major brewers — such as Bell’s, Dogfish Head, Lagunitas, Avery and Victory — have at least one lager in their portfolio. Chicago’s Metropolitan Brewing makes primarily crisp, brilliantly executed lagers. Then there are Coney Island beers. Sensing a hole in the craft lager market, Jeremy Cowan — who had previously launched He’Brew Jewish-themed ales (“The chosen beer”) — started a line of robust lagers four years ago. He’s up to six, plus collaborations and limited-edition releases. Cowan said his lagers were largely inspired by the middling lagers some others produce. “They’re usually a brewery’s least interesting beer,” he said. “We’re still battling the position in craft beer that lagers are boring, pale yellow fizzy beers that are interchangeable.” Cowan’s lagers would probably appall 16th century Germans — who clung to a mere four ingredients, water, barley, yeast and hops — with recipes that include up to eight malts, 10 hops and ingredients like ginger and orange peel. The approach is almost alelike in its audaciousness, and has included aging the beer in bourbon barrels and dry hopping (the process of adding aromatic hops after fermentation). “We wanted each one of those beers to be referencing a style but with a twist,” Cowan said. “We use the word lager as a point of familiarity, but once we rope them in, we turn them sideways and get them on a different track.” Yet at heart, they’re still lagers, with a breadlike and yeasty nose and midtier, refreshing body. The Coney Island series, which includes a recently released summer 12-pack, has put Cowan on the leading edge of craft lagers. On a summer day, it’s tough to think of anything more satisfying.
October 20, 2011
Brewing Hope This year, for the first time Shmaltz Brewing is teaming up as a brewing partner with Terrapin Beer Co. and Alan Shapiro of SBS Imports to participate in creating Reunion Ale ’11: A Beer for Hope. Now in its fifth year of production, Reunion is brewed annually in memory of Virginia MacLean, a close friend of Shapiro, founder of SBS Imports, and Pete Slosberg’s (creator of Pete’s Wicked Ale). MacLean lost her battle with multiple myeloma in 2007. Inspired by a dessert at MacLean’s favorite restaurant, Nashville, Tenn.’s Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Co., Reunion Ale ’11 is a dark, Imperial Brown Ale brewed with vanilla, chili peppers and cocoa nibs. Brewmasters Spike Buckowski from Terrapin Beer Co., Slosberg and Shmaltz Brewing Co.’s Paul McErlean and proprietor Jeremy Cowan worked as a team to design this year’s recipe, combining sweet and spicy aromas with complex malt flavors and vanilla and chocolate overtones. A portion of the proceeds from Reunion Ale ’11 will be donated to the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research (IMBCR) in honor of MacLean. “Shmaltz is extremely pleased to join the Reunion family for 2011,” says Cowan, whose relationship with Shapiro and Slosberg dates back to the San Francisco craft beer scene in the 1990s. “Tzedakah (charity) is one of the core values of Shmaltz Brewing. To be able to work with longtime industry friends on this project makes it even more special for our entire company.” Shapiro, MacLean and Slosberg, who all met during the early days of Pete’s Brewing Co., initially conceived Reunion to increase awareness of myeloma and bone cancer, and raise donations for the IMBCR. Although MacLean passed away just four months after the release of Reunion 2007, the Reunion project has carried on the vision of these friends, raising more than $130,000 for the IMBCR through bottle and draft sales of Reunion, retailer fundraising events and private donations. “Virginia emphasized the importance of continuing our support of IMBCR,” Shapiro explains. “She believed wholeheartedly in the work of the Institute and understood the value of bringing hope to others.” Reunion Ale ’11 is available in 22-ounce bottles and a limited amount of draft in the nearly 40 U.S. states that receive distribution from Terrapin and Shmaltz, and in Western Canada through Shmaltz’s distribution network. National fundraising events will occur throughout the fall and winter. For information, visit shmaltzbrewing.com. Donations can be made through the Reunion website, reunionbeer.com, the Reunion Facebook page, or the IMBCR website.
September/October 2011 Coney Island Lager Shmaltz Brewing Co. Saratoga Springs, NY Shmaltzbrewing.com Vienna Lager ABV: 5.5% IBU: 28
Score: 96
Vienna Lagers Developed in mid‐19th‐century Austria shortly after lager yeast was first isolated, this style is now abundant in Mexico. Classically brewed with high‐quality, toasty‐tasting Vienna malt (though some North American versions use adjuncts), these lagers offer a moderate malt aroma and complex malt flavors in the smooth, soft swallow. Think of these as amber lagers; they're copper‐colored, malty yet a bit dry, and usually sessionable. Pair: Vienna lagers make cool complements for fiery bowls of chili. They wash down hot bites and temper the heat, but don't erase the flavor completely.
Coney Island Lager
The dark copper Coney Island Lager manages to wrap lots of intricacy into a tight, quaffable package. The beer fills the nose with a malt‐ forward aroma of toasted bread crust with a hint of toffee sweetness, though grassy hops lend a bit of an edge. From sip to swallow, it showcases wonderful balance: Lightly sweet toasted bread crust rolls out as earthy hops swell in the back. Hints of raisin add rich complexity to the flavor before hardy bitterness overtakes the tongue. A touch of toast and long‐lasting bitterness marks the finish.
The New Beer Bibles a Man Should Read November 9, 2011, by Evan S. Benn
Funny thing about being a beer writer: I receive more books about beer than actual beer. The majority of them — the ones that open with "the differences between ales and lagers" — are a bore. Lucky for me, then, that three recent releases are anything but. If you're looking to give something to yourself or the beer-lover in your life this holiday season, you might want to consider picking one of these up. After all, a book about beer is the next-best thing to beer. Trust me, I know. The major release of the year is the highly-anticipated The Oxford Companion to Beer (Oxford University Press, $65). Big both in size (a whopping 960 pages, or four pounds) and in concept, the OCB is the result of years of research by editor Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery, and his team of 166 contributors from every corner of the ale world. Even Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio drops in with a food-focused foreword. The encyclopedic chapters include everything from history (there's a seven-page entry on Germany) to personalities and styles. In other words, there's a little bit for everyone, and it's easy to drop in anywhere you want. How else would I have found out that in Japan, a man will often declare "Toriaezu biiru!" ("I'll start with a beer!") when he enters a bar? Yes, the price tag is steep (you can find it cheaper online), but the insight is worth it. And if you pick up a box set in person at Brooklyn Brewery, you even get — yes — a free beer. Greg Koch isn't shy about promoting craft beer, especially those dispensed by his own Stone Brewing Co. in San Diego. I mean, the man travels with a megaphone. Now he has a new way to evangelize: The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance (Ten Speed Press, $25). Koch teamed up with Stone co-founder Steve Wagner and spokesman Randy Clemens (who's also author of The Sriracha Cookbook, where we found one of our favorite Michelada recipes) to create a tome that is equal parts brewery history, surprising food recipes incorporating Stone's bottles (stir-fried Brussels sprouts?), and lessons in homebrewing. You'd want to be a Stone enthusiast already (you can pick up their pale ale many places), but then it's just about perfect.
And anyone who's ever held a bottle of He'Brew Beer or Coney Island Craft Lager knows something about enthusiasm. Jeremy Cowan runs his Shmaltz Brewing Co. with a fair amount of shtick, but, circus-sideshow labeling aside, it's clear that Shmaltz owes at least part of its success to Cowan's ability to not take himself too seriously, which is accounted for in Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah (Malt Shop Publishing, $16.99), a look at the brewery's 13-year history. Chapter titles like "Pomegranates and Cocksuckers" are anything but conventional, but then again, neither are some of the best beers. Bar Mitzvah is another reminder of how weird — and wonderful — the industry can be. At the very least, it's more interesting than most books about a business startup.
December 2011
Shmaltz Brewing Co. is a brewery known for its Coney Island Lager and other craft beers. It is also proudly Jewish, a manufacturer of kitschy labels playing on Hebrew (case in point: Hop Manna). And as it did last year, Shmaltz is taking its own, unusual approach to Hanukkah: The company is offering a beer menorah, which you can pick up in an actual store today (call ahead to make sure it's in stock). It's part of a holiday pack that comes with eight of its brews to count off the nights, including some interesting recent releases, like a barleywine and a dark imperial ale, as well as its widely cherished Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A., a rye-based double IPA. There are instructions on how to prop up your candles in the bottles, perhaps using leftover matzo ball. Irreverent and absurd? Sure. But also a great excuse to discover new beer. You can send in a photo of your setup for a chance to win a secret prize of some sort (beer-related, we hope) and, at least as importantly, the honor of having the best beer menorah in America. A few choice entries from last year are below. L'Chaim and all that. Beer Menorah
SHMALTZ BREWINGʼS DIY BEER MENORAH
By Matt Bean ( December 21, 2011)
Posted by Austin L. Ray: Fri, Nov 11, 2011 Adventurous drinkers know Jeremy Cowan as the man who brought beers such as the HE'BREW Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. (a rye double India Pale Ale produced in tribute to late comedian Lenny Bruce) and the Coney Island Craft Lager series (of which a portion of the sales benefits the actual Coney Island) to Georgia. Since he started Shmaltz Brewing Company in San Francisco in 1996, Cowan has been creating and refining the Chosen Beers, his signature line of Jewish/pop cultureaddicted ales, expanding to include the Coney Island line in 2008. On Sunday and Monday, he visits Atlanta as both brewer and author. He'll be reading from, signing and generally promoting his new, self-published book, Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, at Brick Store, Manuel's, Hop City and the Atlanta Jewish Book Festival. Although Craft Beer Bar Mitvah's blurb claims the book will explain "how it took 13 years, extreme Jewish brewing, and circus sideshow freaks to make Shmaltz Brewing Company an international success," we asked Cowan to elaborate a bit on the project. Did you feel the world was clamoring for the tale of a self-described "Jewish Celebration Freak Show Craft Brewery"? Absolutely! As is true with our beers, the Jewish Freakshow community being maybe 2 percent of the overall population, and with small craft beers being less than less than 5 percent of the beer market, I quantify the book market for Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah to be essentially within striking distance of 0 percent of overall readers. Niche, baby! But all we need is a few thousand of that tiny tribe and we are golden. What was the impetus to get your story on paper? My grandmother wrote a few books on technical writing and I loved looking at her name on the spine. That, and to prove an English degree was worth something, to write the great American novel—except non-fiction, and with beer. You collaborated with your friend and published author/journalist, James Sullivan, to write the book. How did the creative process work between the two of you? Jim listened to me wax only slightly poetic for a couple of hours on the phone each week for well over six months. He typed up my rambling stories, edited them into a more coherent structure, and then I started cranking on edits and re-writes until I thought I would lose my mind. Having Jim as a professional author gave me the confidence and a voice of wisdom that pushed the finished product far beyond anything I could have done on my own. For the uninitiated, what does "Extreme Jewish Brewing" entail? Normally, Jews don't believe in active attempts to convert anyone to our traditions. However, in the realm of beer, I wanted to pursue all those exceptional beer drinkers who love wild styles, creative recipes, and outrageous flavors. My version of extreme beer - the Shmaltz shtick - always ties into Jewish traditions from the ingredients such as sacred species listed in the Torah, to holidays, great Jewish thinkers, and pop cultural icons. You sold close to 1,500 copies simply through your loyal Shmaltz fans and distribution network. Were you surprised at that number, especially given that you self-published initially? Yes! I am astounded and it has been extremely gratifying to have the little cult of the Shmaltz tribe engage with this book. Especially gratifying, however, and ultimately the goal of the specific writing of the book, was to stand on its own as a compelling work that can be judged, read and appreciated without knowing anything about our beers. Honestly, the greatest compliments I have received so far have been from both friends and strangers who said simply, "I finished the entire book." For a business book, and for something so personal, that seems like a huge success. Now that the book is finished, are you planning a follow-up? Hell yeah, coming in 2013, a history of Jews and beer from ancient Mesopotamia to modern craft brewing. I'm working with another journalist from New York and we've already uncovered a ton of fantastic historical information. We will be exploring the secret Hebrew connections through modern craft beer. Once you finish up the book tour, what's on the horizon for your breweries? Any interesting beers coming up? It is our 15th anniversary this year and we are launching a ton of new ambitious projects that I can't wait to share with everyone, starting with Genesis 15:15 (launching right now), our barrel-aged harvest barleywine, to Jewbelation 15 coming out next month, and our newly re-designed Genesis dry-hopped session ale. Not to mention our first ever straight-up 6.5%, 65 IBU single IPA, called Hop Manna.
December 26, 2011 by Matt Robinson / JointMedia News Service The brew that’s fit for a Jew Manischewitz has its role, but now and then a Jew needs a good cold beer. Shmaltz Brewing Co., with headquarters in San Francisco and a brewery in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., has been producing beers worthy of the Chosen People for 15 years and counting. “Completely shocking,” says proprietor Jeremy Cowan, when asked about his brand’s longevity. In fact, Cowan says he is still not sure how it’s even possible that the first 100 cases of Shmaltz—handcrafted as an experiment for Hanukkah in 1996—have grown into the production of over 10,000 barrels a year internationally. In celebration of the 15th year, a series of new and repackaged brews are being released, including the appropriately named Jewbelation 15 and Genesis 15:15. There is even a new book that chronicles the company’s first 13 years called Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, which includes a list of suggested beers to accompany each chapter. “When I started Shmaltz, it was really just an experiment,” Cowan says. “I just thought it would be fun and funny to make this country’s first and only Jewish celebration beer.” With the help of a small brewery in Northern California, the former English major pitched a business idea (despite not knowing a dram from a dreidel), and Shmaltz was born. Hand-brewed, hand-labeled and hand-delivered, the first bottles of Shmaltz quickly caught on, even outside the Jewish community. “Once I got into the project,” Cowan recalls, “I realized this was my opportunity to create my own brand of a Jewish community organization. [It] allowed me to celebrate my culture and to tie it into Jewish text, holidays, and traditions in a meaningful contemporary way most relevant to my own sensibility.” While he is happy with his creation’s cache in the Christian and Catholic worlds, Cowan is especially proud of the impact he has had in Jewish homes. Most of his beers are certified by the Kosher Supervision of America (KSA), which is accepted by the Orthodox Union (OU) worldwide. When it comes to kosher dietary law, beer isn’t subject to the same level of rabbinic and Talmudic scrutiny as wine is, Cowan notes. However, he says it “was important to get the [Shmaltz] beers kosher certified so the whole community, regardless of their level of observance, would feel confident bringing our products into their homes and into their lives.” Cowan says the name of Shmaltz’s first offering—“He’Brew”—was a “fun shtick my pals came up with when we were just slightly underage in Northern California.” Though his product has been the subject of “lots of funny looks and questions,” Cowan emphasizes that the most important judge—his mother—approves. “She even helped me deliver cases of the first batch,” he says, noting that she is “relieved that the business is doing well enough that I don’t need to sleep on her fold-out couch nearly as often as I used to.” Once people get past the name, Cowan suggests, they often find that Shmaltz products are more than just a Jewish joke. “When people read the story and taste…the beer,” he says, “[they] realize…that I was very serious about this fun and delicious project that honestly celebrates Jewish tradition, text, and sensibility, [and] they love it.” For its 10th anniversary, Shmaltz expanded by adding a new line of East Coast-inspired beers. Approached by “a nice Jewish boy from Manhattan” who had become a fan and who wanted Cowan to help celebrate New York’s most famous playground— Coney Island—Cowan decided to kick off a “sideshow” beer line to raise money for the famous fun park. Today, Shmaltz’s Coney Island line includes such Boardwalk-inspired flavors as Albino Python, Sword Swallower, Human Blockhead, and Freaktoberfest. “For over 125 years, Coney Island has been America’s Playground,” Cowan suggests. “Shmaltz Brewing is ecstatic to celebrate that flavor and spirit through this exceptional line of unique craft lagers.” Looking to the future, Shmaltz continues to expand while keeping its roots firmly in mind. “One of my favorite parts of my craft beer business is to play with stereotypes and add unique angles and create additional layers of meaning and flavor,” Cowan says, “to tickle people’s expectations and increase their delight with our offerings.”
Library’s Tasty Treasure: George Washington’s Beer By Sumathi Reddy: May 4, 2011 We cannot tell a lie: Even George Washington needed to take the edge off sometimes. The founding father and first president of the republic was a man of the people when it came to his drink of preference. His “Notebook as a Virginia Colonel,” dated from 1757, includes a handwritten recipe for “small beer.” That recipe, along with many of Washington’s other papers, is part of the New York Public Library’s collection. This month, the library is partnering with Shmaltz Brewing Company to recreate a modern version of the porter, to celebrate the centennial of its Stephen A. Schwarzman building. Just 15 gallons will be brewed and offered for tasting. Local brewers Peter Taylor and Josh Knowlton have taken the liberty of tweaking the recipe, which the NYPL has dubbed “Fortitude’s Founding Father Brew.” The brewers made batches of the beer, one with molasses — which Washington used — and one without, substituting malted barley for the fermentable sugar. “Back then, they didn’t really have quite the same understanding of brewing science that we do now,” said Josh Knowlton. Of Washington’s beer, “it’s pretty light, pretty dry, medium-bodied but roasty,” Knowlton said. “We used some roasted malts in there so it’s definitely got some of a roasted, chocolaty, little bit of a coffee flavor.” The ingredient list is fairly basic, consisting of bran hops, yeast and molasses. The concoction is to “stand till it is little more than Blood warm,” in Washington’s words. He goes on to advise would-be brewers to “cover it over with a Blanket[et]” if the weather is very cold. Despite its apparent simplicity, Jeremy Cowan, founder of Shmaltz Brewing Company, which makes Coney Island Lager, among other beers, called the recipe “tricky.” “The ingredients in the brewing process that he used are kind of pre-modern,” he said. Cowan figures Washington probably sketched the recipe the way a grandmother would, tweaking it and adding ingredients during the actual production. “They obviously did a couple of things that aren’t written down here, like a grandmother would,” he said. “So yeah, George Washington is like my old Jewish grandmother.” Cowan said one of his brewers is also trying to reproduce a strict version of the recipe at their brewery in Coney Island. He hopes to use the finished product at future events and may even sell it. “I want to see if this is something that’s so special and one of a kind or whether we should explore putting it out on a larger scale,” he said. Ann Thornton, acting director of the library, acknowledged that the brewing is an unusual way to celebrate a centennial. “It is absolutely a very rare treasure of the library, it’s something that people might not expect and it’s something that can be brought to life today,” she said. The beer will be showcased at the library’s centennial gala on May 23. The public can sample it on May 18 at Rattle N Hum, at 14 E. 33rd Street in Manhattan.
December 2011/January 2012
By Neil Harner Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah by Shmaltz Brewing Co.’s Jeremy Cowan. I approached this book suspecting that I was walking into a novelization of a Mel Brooks’ film. For anyone familiar with Shmaltz, the brands and stories behind the brands are always clever, entertaining, and generally containing a little bit of Jewish shtick that would make Brooks himself proud to sit back with a bottle in hand. And, I couldn’t be happier to say that my expectations were pretty well set. Even with a constant sense of lightheartedness, Cowan, founder of Shmaltz, paints a detailed portrait of his path to creating a successful brewery, including his many struggles and challenges. The book covers a good deal of Cowan’s life before the brewery but always touches on his ties to beer, even at a way too-young, fake-ID slinging age. Even then, hints of the young man’s future were beginning to take place with origins of the HE’BREW and Shmaltz name being explained. In starting his business, Cowan explains many of the early challenges from managing money to squeezing pomegranates, and self-delivering his beers from the back of his grandmother’s Volvo. The story always maintains Cowan’s humorous voice but it’s clear as time progresses, a certain maturity and sophistication in his business and learning develops as Shmaltz grew from the mid90s through the 2000s and became increasingly successful. Even then, new challenges arise and Cowan steps up with the determination to continue with his passionate success of a brewery. Overall, Craft Beer Bar Mitvah is a new found favorite. Since the book is heavily entrenched in the many common struggles with starting a new business, it speaks to entrepreneurs without having the stuffy overtones of a book found in an MBA class. Cowan’s experiences and anecdotes are not only entertaining; they are inspiring for anyone with passionate and meaningful goals in life. As a final thought, be sure to jump to the appendix before you start your new read for a complete beer pairing list which matches up everything from Coors Light to Lost Abbey Judgment Day with each chapter. Enjoy!
Book Review: Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, by Jeremy Cowan
[Reviewed by Dave Douglas]
There is plenty of shmaltz in Jeremy Cowan’s book, Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah. Enough so for everyone who is anyone (or not), to go a’round of beer, from the front cover (charge), to the back. The atmosphere if his shtick is fluid throughout. From his seedling of an idea, to hopping from one coast to another, and brewing his dream so we can taste what Cowan delivers as a picture of the bitterness of business to the Jewbelation of success, all with an ongoing buzz of humor. Not only is his book entertaining, but as Cowan labeled it himself, “… who doesn’t love the story of a small business, a sole proprietor trying to make it happen? And free booze!” And this book is no side-show to be tossed aside or re-gifted to the other end of the bar. There are bold, real-life, hard-to-swallow business lessons which grant his book the entrance into any university library. One big ingredient of his formula is, “… until you’re already a success, nobody else is going to make you a success.” It is that type of shtick which enables Cowan to pour out his transparency about his personal life as well – the part which provides a view into the passion for his beer which comes to a head on the printed page. As Cowan states, “Remember the three pillars of shmaltz … quality, commitment, shtick.” And, he has them all in this well-balanced, full-flavored read, which will prompt you to ask for a second-coming! Shmaltz Brewing Company is “THE CHOSEN BEER”, and “Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah” is THE CHOSEN BOOK!
How Tapping the Jewish Beer Market Begat a Plan By Jason Notte, 01/18/12 SAN FRANCISCO (MainStreet) -The craft beer industry can refer to itself as a community all it likes, but it took the help of a much older, tighter community to help Shmaltz Brewing founder Jeremy Cowan get his business flowing. Back in 1996, Jeremy Cowan thought he would get some laughs by making the country's only Jewish celebration beer. He brewed 100 cases of Genesis Ale and delivered it around Northern California just in time for Hannukah. Fifteen years later, his Shmaltz Brewing and its Saratoga, N.Y.brewed He'Brew and Coney Island Craft Lagers have outposts in New York, San Francisco, Atlanta and Chicago, a 10-person staff and $2 million in annual business. Instead of following the traditional craft beer marketing formula of growing a regional business around a brewery location, Cowan contracted out his brewing and took it to a few dozen communities across the country with strong, sizable Jewish populations. Cowan even had all of Shmaltz's ingredients and materials, brewing process and brewery conditions certified kosher. As Cowan notes in his book Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How It Took 13 Years, Extreme Jewish Brewing and Circus Sideshow Freaks to Make Shmaltz Brewing Company an International Success, released last year, that nothing came easy for the first decade. At various points, Cowan was tens of thousands of dollars in debt, paying distributors roughly 80% of the company's take and still figuring out partnerships with retailers such as Whole Foods. In recent years, however, Cowan has turned potent brews such as the 15-malt, 15-hop, 15% alcohol-by-volume Jewbelation 15 into profit. His business model has become a template for other niche brewers. His beers, meanwhile, have become industry favorites. He'Brew's Jewbelation 14, Vertical Jewbelation, Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. (named in tribute to comedian Lenny Bruce) and Rejweventaor 2010 Year of the Grape all took home gold medals at the 2011 World Beer Championships. Its Coney Island, Albino Python, Sword Swallower and barrel-aged Human Blockhead lagers from its Coney Island line also came away with gold. We spoke with Cowan about his early days as a struggling brewer, how he finally broke even and how the burgeoning Jewish beer market eventually brought him success: According to the book, Shmaltz Brewing had a really tough time of it for many years before finding even moderate success. How did you make it from more than $50,000 in credit card debt and peeking at other brewers' plans to gold medals at the World Beer Championships?
Cowan: I didn't make it for years. It wasn't until Year 8 that I broke even for one year and, cumulatively, we're still working on breaking even in 15 years. We're profitable each year now since 2004, but for years and years it was a challenge to sell enough beer to cover the cost of running the business even without owning a brewery. Craft beer has changed so much so quickly in the last few years to where you can start charging better margins and people are willing to pay more for better products. You can carve out more and more niches in the industry that just didn't exist five, 10 or 15 years ago. It's been a bizarre combination of a lot of luck, great timing and a lot of work to survive the lean times and get to the point where we can grow. We're still a small company. We're a boutique beer company even after 15 years. We brewed 9,000 barrels this year. Sierra Nevada does that every day. Shmaltz has made Kosher certification a key element of its business. Why was Kosher certification important when brewing's core ingredients and processes usually fall under Kosher guidelines? Cowan: Kosher certification is an interesting area. There hasn't been a huge demand for it in the beer market, but I thought it would be important to get all of our beers Kosher certified so the community would be conscious of the fact that they could bring the beers to celebrations, give the beers as gifts and enjoy the beers in their homes or at restaurants that they want to patronize. Kosher certification is three elements: the ingredients in the beer, the brewing process and the conditions of the brewery. For us, it's pretty straightforward since we're for the most part using grain, hops, yeast and water. Some beers that use ingredients like the sacred fruits can get a bit more complicated, but we just wanted to make sure that everyone was confident that the products could go anywhere the Jewish community wanted to bring them. What kind of response has the beer received within the Jewish community? Cowan: It's been amazing. From the beginning, I got tons of support -- and it's nice to be the only fish in a very small pond sometimes. That's exactly what I've done with the He'Brew brand. I've carved out a pretty good niche in the craft brewing community. In the Jewish community, if you look at the national Jewish brands that have survived the last few years, it's just the big ones like Kedem and Maneschewitz. Those are big companies with a huge array of products, but the younger, more contemporary brands like J-Dubs -- a Jewish music label -- and Heeb magazine have been fortunate to survive a very difficult business model because so many people in the community have been so supportive. Has the book tour turned on people who weren't familiar with your beer to the product? Cowan: People will say to me sometimes, "Oh, He'Brew, I see your stuff everywhere now." It's very gratifying and completely unrealistic. We still have a giant portion of the Jewish community, even Jewish beer drinkers, who have never heard of
us because we don't advertise or have a big marketing machine. We do hand-to-hand word of mouth and very organic marketing. Maybe one day we'll have the ability to place ads, but for the moment it's word of mouth and endless in-person events for myself and my staff. My staff in Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and New York has expanded what I could have done literally tenfold now that there are 10 of us. Speaking of those cities, your nonregional, far-flung business plan is fairly unorthodox for the craft beer industry. How difficult has it been to grow using this model and how hard was it to build the network? Cowan: Originally, I knew that I would never sell enough beer in one area to run the business, and that's exactly what happened. It wasn't until I expanded to about 20 markets around the country where there was a Jewish community to try to reach those folks that I started breaking even. What really happened is that my strange little business model of selling a little bit of beer in a lot of places ended up being the perfect business model as craft beer exploded over the last five years. Instead of searching for a preponderance of beer drinkers in any given market the way that Sierra Nevada or Redhook(HOOK_) or Boston Beer Co.(SAM_) started, my model actually works for a boutique brand so that I could just find that portion of cult following everywhere in the country -whether it was in Raleigh, N.C., Cleveland or California. That model ended up working for people like [founder] Patrick [Rue] at The Bruery [in Orange County, Calif.] or [brewmaster] Ron [Jeffries] at Jolly Pumpkin [Brewery in Dexter, Mich.]. It continues to work for certain products where you're not really be able to make enough beer to service the whole country or you're making special beer that costs a lot and takes a lot of time to make. When you look at some of the brewers who you were both up against and brewing with in the very beginning, a bunch are no longer brewing today. When a craft brewer cites Pete Slosberg and now defunct Pete's Wicked Ale as a contemporary, it's a good sign they've been around a while. Cowan: Pete actually lives right down the street from me in San Francisco. It's also interesting that people have taken very different paths on purpose. I was conscious of keeping small and making decisions that basically guaranteed that I could keep control of the company and grow more slowly. You have to have the money to buy ingredients to keep reselling the beer and I was coming at this with a very limited budget and shoestringing it every step of the way. Growth for growth's sake is not particularly a great strategy in craft beer. Growth for margin, profitability and sustainability is, to me, a better plan. A lot of your initial margins seemed to go toward paying to get your beer out there. At one point in the book, you mention that four out of every five dollars Shmaltz brought in during its early days went toward putting it on trucks. Cowan: That's something the average consumer hasn't been educated about, and it's a real problem for the industry. When you buy a craft beer from either Sierra Nevada or Shmaltz Brewing, you're literally only paying for the ingredients, labor and overhead to make that beer, with a very minor profit margin built in. You are not buying the kind of margin for bigger beer companies that allows them to become monopolies by marketing
so heavily to everybody. We're competing in an industry where the rules are completely upside-down for what we're trying to accomplish. I complain about this all the time. Small beer companies should have charged $20 a six-pack 20 years ago. If they had come out of the gates at that time and set the price point where boutique wineries did, it would be a very different beer market. I don't know if the volume would have been where it is, but we definitely would have had health insurance a long time ago and a little bit of money for sales and marketing. But craft breweries were started by guys who were a lot more passionate about the production side than they were about sales and marketing, so they didn't build in that giant cushion the beer world demands to get the word out. That's a huge differentiation for me as a contract brewer to say that we have multiple yeasts, alternative brewing processes and outrageous extreme beers. When prices increase on your more premium beers, does the playing field change a bit? Are your closest competitors necessarily beers? Cowan: I think it is funny that now that some of those 22-ounce beers and 750-mililiter beers are sitting on the shelf, you look at it and say "My God, that Allagash is $16.99" or "That Bruery is $22." If you're lucky enough to get something from Lost Abbey or Russian River and go over to the wine section, you see that a bottle of mass-produced cabernet from a giant international wine producer is $25. It's a great time to tell that story over and over, especially at restaurants where there are hundreds of wines on the lists, but now they have to add great craft beers. Especially in places like New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Those premium beers played a big role in making Shmaltz profitable. When did the company end up turning the tide? Cowan: For our 10th Anniversary in 2006, I put out two extreme beers called Monumental Jewbelation and Genesis 10:10, a 10% pomegranate ale, and a rye I.P.A. called Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. Those were three big, bold beers in 22-ouncers that were a couple bucks more for each beer. At the time I didn't have the chutzpah to charge as much as Dogfish Head Brewing or Stone Brewery was for their limited anniversary beers, but I certainly charged more than I did for our regular beers. All of a sudden, our little distribution network around the country that I'd been working with for several years was able to take a half-pallet or pallet of these special beers, get shelf space and get a great margin for the distributor and retailer. That confluence of distribution and creativity is what turned Shmaltz into a manageable business model. You're brewed at Old Saratoga Brewing, which is owned by Medocino Brewing. How much of the brewing input comes from you and how much comes from your brewer? Cowan: That's another very unusual aspect of our business plan, the contract brewer. Having some of the pretty exotic beer recipes we have is basically unheard of in contract brewing. Contract brewers want to make seven- to 14-day beers and they want to crank them out and put them in huge production runs. I never could have done what I've done with beers like Jewbelation and with the barrel-aging program we have at those facilities. -- Written by Jason Notte in Boston.