Brewers Unleashed

Just over two weeks ago I found myself reading an email from a fantastic co-worker talking about Saint Archer’s Kim Lutz and Yiga Miyashiro visiting Milwaukee, WI for a Brewers Unleashed event. 

These events showcase some of the unique beers brewers may never get to share with the public because of production limitations. These brewers have endless possibilities of what they can brew when they have access to anything they need, however to make it on the big system isn’t for every beer and nor should it be. 

If everyone in the world had access to a hyper hopped citra double IPA, would anyone want it? This is why these events are so special, they are an opportunity for the same brewers who bring you Miller Lite in some instances, to let loose and make something funky. 

Limitations, however they may come, can prove to create some of the best beer in the world. If you look back to some of the oldest and most respected breweries in the world, they started with just the resources around themselves. 

In more recent years and with more access to ingredients, brewers have created some styles and flavor profiles no one even 20 years ago would have imagined. Even though my palate hasn’t seen the multitude of beers some have the opportunity of brewing or tasting, it has found its favorites and the beer I was looking forward to most was the Tusk & Grain Gose. The limitation with this beer was its unpredictability in the barrel and the time it took to create. 

Just as great as a flame shooting out of a fermenter was the beer. A beer I went back for a second, third, fourth, and even fifth time. It might have been the setting of drinking it with Kim and Yiga around the corner, or the fact I finally was able to try beer from a brewery I had admired for the past year. 

None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for the co-worker mentioned above, Lisa Zimmer. She has helped put on these events for some time and her story is unique in the industry. If you’re reading this I highly encourage you to listen to her and Michael Kiser of Good Beer Hunting. It ‘s episode 79 and it does involve a Steel Reserve.

Writing & Photography by yours truly.