The Next Draft: Sam Adams-Wormtown collab showcases brewer s local roots
Matthew Tota
Sometimes, a certain kind of success in the craft beer business can bring criticism.
Brewers putting out millions of barrels of beer get accused of growing out of the so-called craft category. For producing at such a massive scale, they are lumped in with the big commercial guys accused of losing the independence that propelled their achievements in the first place.
I have often been such a critic, perpetuating this narrative. But lately, I’ve found myself treating some mega-craft brewers like Boston Beer Co. unfairly, forgetting that behind the billions of dollars, teams of lawyers, corporate boardrooms and massive mechanized brewhouses exists a core group of local people.
Ope is no longer going to be just a Midwestern expression of surprise. This year, three buddies are planning to turn it into a new brewery in West Allis.
John Onopa of Wauwatosa, Kyle Ciske of West Allis and Adam Anders of Brookfield are looking to open Ope! Brewing Co. in the former Perfect Screw Products Corporation building, 6751 W. National Ave. They re in the process of purchasing the space from the City of West Allis, they said, and hope to close on it by the end of March. All of us found craft beer through drinking it, and all eventually started homebrewing and playing around with that, said Ciske, head brewer at The Explorium Brewpub in Greendale.
Steve Balzer
Steve Balzer is the master brewer at a microbrewery at a private club in Kona, Hawaii.
Balzer says he enjoys the independence and collaboration with local farmers that working at a microbrewery allows.
This is what his job is like, as told to freelance writer Natasha Bazika.
I d started brewing beer when I was 21 at college in Oregon and kept doing it as a passion. After graduating from college in the 2008 economy crash, I didn t have much luck job-wise.
My degree was in marketing and economics, and while I initially had a job lined up, after graduation I was laid off before I even started, so I worked part-time jobs and brewed on the side. After four years of unstable temporary jobs, I decided to go back to college. I enrolled in Siebel Institute of Technology out of Munich, Germany, and Chicago for a masters of brewing.
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