Alright people,
First off, let's start with some administration. Spring break has started for me; my last one before the real world smacks me right across my face. Because of this, there will most likely be a dry spell as far as new posts go for about the next week. I'm headed to see the Reds in spring training in Arizona with the family, so hopefully maybe a post about baseball and some west coast beer in the near future.
On another note, also be on the lookout for more homebrew posts in the next few weeks. Jason and Craig have been hard at work with a new batch every week. I'm currently in a trading empty bottles for homebrew samples situation, which is a great deal!
On to the local beer scene; People's Brewing Company in Lafayette, Indiana. People's was started just a few years ago (I can't remember the year, and am too lazy to track it down on the internet) by Chris Johnson. I met with Chris for basically the same interview I had with Greg at LBC.
To start, Chris has an interesting history. He was at Purdue when he got his first beer job, actually at LBC. He told me he washed kegs starting out, and basically just worked his way up the ladder at LBC until he was the brewmaster. In the end, he wanted to do his own thing, and today we have People's Brewing Company.
The biggest difference in LBC and People's is the overall business type. Whereas LBC is a brewpub, People's is a small brewery. All of their product goes out the door to retail businesses, except for the beer poured in the tasting room. In light of this fact, my interview focused on the operations and distribution side of the beer industry. The biggest thing I learned here is how they plan on growing in the future. Currently, People's distributes their beer by themselves in the local 3 counties, with the rest of the state distributed through Indianapolis. When I asked Chris about future distribution, he had some interesting information.
He said they'd like to cover a fair area without stretching production too thin. As of now, he thinks that some Illinois distribution is in their future. The biggest issue is being able to supply the local market with the beer it wants while moving into new markets. In addition, any of you in the Lafayette area may be seeing People's brews in Kroger/Payless stores soon. Chris mentioned that they are working with the supermarket chain to get their beers on the shelf.
People's beer focus is on the product, not the intended style. Chris told me that they don't care if they hit traditional styles, as long as the end product tastes good. Still, with that being said, they try to keep some of the traditional and German style lagers on tap. My favorite of their's is either the 9Irish Red, brewed exclusively for 9 Irish Brothers Resaurant, or Mr. Brown on nitro. Both pretty solid beers.
Not to make this post entirely about People's and their future plans, I highly recommend their tasting room. People's tasting room is sort of different from most brewery tasting rooms. They only have beer on tap, no food, other than some pretzels on the table for patrons. Good news is that I have heard they don't care if you bring in food to eat from elsewhere. Pretty much everything they are currently brewing is on tap, including 2 nitro taps. The thing I like the most though is that they are very reasonable with their prices. Beers are always $3.50, except on Thursdays, when they're $2.50. In addition, you can buy pretty much any bar accessory their, also for a reasonable price.
I forgot to mention this last time with LBC, but below you can find the link to People's website (and LBC's too).
People's Website
LBC Website
Well, as of now, I'm officially off of blogging duty and on spring break. If I do get some good west coast beer out in Arizona, it'll probably hit my Twitter feed sometime this week. Until next time, cheers!
-Chris
