Brief Fuse Brewing + Metropolitan Brewing Q&A

For six months, the mental property of Metropolitan Brewing has been in a kind of limbo. The brewery itself closed in December because of their chapter, and following that their IP was put up for public sale in January and shortly bought … however by who? Earlier this week, we discovered: Schiller Park’s Brief Fuse Brewing.

In enterprise since 2017, Brief Fuse has received GABF awards for his or her Tropical Harm Locker and Vocal Jam beers, which helped them earn a Brewery of the 12 months award (2001-5000 Barrels) in 2021. Nick Teague is the proprietor and founding father of the brewery, who received into craft beer whereas working in California. He discovered to like beers from Firestone Walker, the Bruery and others, which led Teague to resolve to get into the enterprise again residence in Chicagoland. 

After launching the brewery in an outdated industrial constructing close to O’Hare Airport, Teague introduced on former Goose Island and Ten Ninety brewer Brian LaGro (who simply departed lately) together with Craig Kofod, their present head brewer. As we speak Kofod works with one other Goose alum, Rob Anderson, to supply beers like their Bearie White wheat ale, Juice Cannon double IPAs, For Goodness Shakes milkshake IPAs and Hop Cycle IPAs. 

With a lineup like that, you could be shocked (and judging by the response we’ve seen, many have been) to study that they acquired the rights to brew a catalog of lagers from a beloved longtime brewery. 

So … how on earth did that occur? Earlier this week I discussed that I’d by no means been in a position to contact anybody at Brief Fuse, however shortly after that e mail went out Nick reached out to me straight. He was enthusiastic about having a dialog about their final half-year as homeowners of the rights, how and why that they had acquired them, and why now was the time to let the world know that Metro’s beers had a brand new residence.

Right here is our dialogue: 

This interview first appeared on the GuysDrinkingBeer Substack and was shared straight with subscribers. Don’t miss out on future information and updates! Subscribe now for all of the Midwestern beer information and occasions occurring on the earth.

GDB: So let’s begin from the start on the Metropolitan IP acquisition. How does that occur; what made you pursue the IP? Speak to me about the entire course of.

Nick Teague: Everyone knows what the craft beer market has been since COVID. I believe one of many worst companies you might in all probability personal throughout the pandemic was a brewery or restaurant. [During] COVID we pivoted to [all beer packaged in cans] and tried to remain afloat doing residence supply or no matter loopy issues we have been doing simply to get a few {dollars} in. Then we come out of the pandemic and gross sales are comfortable, and now, slightly little bit of retreating – I believe all breweries our dimension felt that pinch. That is 4, 5 years in and I’m nonetheless pivoting, you realize, and never making some huge cash doing it. So, we’re simply considering of what we are able to do – Clearly we stored doing our factor with Brief Fuse, however [also] different choices of contract brewing or what it’s that we are able to do to make our enterprise extra viable. 

All of us adopted [the Metropolitan situation] on the information. They have been closing and we’re all the time keeping track of these auctions, so I noticed the IP was on the market, which I used to be type of shocked by. After which we began speaking about it: is that this one thing that type of works for us? You realize, I perceive folks assume that we make IPAs and fruited sours and type of outlandish beers and stuff, however … our brewers are brewers. Making a beer and making a fruited bitter, I imply, it’s an identical course of.  And should you’re an excellent brewer, you may make a beer, you may brew a fruited bitter, you may brew a hazy IPA. So I used to be by no means involved about our brewers with the ability to execute lagers, [even though] it was actually the other of what we did. 

Perhaps to some folks it appears loopy, however as a enterprise, that’s excellent, since you’re not going to enter a bar and say ‘would you like a hazy IPA or fruited bitter,’ and so they say ‘no,’ you’re not like, ‘Would you like one other hazy IPA and fruited bitter from one other brewery?’ So, you’ve gotten a beer, you’ve gotten a pilsner, you’ve gotten a kolsch, all of the issues that we don’t actually have on the market, you realize, and that simply appeared like a very good match.

And we knew that individuals weren’t going to be overly smitten by us or in all probability anyone else taking it over. However possibly simply being in enterprise for a very long time for myself, I understood that it’s gonna occur regardless to anyone. Afterwards I discovered that Doug and Tracy weren’t actually trying to reopen. Normally when anyone goes bankrupt, they’re pretty accomplished with what it was that they have been doing. 

GDB: And that was one in every of my first questions on this if you posted the announcement – did you’ve gotten a private relationship or reference to anybody at Metro earlier than this; did you attain out to Doug and Tracy at any level, or is all this simply grapevine information getting round? 

I had been to their taproom and I simply met [Doug] in passing. I by no means had any relationship with them. The best way that chapter auctions work is that they occur actually shortly. They go up [online] and normally the public sale is in a couple of weeks. I don’t even assume the IP was added for a very long time; it got here on possibly per week earlier than. So there’s isn’t loads of time to consider it, and it’s a blind public sale. So – similar to on eBay – you’re throwing up a worth and also you don’t know should you’re ever gonna get it or what’s gonna occur. I don’t know if some large firm goes to come back in and supply 1,000,000 {dollars} for it or one thing. You actually don’t know should you’ll ever even get it. 

I assume in hindsight, might you’ve gotten reached out to them and requested them? However they could have been like, you won’t get it so we don’t actually care what you need to say. In my estimate there had been 5 [to] ten folks bidding on it, as a result of it was shifting fairly shortly to start with. So I believe lots of people had the identical concept that we had, which was that it’s an ideal model that makes nice beer, they’ve been round since 2009 and I might see why lots of people have been , like us.

GDB: I believe you additionally needed to be conscious that whoever determined to take this on was going to be met with … let’s say, on the very least, a good quantity of skepticism. How do you react to that, and to an area beer market that also connects the model to the individuals who have been behind it for therefore lengthy?

NT: In any front-facing enterprise like a brewery and a restaurant, you’re met with criticism. We’ve a kitchen in our faucet room and if in case you have 100 friends are available and have nice meals, possibly the 99th individual received’t. So [there’s] all the time criticism on this enterprise. On-line criticism is a complete different factor. We didn’t assume that we have been going to [announce] this and all people was gonna cheer from the mountaintops. We do make totally different types [than Metropolitan did] and possibly some folks aren’t large followers of ours, which is all the time going to be the case for each brewery. 

So, we received the public sale again in January, and like I stated, it occurred fairly shortly. And [we’re] like, “Okay, I assume we received this … Will we need to personal this? Can we get out of it?” It’s such a fast course of that, even for a seasoned enterprise proprietor, it’s type of like, wow, that is taking place actually shortly. Was this a nasty determination? Ought to we do that? What can we do subsequent? I didn’t even know. The very first thing we did was – I didn’t have Doug’s quantity so I’d reached out to some mates and received his quantity and texted him. 

I simply informed him we’d received it and I’d like to speak to him about it. A pair days later, we talked after which instantly I simply informed him, “Look, I don’t know if you’re bidding on this, I do not know of understanding that and I do know we don’t know one another, however I’m not making an attempt to steal it from you, or something like that. So if in case you have curiosity in it, inform me and we are able to work out the right way to flip it over to you. We haven’t taken possession but.” 

Any individual on-line stated that we tried to revenue off of it and that wasn’t the case. Doug knew how a lot it was bought for, as a result of it was his chapter. We by no means actually mentioned cash or something like that. He’d stated that he did attempt to purchase it, or a member of the family possibly tried to purchase it, however they didn’t actually need to get too deep into it and he dropped out fairly shortly as the worth rose. I informed him I don’t need any dangerous emotions, and I’m a brewery proprietor myself, so I don’t need to, like, steal one thing from him, if that’s how he feels. 

So [I said] you realize, if he needs to consider it, take a while or work out a plan on how it may be his, I’m pleased to try this. And he considered it for a short while after which stated he had actual no use for it, [other than] possibly sentimental worth. And I don’t assume it was well worth the worth of what it was to him. That’s simply my guess, he didn’t inform me that. So in the end, he stated that he wasn’t enthusiastic about it for no matter motive that was … in order that type of settled that. After which we moved ahead with buying it and taking possession of it from there as a result of legally we needed to sooner or later.

GDB: You alluded to a few of the plans within the announcement however do you’ve gotten any preliminary projections for manufacturing? Are there check batches underway? And when can folks anticipate to see Metro beers again on retailer cabinets? What’s the timeline appear to be? 

NT: We took most of January to determine all that, after which discuss to Doug about doubtlessly approaching and being part of it. In the end he determined that it wasn’t for him and he wished to maneuver on to different issues. Tracy had already made plans to do different issues and had little interest in actually even discussing being a part of it, so she’d already moved on. Doug vacillated for slightly bit however in the end determined it wasn’t for him, which, I respect that. So then we talked with him, our head brewer talked with them and met with them and went over how they made the beers. They’ve given us the recipes [but] you realize, with beer, should you give anyone a recipe, it’s the way you make it – however placing it onto a unique system, you’ve received to spend a while tweaking and discovering totally different efficiencies, proper? 

So we began instantly making trial batches. Their kolsch gave the impression to be their primary vendor so we began making that, or making an attempt to make the pilsner. We put them out just below our identify in our taproom; simply little batches simply to get suggestions from prospects. We discovered some cans in market that have been slightly bit older however a minimum of we had one thing to match them to and went via some trials for some time. It was simply Krankshaft and Flywheel that we actually labored on. 

However the second half was that their distributor owns the distribution. How Illinois legislation works is that, possibly we personal the model rights, however now we have no proper to distribute that beer beneath state legislation. Tracy had informed me that CBS [Chicago Beverage Systems] had canceled their distribution settlement, however after I reached out to them, they informed me that wasn’t the case. They nonetheless owned the rights and so they deliberate to proceed to personal the rights. They informed us they need to proceed distributing it, so we went together with that plan. However finally, a couple of weeks in the past, they’d really launched it [the rights]. So now we’re in a position to self-distribute it or work with a brand new distributor, no matter it could be. 

In order that’s why we introduced that now, is as a result of we type of have been on the level the place we might doubtlessly distribute it. We had a few small batches in our tanks and that’s why we’re simply going to do a small launch celebration right here. After which, you realize, the next weeks possibly [we] get slightly bit out to some good supporters of Metro prior to now and simply let folks strive it and choose it for themselves, how we’re doing. Get suggestions on it, good or dangerous.

After which we’ll have the ability to ramp up manufacturing and get out to some accounts, however it will be a gradual course of as a result of we’re not working with the earlier distributor. We don’t know the place it was once bought at; there’s no chain placements or something like that. So it’ll in all probability take us into subsequent yr to essentially get any sort of large distribution. We’ll have it accessible in our faucet room for folks to attempt to some restricted cans.

GDB: So that you’ve acquired all of the recipes. Are you going to make use of the identical names, the identical labels, the identical packaging? Have you ever figured that half out but? 

NT: Yeah, legally, now we have to vary issues [like] addresses … however our plan was to not change something. Actually. We thought that Metro was only a nice model by itself. Their beer was nice. Their branding was nice. We didn’t see something that wanted to be modified. The one factor we needed to do is make their beer; attempt to make it nearly as good as they made it. That was actually the one factor we have been involved with. I believe their kolsch is likely one of the finest on the market. The pilsner is great. Their helles is one in every of my favourite helles, import or home, that I’ve had. I didn’t actually have any plans to vary something. As a result of I believe it’s a credit score to Doug and Tracy and what they’ve accomplished.

GDB: Manufacturing-wise, did you need to make any adjustments to the brew home or something like internally to regulate to creating these beers? Or have you ever kicked the tires on working with somebody like Nice Central to contract it, as a result of they’re fairly lager targeted? I imply, I’ve to think about you thought-about a couple of of these issues.

NT: Our brewers felt assured that with sufficient time they’d have the ability to dial it in. We did discover some totally different efficiencies in our brewhouse. The primary couple [batches] had come out a better gravity than the recipe but known as for therefore we needed to pull again on a few of the grain; the kolsch was popping out too bitter to start with so we needed to loosen up a few of the bittering hops. Their yeast pressure, we’d by no means used earlier than, so a few them fermented slightly faster than we thought. They did a unique filter. We by no means filter, really, so it was type of a brand new course of for us. 

The primary couple didn’t go nice. We dumped beer, clearly. Originally we had points the place our chiller crashed one weekend, so we needed to dump a few of these batches that have been in there. You realize, the standard trials and tribulations that you’ve making new beer. However we actually had no time schedule, so it didn’t actually stress us out or something like that. 

The one aim was to make the beer nearly as good because it presumably could possibly be. And all of us knew that we have been going to be judged fairly extremely, no matter we ran, so we’d waited so long as attainable to be sure that we, in our opinion, received it as near what we thought it must be, and never rush it and never push it out simply to push it out. And if it wasn’t precisely the best way we wish it, then wait one other month and take a look at once more. In order that was our plan, however there was solely two beers we thought we would have liked to get going, and [Metro made] a variety of different nice beers [which] will clearly take time to excellent as nicely on our system.

GDB: From all the things I’ve heard you say, it sounds such as you acknowledge that Metropolitan has a fairly large legacy when it comes to Chicago brewing and also you’ve taken all of that into consideration right here. 

NT: Yeah, I imply, we’re a brewery as nicely, so we perceive all that. And, I assume, folks choose it nevertheless they select, however we do perceive the magnitude of what they’ve accomplished, and the way large of part of Chicago beer and Illinois beer that they’ve performed. They’d all the time stayed actually targeted on Chicago. Their faucet room was superb. It’s unhappy that we are able to’t reopen that however you realize, that was in all probability one of many nicest taprooms in one of the best places you might in all probability get. 

So we do perceive all that and I assume we thought that that was an excellent motive for it to proceed. Such as you stated, possibly there’s folks on the market who would select, ‘it must be this brewery’ or ‘it must be that brewery.’ However I believe a brewery with that type of lager focus in all probability wouldn’t have a necessity for a Metro model, you realize? I’m unsure, however I suppose anyone was going to proceed it on, simply due to what they’ve meant. 

And we perceive the load that that places on us. And it does stress us. It does make us involved about screwing up one thing that was round for therefore lengthy and meant a lot to folks. And that’s why we waited so lengthy to convey it on the market and make certain that it was one thing that we might do earlier than we type of simply jumped into it. And that’s why we didn’t come proper out and say [we bought the rights] as a result of we wished to verify we are able to make the beer and do it justice as a lot as we predict we are able to. We’ll by no means be Doug and Tracy. We don’t have a taproom on the river and we haven’t been doing this since 2009. However we do perceive what they meant to folks, so we’re gonna strive our greatest to uphold what that they had accomplished and what they meant to folks as finest we are able to.

This interview was edited for size and readability. 

Extra From Guys Ingesting Beer