{"id":17525,"date":"2017-07-05T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T15:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=17525"},"modified":"2017-07-16T18:12:34","modified_gmt":"2017-07-17T01:12:34","slug":"qa-ehren-schmidt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2017\/07\/05\/qa-ehren-schmidt\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Ehren Schmidt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Master Blender & Brewer, Mikkeller Baghaven<\/em><\/p>\n

West Coaster\u00a0<\/strong>covers the San Diego brewing scene, which may lead one to wonder why we’re featuring an interview with an employee of globe-spanning, Denmark-based\u00a0Mikkeller<\/strong><\/a>. It’s because\u00a0Ehren Schmidt\u00a0<\/strong>recently resigned from Vista’s\u00a0Toolbox Brewing Company<\/strong><\/a>, requiring him not only to relocate to a country where he doesn’t even speak the language, but also bid adieu to a brewery to which he brought a great deal of prestige and, oh yeah, perhaps the finest brewing region on the planet. It’s an opportunity that came up fast, but a decision he put a lot of thought into. We sat down with him shortly before he boarded a plane for Copenhagen to find out how this came about and what awaits him across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

How did the prospect of employment with Mikkeller arise?<\/strong>
\n[Mikkeller owner] Mikkel<\/strong> [Borg Bjergs\u00f8<\/em><\/strong>] stopped by the brewery early one morning and I was in the middle of examining a new wild-yeast isolate under the microscope. He got to check it out and asked me a bunch of questions. We sampled through beers in barrels and sort of hit it off from there.<\/p>\n

What does your new position entail?<\/strong>
\nI will be responsible for all of the beer production in a new oak-aging\u00a0facility in Copenhagen at Mikkeller Baghaven. Baghaven is Danish for \u201cbackyard\u201d. Nothing has\u00a0previously been released from this project. It is still very new.<\/p>\n

What at the tops of your priority list coming in?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m going to\u00a0continue to focus on oak-aged wild ales and farmhouse-style beers with an emphasis on local microflora. I\u2019m most excited about the Koelschip trailer\u2014a mobile koelship\/beer-transfer tank\u2014and the chance to work and collaborate with some top European Brewers. Also, I plan on collecting wild\u00a0yeast in\u00a0Denmark just like I did in California. When I\u00a0travel, I always try to find a way to collect local organisms (when applicable). I plan\u00a0on incorporating as much\u00a0local microflora into the beers as\u00a0possible.<\/p>\n

What are some of your greatest Toolbox accomplishments and what will you miss most about San Diego?<\/strong>
\nToolbox was a time of incredible growth in my career. What we\u00a0accomplished in the two years I was there is amazing. We have made some great beers and I\u2019ve met some wonderful people. I\u2019m grateful for the\u00a0exposure I\u2019ve gotten locally and nationally during my tenure as head brewer there. As for what I\u2019ll miss, the Mexican food, the\u00a0amazing weather and\u00a0hills. There aren\u2019t many hills in Denmark.<\/p>\n

What are your feelings on the big move?<\/strong>
\nMoving is always\u00a0difficult,\u00a0especially to a new country, and with dogs and a girlfriend. I am incredibly excited and stressed out. Denmark\u00a0isn\u2019t the easiest country to get a work visa in, but\u00a0luckily I got one. I\u2019m grateful for everyone who has supported Toolbox and myself through thick and thin. We\u2019ve been through a lot in a short amount of time and without the loyalists I\u00a0don\u2019t think I would be where I am today. It truly is an amazing feeling. I want thank each and every\u00a0supporter from the bottom of my heart. There will be more beers!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Master Blender & Brewer, Mikkeller Baghaven West Coaster\u00a0covers the San Diego brewing scene, which may lead one to wonder why we’re featuring an interview with an employee of globe-spanning, Denmark-based\u00a0Mikkeller. It’s because\u00a0Ehren Schmidt\u00a0recently resigned from Vista’s\u00a0Toolbox Brewing Company, requiring him not only to relocate to a country where he doesn’t even speak the language, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[368,371,1],"tags":[1353,2874,376,442,877,4024,390,1350,1834,2483,4027,4025,4026,1348,1349,4023,3341,1439,1832,44,1637,4028],"class_list":{"0":"post-17525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-beer-news","8":"category-brewing-ingredients","9":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","10":"tag-sdbeer","11":"tag-barrel-aged-beer","12":"tag-beer","13":"tag-brandon-hernandez","14":"tag-california","15":"tag-copenhagen","16":"tag-craft-beer","17":"tag-denmark","18":"tag-ehren-schmidt","19":"tag-indiebeer","20":"tag-koelschip","21":"tag-master-blender","22":"tag-microflora","23":"tag-mikkel-borg-bjergso","24":"tag-mikkeller","25":"tag-mikkeller-baghaven","26":"tag-qa","27":"tag-san-diego","28":"tag-toolbox-brewing","29":"tag-vista","30":"tag-west-coaster","31":"tag-wild-yeast","32":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/ehren.jpg?fit=1500%2C1055&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-4yF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}