{"id":5332,"date":"2012-06-14T08:44:28","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T15:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=5332"},"modified":"2012-06-14T08:48:56","modified_gmt":"2012-06-14T15:48:56","slug":"interview-w-founders-brewmaster-jeremy-kosmicki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2012\/06\/14\/interview-w-founders-brewmaster-jeremy-kosmicki\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview w\/ Founders Brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Blog \/ By Phil MacNitt
\nInterview appears on page 14 of the June 2012 <\/em>West Coaster, which you can view\/download here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Founders Brewing Company<\/a> has always possessed a mystical quality for us San Diego beer fans; it\u2019s so highly regarded yet so unobtainable, but we were lucky enough to see some kegs of their incredible beer during the Craft Brewers Conference and at a few events since. As an added bonus, the brewery out of Grand Rapids, Michigan recently collaborated with Green Flash Brewing Company<\/a> to create the Linchpin White India Pale Ale<\/a>, a wheat IPA fermented with two strains of yeast (American and Belgian) and fully loaded with American hops. During the madness of CBC, I was fortunate enough to land an interview with Jeremy Kosmicki, Founders Brewmaster.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>How did you first get involved in the craft beer industry?\u00a0<\/strong>In the year 2000, I was an unemployed, aspiring homebrewer\/rock and roller. My girlfriend encouraged me to apply at Founders, and although they weren\u2019t my favorite brewery, they were the biggest local guys. And by big I mean a couple thousand barrels a year. I got hired on the spot to help out in the packaging department. It was only part time, but I did everything I could to get hours and stay involved. In 2001, the head brewer left and we hired a good friend of mine that had been the assistant brewer at New Holland to take over the brewing. Our assistant brewer then left and I took over for him in 2002, running the packaging line, cellar, warehouse, and doing a lot of the brewing. I took over as head brewer in 2005.<\/p>\n

Lately, there\u2019s been a lot of news circulating about different expansion projects in the craft beer world. Does Founders have any big plans in the works?\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s pretty much been a constant expansion for us over the past 6 years, with very rapid growth here in the last three. Last year we installed a new 80 barrel brewhouse, a new packaging line, and a new keg filler, all top of the line and brand new. Our output has gone from around 20,000 barrels two years ago to around 40,000 last year, and this year we expect to be around 80,000. We are looking at adding another mash vessel and wort kettle to the brewhouse to allow us to brew 6 or 7 times a day. And of course, we have new fermenters showing up every few months.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the story behind the Linchpin White IPA?\u00a0<\/strong>This collaboration started with our sales\/marketing guys hanging out with Green Flash sales\/marketing guys and deciding it would be a good idea. I had resisted collaborations in the past, mostly due to lack of time, but I also felt they could be too much gimmick and not enough substance. Something about flying out to San Diego in March sounded good to me though, and I\u2019d enjoyed the few Green Flash beers that I\u2019d been able to try. It was great working with Chuck Silva, as we share many of the same brewing philosophies. I\u2019d been wanting to try to make a Belgian IPA, but very rarely do I bring in other yeast strains. We ended up using a blend of Chuck\u2019s American and Belgian yeasts, and lots and lots of American hops.<\/p>\n

Do you have any other collaborations planned?\u00a0<\/strong>We\u2019ll see. Since we brewed Linchpin at Green Flash, they had to distribute it, and Michigan isn\u2019t one of their states right now. I\u2019ll probably have Chuck come out to Founders at some point to return the favor and give us a beer that we can distribute here. Also I\u2019ve been talking with our friends at 3 Floyds, and it seems like we\u2019re going to do something. They\u2019re another like-minded brewery.<\/p>\n

What was your favorite CBC event?\u00a0<\/strong>It was all pretty excellent. Personally, I most enjoyed the Linchpin release party at Hamiltons. It was really nice to relax in such a cool place with the guys from Green Flash, 3 Floyds, Surly, and lots of other friends. I also enjoyed a pool party on Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel where our entourage was staying!<\/p>\n

Were there any San Diego breweries that particularly impressed or surprised you during your visit?\u00a0<\/strong>Our schedule was packed pretty full with Founders events, so I didn\u2019t get around to the local scene too much. The tour and dinner at Stone was great \u2013 I especially enjoyed the whole outdoor garden scene.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>If a beer loving San Diegan were in Grand Rapids for 24 hours, where would you recommend they go?\u00a0<\/strong>You could definitely spend a lot of time at Founders! We have 18 beers on tap, many of them are one-offs brewed just for our taproom. We also have a great deli and a great music scene. You\u2019d also want to check out Brewery Vivant, a super cool little Belgian style brewery that opened up recently. The Hop Cat is a beer bar right down the street from us that features probably the biggest selection of craft beers in town, so they\u2019d be worth a stop too. Lots of other smaller breweries around as well, might require a second day here.<\/p>\n

If you could only have one beer and one album on constant rotation for the rest of your life, what would they be?\u00a0<\/strong>Tough call, I really dig variety. As far as the beer goes, I\u2019d have to say Founders All Day IPA, it was basically designed as a beer you can drink all of the time. It\u2019s got excellent hop flavor and aroma, but it\u2019s only 4.5% ABV, so it\u2019s pretty hard to get too intoxicated on. I guess the older I get, the less I want to be drunk all the time. As far as the album goes, damn that\u2019s tough. I guess I\u2019d probably go with the Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore.<\/p>\n

I realize this is a bit self-serving, but I have to ask. When will Founders start distributing their beer to San Diego?\u00a0<\/strong>Well, Phil, that\u2019s not really my department, so my answer won\u2019t be too accurate. I would guess it would be sometime next year or the year after? We sent out a truckload to San Diego right before the CBC on a temporary 45 day distribution license, so it should be around for the next couple months. Initial response has seemed positive so far, so we\u2019ll see!<\/p>\n

Tonight at Slater’s 50\/50 in Liberty Station (2750 Dewey Road), seven Founders beers will be on tap: Dirty Bastard, Curmudgeon Old Ale, Double Trouble, Reds Rye, Porter, Centennial, All Day IPA<\/em><\/p>\n

Phil MacNitt is an Indoctrination Specialist, i.e. excellent tour guide, at Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido. You can follow him on Twitter @TheBeerJesus<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Blog \/ By Phil MacNitt Interview appears on page 14 of the June 2012 West Coaster, which you can view\/download here.\u00a0 Founders Brewing Company has always possessed a mystical quality for us San Diego beer fans; it\u2019s so highly regarded yet so unobtainable, but we were lucky enough to see some kegs of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"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":[1],"tags":[783,785,784,782,786,781],"class_list":{"0":"post-5332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"tag-founders-brewing-company","8":"tag-grand-rapids","9":"tag-jeremy-kosmicki","10":"tag-linchpin-white-ipa","11":"tag-michigan","12":"tag-phil-macnitt","13":"entry","14":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-1o0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5332","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}