Brewmasters serving up beer, ale, more in the region
ABINGDON, Va. – Chris Burcher calls himself a “Captain of Concoctions.”
He’s a stream ecologist, with a doctorate degree, specializing in biology.
And another thing: “I’ve brewed a lot of beer,” Burcher said, smiling. “Everybody who runs a homebrew likes to think about doing a brewery.”
Only, Burcher is not just thinking – he’s doing. With three other partners, Burcher recently opened Wolf Hills Brewing Co., just off Palmer Street in Abingdon.
Talk about small: The one-barrel, one-room operation – brewery, office, retail area, tasting room and growler-filling facility – is housed in a space about the size of a small garage, spanning just 280 square feet.
Here, on many afternoons and evenings, you’ll find Burcher, the self-styled “captain,” whenever he’s not helping his wife, Shauna, a pharmacist, take care of the couple’s three young daughters.
“The idea is to do it this small, and see if there’s any kind of interest,” Burcher said. “And, the whole idea is I made good beer, because I couldn’t get good beer.”
Wolf Hills, as far as anyone knows, is the first brewery in Abingdon since Prohibition, Burcher said.
For Burcher, the experimental nature of the tiny brewery couldn’t get any better.
“What I did is take things I learned from science, and I applied them to beer,” Burcher said. “Beer is equal parts art and equal parts science.”
Brewmasters like Burcher often begin as homebrewers, crafting concoctions for themselves or friends.
Jim Strickland did all that in California. Now, he’s the brewmaster at Bull & Bones Brewhaus & Grill, a recently opened brewpub near Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.
Strickland brews as much as 700 gallons of beer each week, using a 10-barrel system with stainless-steel tanks. And his menu offers a variety – from an Irish-style dry stout to a pale ale, a dark lager and an all-malt golden lager.
“I think the variety is the big thing,” Strickland said. “But we have people who come in and want their Coors Light or Bud Light.”
Strickland has learned through trial and error. And so has Taylor Smack, one of the owners of Blue Mountain Brewery, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, in Nelson County, Va. Yet Smack is also a brewer who has chosen formal education; he studied the art of making beer at the Siebel Institute in Chicago.
As for Michael Foster, the business of brewing beer in Jonesborough, Tenn., began like the work of Burcher and Strickland: It was a hobby.
“This is my third major career change,” said Foster, once a homebrewer who ran an emergency room at Rogersville, Tenn., then later became a full-time artist, making wood and bronze cast sculptures.
These days, Foster produces about 15 different beers a year at Jonesborough’s Depot Street Brewery.
“A lot of the marketing is very similar. But, basically, you’re marketing your name,” Foster said. “Of course, with beer, you don’t have to explain what your product is – you don’t have to explain what it’s used for.”
Click on tags below to see more stories in this series.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement