A friend of mine who owns a well known craft beer bar here in Chicago posted something on Facebook recently which really caught my attention for a variety of reasons. The gist of his comment was that he’s seeing a huge influx of beers coming to him from sales reps each and every week. Reps [...]
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It’s been over a year since I first started blogging this adventure. I wish I had remembered the anniversary back in October! Here’s my first post. Hard to believe 14 months have passed. That brings me to today’s subject which is: “Where’s the damn brewery!”. My wife brought up the point today that I’m moving [...]
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As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about my flagship recipes. I don’t recall mulling over any other major decisions in my life as much as this one. Seriously. I’ve gone back and forth in my mind about which style-esqe beers to launch with and as [...]
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A year ago last Friday my wife Bridget was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is the picture of health now. The chemo was completed last December, all cancer is gone. We are very blessed. See her blog, http://bridgetdehl.com for more on that journey. That event is what pushed me to take the first, real step on [...]
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Opening this brewery has opened up a whole new chapter in my life. I’ve always been one to give up very easily when things get tough. I think fatherhood has really helped me overcome some of that. The thought of my children giving up on problems as soon as they start makes me sick to [...]
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Let’s talk IPA’s. My friends are giving me shit on my personal Facebook page about the little blurb in the Red Eye about Panic Brewing today which says, “There will be no IPA”. I had some coworkers also comment on it this morning as well. Well, that is correct, no IPAs for Panic. Allow me [...]
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My mom grew up in poverty: outhouses (when most people had indoor plumbing), old clothes, old cars, just enough food, few luxuries. As I grew up, my mom made sure I understood that growing up poor is not fun. There was never a push to own things or to live lavishly, we didn’t. The gist [...]
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One of the key components in my master plan to open a brewery has always been to graduate from a professional brewing school. I feel very strongly that a formal education in brewing is crucial for success if you haven’t worked in a brewery for many years. It’s important to not only know how to [...]
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…there was a homebrewer and he loved to brew beer. He started brewing beer in 1991 using extract and pitching old dried yeast directly into a bleach sanitized bucket. The beer was terrible but he didn’t know it. All he knew was something amazing was afoot. He could make something few others could. After a [...]
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