Avid home brewer and Milwaukee-native John Graham seeks to make his hometown known across America as the place to go for craft beer.
To do so, Graham co-founded TheCrafterspace with Michael Anderson, another home brew enthusiast, to support the dreams of those wanting to start their own brewery.
Creating space specifically for beer entrepreneurs was an idea that popped in Graham’s mind while at Breckenridge Brewery in Denver, Colorado.
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Graham went into Breckenridge, had a brew and asked the bartender what brewery he should go to next.
Instead of rambling off one or two, the bartender gave Graham a half-sheet list of all the breweries in walking distance on one side, and more distant breweries on the other side.
The bartender and a gentleman sitting next to Graham helped him circle the best breweries (in their opinion) and set him off to tour Breckenridge’s competitors.
“It was a remarkably casual, yet helpful, gesture of goodwill from one business to another,” Graham said in an email to The Badger Herald.
Smart marketers and brewers don’t consider this blasphemy, they consider it the function of a strong community. Competitors aren’t really competitors – they’re friends.
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It’s clear from Denver’s popularity as a brew city that the beer community-mentality works. It’s because of this mindset that TheCrafterspace has hope to develop in Milwaukee.
But, first they have to resolve a different problem. There are not enough breweries, small or large, to connect with one another. As a result, TheCrafterspace acts as a curator for those wanting to start a brewery.
At TheCrafterspace you can learn how to brew at a commercial level, learn quality control, work with design professionals to build a site, logo, label and craft your craft beer story.
“The idea of a brewery makes sense to people when you explain you want to help businesses get started with permitting, with financing, with marketing and building a brand around what they brew,” Graham said.
Graham and Anderson are there to remove the barriers that allow a home brewer to keep saying, “Maybe one day.” By acting as an incubator these beer fanatics can now say, “Yes, that’s it, I’m going to follow my dream now,” according to Graham.
The way Graham sees TheCrafterspace is much like a rising tide lifting all the boats.
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“If you can build a community around people who understand beer and enjoy beer and have become passionate about beer, you can build and grow the market of beer,” Graham said.
While brewers will still compete for shelf space and tap lines, it’s collaborative in the taproom setting where it matters most. When people tell you to go to your competition, it reinforces the collaborative nature of the industry, Graham said.
With enough breweries in the area, Graham hopes Milwaukee will become a greater destination. When it comes down to it, TheCrafterspace is as much of an effort to support beer lovers’ brewery dreams as it is making Milwaukee a desirable destination.
For those wishing to support TheCrafterspace and keep up on the Milwaukee beer scene, you can follow them on FB and Twitter. For this column, I poured Graham’s favorite beer, the Milwaukee Brewing Company experimental imperial wit beer O’Gii.
Style
Imperial Wit, 9.2 ABV percent.
Aroma
Rich citrus with a strong chamomile curve and a hint of cereal.
Appearance
While the pour looks yellow and clear, it settles gold and hazy with a fair manila colored head.
Texture
Full-bodied and effervescent.
Taste
Herbal spices and tropical notes with a Belgium wheat tingle throughout. As many before me would say to a friend after taking a sip, “Weird, but tasty.”
Room Temperature Taste
Remains balanced and aggressive.
Consensus
I never considered combining the peaceful and energizing taste of tea with a beer, yet, also wouldn’t expect anything less from Milwaukee. Kudos to them for both experimentation and keeping things local by partnering with Rishi tea for this brew. The MKE reminds us weird is good.
