Around The Bend Beer Co. - First Two Fermenters

With over two years of strategic planning, craft beer company, Around The Bend, of Chicago Illinois, is on the move. On January 30th, Brewery Werks installed two new 40 Bbl fermenters at Around the Bend's partner-brewer's production facility... Ale Syndicate... also installed by the Brewery Werks team. We met Founder/Brewer Dan Schedler for the first time only a week earlier at the quarterly Illinois Craft Brewers Guild meeting. The meeting held at Ale Syndicate brewery was packed with brewmasters, brewery owners, and many associate members of the guild. Dan enthusiastically shared his story with us. He talked about his twenty years of perfecting recipes as a home brewer and about some of Around the Bend's new recipes such as Dragon Swoon; brewed in collaboration with Atlas Brewing, which including scorched grapefruits and Tellicherry Peppercorns. Dan holds a prestigious certificate of completion from the Siebel Institute, in brewing technology and combined with his eighteen years of marketing and experience leading corporate marketing departments, he has big plans for Around the Bend Beer Co.

Dan's recruitment of Joe Cuozzo to the team is another kick-into-gear for the beer company. Joe's role as the Group Leader and Lead of Manufacturing & Production brings a wealth of experience and additional credibility to the table. With 17 years of experience, among other roles, Joe has been the head brewer for Skagway Brewing Co., Brewmaster for Sports City Café, and has compiled multiple GABF and World Beer Cup awards. He is the original President of the San Diego Brewers Guild and has helped launch several upstart breweries.

With the new fermenters installed, Around the Bend's first brews scheduled for mid-February are "Silk Road American Pale Ale" and "Ghost of 'lectricity Kolsch-style", which will be served around town by mid-March and a couple months later they plan to start bottling their brew.

You can keep up-to-date with new brews and events from Around the Bend on their facebook page, www.facebook.com/aroundthebendbeer, and on twitter at twitter.com/atbbeerco. In early March their website, www.atbbeerco.com, is scheduled to launch with more information about the brewery and their plans for the future. Lastly, if you're interested in being an investor, check out Around the Bend on EquityNet, www.equitynet.com/c/around-the-bend-beer-co-llc, where you can see that they're well on their way to meeting the company's fundraising goals.



Dan is putting it all together to lead Around the Bend on an exciting and flavorful journey. To quote him, "The road that lies ahead is a more exciting stretch than we have glimpsed to-date. So let’s keep going. Let’s see what’s Around the Bend."

We at Brewery Werks are excited for Dan and his team.

#AroundTheBendBeer #CraftBeerRocks

Baderbräu – A Chicago Craft Beer Original

The new... and old Baderbräu, is alive and well.

There’s no doubt that the craft beer revolution is upon us, and is changing the landscape of beer on a weekly if not daily basis. As a craft brewery that’s been around for a decade or so, one might think they've got a pretty good handle on how to make beer and grow their business. But what if you’re both an original craft beer, from the late 1980’s (not called craft beer back then), and also one of the newer craft beers in Chicago… How is that possible?

The story of the old and new of Baderbräu... is how.

Back in 1988 Baderbräu started brewing in Elmhurst at the Pavichevich Brewing Company and by 1990, more than 200 bars in the Chicago area carried Baderbräu on tap.  Back then, the now late award winning journalist Michael Jackson stated that Baderbräu was the best pilsener in America he’d ever tasted... business for Baderbräu was good. However, a mere seven years later, facing financial problems, Chicago based Goose Island, took over production. In 1998, then brewed by Goose Island, the Baderbräu Pilsener won a silver medal in the Great American Beer Festival, again showing Baderbräu was a great beer.

But the Baderbräu name suffered another setback in 2002, when Goose Island substituted its brewing for their trademarked “Golden Goose Pils.” It seemed at that point, Baderbräu would be lost forever.

Enter entrepreneur Robert Sama…

Rob was an undergrad at the University of Chicago and homebrewer when Baderbräu launched, and enjoyed the pilsener as many did, over the other less flavorful domestic beers. But after returning to Chicago after a prolonged absence Rob learned of the demise of this great beer. Long story short, Rob’s thirst for this award winning brew enabled him to acquire the Baderbräu name in 2010, and began the journey to revive the original recipe... and then some.

After several years of effort Baderbräu is back. Craft beer lovers can once again enjoy the clean smooth taste of the original Pilsener recipe as well as new recipes such as Baderbräu Lawnmower Lager, as featured at the 2014 Binny's ballpark brewfest or Baderbräu Red Velvet.

At the 2014 Binny's Ballpark Brewfest, several of us from Brewery Werks were fortunate to spend time with Baderbräu’s director of sales Brian Cooper and Jason Lubovich, who shared the Baderbräu revival story with us. There is truly passion and energy in the revival of this great beer that is sure to once again become a favorite with Chicagoans.