Episode 103
Mosinee Brewing Company Brings Back Hometown Beer
Live at Lagerfest 2025, Ben Schreiner of Mosinee Brewing Company steps away from their booth to talk taproom, best brews, and creating community.
Visit Mosinee Brewing Co: https://www.mosineebrewing.com/
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome to Respecting the Beer!
00:29 Meet Ben Shreiner of Mosinee Brewing
00:45 From Homebrew to Pro
02:00 Brewery Launch & Pandemic Surivval
03:22 Hometown Brewery Reach
04:30 Packaging and Food Plan
05:54 Traditional vs Trendy
07:01 Wisconsin Beer Stats
08:40 Brew System and Beer Styles
12:17 Decoction and Water Chemistry
15:56 Mosinee's Taproom & Best Sellers
19:18 Best vs Favorite Beer
20:16 Most Technical Beer?
23:22 Sourcing Local Hops
26:03 Visit Mosinee Brewing Co!
27:39 Support us on Patreon!
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CREDITS
Hosts:
Bobby Fleshman - https://www.mcfleshmans.com/
Allison Fleshman -https://www.instagram.com/mcfleshmans/
Joel Hermansen
Gary Ardnt - https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/
Music by Sarah Lynn Huss - https://www.facebook.com/kevin.huss.52/
Recorded & Produced by David Kalsow - https://davidkalsow.com/
Brought to you by McFleshman's Brewing Co
Transcript
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Respecting the Beer.
Gary Arndt:My name is Gary Arnt.
Gary Arndt:With me as usual is Brewer extraordinaire, Bobby Fleshman.
Bobby Fleshman:Hey Gary!
Gary Arndt:Are you enjoying the afternoon?
Gary Arndt:We are live at Lager Fest.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:This is number four.
Bobby Fleshman:Uh, podcast out five day.
Gary Arndt:We're, we're getting 'em all done today.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:Doing a whole series of a lot of the brew.
Gary Arndt:I mean, we got all these brewers here, so
Bobby Fleshman:Oh yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:They
Gary Arndt:only make sense captive.
Bobby Fleshman:No excuse
Gary Arndt:with us now.
Gary Arndt:Is Ben Schreiner
Ben Schreiner:yes, sir.
Gary Arndt:From Moza Brewing Company.
Ben Schreiner:Yep.
Gary Arndt:Central Wisconsin.
Ben Schreiner:Yep.
Ben Schreiner:That's what I've been telling everybody.
Ben Schreiner:If they don't know where Moose Knee is, they we're halfway between moa ands point.
Gary Arndt:Yeah, it's it's pretty central.
Gary Arndt:I mean, as it goes,
Ben Schreiner:right.
Gary Arndt:Uh, when we have a lot of, uh, brewers on the show, we always start with, how did you get into brewing?
Ben Schreiner:Well, you know, we should have brought my wife in to tell that story.
Ben Schreiner:Uh, so my son, son is 19, 20 years ago.
Ben Schreiner:I started, uh, with a home brew kit.
Ben Schreiner:Um, and, uh, you know, really fell in love with it, you know, so I kind of geeked out in a lot of reading, a lot of studying, and, uh, yeah, what most He started, I started brewing there in 2019, when, when we started.
Ben Schreiner:So in between there, I just geeked out on a, on uh, everything I could consume my brain and, uh.
Ben Schreiner:I brewed for, uh, their clothes now, but, uh, um, MC Z's and Ul, she wanted somebody to brew for.
Ben Schreiner:So I was brewing there very casually.
Ben Schreiner:I started brewing with Mo's knee one, our first beers.
Ben Schreiner:I was there, um, the kind of one of our flagships flash over red and uh, by, I had an engineering job and by June I went full time there in 2019.
Gary Arndt:Your story is so similar to what so many people we've had on the show background in science engineering.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:Home brewing.
Gary Arndt:Um, you, so you launched the brewery in 2019,
Ben Schreiner:right?
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:The O Owner, Lynn Kearns.
Ben Schreiner:Uh, so we opened in 19.
Ben Schreiner:We didn't, or 18 November of 18.
Ben Schreiner:We didn't get our license until.
Ben Schreiner:March of 19,
Gary Arndt:but this is, that's very similar Tolemans.
Gary Arndt:Mm-hmm.
Ben Schreiner:Right.
Ben Schreiner:Which
Gary Arndt:turned out to be one of the worst times ever to open a
Ben Schreiner:brewery.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Surprise.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:Uh, how did you guys get through that period?
Ben Schreiner:Um, you know, that's, I mean, we were really, really knew, um, you know, we kind of did a, a strategy of let's try to get our beer to people, you know, we're still pretty new.
Ben Schreiner:We brought in, uh, uh, we hadn't canned, hadn't done any packaging up to that point.
Ben Schreiner:We started canning some of our beer.
Ben Schreiner:Uh, one of the bartenders was willing to do open for, to go orders.
Ben Schreiner:So we had, uh, online ordering you could order and come in and we had the whole plexiglass order behind that and fill that.
Ben Schreiner:So, yeah, that's, uh.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah, that was, that was a strategy.
Ben Schreiner:I don't know if, if, uh, if, uh, COVID wouldn't have started, um, if we would've jumped into canning that soon.
Ben Schreiner:But that's what, what kind of pushed us into that and kind of got us through,
Bobby Fleshman:you might have mentioned this, what's the population, Moine.
Bobby Fleshman:I mean, you might have mentioned like the size.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:I don't know.
Ben Schreiner:I don't know offhand.
Ben Schreiner:I think it's like 8,000.
Bobby Fleshman:Okay.
Bobby Fleshman:So you're, you are the hometown brewery.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:We're, we're, we're most Easy's original brewery.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah,
Ben Schreiner:exactly.
Bobby Fleshman:And you, it seems like it.
Bobby Fleshman:And, and we were, I was looking you guys up on Facebook.
Bobby Fleshman:'cause I'm that old and that's my only social media, uh, that I, that I look at.
Bobby Fleshman:And you have a lot of, you have a lot of likes, you have a lot of followers.
Bobby Fleshman:It's more than, it's more than 8,000.
Bobby Fleshman:So you must be drawing from a pretty good di distance.
Ben Schreiner:Well that's, that's why um, that's one of the reasons we Lynn kind of picked that location 'cause we're halfway between was and point, so it draws from the two larger areas.
Ben Schreiner:So yeah, that's, uh, you know, we have a lot of local mni uh, followers, but we have a lot of people come in from all over and we're up that I 39.
Ben Schreiner:Uh, corridor.
Ben Schreiner:So we do have a lot of people stop in on their way up to Monoa Northwood, so,
Bobby Fleshman:yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:And if you had your preference, you would be a package brewery or you would like be only a taproom model.
Bobby Fleshman:I understand the COVID and the pandemic played into where you are today.
Ben Schreiner:Right.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, we're set up more as a package brewery with a tap house because, you know, we, we never, we have a very good food trailer, um, but that's not.
Ben Schreiner:Once the winter turns cold, you can't have that.
Ben Schreiner:Uh, it's not that it's just a basic trailer, um, you know, you talk to everybody.
Ben Schreiner:Um, it's always nice for people to come in and have food with, with your beer, but it's, that's not, not necessarily the answer either.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, that's a whole different, different business to run that.
Ben Schreiner:So, you know, we've managed, uh, uh, uh.
Ben Schreiner:Local, uh, pizza place started selling, uh, frozen pizzas.
Ben Schreiner:So we serve those guys and we have the, well, like you guys, they have the popcorn and pretzels, and we started serving the big Bavarian pet pretzels.
Ben Schreiner:So, you know, we have some things to eat, but uh, you
Gary Arndt:guys literally have the closest story Tolemans that I've, sounds like it.
Gary Arndt:I've heard of anyone else.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:In terms of when you got started.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah,
Gary Arndt:like the food thing and everything else, it, it.
Gary Arndt:Shockingly similar.
Bobby Fleshman:It is.
Bobby Fleshman:I mean, we have more people in this town and more breweries, but otherwise it's very, very similar.
Bobby Fleshman:And it sounds like you have a slant toward traditional styles.
Bobby Fleshman:By and large.
Ben Schreiner:Uh, I always, I always have.
Ben Schreiner:Um, that's, uh, that was back from home brew days.
Ben Schreiner:That's the, the guys knew when we were doing different styles.
Ben Schreiner:If it was, if it was German style, that I'd probably, you know, you know, I'd hone, I honed in on stuff like that.
Ben Schreiner:But, you know, we've done.
Ben Schreiner:Just about every style.
Ben Schreiner:Our most award-winning style is our, uh, pineapple con milkshake, IPA, which is about as far from traditional Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Even non-traditional people wa like to hate on that type of style.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:There's
Gary Arndt:a lot of words in that that had nothing to do with traditional beer,
Bobby Fleshman:but, but also imagine my surprise face because that's what the market wants.
Bobby Fleshman:It, it loves that stuff.
Bobby Fleshman:I, I think those weird beers need to be sprinkled in.
Bobby Fleshman:Well that's
Ben Schreiner:uh, um, one of our small distributors.
Ben Schreiner:Um, that's, that's what he likes getting is that beer.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Because of all the beers on the shelf.
Ben Schreiner:So that's something different.
Ben Schreiner:Not every, you know, every brewery has a, a blonde lager or amber, you know, uh, uh, Irish ale or, and you know, it's kind of odd, the ordinary.
Ben Schreiner:So,
Bobby Fleshman:so this is perfect, perfect segue.
Bobby Fleshman:Uh, Ben and I apparently met four craft brewers conventions ago.
Ben Schreiner:Right.
Bobby Fleshman:And I, I do remember the moment.
Bobby Fleshman:I didn't remember you were from Wisconsin, I don't think at the time.
Bobby Fleshman:But in any case, I, we were at a side panel listening to a check brewer,
Ben Schreiner:right?
Bobby Fleshman:Talk about Jack Brewing.
Bobby Fleshman:And apparently we were talking about this before we did this recording,
Ben Schreiner:right?
Bobby Fleshman:Uh, what did I say?
Bobby Fleshman:What was it?
Ben Schreiner:Um, well, they, you know, the Czech Republic or Chechnya or whatever, whatever, uh, they, uh.
Ben Schreiner:They wa they always brag that per capita, they drink the most beer.
Ben Schreiner:And, uh, I dunno if you stood up or if you raised your hand or you, you know, you had said, have you checked that against the, the.
Ben Schreiner:Just the state of Wisconsin,
Bobby Fleshman:so Oh, okay.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah, I think I, if it were a, if it were a country, it would, it would be neck and neck.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Right.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, I
Bobby Fleshman:don't know, I think I followed it with an actual brewing question, but I did lead with that throw down.
Bobby Fleshman:I remember that now.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Well, right.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah, it was, I mean, that's the part I remember that is literally
Gary Arndt:a hold my beer
Bobby Fleshman:type moment, literally,
Ben Schreiner:and I don't know, I.
Ben Schreiner:At, have you checked the statistics?
Ben Schreiner:If we're, if we're close for catheter
Bobby Fleshman:or, or not?
Bobby Fleshman:The fact of the matter is, I actually knew the answer before I asked the question.
Bobby Fleshman:So it was rhetorical.
Bobby Fleshman:Uh, Wisconsin I think wins at 13.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, was it 13 barrels?
Bobby Fleshman:It can't be that much.
Bobby Fleshman:1.3 barrels per capita versus like 1.1 barrels per capita.
Bobby Fleshman:Okay.
Bobby Fleshman:Now remind, mind you, that doesn't sound like a lot of beer, except that there are several people that don't drink.
Bobby Fleshman:So there's a lot of that average being weighted by.
Ben Schreiner:Sure, yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Some of us, uh, make up for
Bobby Fleshman:the, uh, yeah, it might be five, might be 10 barrels.
Bobby Fleshman:It's a lot for sure.
Bobby Fleshman:What's the, what's the capacity of your brewing system currently?
Ben Schreiner:Um, I have a five barrel brewery.
Ben Schreiner:Um, a lot of times, well, we have two five barrel fermenters and, and, uh, what, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 barrels.
Ben Schreiner:So anything that we're packaging sending outside of the tap room, we do, you know, I'll do two turns in a day, but, uh, yeah.
Ben Schreiner:What were we at 350 last year?
Ben Schreiner:You know, we're kind of holding our own this year.
Ben Schreiner:It's kind of been a iffy year as far as the market goes, but we're holding our own.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah, for sure.
Bobby Fleshman:Uh.
Bobby Fleshman:What about the check beers?
Bobby Fleshman:Did you have, were you at that meeting for the same reason I was?
Bobby Fleshman:Or that, that talk for the same reason I was to, to try to capture that, that magic.
Ben Schreiner:Well, you
Bobby Fleshman:know what makes check beers?
Bobby Fleshman:Check beers,
Ben Schreiner:right?
Ben Schreiner:I mean, you, you go to the Crap Brewers Conference to learn something.
Ben Schreiner:What you know, what can you do different?
Ben Schreiner:And the fact is, unless you want to brew with the most authentic Chuck Beers, you, you need to do all your.
Ben Schreiner:The ting and the, the right, you know, there's all these things that, what
Bobby Fleshman:kind of idiot would do that?
Bobby Fleshman:I mean, I do it on every year, but
Ben Schreiner:I mean, you do it.
Ben Schreiner:We've literally done
Bobby Fleshman:an episode
Ben Schreiner:on the Caut.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, I do, I, you know, I do the best I can with the, uh, uh, infusion, single infusion brewery.
Ben Schreiner:Oh yeah.
Ben Schreiner:So,
Bobby Fleshman:and that, and that's, that debate's never gonna end it.
Bobby Fleshman:It's spiritual.
Bobby Fleshman:It, it's something about.
Bobby Fleshman:It's something that you can't quantify.
Bobby Fleshman:I think on some level there may be definitely scientific means to quantify it, but at the end of the day, people are gonna hang onto it because they love it so much.
Ben Schreiner:Right.
Bobby Fleshman:The history of it, I think.
Ben Schreiner:Well, and you know, people talk about visiting Czech Republic, Germany, all these places with all this sprayed beer.
Ben Schreiner:When you go on tour these places, you're just, if you're interested, you're in your nirvana and you're, you want to.
Ben Schreiner:You're trying this beer and, and it's all, the experience of the whole thing adds to your experience of the, the taste and, you know, at atmosphere around you for,
Bobby Fleshman:for sure.
Ben Schreiner:So,
Bobby Fleshman:yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:And, and what I remember not taking a whole sidetrack on the on, on the check thing, but that they don't have a translation for decoction mashing.
Bobby Fleshman:It mashing just is decoction mashing.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:That's just what, what you do.
Bobby Fleshman:There's no, there's no reason for that adjective.
Bobby Fleshman:Uh, and then the other thing that strikes me about the check.
Bobby Fleshman:Is the presentation all the way to that glass, like none other.
Bobby Fleshman:Even the Belgians seem not to have that level of detail that they, that they do at the bar.
Bobby Fleshman:Anyway, I take you on that, that trek.
Bobby Fleshman:But it, it just seems that you're, you're a fan of Well,
Ben Schreiner:that's, I mean, that's, that's, that's fun and that's, uh, I might get a opportunity to get, to get to that area next year.
Ben Schreiner:So, so I'm looking forward to it when, when I do get over there.
Gary Arndt:Yeah, last year Bobby got a lucer faucet.
Bobby Fleshman:Not one, but two.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah, I saw them.
Ben Schreiner:I'm like, oh, that's,
Bobby Fleshman:it was for my birthday.
Bobby Fleshman:And, and, and my daughter, they set her up to unpackage it and it was like, I got the tower and then.
Bobby Fleshman:I got, or maybe I got one faucet and I like, that's great.
Bobby Fleshman:I was going to set it up in our existing tap system and then they open the next one up and it's a tower.
Bobby Fleshman:And then I realized there's two holes in this tower.
Bobby Fleshman:So there was two of them.
Bobby Fleshman:It blew me away.
Bobby Fleshman:It was, I love it so much.
Bobby Fleshman:Also, uh, if it's a bar fight, grab the hop cone off the top because that thing weighs like three pounds and it's easily accessible.
Bobby Fleshman:Okay, perfect weapon.
Bobby Fleshman:Just throwing it out there.
Bobby Fleshman:Well,
Gary Arndt:I, I'm gonna make a mental note of that because you never know when that could come in handy.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:I mean, that it, that it's one foot away from a stained glass would make Allison nervous if I, if she knew I was saying
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:What you talk about with Decoction.
Gary Arndt:We, we did an episode on this and this has been a reoccurring theme of this show.
Gary Arndt:Uh, we have no clue like what Bobby does to make beer like we see the end product.
Gary Arndt:But nobody sees repackage other peoples people who enjoy beer and even beer enthusiasts would not know what that is.
Ben Schreiner:Right?
Gary Arndt:And water treatment and a whole bunch of other things that go into it that, um, I think people that take beer and brewing seriously are gonna take that extra effort to do.
Gary Arndt:And that's, I think one of the things that really separate, uh, micro breweries from, uh.
Gary Arndt:Larger ones that, that, that time and commitment that goes into it to bother to do something like that, uh, really makes a difference.
Ben Schreiner:Well, that's, I am always, especially water chemistry.
Ben Schreiner:It's, uh, it's a big, uh, it's a lot to digest.
Ben Schreiner:There's a lot that goes into it, and I'm still learning more and more about it.
Ben Schreiner:And, you know, until I'm convinced that I don't, there's nothing more to learn, you know, try to.
Ben Schreiner:I learn, learn from everybody.
Ben Schreiner:And you know, it is the, uh, you can't always trust Google on such such a niche.
Ben Schreiner:No.
Ben Schreiner:But yet you try to learn as much as you can.
Bobby Fleshman:And on the topic of water chemistry, my wife is a chemist.
Bobby Fleshman:She's a physical chemist.
Bobby Fleshman:And, uh, she'll find herself teaching outside of her specialist or, or a specialty s but she runs from water chemistry and she is a chemist 'cause it is incredibly complicated.
Bobby Fleshman:Um.
Bobby Fleshman:But she understands a lot about, you know, the, the molecular forces.
Bobby Fleshman:But at the end of the day, when you're looking at how these salts are, are manifest in the end product, there's so much there to it and it, and it is fun to come back to it.
Bobby Fleshman:But that said, if you're getting into brewing, don't touch the water until you get everything else dialed in.
Bobby Fleshman:It's one of the last things, the last frontiers, I think that, in my opinion, that brewers should, should, should tackle.
Ben Schreiner:Well, you definitely, definitely can do it.
Ben Schreiner:Do overdo it.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, you.
Ben Schreiner:It's better to have restraint debt with it than to try to, you know, once you overseas in your stake, there's no going back, right.
Ben Schreiner:Type thing.
Ben Schreiner:There's, there's, it's, it's always better to be on the, the
Ben Schreiner:slow side, soft side of it
Bobby Fleshman:and be careful trying to mimic other places water, because they probably treat their water in their own breweries.
Ben Schreiner:Well, I mean, just our own, you're on municipal water and so are we are, yeah.
Ben Schreiner:The Miss Mo's knee has five wells.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Alright.
Ben Schreiner:They're, you know, they're all different and you never know when, what, well, they're drawing from you.
Ben Schreiner:Do, uh, get a, a water test periodically and try to match it and, and, uh, yeah, if you, if you wonder why, uh, why your numbers didn't work out the same as last time.
Ben Schreiner:Well, there's only so much you can control unless you have uh uh.
Ben Schreiner:Ro and you work actually start from scratch.
Ben Schreiner:May maybe you do, but that's, uh,
Bobby Fleshman:we can, and we do, but we have really good base water to build off of here.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:And, and 30 miles away in Oshkosh it's really high in magnesium, calcium.
Bobby Fleshman:So it's a different story.
Bobby Fleshman:It varies that, that, that regionally here.
Ben Schreiner:Right.
Ben Schreiner:Well, that's, I have to add a little bit of magnesium in the mind.
Ben Schreiner:I hadn't been doing that until recently, and I've seen different difference in the fermentation for sure.
Bobby Fleshman:The yeast like that on, on a certain level.
Ben Schreiner:It's such a little amount though.
Bobby Fleshman:Absolutely.
Ben Schreiner:It's just like, yeah, a literal pinch.
Bobby Fleshman:Epms are hard to visualize.
Bobby Fleshman:Right.
Bobby Fleshman:They really are.
Bobby Fleshman:How many taps do you guys run?
Ben Schreiner:Um, it's, uh, there's 16 on the main line and four on, on the sideline.
Ben Schreiner:Now, on the, on the four, I always do our, our maple root beer.
Ben Schreiner:And then we have a, a kombucha line and the other two are dedicated to, um, seltzers, our own seltzers.
Ben Schreiner:So 16 beer lines, four to the side, uh, with different stuff.
Ben Schreiner:So,
Gary Arndt:and is everything made in house?
Ben Schreiner:Yeah, everything.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, the kombucha is, is a, is a BFF Kombucha.
Ben Schreiner:They, we get up, uh, half dozen kegs from that, you know, probably go through a keg a week, something.
Ben Schreiner:They send their customers that, uh, to, that's one their fill stations is our place.
Ben Schreiner:And they, last time she came in she's like, well, you could put more taps over here.
Ben Schreiner:'cause their customers are always looking for more.
Ben Schreiner:I'm like, no, just send us a variety.
Ben Schreiner:And whatever we have, we have.
Ben Schreiner:So
Gary Arndt:then the follow up question of that is, what's your bestselling beer?
Ben Schreiner:Um, you know, in the tap room it's uh, it's our light lager Wally Motown lager.
Ben Schreiner:And it's actually.
Ben Schreiner:It's not on tap right now.
Ben Schreiner:'cause I wanted to, to do some work with the water chemistry and whatnot.
Ben Schreiner:So we did a cream ale in its place, you know, similar, similar grain bill, similar water profile, but it's just brewed with a different yeast and people really like that.
Ben Schreiner:You know, that's, uh, that's, uh, Schmidt kicker, that's a, uh, name from one of the bands around by us.
Ben Schreiner:Um, so I find that it's almost, almost more important to put the right name on a beer.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh yeah.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, if you don't name things the right thing.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh yeah.
Ben Schreiner:If, if it doesn't interest people kiss of death, it kind of makes it kind of upsetting in a way.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:The interesting thing is, we've talked to a lot of brewers from this area and when I ask that question, what's your bestselling beer?
Gary Arndt:It's never the same answer.
Gary Arndt:Here you got 5 47, which is the double IPA.
Bobby Fleshman:Right.
Gary Arndt:We just had a cocoon on and they said that it's a Mexican lager.
Bobby Fleshman:Mm-hmm.
Gary Arndt:We've had other places where it's like a, a dark red lager.
Gary Arndt:It there, there you'd think that given what the public consumes, there would be some consistency, but oddly enough you really don't see that at different breweries, that people kind of buy different things at different places.
Bobby Fleshman:I think it's samples.
Bobby Fleshman:Size.
Bobby Fleshman:I think that we're small breweries and we can tease out a small sample.
Bobby Fleshman:We can tease out a small preference, uh, a small group's preference.
Bobby Fleshman:That's my thinking on that.
Bobby Fleshman:Also, I think Ben's right.
Bobby Fleshman:If you name something and brand something well and you build an entire culture on it, 5 47, you can, you can, you can do well on the marketing with it and it, and it sort of self fulfills what you think it might, should be.
Bobby Fleshman:That isn't to take away that it has to be good liquid.
Bobby Fleshman:It has to be great with liquid.
Bobby Fleshman:Sure.
Bobby Fleshman:But, but the marketing's there.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, outside of our brewery, that's not even close to our top seller.
Ben Schreiner:Anything that we distribute is our, is our red, our, uh, imperial red.
Ben Schreiner:So, I mean, that's in our brewery, we don't have, uh, one of the macro lagers.
Bobby Fleshman:Yep.
Ben Schreiner:So that's, anybody that's, you know, after all this time hasn't wet, wet their toes in, uh, craft beer, that's what they gravitate towards.
Gary Arndt:So the follow up question of that is.
Gary Arndt:So that's your best selling one.
Gary Arndt:It's a light lager.
Gary Arndt:As a brewer, do you think that is your best beer?
Ben Schreiner:No.
Ben Schreiner:No?
Gary Arndt:What is your best beer?
Gary Arndt:You think?
Gary Arndt:Like, if I come in, you know, I'm a beer guy, what would you recommend?
Gary Arndt:Are you asking favorite or best 'cause?
Gary Arndt:I think those are best, the different answers.
Ben Schreiner:Well, that's, uh, you know, being a brewer, it's, you know, you have, it's hard to pick, pick the, your favorite child, you know, I'm really proud of our, uh, our, uh, yeah, but
Gary Arndt:everyone has a
Allison Fleshman:favorite child.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah, I was about to
Gary Arndt:say
Allison Fleshman:Allison's here, by the way.
Allison Fleshman:Hi.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, this time of year is my favorite time of year with the October Fest.
Ben Schreiner:Really?
Ben Schreiner:I'm really, that's prob, you know, when we have it, that's the top seller, you know?
Ben Schreiner:So
Allison Fleshman:that's, so when's top seller then equate to best beer?
Gary Arndt:No.
Allison Fleshman:Oh,
Gary Arndt:this
Allison Fleshman:is
Gary Arndt:back to that market.
Gary Arndt:Not
Allison Fleshman:I can, I can.
Allison Fleshman:What about Mike most?
Allison Fleshman:Prove that in one word.
Allison Fleshman:Most tech marketing
Gary Arndt:hazy.
Allison Fleshman:Oh, that's fair.
Allison Fleshman:Um, so then I guess, what's your most technical beer?
Allison Fleshman:Like the, the crowning achievement of like a challenge brew.
Ben Schreiner:Oh, well, the most challenging one was probably that, that half moon hazy, getting that dialed into where it, it ranks among some of the better haes.
Ben Schreiner:I, I feel so, I mean, there's, there's so many different, so many different, uh, theories.
Ben Schreiner:What, what, I'm not, that's not the word I'm looking for.
Ben Schreiner:So many different approaches to how to make.
Ben Schreiner:Get the, the flavors you're looking for and to hold some haze over a long period of time.
Ben Schreiner:Um, you know, that's probably, you know, the hoppy beers.
Ben Schreiner:I'd rather brew multi beer every day.
Allison Fleshman:Yes.
Allison Fleshman:For the wind.
Allison Fleshman:I agree with this answer.
Ben Schreiner:I mean, my, you know, my druthers, that's what I, that's what I drink.
Ben Schreiner:But, you know, I, I, I do like hops, but it, you know, just a nice, like, you know, brewing, uh, uh, the, the.
Ben Schreiner:Our octoberfest, our marson is such a, you know, dry hopping and, and whirlpool hopping and keeping that crap out of the, out of heat exchanger and all that.
Ben Schreiner:It's like I, I'd rather brew nice malty beers.
Ben Schreiner:Um, I like to do.
Ben Schreiner:Word or not word hopping, but uh, yeah.
Ben Schreiner:First, first word.
Ben Schreiner:First word.
Ben Schreiner:Hopping a lot
Bobby Fleshman:back to the Czech style
Ben Schreiner:of, it's just a nice mm-hmm.
Ben Schreiner:Mellow, mellow flavor, you know?
Bobby Fleshman:And for the sciencey, uh, part of our listeners that for me, what I understand about first word hopping that's happening when you're pH is the lowest and most, most, I guess, buffered.
Bobby Fleshman:And it has expresses those hops very differently in the end product.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:That's at least some of the philosophy I've heard from the check brewers.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:They, yeah.
Ben Schreiner:They say, you know, if.
Ben Schreiner:If that, if the hops steep in that, you know, 150, 160 degree, it's kind of the same theory as Whirlpool hopping.
Ben Schreiner:If you whirlpool hop at a lower temperature, all the, some of the oils stay, stay in the solution.
Ben Schreiner:If you do that before the boil That's
Bobby Fleshman:right.
Ben Schreiner:It just lends itself to, to, uh, a mellower.
Ben Schreiner:But you still get the actual.
Ben Schreiner:Character of the hop.
Bobby Fleshman:Has it achieved the buzzword status of Double Dry Hop though?
Bobby Fleshman:Can we put it on a can and sell it?
Ben Schreiner:What is, what is Double Dry hop?
Ben Schreiner:Did you do twice as many hops?
Bobby Fleshman:Well, you're
Ben Schreiner:asking that, but did you cut the amount in half?
Ben Schreiner:Right.
Ben Schreiner:And I mean that's just,
Bobby Fleshman:yeah,
Ben Schreiner:that's just marketing.
Bobby Fleshman:Marketing.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah, exactly.
Bobby Fleshman:Has first word Hop reached that level?
Ben Schreiner:I mean, double first work
Allison Fleshman:hop.
Allison Fleshman:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:I had a farmer for a beer that we, we be releasing next Friday that he brought me some, some wet.
Ben Schreiner:Cascade hops.
Ben Schreiner:I'm like, can you use 'em?
Ben Schreiner:I'm like, uh, so I was doing a pal LL Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Well that's, I was confusing my words between, uh, first word hopping and mash hopping.
Ben Schreiner:I actually put those in the mash.
Ben Schreiner:Those cascade hops in the mash.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:That's
Ben Schreiner:different.
Ben Schreiner:And man, that mash smelled good.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:That
Gary Arndt:gets into that bio.
Gary Arndt:I wanna go back to hops.
Gary Arndt:'cause you mentioned that you try to get your hops locally.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:Yep.
Gary Arndt:Which is not something I've ever heard you try to do.
Gary Arndt:You'll get hops wherever you get 'em.
Gary Arndt:And in fact, I think you're the probably the first brewer we've talked to that mentioned that, uh, why that decision and, and, uh, are you able to get the hops that you need from local growers?
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Well that's, I mean, that's our, uh, like a lot of, you know, I get German inspired Wisconsin grown hops for my German beers.
Ben Schreiner:Um.
Ben Schreiner:The, uh, my IPAs, you know, if you're looking at getting citrus or mosaics, you can't grow them.
Ben Schreiner:They're all proprietary hops.
Ben Schreiner:So you know that pineapple comet, well that's one of the main hops is a comet hop, which grows really well around here.
Ben Schreiner:Um, so, and like my, uh, first work hopping a lot of times were for just any type of a mal your ale that's gonna be.
Ben Schreiner:Uh, warrior, whatever, you know, I just base that basically off alpha acids.
Ben Schreiner:Right.
Ben Schreiner:Um, but uh, you know, there we have a lot of, we have several malt companies in Wisconsin.
Ben Schreiner:Most that that grain that they malt isn't from Wisconsin malting.
Ben Schreiner:Those varieties grow better in Saskatchewan.
Ben Schreiner:Right, right.
Ben Schreiner:And, uh, you know, that there are growers in Wisconsin that have successfully figured out how to grow hops.
Ben Schreiner:So that's something, you know, that's, we try to keep things local.
Ben Schreiner:Some things, some things you can't, you know, to honor, honor, tradition of German styles.
Ben Schreiner:You know, try to get in the German mall, just, you know, the whole.
Ben Schreiner:I don't terroir of it of it.
Ben Schreiner:Sure.
Ben Schreiner:There's something a little bit different about him
Bobby Fleshman:to, to your point though, Gary, there's a, Wisconsin has the hop exchange and
Ben Schreiner:I'm sure you work.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah, that's, and I got some from, from a place they stopped growing hops Sunnybrook in Neville.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:I got all my come hops from them.
Ben Schreiner:Mm-hmm.
Ben Schreiner:Um, they had too many problems with aphids, so they, they said the heck with it.
Ben Schreiner:But yeah, that's, I, I'm transitioning into, uh, getting stuff from the hop exchange and I've always had.
Ben Schreiner:I had Good, uh, good luck with them and, uh, yeah, I've worked with those guys.
Ben Schreiner:I, I knew one of the sales guys back in the home brew days.
Ben Schreiner:Yeah.
Ben Schreiner:Used to get a lot of hops from them.
Ben Schreiner:So
Bobby Fleshman:I, I think it's a good group and I think it, it's gonna get better.
Bobby Fleshman:Uh, Michigan's done a great job with their version of that.
Bobby Fleshman:Uh, there's some good hop growers in this region, and we're not the Pacific Northwest, but there's some good hop growers here and it is worth supporting them.
Bobby Fleshman:We do when we can.
Bobby Fleshman:Fine binds is one we work with a lot.
Gary Arndt:Before we wrap things up, uh, want to give any final plugs for the Mosinee Brewing Company?
Gary Arndt:Where can people find you online?
Ben Schreiner:Well, yeah, it's, uh, simple as can be, uh, Mosineebrewing.com.
Ben Schreiner:Uh, and, uh, I don't know if I can make a plug for a new business within our business.
Ben Schreiner:Go
Gary Arndt:for it.
Ben Schreiner:Um, we are, we just released our THC Soda Line.
Ben Schreiner:Um, it's, uh, it's uh, the soda's.
Ben Schreiner:Northern blast by the company's called Wild Balsam.
Ben Schreiner:So we come out with, it's a tropical citrus flavor.
Ben Schreiner:Right now we're working on some other flavors to release, but that's kind of the newest thing in my, in my, uh, project development is another side business That's, yep.
Ben Schreiner:It's like everything you want to diversify and, and try to try to.
Ben Schreiner:Bring things in where he, where he can.
Ben Schreiner:So that's, we, we started on that, on that path.
Allison Fleshman:And THC is definitely the next step for, I think most brewers wink to Bobby.
Bobby Fleshman:It's definitely not the next fad.
Bobby Fleshman:Not fad.
Allison Fleshman:Fad.
Allison Fleshman:Not fad.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah,
Allison Fleshman:that's fair.
Bobby Fleshman:And where can people find you in Zania?
Bobby Fleshman:Physically?
Bobby Fleshman:The,
Ben Schreiner:ah, most knee, it's uh, 4 0 1 fourth Street.
Ben Schreiner:Um, the easiest way, if people are on 39, they see the airport, you go.
Ben Schreiner:Go west from the airport off the exit on 39 and go over.
Ben Schreiner:If you can get over the Wisconsin River or we're right downtown Moss Knee, the only, only, uh, stop light on that side of the river.
Gary Arndt:That, that makes it pretty easy.
Ben Schreiner:Yep, we're right on the corner.
Gary Arndt:Alright, well that will conclude this episode of Respecting the Beer.
Gary Arndt:The producer of Respecting the Beer is David Calzone.
Gary Arndt:Without David, this show would be in the void.
Gary Arndt:Please remember to follow the Facebook group and to support us over on Patreon where you can listen to the bits of the podcast that get edited out, as well as receive special beers that are available only to Patreon members.
Gary Arndt:And until next time, please remember to respect the beer.
