Omega Brewing Experience From Omro, WI Serves Ice Cold IPA

Gary Arndt: 00:00:05

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Respecting the Beer.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:08

My name is Gary Arnt.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:09

With me as usual is Lagger Clause, the man who will come down your chimney and fill your steins with beer every Lagerfest, Mr. Bobby f Fleshman.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:00:18

How's it going, Gary?

Gary Arndt: 00:00:19

And also the man who in his last will and testament has dictated that a hundred cask of 5 47 be entombed with him so he can join them in the afterlife.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:29

Mr. Joel Hermansen

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:31

Thank you Gary.

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:32

I would also add, you would probably on board with that idea.

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:34

Steve.

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:35

I

Steve Zink: 00:00:36

problem

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:36

you love the 5 47.

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:37

I wouldn't have

Steve Zink: 00:00:37

a problem with that.

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:38

Right.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:39

And we are recording this live at Lager Fest, so we have some very special guests who are here.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:45

And with us today is Steve Zink.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:47

He is the, are you the owner?

Gary Arndt: 00:00:49

Owner Brew of Omega Brewery in Omer, Wisconsin.

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:52

Face of face,

Gary Arndt: 00:00:53

face

Joel Hermansen: 00:00:54

of clearly

Gary Arndt: 00:00:55

good face for podcasting.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:56

Right.

Gary Arndt: 00:00:59

Uh, we've had a lot of different brewers on the show, so why don't you start out with how you got involved in brewing?

Steve Zink: 00:01:04

I started brewing when, uh, oh, back in the eighties.

Steve Zink: 00:01:09

So it's a ba basically become a hobby outta control.

Steve Zink: 00:01:12

Just a home brewer.

Steve Zink: 00:01:13

Just, just, just a home brewer really.

Steve Zink: 00:01:16

You have to start it out like that.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:01:18

Well, everyone starts as a home brewer.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:01:19

It seemed like every interview starts there.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:01:21

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:01:22

Yep.

Steve Zink: 00:01:22

No, I did that and then, uh, didn't start getting interested in doing my own brewery until probably in, um, mid two.

Steve Zink: 00:01:30

2015 timeframe after I retired for the second time.

Steve Zink: 00:01:35

So, uh, from the corporate world that is so then, uh, started the process in 2016 and, uh, bought a building and, uh, renovated it.

Steve Zink: 00:01:43

And then we opened in 2018 and we've been open, uh, I can't say continuously ever since because we had COVID and construction and things like that.

Steve Zink: 00:01:53

But we've been pretty steady there.

Gary Arndt: 00:01:55

What sort of beer do you specialize in?

Gary Arndt: 00:01:57

If you were to say, like, what's your,

Steve Zink: 00:01:59

I would say our, our, the beers we specialize in would be more traditional beers.

Steve Zink: 00:02:03

I, I tend to migrate towards those.

Steve Zink: 00:02:05

I tend to research, uh, the history of those beers, uh, and try to replicate them as best I can.

Steve Zink: 00:02:13

Sometimes I do diversions of them and try to make them different.

Steve Zink: 00:02:17

So

Gary Arndt: 00:02:17

no pomegranate mango fruit blend.

Steve Zink: 00:02:20

I wouldn't say none of those, but, uh, I would say

Joel Hermansen: 00:02:23

So you and Bobby share a vision with being very traditional, real beer?

Joel Hermansen: 00:02:28

Flavored beer?

Steve Zink: 00:02:29

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:02:30

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:02:30

I, I would say yes.

Steve Zink: 00:02:32

You know, from the beer flavor standpoint, from the history standpoint, uh, you know, we didn't release our Mars and Beer until September 20th or September 19th, 20th of this year.

Steve Zink: 00:02:43

Uh, we tend to coincide with the October Fest spirit.

Steve Zink: 00:02:47

You know, where it all started in Munich, Germany.

Steve Zink: 00:02:50

So that's when we released it and when it's out, it's out.

Steve Zink: 00:02:53

People ask me, how come you don't brew it year round?

Steve Zink: 00:02:56

I said, well usually say that's not an October fest.

Steve Zink: 00:03:00

Then, you know, we can call it a marson beer or we can do, uh, an old style ale or something like that, similar to it.

Steve Zink: 00:03:05

But we, I tend to stay with tradition.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:09

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:09

I believe they, it leaves some something to wait for.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:12

It builds the hype.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:13

I think.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:14

We, we don't go that late into the year.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:18

I wish we could, but in distribution, when you get far enough out there, if you don't have cans on the shelf by July, you're, you're already, you're out competed by all the big guys.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:27

Yep.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:27

Uh, it's crazy.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:28

I agree with that.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:28

It's nuts out there.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:30

I'm with you though, in spirit.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:31

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:32

September, that's like

Gary Arndt: 00:03:32

Christmas and Halloween stuff being in the stores ever earlier.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:36

Mm-hmm.

Steve Zink: 00:03:37

Yep.

Steve Zink: 00:03:38

I agree.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:39

Yeah, so Halloween was out.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:41

Halloween stuff was at, at Menards in July this year.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:45

Yeah,

Gary Arndt: 00:03:45

that's

Bobby Fleshman: 00:03:46

wrong.

Steve Zink: 00:03:47

Yep.

Steve Zink: 00:03:47

I don't have that problem.

Steve Zink: 00:03:48

I, I'm a, you know, basically a nano brewery, so I know I can sell our beer out in, you know, probably in within six weeks.

Steve Zink: 00:03:56

Can you depend?

Steve Zink: 00:03:57

Depending how much I make.

Joel Hermansen: 00:03:58

Can you for our listeners, tell us a little bit about your capacity and your process?

Steve Zink: 00:04:04

We, we do between 50 and 75 barrels a year.

Steve Zink: 00:04:07

Uh, in total.

Steve Zink: 00:04:08

So that's it.

Steve Zink: 00:04:09

Right now we have a one barrel system that I've modified recipes to produce two barrels at a time.

Steve Zink: 00:04:15

So I typically will do a, a fair number of one barrel high, uh, gravity type systems.

Steve Zink: 00:04:20

Your, your imperial stouts uh, some of the, um, other, other stuff like that.

Steve Zink: 00:04:28

The Marzen beer, I, I can do two barrels of that.

Steve Zink: 00:04:30

It's about a six point.

Steve Zink: 00:04:31

Ours is about 6.3%.

Steve Zink: 00:04:34

So we did two barrels of that this year.

Steve Zink: 00:04:36

We did, uh, we had just introduced it this year.

Steve Zink: 00:04:38

We did a, uh, new Fest beer, which is the lighter version of what's going on in October Fest.

Steve Zink: 00:04:44

Uh, back in the early nineties.

Steve Zink: 00:04:46

That's when that was introduced, because it was a less filling beer and it's gone over really, really well.

Joel Hermansen: 00:04:52

That's

Steve Zink: 00:04:52

awesome.

Steve Zink: 00:04:53

So that's the kind of stuff we do.

Steve Zink: 00:04:55

Uh, we'll do some triple imperial stouts, things like that.

Steve Zink: 00:04:58

But it's all, you know, I, I. I try to maintain a certain number of core beers that we have on, and I will never say all of the time, but I will say I try to have 'em on most of the time and we rotate through, uh, 12 different taps through the course of a year.

Steve Zink: 00:05:16

And sometimes, you know, we run out of, uh, some of our real popular stuff and then they gotta wait two or three months until it's ready again.

Steve Zink: 00:05:24

'cause depending on what beer it is, it takes two or three months to produce.

Gary Arndt: 00:05:29

Do you sell all your beer on premises?

Steve Zink: 00:05:31

Uh, we do, uh, uh, we do distribute to a few local restaurants in the Fox Valley area, but most of ours goes through the, uh, the taproom.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:05:43

But your desert island beer would, would be an IPA of some kind.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:05:47

Am I wrong or Desert

Steve Zink: 00:05:49

Island

Bobby Fleshman: 00:05:49

Desert.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:05:49

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:05:50

Desert Island Beer.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:05:51

Like your last beer.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:05:52

Only beer you could ever have again.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:05:54

What would it be?

Steve Zink: 00:05:55

Oh, I'm sorry.

Steve Zink: 00:05:56

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:05:56

You, you're using some trouble.

Joel Hermansen: 00:05:57

What he means is hour 5 47.

Steve Zink: 00:06:00

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:06:01

You know, people ask me all the time what your favorite beer is, and, you know, I'm, I'm usually a little bit sarcastic because it'll end with the one I'm having at the time.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:06:11

Right.

Steve Zink: 00:06:12

Which is the easy button.

Steve Zink: 00:06:13

But I go through the stuff seasonally.

Steve Zink: 00:06:15

I would say, uh, you know, the, the classic West Coast.

Steve Zink: 00:06:19

Double IPA or even a triple IPA would be the one that, you know, I would probably miss the most if I could not have it.

Steve Zink: 00:06:27

Again.

Joel Hermansen: 00:06:27

For those, uh, listeners who are wondering what Steve's favorite mc Flesh Man's beer is, I know the answer.

Joel Hermansen: 00:06:35

Uh, he and I have bonded a few times over 5 47.

Gary Arndt: 00:06:39

Yes.

Joel Hermansen: 00:06:39

So we can put that myth to rest.

Gary Arndt: 00:06:44

You've been doing this for quite a while now.

Gary Arndt: 00:06:45

Yeah.

Gary Arndt: 00:06:46

How many of your recipes are nailed down as Bob, you would say laminated.

Gary Arndt: 00:06:51

And how many do you consistently monkey with?

Steve Zink: 00:06:54

I, I would say the majority of what we have on tap is pretty solid.

Steve Zink: 00:06:59

But I will also say that you know, I'm not one of the big guys, so I have some limitations with regard to getting getting, uh, materials for production.

Steve Zink: 00:07:10

And sometimes I have to substitute stuff, so I will end up moving stuff around doing things.

Steve Zink: 00:07:16

But I, I generally try to get back to, I brew the specifications and, uh, as opposed to, I just brew.

Steve Zink: 00:07:23

I don't just brew a recipe and what I get, I get I'll be testing it through the entire process to make sure I'm gonna hit my original gravity to hit my IBUs to hit the color that I'm looking for.

Steve Zink: 00:07:35

So I tweak the stuff.

Steve Zink: 00:07:36

Based on the grain or, uh, the hops that I have on hand.

Steve Zink: 00:07:41

So I do you

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:41

have the mindset of a German brewer in that regard?

Steve Zink: 00:07:44

Okay.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:44

I would, I would think, I mean, even, I don't know how Ryan Heights, gobo you are, but as to what ingredients you employ.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:07:52

But it seems like your methodology is what I would expect from a German brewer.

Steve Zink: 00:07:57

Yep.

Steve Zink: 00:07:57

Uh, Ryan Heskett, I, I do, I am a, I believe in it.

Steve Zink: 00:08:01

I've said I was a traditional brewer, but there are times that I.

Steve Zink: 00:08:05

Intentionally go outside of it to do something different that I just want to try.

Steve Zink: 00:08:10

I can't tell you what it is right now, but every now and then you just get a, Hey,

Joel Hermansen: 00:08:14

people appreciate that.

Joel Hermansen: 00:08:15

Sometimes your customer base appreciates when you do something a little different and

Steve Zink: 00:08:20

Yep.

Steve Zink: 00:08:20

Sometimes, sometimes they don't.

Steve Zink: 00:08:22

But that's, that's the craft beer industry.

Steve Zink: 00:08:24

It's, it's, you know, people, everybody's got a different palate.

Steve Zink: 00:08:29

People want something different.

Steve Zink: 00:08:31

You know, half the people come in and say, Hey, three months ago I was here.

Steve Zink: 00:08:35

I had a, whatever it was, you know?

Steve Zink: 00:08:37

Do you have that on tap?

Steve Zink: 00:08:38

Nope.

Steve Zink: 00:08:39

Don't have anything.

Steve Zink: 00:08:40

Do I have something like it?

Steve Zink: 00:08:41

I might.

Steve Zink: 00:08:42

Other times you get people come in and say, you know, first thing they say is, what do you have that's new?

Steve Zink: 00:08:47

Well, we just released this beer, or that beer, or whatever it was.

Steve Zink: 00:08:51

And some, you know, so you got a whole different group of clients that come in, want something different.

Steve Zink: 00:08:57

Some of them traditionalists, some of them want the, uh, you know, the next new thing that you've done.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:09:03

Are you still brewing for you or are you brewing to what your customers want?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:09:06

Or some combination of that?

Steve Zink: 00:09:08

I, I, I was gonna say with the first two questions Yes and yes.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:09:11

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:09:12

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:09:12

Which means it's a combination.

Steve Zink: 00:09:13

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:09:13

So you, you kinda answered my question for me, so thank you.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:09:16

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:09:17

I think, I think that's, that's, do you

Gary Arndt: 00:09:18

make a hazy?

Steve Zink: 00:09:19

Uh, I've made haes, uh, not my favorite beers, but, and in part that might be because when I've made them, they just haven't turned out the way I want.

Steve Zink: 00:09:29

So, you know, I'm, I may do a little more research on that.

Steve Zink: 00:09:32

And, and work on it a little bit.

Steve Zink: 00:09:35

I just came back from, uh, the East coast.

Steve Zink: 00:09:38

Uh, we were out there traveling, so had a few hazy there.

Steve Zink: 00:09:41

I would say the ones that I had there were good.

Steve Zink: 00:09:45

The ones I've had here were good, but not something that I would, you know, necessarily seek out.

Steve Zink: 00:09:51

So I do have a couple in, uh, that I'm gonna that I got in cans and I brought back from some of the, uh, more prominent, uh, brewer breweries there.

Steve Zink: 00:09:59

Then I'm gonna try and then see what I think of them after that.

Steve Zink: 00:10:03

But I know there's a market for it.

Steve Zink: 00:10:05

I know people are, that is probably, I don't know.

Steve Zink: 00:10:08

You guys would know better than I do you know how much of that is the IPA market now?

Steve Zink: 00:10:13

The, the hazy seem to, you go to breweries and they'll have 12 taps and they'll have three, four or five of them on tap.

Steve Zink: 00:10:21

All of 'em a little different, but

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:22

Well, they're definitely not going away.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:24

We can all agree at this point.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:25

It's a, it's a new sub style that's here to stay.

Steve Zink: 00:10:28

Yep.

Gary Arndt: 00:10:28

I agree.

Gary Arndt: 00:10:29

This seems this is a common theme.

Gary Arndt: 00:10:30

It seems there's stuff you wanna do for you, but then there's the reality of owning a business that there's stuff you kind of have to do for the market.

Steve Zink: 00:10:37

Absolutely.

Gary Arndt: 00:10:37

And that's just life at this point.

Steve Zink: 00:10:41

Yep.

Steve Zink: 00:10:41

I agree.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:41

I remember having four IPAs in Alabama last year.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:45

None of, well, two, I think were marked as hazy.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:49

Maybe they weren't.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:50

Maybe none of them were.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:51

Anyway, the point was I was going down the lineup looking for a clear West Coast and.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:10:56

They had two or three different categories, subcategories on the menu, none of which were described as hazy, and yet everything was hazy.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:11:03

They were all sub subcategories of hazy at this point, or at least that's where the market was in Alabama at the moment.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:11:08

So yeah, you're right.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:11:09

There are pockets where it's synonymous with IPA.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:11:11

It has to look like I the haes.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:11:14

Look, what's your best selling beer?

Steve Zink: 00:11:17

Uh, well, the ones we go through the most are, uh, uh, we have an American Red Ale, uh, we call Little Red.

Steve Zink: 00:11:24

Uh, we've gone through a lot of that.

Steve Zink: 00:11:26

Uh, we do a K style beer and, uh, let's see, which would be the other one.

Steve Zink: 00:11:31

Oh, another, uh, it's a borderline red IPA or American Red Ale.

Steve Zink: 00:11:36

Uh, we call it Cleaver.

Steve Zink: 00:11:37

It's right on the fringes of being an IPA or on the.

Steve Zink: 00:11:41

Fringes of just being American Red Ale.

Steve Zink: 00:11:43

That one is really popular, but a lot of the lighter stuff for the people that you know, uh, that come in that aren't into the craft, they like that.

Steve Zink: 00:11:51

Uh, but then during the, uh, well stuff that's seasonal, we'll sell a lot of I IPAs or, uh, other darker beers that tend to be more prominent now as we get into the, uh, cooler months.

Steve Zink: 00:12:05

Uh, some Ambers things like that.

Gary Arndt: 00:12:08

And just outta curiosity, when I go back down and go to your tent what are you serving up?

Steve Zink: 00:12:13

Well, I think I mentioned earlier I got all, uh, well, I mentioned it several times today.

Steve Zink: 00:12:17

I have, uh, all lagerss on, uh, tap.

Steve Zink: 00:12:20

We've got, uh, so you're

Bobby Fleshman: 00:12:21

sticking with the.

Steve Zink: 00:12:22

Sticking with a theme.

Steve Zink: 00:12:23

Yes.

Steve Zink: 00:12:24

You

Bobby Fleshman: 00:12:24

might be the one that brought only lagerss.

Steve Zink: 00:12:27

Yep.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:12:27

Everyone else brought at least

Steve Zink: 00:12:28

two.

Steve Zink: 00:12:28

Well, the one lagger, let me finish on that.

Steve Zink: 00:12:30

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:12:30

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:12:31

I did the, uh, the Mars and Beer, uh, which is our, we call it Omega Fest.

Steve Zink: 00:12:35

It's our classic October Fest.

Steve Zink: 00:12:37

Uh, then I did the New Fest Beer which is also a popular October Fest beer.

Steve Zink: 00:12:43

And then, uh, the third beer that I brought is uh, we call it Chill Out.

Steve Zink: 00:12:48

Uh, which is a cold, IPA basically done with lager yeast at lagering temperatures.

Steve Zink: 00:12:53

And I know there's a whole lot of ways you can do a cold.

Steve Zink: 00:12:56

IPA some say you use the lager yeast at elevated temperatures.

Steve Zink: 00:13:00

We started with, I'm more of a traditionalist.

Steve Zink: 00:13:03

I'm gonna use the lager yeast.

Steve Zink: 00:13:04

I'm gonna do it at the right temperatures, uh, for the longer yeast.

Steve Zink: 00:13:07

Get a cleaner malt bill that way, malt flavors.

Steve Zink: 00:13:10

And let the, uh, let the hops be the dominant flavors that you pick up through the beer.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:15

How do the hops express at those temperatures?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:17

You're dry hopping at 50 degrees or,

Steve Zink: 00:13:19

uh, I was probably dry hopping at 40 degrees and

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:22

Oh,

Steve Zink: 00:13:23

okay.

Steve Zink: 00:13:23

Uh, you can, or close to 40 to 45, I would say.

Steve Zink: 00:13:27

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:13:27

But, um, like a

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:28

cold, steep, like old, legit cold, steep.

Steve Zink: 00:13:31

Oh yeah, that's it.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:32

That's awesome.

Steve Zink: 00:13:33

It's, it's cold and uh, it's good flavor.

Steve Zink: 00:13:35

You get the, uh, the resonant pine is a little bit more subdued, but yeah, you get the classic flavors, the citrus, the mango things.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:43

So the oil still still infused those

Steve Zink: 00:13:45

things.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:45

Yeah.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:46

That's great.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:47

I haven't played with that in a while.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:48

We have a long time ago.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:50

I like to go back and revisit it.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:51

We were making cold IPAs before that was a thing.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:54

And now.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:13:55

I need to go back and be relevant again, but I, I tend to be just almost relevant all the time.

Steve Zink: 00:14:00

Sounds like you were ahead of being relevant.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:02

You were, uh, it's cyclical, isn't you?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:04

Were leading the charge.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:06

Yep.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:07

Insult to injuries is what that is.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:10

What, what's next before Gary closes out here?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:13

What's next for you guys?

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:14

What's your plan?

Steve Zink: 00:14:16

Uh, well, I'll, uh, right now I have our, um, God, which beer is it in?

Steve Zink: 00:14:20

Uh, I've got one Aging on, some, uh, rye whiskey, uh, oak chips.

Steve Zink: 00:14:26

Um, our scotch ale, uh, that's aging.

Steve Zink: 00:14:29

And uh, and I'll be doing some more of those.

Steve Zink: 00:14:32

Probably gonna do another uh, Vienna lagger.

Steve Zink: 00:14:34

We talked about that earlier, outside.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:36

Oh yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:14:37

Um, gonna do another Vienna lager.

Steve Zink: 00:14:39

My goal is it's gonna be the traditional Vienna lagger, but I'm gonna do a double batch.

Steve Zink: 00:14:43

So that means I have to change things, uh, to get two barrels out of it versus a barrel.

Steve Zink: 00:14:48

So,

Bobby Fleshman: 00:14:48

but you're not, you're not opening a hundred barrel brew house and, and putting your house on the line and everything else to make an expansion, or are you, you're looking your lips like maybe you are?

Steve Zink: 00:14:58

No, no, that's not happening.

Steve Zink: 00:15:00

Uh, those days for me have, uh, gone and like I said, this is more of a passion about brewing and.

Steve Zink: 00:15:07

Doing things I want to do.

Steve Zink: 00:15:08

You know, we, we talked about it earlier, more and more.

Steve Zink: 00:15:11

I'm brewing the beers that I know will sell, but I still want to brew some beers that I wanna brew and yeah, do those kinds of things.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:20

One final question.

Gary Arndt: 00:15:21

How'd you pick the name Omega and why'd you call it a brewing experience rather than just a brewery?

Steve Zink: 00:15:28

Uh, well.

Steve Zink: 00:15:30

I'll ask this, answer the second question first, because I've always felt that whenever you go to a brewery, it's more about the experience than going to get a beer.

Steve Zink: 00:15:39

It's the, everything plays into when you walk out of that brewery after you've had one or two, uh, as to what your opinion, what your thoughts were.

Steve Zink: 00:15:50

Was it a good experience?

Steve Zink: 00:15:51

Was it not a good experience?

Steve Zink: 00:15:53

That kind of thing.

Steve Zink: 00:15:53

Obviously, the beer is the core of that.

Steve Zink: 00:15:56

But there are things that can enhance that as a really good beer or be a distraction from sitting down and having a good beer.

Steve Zink: 00:16:05

So that's kind of why we call it that.

Steve Zink: 00:16:08

We don't have any TVs in there right now.

Steve Zink: 00:16:10

I'm not saying we never will, but you know, it's about, you know, people getting together, talking about the beers they're having.

Steve Zink: 00:16:17

Uh, you know, we get people come in from Madison, from, uh, you know.

Steve Zink: 00:16:22

Yeah, we've actually had people from Germany in and they sit across the table from, uh, locals or others that came in from other areas, and they generally will start talking about beers.

Steve Zink: 00:16:34

They'll be making recommendations on what's on the tap list and what they might like to try, those kinds of things.

Steve Zink: 00:16:40

So that's, that's kind of the experience part of it.

Steve Zink: 00:16:43

The Omega thing, uh, is, was, was by design.

Steve Zink: 00:16:47

Kind of evolved to it's I told you I did this as a retirement project.

Steve Zink: 00:16:53

Uh, so it's kind of also means final destiny.

Steve Zink: 00:16:56

So that was what I was figuring I would be doing, uh, you know, for a while after I retired out of the corporate world.

Steve Zink: 00:17:04

It also happens to be, uh, the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

Steve Zink: 00:17:07

We're not Greek, but.

Steve Zink: 00:17:09

Our last name begins with a Z, so

Bobby Fleshman: 00:17:12

Oh, you

Steve Zink: 00:17:12

could, that fit as well.

Steve Zink: 00:17:13

So,

Bobby Fleshman: 00:17:14

so you, you must have been in marketing before this life, it seems like you've thought it all out.

Steve Zink: 00:17:19

No, I didn't think of.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:17:20

There's gotta be an alpha brewery out there.

Bobby Fleshman: 00:17:22

I think you could do a collaboration with

Steve Zink: 00:17:24

that.

Steve Zink: 00:17:24

There, there is an alpha brewery out.

Steve Zink: 00:17:25

Yeah.

Steve Zink: 00:17:25

Uh, it's about five hours straight north of here.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:28

Oh.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:28

Oh.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:29

So

Steve Zink: 00:17:29

I've been to it, but have not gotten in the door because they were closed when I happened to be in that area by coincidence.

Steve Zink: 00:17:35

But there is an alpha brewing up there and, and, uh, the up.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:41

Let it conclude.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:42

This episode of Respecting the Beer, the producer of Respecting the Beer is David Kalsow Without David, there would not be a show.

Gary Arndt: 00:17:48

Please remember to check out the Facebook group to find out what's happening between the episodes and to join the Facebook or, and to join and to join the Patreon group where you can find special beers available only to Patreon members.

Gary Arndt: 00:18:00

And until next time, please remember to respect the beer.