Oct 12, 2011 by JoshOsbo
A couple months ago I was fortunate enough to meeting Jim Matt, an employee of Sun King Brewing, at the homebrew competition “Beer and Sweat”. We conversed for a bit, during which he said he would be happy to do an interview for CincyVoices. He’s a former Cincinnati resident and current Indianapolis resident and I’m a former Indianapolis resident and current Cincinnati resident, so I was interested to hear what he had to say about the two cities. I’ve been waiting to send him a list of questions (or rather, I’ve been too lazy to type them up), but after Sun King’s rousing success at the Great American Beer Festival, I thought now would be as good a time as any. Many thanks to Jim for taking the time to give us his thoughts!
Josh O: Tell us a bit about yourself and your role with Sun King.
Jim Matt: I am an organic chemist by training, with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical business. I was laid off last year during a downsizing exercise, so I started volunteering at Sun King Brewing Company in April, 2010. I worked on the canning line and in the tasting room. Once September rolled around, Dave Colt (the Head Brewer at Sun King) offered me a full time position as the Quality Manager. He warned me that I would, “have to accept a pay cut and a lobotomy,” but I readily accepted. From that time until now, I’ve had hands-on experience on all aspects of brewhouse operations. I successfully set up a small quality lab, where we do yeast cell counts and pH measurements, and we will soon be performing some basic microbiological analyses. I had a particular affection for working on the brew deck, so I routinely clean tanks, and have learned to brew on our current brewhouse…even being able to brew a batch of beer, start to finish, unsupervised if the need arises.
JO: When/how did you first get into brewing and how did it become your profession?
JM: See above on how I got hired on at Sun King. I credit a lot of people for getting me interested in brewing. First, a former coworker by the name of Scott Meikrantz introduced me to craft beer back in the early 90’s. He was a homebrewer, as well. The next step was moving to Indianapolis and drinking beer at the Broadripple Brewpub. Next, my former coworker Steve Quimby kept beating on me to try homebrewing. Finally, in the year 2000, I brewed my first batch of beer (a brown porter, if memory serves). My former neighbor Rob Meinzer taught me how to brew all-grain; by then I was totally hooked. I would brew 6-10 times per year, and I generally liked the beers that I brewed, but in 2007, I entered my first beer competition (the Indiana Brewer’s Cup). I entered 5 beers and scored 3 ribbons (2 2nd place, and a 3rd place). While there, I noticed a loud, super high energy homebrew club whose names were being called with regularity. I ended up joining them shortly after the 2007 Brewer’s Cup (MECA Brewers). Since 2007, MECA has won Indiana Homebrew Club of the Year ever since (even though it was a tie in 2008). I have learned more from those guys about brewing quality beer than at any other time in my brewing career. My thanks go out to Bill Ballinger, Michael Pearson, Brian Pickerill, Bill Staashelm, Keith Baute, John Showalter, Chris Ingermann, Steve Quimby, and “at-large member” Sean Reeves. Those guys make MECA Brewers a top notch homebrew club! I would also like to mention that I enjoyed homebrew competitions so much, that I studied for, and took the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) exam in 2009. I retook the tasting part of the exam a year later, and have worked my way up to the National ranking in that organization.
JO: What have been some of your greatest experiences as a brewer, either professionally or personally?
JM: There have been many. Winning my first entries in the Brewer’s Cup in 2007. Winning a 3rd place medal at the National Homebrew Competition in 2009. Enjoying success at the Beer and Sweat! competition in Cincinnati. Having my beer brewed for the GABF Pro-Am competition with Ted Miller 3 times was an unbelievable thrill. Finally, and perhaps the most significant of them all was hearing Sun King’s name mentioned 8 times at the 2011 GABF, not to mention also having them place third at the Alpha King Challenge as well (a separate hoppy beer competition outside of the GABF).
One of the most satisfying and rewarding things about brewing is having someone brand new to craft beer try a beer that I had a hand in making. Either a Sun King Beer, or one of my homebrews. Then having their eyes light up, and seeing them enjoy the brew, at the end of the day is the most rewarding part of all in brewing. And that is why I do it!
JO: How often do you do you get to brew outside of work? Has brewing as a job added to/subtracted from the enjoyment you get from brewing as a hobby? I know that when I go home at the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is think about anything related to what I do at work.
JM: The funny thing is the two I keep fairly separate. After brewing a 60 barrel batch of beer, a 6-10 gallon batch I could almost do in my sleep! The only real challenge is time. I work 50+ hours per week at the brewery, and I devote most of my free time to my wonderful (and beer loving) girlfriend Aimee. Still, I love to brew at home, trying new experiments at times or just brewing the exact beer that I want to drink at that moment. I’m able to brew at home 9-12 times per year. In fact, Since September 3, I have brewed 4 times, and I plan to brew again in 2-3 weeks. I love brewing at home and sharing the finished product, and I still enjoy entering homebrew competitions in which I can still enter. (I am no longer eligible to enter at the Indiana Brewer’s Cup, but NHC, Beer and Sweat! and Oktobersbest Zinzinnati are the three competitions I still enter on a regular basis as a homebrewer).
JO: Even in just the past five years, the craft beer scene has really taken off inIndianapolis. When I lived there a few years ago, Sun King was making some headway, but places like the Tomlinson Tap Room, Flat 12, etc. didn’t exist yet. Can you talk a bit about what you think contributed to this emergence and where do you see it going in the future?
JM: Of course I am biased, but Sun King has had a great deal to do with all of that. The owners and brewers took a chance…a big chance, but they started to fill a local market with craft beer that had long since been absent. The last time there was a production brewery in Indianapolis was the Indianapolis Brewing Company, which no longer existed after 1948. Dave Colt and Clay Robinson along with partners Andy Fagg, Omar Robinson, and Steve Koers pretty much reshaped and molded the Indiana craft brew scene all on their own. Sun King produced 500 barrels of beer in their first 6 months of existence (July, 2009-December, 2009). In 2010, they produced about 5,000 barrels of beer. In 2011, they are projecting somewhere around 11,000 barrels of beer. There are other breweries that have come along since then (Flat12, Fountain Square, Triton, and several others pending) but Sun King has the advantage of (as we would say in the pharma business), “first to market.” Couple that with people/owners who are brewers and who know what they are doing, and you can see why Sun King has been so successful. I am very grateful for that success, and view other breweries in the area that come online to only strengthen the craft brew scene in Indianapolis. As we go into the future, we will see who survives, and who doesn’t, but at the end of the day, make good beer, make people excited about drinking your beer, and you will succeed.
JO: You spend a decent amount of time inCincinnati. What is the main difference between the craft beer scene inIndianapolisandCincinnati? Don’t feel like you have to hold punches.
JM: Excellent question. I moved from Cincinnati to Indianapolis in 1996, but I have spent some time in Cincinnati over the years. In the mid-1990s, Barrelhouse and Main St. Brewery were going strong. When I first arrived in Cincinnati in 1990, I drank some on the Christian Moerlein and Oldenburg beer, which I particularly liked. I was thrilled to hear about Greg Hardman reviving the Moerlein and Hudepohl brands. I also noticed a few small breweries/brewpubs open up in the Cincinnati area over the past several years (Mount Carmel and Rivertown just to mention two). Still, I view Cincinnati to be a relatively “craft brew wasteland” right now. It is a city ripe for opportunity. There is no doubt in my mind that Greg Hardman will be successful bringing the Moerlein brand back, and once the Lager House and the production brewery are operational, that will pave the way for craft brew in Cincinnati, in my opinion. I know that there are a few other startup breweries in the works, and I wish them all the best.
JO: It seems like, at least in the American craft beer industry, the recent trends has been toward the extreme: super high gravities, barrel aging, tooth enamel-stripping sourness. I know it’s not American, but BrewDog is a perfect example of this with its high-ABV beers than are almost bordering on liquor. Do you see breweries continuing down this path or at some point will there be a backlash and a corresponding return to the fundamentals?
JM: The pendulum has indeed swung far to the right, and I believe it is coming back to the left. Breweries have already explored the limits with high alcohol/highly hopped beers, and I believe the consumer is looking for more sessionable beers that still have a lot of flavor. The English have a Dark Mild style that I love when it is done properly. Tons of flavor and only 3-3.5% abv typically. For all of the kick-ass high alcohol Belgian beers, the Belgian Single is a style I’d love to see more of in this country. It is a 3% beer than families even let their kids drink. One of the more prominent examples of the “session craft” beer is Stone’s Levitation ale. A great beer at a very sessionable abv level.
JO: To the fledgling homebrewer or someone considering getting into homebrewing, what one piece of advice would you give them?
JM: Don’t be afraid to experiment, and don’t give up. Homebrewing is part science, and part art. Join a homebrew club. Brew with friends who know what they are doing. There are excellent books out there (Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” and John Palmer’s “How to Brew” are fantastic beginner books).
JO: What is the first beer you ever brewed and the last?
JM: First brew was a brown porter (extract with specialty grains) inspired by the book “Brewing for Dummies.” The last beer I brewed was an English Dark Mild that I intentionally did not sparge to see the effect of “no-sparge” brewing. I am planning to enter that in competition in 11 days.
JO: You. Desert island. Three beers. What do you choose?
JM: Tough call. Let’s do it this way: one Sun King beer…Popcorn Pilsner. It is a Classic American Pilsner that has 200 pounds of popcorn added to the mash tun to impart a subtle, yet fun popcorn flavor to the finished beer. Extremely sessionable and a GABF silver medal winner. One other commercial beer: it is hard to shy away from Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale. It is consistently good, and (while not the biggest, baddest, hoppiest IPA available) always well balanced and amazingly drinkable. And of my own beers…I have three actually of my own that really are close to my heart that I could easily drink daily. Prana Porter as it was the beer that won at NHC a couple of years back and is flat-out a kickass Robust Porter. Aimee’s Riel Brown Ale was a beer I designed with my girlfriend as the inspiration…she loves dark, hoppy beers and this is very much a balanced American Brown ale that placed in the 1st round of NHC in 2011. Thirdly would be Nez Perce Pale Ale, an American Pale Ale with tons of hops…inspired by my friend James Booth who lives in the Tetons and loves hoppy beers. OK, you asked for 3, you get 6 I guess. J
Josh Osborne, after bouncing around a bit during his short adult life, settled down in Cincinnati last year. He is a recent homeowner (go Northside!) and married man, but when he is not attending to those two interests, he is probably reading for pleasure or reading for pain (AKA: the news). He blogs at A Boy and His Books and A Beer a Day while preaching the gospel from @joshosbo and @a_beeraday.
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