Here Comes the Sun: Baby steps

[NealTaflinger]

“We’re relatively serious about this now in case you didn’t notice,” Omar Robinson said. A fine layer of concrete dust coats the floor inside the chilly warehouse that will become Sun King Brewery. The ambulance service’s trucks have been moved out of the room as has a custom party bus that was parked in the corner.

Omar’s son Clay Robinson explains to me that the cuts have been made for plumbing not just for the brewhouse he bought in Maine but for future expansion as well. Blue tape outlines the tasting room, walk in cooler, and other features that have yet to take form.

“We’re going to do the tasting room in stone, steel, copper with some wood. All natural but kind of industrial,” Clay said, and Matty Bennett of Sequences is handling the design. “On some level I can see it done but now we have the task of taking this big warehouse space that the floors haven’t been swept in in three years and there’s dust everywhere and turning that into a production brewery with a warm, inviting atmosphere.”

Right now Clay is measuring progress in baby steps like being able to taste the first Sun King recipe. Michael Pearson is a process engineer for Eli Lilly Co. and an avid homebrewer who teamed up with Clay for a pro/am competition at the Great American Beer Festival. He is piloting batches of Sun King beer at home and on this afternoon delivered a couple bottles of a light, creamy brew Clay will craft for one local restaurant exclusively.
Pearson and the Robinsons stood in the sunlight and sampled the beer from coffee mugs, comparing the qualities of two batches. Clay smiled and laughed, happy to be one baby step closer to his dream.

On a related note, check out this Wall Street Journal story on craft beer.

[Erik Deckers]

Looking forward to the first offerings. Thanks for the story, Neal.