New Glarus Brewery Is Hell Bent On Not Taking Over the World
Photos via New GlarusNew Glarus Brewing Company is, in some respects, the country’s most enigmatic brewery—not because they conduct business behind some veil of secrecy or proprietary technique, but because their steadfast shunning of world domination is so out of whack with their potential to do just that. Their beers, masterminded by Diploma Master Brewer Dan Carey, are highly sought-after by collectors around the world, but are so plentiful in their native Wisconsin that you can find them on the shelf at the local supermarket. And that’s as true of Spotted Cow, the brewery’s flagship farmhouse/cream ale, as it is for their more boutique-level fruit beers like Serendipity and Strawberry Rhubarb.
Don’t take the phrase “world domination” as hyperbole, either; they could do it. The Careys—Dan brews, while President and founder Deb handles the business side of operations—have had numerous offers from out-of-state distributors, but are determined to keep it local. Part of that decision boils down to quality control: it’s tougher to keep tabs on larger stocks, especially those that would be headed to more far-flung accounts. More importantly, however, the capital saved by foregoing wider distribution can be invested back into New Glarus Brewing in the form of passion projects, like the much bandied-about Wild Fruit Cave, where Dan brews and ages traditional lambics and sour ales.
New Glarus the town was founded in 1845 by immigrants from Glarus, Switzerland. In so naming their new Wisconsin home, they sought to pay tribute to their past, while simultaneously looking toward the future, and the implications of such a history are not lost on the Careys. There are clean, true-to-style lagers aplenty in the New Glarus Brewing portfolio—Hometown Blonde, a pilsner, and Staghorn Oktoberfest are especially fine—but Dan takes a slightly more left-of-center approach elsewhere. For his Berliner Weisse, a tart, old-world German wheat beer, he re-fermented with Riesling grapes; more recently, he unleashed a batch of fruited lambic aged on cranberries (Cran-Bic, natch) instead of the more traditional kriek or framboise.
By operating largely according to tradition, New Glarus Brewing has stayed ahead of the craft beer curve. As the mania for monstrously-hopped IPAs and hugely alcoholic imperial stouts has, for now, leveled out, Americans are turning to lagers and sours to slake their thirst, sate their curiosity, and treat their palate fatigue. These are beers born of historical chance, kept alive by a few committed artisans whose fastidious devotion borders on monk-like. Indeed, Dan Carey’s roots run deep, but his branches extend outward, infinitely.
Dan Carey brewing
Paste: How long had the idea for New Glarus Brewing been germinating prior to the brewery’s actual date of establishment?
Dan Carey: New Glarus has been in business for 21 years, and I’ve been working in professional breweries since 1980. I’m more a technician, an operations guy—a brewer!—than an entrepreneur. I was working for Anheuser-Busch, and Deb was not particularly enthralled with being a corporate wife. I’m originally from San Francisco, but she’s from Wisconsin, so we moved back here to start the business.
Paste: You used to be a supervisor at Anheuser-Busch. How did that job prepare you for your current position?
DC: Brewing is, of course, an artistic endeavor. It’s being adventurous, and not compromising. And that, of course, is NOT something that you find in the corporate world. However, brewing is also about consistency, and nuances of quality. What I mean by that, a lot of what is in beer is very unpredictable, unstable…you can make the world’s greatest beer in the tank, but by the time it hits the shelves, it may be stale. What you learn at a large brewery is how to make consistent beer, and how to make beer that is relatively robust against aging and staling. And that is as equally important as quality of flavor.
Lots of people in the craft beer business were trained by large producers. Just because you’re a classically trained musician doesn’t mean you can’t play rock!
Paste: No one in the country is releasing better classic-style German lagers than New Glarus. Where did you study in Germany, and for how long?