La Cumbre Brewing Co.

What was the first draft beer you ever tried?
Labatt Blue

What’s unique about your beer? Why is its uniqueness significant in the local brewery scene?
La Cumbre’s flagship IPA is one of the best selling craft beers in our state and has gained national notoriety. We have also gained a following for our dedication to brewing traditional lager styles.

What does quality brewing mean to you?
Quality is measured in many ways, but to put it as easily as I can, a beer’s quality should be judged by how close the brewer came to their intended target.

What challenges do you encounter in the beer production process?
Lately, it has certainly been the refermentation of dry-hopped beers. With each harvest of hops, different varieties have higher or lower diastatic power and may or may not cause referementation of beers that did or did not experience that before.

If you could brew any beer without concerns for cost, production, or sales, what would it be and why?
Most pale lagers appeal to me, but probably a traditional South Bavarian-style Helles lager. There is simply no beer style in which everything is so clearly right out on the table. From the quality of the hops and malts, to the quality of the process, from the yeast selected to the time given during maturation, a good helles lets the drinker know all.

Walk us through your typical day.
I drive my boys into school and then head into work at 8. I spend my first 10-15 minutes walking the tanks, talking with our head brewer and/or QA/QC director. I normally am brewing 1 day per week, but the rest of my days are filled with emails, sales meetings, marketing, strategic planning…

Have you faced any setbacks involving equipment failures or breakdowns during production operations? Y/N How do you navigate through the setback, and do you have advice for brewery owners dealing with similar challenges
Every June, right when the temperature starts to read over 100, sure as the day is long, one, or more, of our refrigeration units will go down. Last year it was a 35 ton glycol chiller. My best advice? Get a maintenance contract with a good contractor, do regular PMs, and build in redundancies wherever you can.