World Beer Cup gold. Multiple GABF golds. Back-to-back wins in the Alpha King Challenge. Small Brewpub of the Year. Up until a few months ago, Melvin Brewing might have been the most decorated 3 BBL brewhouse in the country. And the only reason they’re not now is the addition of a gleaming new 30 BBL brewhouse, production facility, and canning line in Alpine, Wyoming. These self-professed Kung Fu and hip hop fanatics, with beers named in honor of the Wu-Tang Clan, are on the march to take their brand of unrepentant hops-forward beers to beer fans throughout the Rockies and PNW. Can anything stop them?
What started as a tiny 20-gallon brewery tucked in the back of an eccentric Thai food restaurant in downtown Jackson, Wyoming, has become a production facility with a 30-barrel brewhouse in Alpine, Wyoming, and will become a new tap house in Bellingham, Washington, later this year to boot.
Meet Jeremy Tofte (center), the ski bum who opened Thai Me Up in tourist town Jackson in 2000. “At the restaurant, we have two TVs. They both play Kung Fu,” he says. “We only listen to hip hop. We have secret things on the menu that tourists don’t know about because we’ve got to take care of the locals.”