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Halfway Crooks cofounders Joran Van Ginderachter and Shawn Bainbridge may love the wide world of craft beer, but with their Atlanta brewery the goal was to create a space and the kinds of beers that would encourage drinkers to find one they like and stick with that beer all night. If you arrive with the goal of maximizing check-ins to the widest number of beers, you’ll quickly find you’re in the wrong place.
The same design principles inform the space and the beer itself—equal parts recontextualized nostalgia, funky creativity, wry humor, and dry deadpan delivery. The bathrooms feature illustrations of chickens from the late 1800s, floral-patterned wallpaper, and a separate soundtrack (Blade Runner and Twin Peaks) from the main taproom. A video screen at the door plays low-fi digital animations. They embrace the digital present with a bit of warm vacuum-tube analog glow. And the same can be said of the beers—they’re fresh and current, but with tweaks of nostalgia and fuzz.
The brewery may be best known for their lagers, which center around separate hop varieties.
“You go to a taproom sometimes and see seven different IPAs,” Bainbridge says. “You come to this taproom and you see seven German pilsners.”
They source hops from some of the most sought-after farms in Germany and build beers around them, yet there’s also an American mentality—boosting aroma through later additions and whirlpooling, using modern enzymes to ensure fermentation proceeds on schedule. They use a brewhouse that’s not optimized for lagers, but they’ve figured out how to get the most from it—single-infusion mashes are producing beers are tight and structured.
In this episode, Bainbridge and Van Ginderachter talk extensively about their approach to lager brewing, as well as the creative and technical process behind their Belgian pale ale Sanguine—a Craft Beer & Brewing beer of the year in 2022—which they say is the one beer in their lineup they’re least happy with.
This episode is brought to you by:
G&D Chillers
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Supply chain challenges are here to stay for a while, so why not trust the experts to handle freight for your ingredients? Old Orchard has partnered with a leading logistics firm in the craft beverage industry to transport your craft concentrate blends. When you order two pails or more of concentrate from Old Orchard, you qualify for freight quotes from various carriers and can stay up-to-date on the status of your shipment. To get started on a freight quote for craft concentrates today, head over to oldorchard.com/brewer
Packaging beer can be a daunting task but buying cans shouldn’t be. American Canning provides packaging supplies at competitive prices in order quantities catered to craft. Think single truckloads and half-height pallets rather than million can minimums. For a smooth packaging experience, also consider their ultra-compact, single operator canning machines. Pricing begins at $25,000 with quick 6-8 week lead times on most equipment. American Canning exists to help share your craft in cans; learn more about their ecosystem of solutions at americancanning.com.
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You have a small brewery but have plans to grow it. You want a canning line but not sure if you should wait until you are bigger or start now. Several years ago Twin Monkeys debuted the world’s first production level nano-canner to help small breweries get into canning. Now Twin Monkeys has created the Eagle: an expandable nano-canner that can grow as your business grows. Find out more at www.twinmonkeys.net. Financing options are available.