One of the great benefits of owning a brewery, most owners will tell you, is the diverse cross section of people who walk through the doors and sit down for a beer. Genuine friendships can be forged over pints and shared passion, and now and again there's even an occasion for a collaboration.
This is the story of Dovetail Brewery in Chicago, regular customer Joe Daniel-who works in produce logistics-and a kriek that was released earlier this week, in what the brewery calls a "city first."
Dovetail's co-owners, Chicago natives Hagen Dost and Bill Wesselink, met in brewing school in Munich and bonded over a shared appreciation of the traditional methods in classic European beers. "Not because we think they are cool or anything but because they are the path to the highest-quality beers," says Dost. "Our favorite breweries still use those traditions at least in one way or another."