Daily Nebraskan

Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Michael Mason-D'Croz Lazlo's offers a sampler of its microbrews. [Click to enlarge]

Plato praised its inventor.

Benjamin Franklin called it a gift from God.

Dave Barry has called it "the greatest invention in the history of mankind" and has used it to justify the good intentions of chemistry.

Homer Simpson would kill for it.

Mmm. Beer.



In the United States, it connotes a cooler full of cans, often filled with watery, flavorless intoxicants that kick the drinker into renal high gear. That reputation isn't exactly undeserved, as even beer aficionados will admit, but it's far from universal.

American-style light beers, such as Bud Light, Coors Light and Busch Light, are among the best-selling in the country, and brewing giants like Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Co. have forged that reputation, which small brewers throughout the country, including Nebraska, are doing their best to topple.

"I'm fighting this stereotype that ... beer is something you drink after you mow the lawn," said Zac Triemert, head brewer at Omaha's Upstream Brewing Co.

Triemert is not alone in his fight to establish a new perception of what beer is. BeerMe.com, a blog and database of microbreweries throughout the world, maintained by Richard Stueven of Columbus' Gottberg Brew Pub, lists 15 microbrewery locations in Nebraska.

Lincoln is home to the oldest of these, Empyrean, which houses its brewery in the Haymarket. Jim Engelbart, the brewery's marketing and production manager and president of the Nebraska Craft Brewers Association, said craft beer sales are growing rapidly, even though micro-brews still make up a small portion of the market. In 2001, Empyrean moved into a space that Engelbart said it is still growing into.

"We went big," he said. "We have a ways to go before we're at our capacity."

That capacity could eventually top 180,000 gallons of beer a year. The company's sales numbers have climbed every year it has been open, Engelbart said, a trend which extends to microbreweries across the state.

"Every year for 10 years without exception, there's been more beer brewed in Nebraska than the year before," Engelbart said.

Upstream, which operates breweries in both downtown and West Omaha, is also thriving, and Triemert said he would welcome more space.

The bottom line continues to grow for craft brewers because the public is becoming more aware of microbrews, often with the help of the brewers themselves.

Paul and Kim Kavulak tapped the market last November, opening the Nebraska Brewing Co. in a shopping center in Papillion. So far, they said they've had more success than they could have imagined.

"We're way ahead of what I thought we'd be," Paul Kavulak said. "This community and this market have accepted the beers we've brewed."

His wife said they go out of their way to educate newcomers about craft beers.

"Beer drinkers know what they like," she said, and the staff at Nebraska Brewing Co. know how to play off patrons' tastes. "The fun part of this ... is getting people to try different flavor profiles."

The Kavulaks encourage new guests to try their Belgian white instead of American big-brews such as Miller and Budweiser. Called the "entry point" to craft beers on Nebraska Brewing Co.'s menu, both Kavulaks said the beer opens the eyes and palates of customers.

The Kavulaks said their other beers - they have seven on tap with plans for an eighth - also challenge conventional wisdom about beer. Their Brunette Nut Brown Ale, a caramel-colored, nutty beer, regularly surprises people who have become accustomed to a common unfair notion.

"One of the biggest fallacies I encounter with craft beers is that dark is bad, dark is bitter," Paul Kavulak said. The brewery's porter attacks the same misconception.

Upstream, which has between 10 and 12 beers on tap at a time, is also attacking the notion that beer is an everyday beverage. The company produces a number of champagne bottled beers, which are aged in old oak wine casks for anywhere from a couple months to more than two years.

Triemert said these are his real pride as a brewer. A 22.5 ounce bottle of Upstream's Grand Cru, a beer with a wine-like name, costs $20 and is brewed in very small batches. Other champagne-bottled beers cost about $10 per bottle, leaving them as a drink for a special occasion, not a lazy Saturday.

"It always pissed me off that people thought of beer as a lower echelon than wine," he said.

With the wide range of flavors in beers, which often take on subtle fruit, coffee or spice flavors, Triemart said it's a natural fit for food buffs.

"Beer has more complementary flavors," he said. "People don't realize that beer pairs great with food."

That observation is not only held by Triemart. The Nebraska Brewing Co. recently hosted a beer and food dinner, which paired each of the brewery's beers with a dish it would complement. The Kavulaks said the event was a success and will likely be repeated.

Such public acceptance is the best mark of microbrewing success in Nebraska. Because ingredients are expensive for more complex beers, drinking them can cost more than swilling Bud Light or Miller, but the public has been willing to pay a premium for a superior product.

Jason Payne, assistant brewer at Upstream, had a helpful reminder for producers and consumers alike.

"Flavor costs money, that's what it comes down to," he said.

alexhaueter@dailynebraskan.com
michaelmason-dcroz@dailynebraskan.com

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