John Kimmich & Becoming a Better Brewer

When someone like John Kimmich is speaking, the immediate impulse of homebrewers - even those like me who haven't actually managed to taste the celebrated Heady Topper - is to search for details. How do you make it? What tricks and methods are you employing? What's the recipe?

And while that urge is understandable, the truth is that this recent Chop & Brew episode featuring 60+ minutes of Kimmich talking brewing is much more valuable than that. His brewing experience goes back to the early 90s and the lessons he's learned in that time are pure gold. The points he makes, both directly and indirectly are incredibly valuable if becoming a better brewer is higher on your agenda than cloning Heady Topper.

What follows are some points he made that I found particularly significant and some reflections on some of his themes.

Focus
One of the things that stands out throughout is his focus. Brewing the same beer day after day, year after year. Someone asked him 'Do you ever get bored with brewing the same beer day after day?' His reply 'Do you get bored having sex?' He seems to genuinely delight in brewing Heady Topper, the details of the process and the results and especially people enjoying the beer. He's experimented with everything and established a best practice over a long time. It's easy to be bored or to be happy with something when you're comfortable with the process. It's good enough and everything's ok so why try harder? Kimmich is obviously not bored.

Paying attention to the details
Related to this, one of his priorities that emerges over the course of the video is that he pays attention to the details. It was funny and revealing when he expressed exasperation that people who give him their beer to try don't know their mash pH or water chemistry details. It also came out in the way he was talking about different brew systems and practices. Kimmich said they use gas to transfer wort post whirlpool, no pumping, in order to treat the beer as gently as possible. Regardless of how much of an issue some of those things are, the point is that he's paying attention to the little things. To get a beer to 90% of what it could be isn't so hard but that last 10% is made up of those kinds of tiny improvements.

Craft beer is variable
I loved what he said about the changes of a beer from batch to batch. It's variable, that's what craft beer is, that's the whole point. If you want something dead and unchanging craft beer isn't for you. It reminds me of what Derek at Bear Flavoured mentioned once in passing as his definition of craft beer: craft beer is personality. If microbreweries try to produce exactly the same thing every time they are only asking for trouble. It's playing the big breweries' game and it'll make craft beer boring.

Quality of life over production volume
There was also some talk of the quantity of beer they produce, currently 9000 bbls, potentially up to 12000 bbls. He explained that they would increase to 12000 bbls only to cover the current shortfall so that people could buy beer at the brewery on Saturdays since they normally sell out before then. Kimmich's perspective was that he could make more than that but to what end? If you can make enough to not worry about your next paycheck and have a thriving business what more do you need? His agenda now is to reduce the time and effort spent producing the current volume of beer. He's after a better quality of life for him and employees. It's such a refreshing outlook and one that seems to be shared by other Vermont breweries Hill Farmstead and Lawson's. I think this should be a bigger story in the beer world.

Knowing the ingredients
In addition to having a strain of yeast that does amazing things for his beer, Kimmich knows his yeast inside out. He mentions being able to taste how many generations old it is, knowing its ebbs and flows, having brewed with it for years and years and played with the parameters so that he can get the most out of it. The same goes for the malt where he talks about the differences between batches, and hops where he talks about the private acres of hops they're establishing with growers. That knowledge of ingredients, particularly the yeast, is something I dream about. I guess that's a luxury you have in the frequent brewing schedule of a commercial setting.

The craft beer bubble
Someone asked the big question 'is craft beer in a bubble?' Could we see a crash in the number of breweries/market share of craft beer? His perspective was interesting, it seems that rather than expecting a major collapse of the breweries he foresees a shortage of ingredients, hops in particular I guess. That would probably lead to closures as well I wouldn't be surprised if that's part of the motivation for them to have their 30-40 acres of Alchemist dedicated hops. He did mention the failure of mediocre breweries as well given that consumers are getting more educated and there's a generation of drinkers emerging who've only known craft beer.

Always learning & striving
The long path to owning his own brewpub and then production brewery was fascinating. It started with home brewing in the early 90s and working for $4.75/hr at a home brew shop. The owner had a library of brewing magazines and books and he tore through it. Then he moved to Vermont and worked at a waiter in a brewpub, spending his days off working for free helping the brewer. That led to the job as brewer once the original brewer moved on. He learned everything he could from Greg Noonan the owner. There were several other stops beyond that, learning what to do and what not to do in running breweries. What stood out was the way he was learning the whole time, soaking it all in, chasing knowledge from people, books and experiences.

The unglamorous reality
While the prospect of owning your own brewery is thrilling for lots of brewers, one thing that stood out was just how unglamorous it is to work towards owning a brewery, and even the reality of owning it. He and his wife were willing to deal with poor wages, terrible jobs and the years and years of struggle in pursuit of their goal. The things that seem to make it worthwhile for him are taking pleasure in the craft and sharing his beer with the public. There are plenty of people who'll tell prospective brewers how hard it is and to go into it with their eyes open. Kimmich implied those things but in a really positive way, communicating the hard stuff but unable to hide his enduring passion for it.

The most important partnership
He makes it clear that his partnership with his wife is one of the keys to the success of The Alchemist. They worked towards the goal of opening their brewery for so long, both working, moving around the country, giving their combined efforts to it. It's her wisdom in decision making that compliments his skill in the brewery and he attributes the brewery's continued existence to her skill. So no big deal really. Just the difference between the brewery existing and not. Craft beer is still very much a boy's club but I'd be interested to hear more of these stories. I bet there are heaps.

The gift of dissatisfaction
It struck me watching the video that one of the biggest gifts a brewer can have is dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction with inadequate processes, with small flaws that 99% of people won't notice, with good enough. If a brewer has that and it doesn't drive them insane, they will eventually produce something amazing. That's not to say that Kimmich came across in a negative way, not at all, but Heady Topper is transparently the product of a great deal of time and effort.

It was fascinating and inspiring hearing Kimmich speak. There's a level of enthusiasm there that seeps out in everything he's got to say. It's not a hyped, jumping around manufactured enthusiasm but something that wells up from within and spreads to everyone listening. It's long video but well worth your time.