Shownotes
Billy DuPlanty from Young Blood Beer Co hops back on mic with Gary Arndt, Allison McCoy-Fleshman and Bobby Fleshman to talk about the craft beer bubble, their tap room experience, and why they name their beers so weird.
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TIMELINE
00:00 Welcoming back Billy DuPlanty!
00:28 Craft Beer Bubble?
05:33 Young Blood Taproom Strategies and Locations
11:27 Young Blood Beer Tasting
14:56 For the Winos: Fruit Forward Drinkers at Brew Fests
15:15 How Young Blood Names Their Beers
19:34 Young Blood is Known Sours
24:59 Palate Exploration
28:17 Respect Wine in the Box!
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CREDITS
Hosts:
Music by Sarah Lynn Huss
Recorded & Produced by David Kalsow
Brought to you by McFleshman's Brewing Co
Transcripts
Hello everyone.
Gary Arndt:And welcome to another episode of Respecting the Beer.
Gary Arndt:My name is Gary aren't with me again, as usual.
Gary Arndt:Are the good doctors of urology, Allison McCoy and Bobby Fleshman.
Gary Arndt:And back on the show is one of the founders of young bloods beer company out of Madison, Wisconsin.
Gary Arndt:Billy Duplantie, thanks for being on the show.
Billy DuPlanty:Hello, America.
Gary Arndt:We've brought this up a couple times in previous episodes.
Gary Arndt:That we went through this period where way back in the day, there were a lot of breweries in the United States.
Gary Arndt:Cheers.
Gary Arndt:And then
Gary Arndt:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh, we're gonna, cheers, cheers!
Gary Arndt:We're, we're opening up and drinking beer.
Gary Arndt:Yeah, it's like, whatever Gary's saying, we're just gonna drink.
Gary Arndt:There were a lot of breweries in the U.
Gary Arndt:S.
Gary Arndt:A lot of them.
Gary Arndt:Every city pretty much had a brewery.
Gary Arndt:And then that basically consolidated down to a couple of major breweries.
Gary Arndt:And then starting maybe in the 1980s, there was this renaissance of craft brewing where you're seeing more breweries now.
Gary Arndt:And the question that has been brought up in the show a couple of times is, has there been a craft brewing bubble?
Gary Arndt:The last episode you mentioned was it Tall Grass?
Gary Arndt:They went under, there've been a lot of other breweries that haven't made it as well.
Gary Arndt:So the question I'm posing to all of you is.
Gary Arndt:Are we in a craft beer bubble?
Gary Arndt:I hope to god no.
Bobby Fleshman:Before we go down the negative slope the news this week was Nuglarus is expanding by 56 million dollars.
Bobby Fleshman:They're opening a tap room and a bunch of more production so it's not all doom and gloom everywhere.
Bobby Fleshman:And I heard that.
Gary Arndt:Are they really a craft brewery anymore?
Gary Arndt:I mean, if,
Gary Arndt:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: if Boston Beer Company, I mean, they're only distributing in just one state, just one.
Gary Arndt:And if Boston
Bobby Fleshman:Beer Company can be considered as such, then absolutely.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:So we have to figure out where that line is.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Although their stuff is so shiny.
Bobby Fleshman:Like, it's really shiny.
Bobby Fleshman:They get to determine the, the rules.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:I just think anything that starts with 56 million dollars kind of Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:It's gone beyond the realm of craft.
Bobby Fleshman:They've earned, they've earned, they've earned it all.
Bobby Fleshman:They've earned it all.
Bobby Fleshman:But yeah, this word craft, who knows what that means anymore.
Bobby Fleshman:But
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: I like, you know, if we stay in business that long, I'd like to think that those numbers might be something that we throw around.
Bobby Fleshman:In future.
Bobby Fleshman:We can throw numbers around.
Bobby Fleshman:I guess that's true.
Bobby Fleshman:I love that.
Bobby Fleshman:Throwing real money is another thing.
Bobby Fleshman:As opposed to having real money.
Gary Arndt:I mean, to be fair, it's, it's kind of like orders of magnitude, right?
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:They're, they're a hundred times larger than we are.
Gary Arndt:Sure.
Gary Arndt:But by the same token, they're a hundred times smaller than Miller.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:So, you know, so th big spectrum here.
Gary Arndt:Absol just gets to the question craft breweries been over too many of them?
Bobby Fleshman:And I t market from all different perspectives.
Billy DuPlanty:I think that a lot of people did overbuild.
Billy DuPlanty:I think people did not anticipate certain changes in, you know, their THC beverages coming available that it's cutting in the rise of the seltzer, the rise of the seltzer, the rise of, and A's just in general I mean, athletic, Hey, what's up athletic?
Billy DuPlanty:You can sponsor me.
Billy DuPlanty:I love you.
Billy DuPlanty:their beer is fantastic and I can drink that well.
Billy DuPlanty:I'm working.
Billy DuPlanty:And that's, you know, that's really awesome.
Billy DuPlanty:So stuff like that is, is all cutting in.
Billy DuPlanty:So you're going to start seeing the, the classic brands or the brands that are still out there making stuff, have to do the shifts and try and do the changes and try and meet the market where it's at, you know, THC sellsters.
Billy DuPlanty:I know a ton of small brands that are rolling those out now.
Bobby Fleshman:I'm drinking wine as we sit.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, there you go.
Billy DuPlanty:And they're awesome.
Billy DuPlanty:I love them.
Billy DuPlanty:So it's just a matter of grabbing up that I would say the, the share of alcohol or the share of liquid volume, in the market and make sure it's controlled by the people that are still willing to make it like, you know, small craft brands.
Billy DuPlanty:But when it comes to you know, the craft beer bubble bursting, I was just on a panel.
Billy DuPlanty:I was with Jessica Jones from Giant Jones, Ross Klisch from Lake Front and Isaac Schwake from Untitled Art.
Billy DuPlanty:And we were at the Barrymore and we were all, kind of talking about it with Chris Drowsner, the Beer Baron.
Billy DuPlanty:It's kind of moderating it and we were kind of talking about it and Russ brought up that he thinks that there's been a bunch of craft beer bubbles and you know, it's kind of like, it's kind of like building up a scar over time.
Billy DuPlanty:It gets stronger every time it comes back.
Billy DuPlanty:And you said even if we are in one right now, it's, it's far smaller than the other ones that we, you know, that we've probably endured already.
Bobby Fleshman:It feels like it's a mature market because every time you hear of an opening or closing you hear of an opening.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Correct.
Bobby Fleshman:It feels kind of, I don't want to say saturated.
Bobby Fleshman:I think that word is thrown around too much, but.
Bobby Fleshman:The new brands that are opening are satisfying the market need.
Billy DuPlanty:That's right.
Billy DuPlanty:And I mean, we're, we're currently working on building out a new production facility slash tap room into forest.
Billy DuPlanty:Because we don't own the land that we're in currently that we're, we're building our beer into.
Billy DuPlanty:So it's better to, you know, build our own equity and own our, our spot.
Billy DuPlanty:But also, you know, we can have control over how it's actually built out.
Billy DuPlanty:Any problems that we make, or any problems that we endure or come across, encounter, that's the word I was looking for, any problems we encounter, they will be of our own making instead of us trying to just shoehorn ourselves into a building that exists already, so like,
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Well, and that's been one of the hardest parts about, a lot of the brewery closings have been because of, they haven't owned the facility and that's one of the things that we did, we bought this building first,
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah, yeah, yeah, remodeled it.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: To protect ourselves that way, but we, we happen to be in a position to do that.
Bobby Fleshman:But I, I'm curious though, so if, if the market is shifting and such, how much have you all obviously put into the taproom experience?
Bobby Fleshman:You said you only have like 10 percent or so, you know, you keep your taproom small, but you're investing in yet another one.
Bobby Fleshman:So cause we have found that
Bobby Fleshman:This would make three taprooms?
Bobby Fleshman:Yes.
Bobby Fleshman:Wow.
Bobby Fleshman:Total.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Take notes, Bobby, take notes.
Bobby Fleshman:But as the, the craft beer bubble, you know.
Bobby Fleshman:It hopefully doesn't burst, but it seems like if we invest in the, like, destination experience.
Bobby Fleshman:And so now we've really just become, like, very nice party planners.
Bobby Fleshman:can you, you know, speak to, like, the nuances of your taprooms or, like, the decision to invest that way?
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:So, I mean, we, I just, like a lot of people, location matters.
Billy DuPlanty:So the first thing that we think about when we're looking at a spot is how are people going to get here?
Billy DuPlanty:Are they, are they already here?
Billy DuPlanty:Do we have to get them excited to come here?
Billy DuPlanty:Like how far out of the way are we?
Billy DuPlanty:And the reason, you know, downtown works cause we're right off the square.
Billy DuPlanty:We are right there.
Billy DuPlanty:There's no, there there's maybe some of the best foot traffic.
Billy DuPlanty:The entire state is right there.
Billy DuPlanty:You've got young professionals, people with money, it's not college kids all the time.
Billy DuPlanty:Sometimes they come to this side of the capitol where we are, but not all the time.
Billy DuPlanty:It's, it's an area for higher end, you know, lifestyle choices.
Billy DuPlanty:You get to go get a really nice, you know, pizza over at Lucille, you can come get a cocktail upstairs that are plain smoked room.
Billy DuPlanty:Hi, how are you?
Billy DuPlanty:and then, you know, there's, there's like really, really high end, good, like bars and bar food.
Billy DuPlanty:And you can go get a cigar at Maduro.
Billy DuPlanty:It's just like a really great area that we're in and it's highly traveled.
Billy DuPlanty:So that spot was a no brainer to us.
Billy DuPlanty:Hey, we'll be the closest brewery to the Capitol right there.
Billy DuPlanty:That's easy as can be.
Billy DuPlanty:So when we're talking about North street.
Billy DuPlanty:That was our neighborhood play because we're like, well, we don't have a patio.
Billy DuPlanty:So we're kind of like, how do we get a patio?
Billy DuPlanty:So we have to look kind of outside of the isthmus a little bit.
Billy DuPlanty:So we went to the North side and found this building.
Billy DuPlanty:And there was a, a, a company that was trying to put together this idea of a multi use facility.
Billy DuPlanty:they were like, a brewery would be an awesome anchor tenant for this.
Billy DuPlanty:Because then you get all this space when the other spots closed, there's not no real transfer over of there's no, you're not stepping on each other's toes with what you're offering.
Billy DuPlanty:and we're like, okay, yeah, that sounds good.
Billy DuPlanty:So, you know, we opened the spot on the north side.
Billy DuPlanty:Now we have an awesome patio over there and that one's slower because it's a neighborhood play.
Billy DuPlanty:So it's never going to be the fast traveled thing.
Billy DuPlanty:So we're looking at the third spot.
Billy DuPlanty:And they're building a, a very, very high end hockey facility ice rink.
Billy DuPlanty:And then there's going to be an outdoor ice rink right there as well, that in summer, they'll be taking down to put like concerts and yoga and movies and other things for the For the area, but you'll be able to watch hockey be played outside from our tap room here.
Billy DuPlanty:And it is, they're also putting in like 200 and some odd apartments right there.
Billy DuPlanty:So it is all in the forest.
Billy DuPlanty:So we're just, northeast of Madison.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, I see it.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: I'm looking at a map.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Cause I'm
Bobby Fleshman:So yeah, it'd be far enough you're not cannibalizing, but close enough that you can manage it.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: I'm surprised, cause it seems like the North Street, if I were looking at this, the North Street's actually not too far.
Billy DuPlanty:It is not.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: From downtown, so that's a convenient, well I guess that most people don't drive down there though necessarily, do they?
Billy DuPlanty:If you want to go through the 350 lights it takes you to get from the freeway down to the capitol, you can.
Billy DuPlanty:East Washington is hell.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: So they really are two different markets, wow.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:So 90 percent of your, of your production volume goes to distribution, and it sounds though like maybe less than 90 percent of your focus is in distribution.
Bobby Fleshman:You're probably thinking more of my focus should be.
Bobby Fleshman:At least it currently, in the tap room,
Billy DuPlanty:Our, our tap room experience was the, the thing that was going to set us apart from from other people, the, the beer.
Billy DuPlanty:Everybody makes great beer in the state.
Billy DuPlanty:If you have a brewery and you've made it, you're making good beer.
Billy DuPlanty:There's that's just, that's it.
Billy DuPlanty:So we're like, okay, well we have to excel at beer, but also we don't want to just be a, like a block building that has like the same thing.
Billy DuPlanty:Like, Hey, it's, you know, chalkboard written.
Billy DuPlanty:Thing that wasn't perfectly cleaned, and it's like, I guess it's this today.
Billy DuPlanty:Oh, corrugated steel corrugate.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:All the, all the exact industrial sheet is what we call it.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:And it's like, okay.
Billy DuPlanty:Well, we're, we're gonna give you something that, that's why we're, we have the palm tree.
Billy DuPlanty:It's the oasis.
Billy DuPlanty:It's not, we're not
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh, I get it now.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:We're not trying to,
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: That's why the palm tree
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:, it's, you know, luxury.
Billy DuPlanty:We, Mm-Hmm.
Billy DuPlanty:. We, it's like we're offering a little escapism.
Billy DuPlanty:Like even our sign when we first opened, king Street until people started complaining they couldn't find it.
Billy DuPlanty:It was just a white sign that said YB on it.
Billy DuPlanty:And that was going to be kind of just like, Hey.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:This is your escape.
Billy DuPlanty:We're not going to be overly pretentious here.
Billy DuPlanty:It's going to be dark.
Billy DuPlanty:It's going to be comfortable.
Billy DuPlanty:We're going to have greenery.
Billy DuPlanty:It's neon.
Billy DuPlanty:Some like different textures.
Billy DuPlanty:And you're just going to feel comfy and at home.
Bobby Fleshman:So the path forward to you, it sounds like, Growing into, I'm throwing a random number out.
Bobby Fleshman:You're going into maybe a 10, 000 barrel brewery in the future.
Bobby Fleshman:And half of that volume goes across the bar.
Bobby Fleshman:And I'm trying to get a sense of what
Billy DuPlanty:I think when it comes to actual beer.
Billy DuPlanty:And this doesn't include the other stuff cause we do some contract things and we also do the plain spoke stuff, young blood beer, in our hearts, we think that 5, 000 barrels is our, our spot.
Billy DuPlanty:And we're at about.
Billy DuPlanty:3800 right now.
Billy DuPlanty:Gotcha.
Billy DuPlanty:So like we're, we're there.
Billy DuPlanty:We don't want to, we don't want to oversaturate.
Billy DuPlanty:We want to hit people with different stuff, but we also know that it, it takes more than a week for a shelf to run dry of one beer.
Billy DuPlanty:So you're not filling that shelf with another thing every single week.
Billy DuPlanty:Got to kind of figure out your cadence and that's what we're.
Billy DuPlanty:Gotcha.
Bobby Fleshman:And I should say that when Alison realized the significance of the palm tree, she was holding your, one of your cans.
Bobby Fleshman:And we're drinking out of this can right now?
Bobby Fleshman:We are.
Bobby Fleshman:What are we drinking, Allison?
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh, may I, you take that one.
Bobby Fleshman:I'll read this one.
Bobby Fleshman:Drive like the wind.
Bobby Fleshman:You magical bitch.
Bobby Fleshman:. Is that how I'm supposed to say it?
Bobby Fleshman:Tell us about the beer.
Bobby Fleshman:Tell us about the beer.
Bobby Fleshman:and it's even like exclamation point.
Bobby Fleshman:We haven't done beer sampling a lot.
Bobby Fleshman:Hang on, on show.
Bobby Fleshman:Hazy
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Double India Pale Ale with seven Y Blanc, grape Juice Galaxy and Nelson Sine
Bobby Fleshman:am amplifier.
Bobby Fleshman:You, you read it?
Bobby Fleshman:I don't normally read the hops.
Bobby Fleshman:What is this?
Billy DuPlanty:So I got the abbreviated version from Kyle of what all that means.
Billy DuPlanty:Basically, there's a white wine grape juice in this beer and it co fermented with the ale yeast to give it this like really soft pillowy You get like a lot of white wine characteristics out of it, but you get this like awesome soft almost like Like a, like a lemon cream.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: The mouthfeel is, it's almost like, I don't want to say nitro, but it's, it's very, there is a creaminess to it.
Billy DuPlanty:It goes with the territory of a hazy.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:It just, it all worked out so good.
Billy DuPlanty:I, I, I had some of it right out of the bright like last week and I was like, Oh my God, that's amazing.
Billy DuPlanty:Then, I cracked a can yesterday after we packaged all our 12 days of Christmas boxes.
Billy DuPlanty:I was like, Oh my God.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:This is it.
Bobby Fleshman:And your ABV is listed or not?
Bobby Fleshman:Underneath.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah, it's eight, so.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:That gives you some body, too.
Billy DuPlanty:Yep.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, it's, it's, it's awesome.
Billy DuPlanty:I think our, like I said before, I'm really proud of the way our IPAs have like been focused on.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah, what we were talking about before we started recording about how that's sort of, for whatever reason, there, even brewers hold other brewers to that standard, how well their IPAs are made.
Bobby Fleshman:When, I think we all sort of know it comes down to how well a Pilsner is made or a Light Lager.
Bobby Fleshman:And we'll say that on one side, and then we'll come around and say, but they're not making great IPAs on the other.
Bobby Fleshman:So, yeah, I know we got accused of that too early on because we're known for making traditional styles.
Bobby Fleshman:It's that, McFleshman's can't make IPAs.
Bobby Fleshman:And now, our top selling beers are IPAs.
Bobby Fleshman:We're best known for our IPAs.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah, that's insane.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:So I have a question on this.
Bobby Fleshman:Just because we didn't make them yet.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: So one of the fun beers that we make is a, a Brut IPA, and we, infuse it with wine.
Bobby Fleshman:Both red and white, and we try to use it as a way to get wine drinkers who are like, I don't do beer at all.
Bobby Fleshman:So we're using a brewed IPA as a base, and we're trying to, we're strictly going for the wine crowd.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Yeah, because I, I particularly, I love our cast conditioned English ales through the beer engine in our tap room.
Bobby Fleshman:Anyway, those are my, that's my jam, but hazes are hard, but this hazy mixed with the, the wine, I can see how the, there's obviously similarities to our brewed IPA.
Bobby Fleshman:But do you find that this is like a gateway for folks that don't?
Billy DuPlanty:It hasn't been released yet.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh, it hasn't?
Billy DuPlanty:No, I grabbed it off the line yesterday.
Bobby Fleshman:Honestly, I think this one goes
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: For those of you that don't like beer and listening to Respecting the Beer podcast, this one might be for you.
Bobby Fleshman:Well, I was going to say, just from where I'm sitting and tasting, I think this is the opposite, works the opposite direction.
Bobby Fleshman:If you like, I'm a strictly beer drinking, or beer flavor person.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh, you might like wine.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:You might want to experiment with your palate.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Coming the other way.
Billy DuPlanty:I see it that way.
Billy DuPlanty:When it comes to the wine drinker in general, I think, I think our sours actually, hit them because they just don't taste like beer.
Billy DuPlanty:Like they, they certainly are and they're low ABV and we blend them down with, with real fruit juice that we make ourselves.
Billy DuPlanty:And it just, I mean, we blend ourselves.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:Juice that we do, but like these, those are the ones that are attached to the more fruit forward drinker typically.
Billy DuPlanty:And that's, I think that's why we get a line every now and again at a brew fest.
Billy DuPlanty:It's like, Oh, I am at this brew fest.
Billy DuPlanty:I was forced to come here.
Billy DuPlanty:I don't like beer.
Billy DuPlanty:What do you have for me?
Billy DuPlanty:Right.
Billy DuPlanty:I got you.
Billy DuPlanty:Here you go.
Bobby Fleshman:This seems like I don't want to take Jerry or Gary's job here, but it feels like the perfect moment to start talking about more of the names.
Bobby Fleshman:Go nuts.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Cause that, cause she read off that name.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Like drive like the wind, you magical bitch.
Bobby Fleshman:I just can't not get excited right.
Bobby Fleshman:From where
Bobby Fleshman:I stand, I see it on the shelf everywhere.
Bobby Fleshman:I sell beer everywhere too.
Bobby Fleshman:I'm always, in some ways, kicking myself.
Bobby Fleshman:I didn't think of these names, but in other ways, how would I ever have?
Bobby Fleshman:They're so random.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Dressing for revenge.
Bobby Fleshman:Fruit punch sour.
Bobby Fleshman:So, we have this thing.
Bobby Fleshman:Sad.
Bobby Fleshman:Just sad.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Raw dogging bowling shoes.
Bobby Fleshman:I need my readers on.
Bobby Fleshman:YOLO is my strategy.
Bobby Fleshman:Husky hustle.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, I like that.
Bobby Fleshman:It's rare that one's
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Chocolate and marshmallows.
Bobby Fleshman:Hell yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:I'll be in a room and I'll hear a phrase that makes no sense.
Bobby Fleshman:And I'll text it to Billy.
Bobby Fleshman:I can't put that on my beer because no one will get it.
Billy DuPlanty:But that's exactly, that's exactly the running thing for us.
Billy DuPlanty:And it, it, it happened somewhat organically.
Billy DuPlanty:We were kind of like, all right.
Billy DuPlanty:We're going to keep changing.
Billy DuPlanty:We need an endless supply of names because if the beers keep changing, then the names have to keep changing.
Billy DuPlanty:We fancy ourselves, funny fellas and we, you know, kind of were like, all right, well, there's nothing funnier than when people are talking about an inside joke.
Billy DuPlanty:and you're not part of it, but you just hear them say the most ridiculous part of that inside joke.
Billy DuPlanty:That is like, that's kind of like the vibe you get from these names.
Gary Arndt:Totally true.
Gary Arndt:The best one is, like Criss Angel, But good, that beer is not out yet, but it's coming.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:So like it's, it's exactly that.
Billy DuPlanty:So, it was one of our, one of our ideas for this is that since we are changing all of our beers, how do people get to know us as a brand?
Billy DuPlanty:We need to let you in on the joke a little bit.
Billy DuPlanty:So that's what the names kind of work for.
Billy DuPlanty:And also it's got to give you something to be like, something that catches your eye, because if it just says young blood rotating beer, that could be whatever.
Billy DuPlanty:But if it's Youngblood, drive like the wind, you magical bitch.
Billy DuPlanty:then people are like, I'm going to have that because I just want to say it.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Well, and then it's very clearly, so on the can go online and look at the pictures, but, Hazy Double IPA is very clearly written at the top, right above the Oasis Trees.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, your style's listed, which is awesome.
Billy DuPlanty:It's very clear what it is, but then you just, you want to just keep reading.
Billy DuPlanty:And now I'm, I'm scrolling around and reading all the rest of it.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, so We also put stories on the side of the can that may or may not be real or true.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:So you can read that one at your leisure, but it is ridiculous story about me, I believe.
Billy DuPlanty:but that's one of our, one of our guys, Preston, he comes up with the stories.
Billy DuPlanty:Tom used to do it, but Preston doesn't now.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Do you find that well, especially if you only sell a smaller portion out of your tap rooms that people won't order if they have to say it?
Billy DuPlanty:All the way out.
Bobby Fleshman:No, no, they've cultivated that.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah you, you, you now, you now want that.
Billy DuPlanty:So like,
Bobby Fleshman:They're hard to pronounce.
Bobby Fleshman:That's what we're.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Yeah, we, we struggle with the hard to pronounce words.
Bobby Fleshman:Got it.
Billy DuPlanty:Sometimes, sometimes it happens.
Billy DuPlanty:Raw dogging.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: I don't even know what that means.
Billy DuPlanty:Putting your foot in that shoe with no sock on.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh, there we go.
Billy DuPlanty:Oh, ew.
Billy DuPlanty:Raw dogging bowling shoes.
Billy DuPlanty:It certainly does.
Billy DuPlanty:I'm not going to get into it right now.
Billy DuPlanty:But you know, the, It's also a way for, you know, us to do kind of like a flash marketing campaign because obviously nobody's ever seen this beer before.
Billy DuPlanty:So you put that ridiculous name out there and someone's going to pick it up and be like, all right, I'm at, I'm bringing that to the party.
Billy DuPlanty:Like I got to.
Billy DuPlanty:Show that can to somebody, you know, that sort of
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Made up names, you know, like McFleshman's and such.
Billy DuPlanty:It's always, it's always a win.
Billy DuPlanty:Well, and then we, we have a gigantic Google doc.
Billy DuPlanty:That is I think like 5 or 6 people in our company have access to.
Billy DuPlanty:And if you just hear something ridiculous, it goes on the list.
Billy DuPlanty:And then as we kind of start planning out our quarterly schedule Preston and I move all those names over to a different deck.
Billy DuPlanty:That, the ones that we like, like for this batch, and we assign them to beers.
Billy DuPlanty:And that's how you get it.
Billy DuPlanty:That's great.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: So do they start to speak to you like, that has to be this type of beer?
Billy DuPlanty:It, sometimes.
Billy DuPlanty:Okay.
Billy DuPlanty:Sometimes.
Billy DuPlanty:Like Husky Hustle.
Billy DuPlanty:That was a name before it was a beer.
Billy DuPlanty:Right.
Billy DuPlanty:and that just worked really well.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Well, and as soon as I read it, and I was like, ooh, and I just like, Milk Stout, yes, I want to read more of that.
Billy DuPlanty:And also it's things like our fruit punches.
Billy DuPlanty:We know we're bringing those back each year.
Billy DuPlanty:Those are the only thing that have a cadence.
Billy DuPlanty:It's almost like we have just a ridiculous amount of seasonals.
Billy DuPlanty:when it comes to the fruit punch sours which are always patched, fruit orange guava, and then we highlight another fruit and they're all 4.2%.
Billy DuPlanty:So super easy to consume, very approachable for anybody.
Billy DuPlanty:So I think you've got concord grape and green apple in there.
Billy DuPlanty:Mm-Hmm.
Billy DuPlanty:. those are.
Billy DuPlanty:Two of my favorites actually but those sell better than pretty much anything now.
Billy DuPlanty:60 percent of our book that we, that we brew each year is sour beer.
Billy DuPlanty:People love them and the more ridiculous we get with them, the more they like.
Bobby Fleshman:I don't know that we covered that to any depth, but that was more or less not an accident, but it was a surprise, right?
Bobby Fleshman:How well it did for you.
Billy DuPlanty:And yeah, so we were like, Hey, let's try out, let's try out this this, like sour concept that Kyle had.
Billy DuPlanty:And so we were doing the tap room, during COVID.
Billy DuPlanty:So we were taking these small batches and like.
Billy DuPlanty:Breaking them, taking like a beer barrel and taking it and putting it in a different fermenter and resting it on other stuff before we carbonated it and we're doing one off barrels.
Billy DuPlanty:Well, we decided to use, what was it?
Billy DuPlanty:icy icy mix and blended it with our sour.
Billy DuPlanty:It was a watermelon one and that's pink Lexus.
Billy DuPlanty:That's our watermelon one that comes out each summer.
Billy DuPlanty:But we were like, Oh, man, that's delicious.
Billy DuPlanty:That's so good.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, so much fake sugar and just terrible, but it tasted so good.
Billy DuPlanty:And we put it on and it sold out in a day.
Billy DuPlanty:And we're like,
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh, boy, what have we done?
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, it was like you can't put the genie back in the bottle.
Billy DuPlanty:We're like, how do we do this?
Billy DuPlanty:Well, and then we tried to put something on that draft line right afterwards and it tasted like watermelon.
Billy DuPlanty:So we had to run a new line.
Billy DuPlanty:That was the most expensive investment, I would say.
Billy DuPlanty:It was so we had to make our own juice and we do that all.
Billy DuPlanty:But.
Billy DuPlanty:And it's all real stuff now.
Billy DuPlanty:It's not, you know, concentrate, fake.
Bobby Fleshman:Your reputation is far and wide when it comes to fruited sours.
Bobby Fleshman:For sure.
Bobby Fleshman:Everybody says it's now like the Kleenex of, you know what I mean, where the duct tape or whatever it is of that style, they're like, do you have anything like young blood sour?
Bobby Fleshman:No one ever says like, do you have a good sour?
Bobby Fleshman:It's always how does it compare to young blood?
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, I like that.
Bobby Fleshman:Oh, it's good.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:You guys are doing well with that.
Bobby Fleshman:That's good to hear.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Almost synonymous with, with the style now.
Billy DuPlanty:That, that's great.
Billy DuPlanty:I mean, that's what keeps our lights on.
Billy DuPlanty:Like I said, it's our memory light.
Billy DuPlanty:Well, speaking of sours, can we open one?
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, let's do it.
Billy DuPlanty:Okay.
Billy DuPlanty:I like the, I like the dressing for revenge.
Billy DuPlanty:It's about to do it.
Billy DuPlanty:It reminds me of, do you remember Fun Dips as a kid?
Bobby Fleshman:Oh yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh my god, the thing with the stick?
Billy DuPlanty:The grape, the grape Fun Dip with the vanilla dipstick?
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:That's what that reminds me of.
Billy DuPlanty:Not the prettiest color of Sour for us, by the way.
Billy DuPlanty:It's gorgeous.
Billy DuPlanty:It's a little
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Slightly hazy, zesty pink.
Billy DuPlanty:It's a little pink and brown, pinky brownie.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Alright, let's try this one around.
Billy DuPlanty:Get Bobby a sip of that.
Billy DuPlanty:Gary, you got some?
Billy DuPlanty:so cheers everybody.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, it's always fun to listen to people drinking.
Gary Arndt:This is very
Gary Arndt:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Yum, this can hold in the name of being honest and just between us.
Gary Arndt:You can keep a little Keep a secret like an oath.
Gary Arndt:We're Swifties here.
Gary Arndt:Okay, you don't really need to keep that secret.
Gary Arndt:This fruit punch inspired bevy is just the right amount of childhood nostalgia mixed with the wisdom and palette of age.
Gary Arndt:Big and juicy concord grapes.
Gary Arndt:Note.
Gary Arndt:Big and juicy concord grapes.
Gary Arndt:Note.
Gary Arndt:Oh my god I can't even.
Gary Arndt:Say it.
Billy DuPlanty:It might be misspelled, we don't prove it.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Names, weight, group, concord grapes, notes, mix with the P.
Billy DuPlanty:O.
Billy DuPlanty:G.
Billy DuPlanty:base of your fruit punch inspired sour for juice box adjacent vibes.
Billy DuPlanty:Juice box adjacent!
Bobby Fleshman:We did a, we did a beer one just recently for a festival and it said festical on the back.
Bobby Fleshman:Like to be here.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Oh, careful.
Bobby Fleshman:Guys, alright, somebody say it.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: So we now can ask, so how do you, your fruit punch sours are delicious.
Bobby Fleshman:How do they feel coming out the nose just now?
Billy DuPlanty:Not great.
Billy DuPlanty:My eyes are watering.
Billy DuPlanty:It's like I was made from the inside.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: But now you're just dressing from revenge, dressing for revenge.
Bobby Fleshman:This is super tart and I love it.
Bobby Fleshman:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: This is really good.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah.
Billy DuPlanty:It hits with the right amount of tart, but you see what I'm saying where it's like that fruit based drinker, that wine drinker, this is far more approachable because it doesn't It doesn't taste like you're drinking something that's, you know, beer heavy.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Well, and one of the hard parts with the sours like our lambic, for one, can have just a really aggressive punch to it, or an aggressive sour.
Billy DuPlanty:And if you're not ready for that, or don't know what it is, so if you're, you know, beer curious, you know, like, well, it's something that you have that's kind of like wine, and you're like, here, have this sour.
Billy DuPlanty:And they're like, oh, it's just too much.
Billy DuPlanty:This is really a subtle sour, and it's bitter.
Billy DuPlanty:Mixes nicely with the fruit.
Billy DuPlanty:So that's it's a really good balance.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah,
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: I we haven't done any guava We do here in there.
Billy DuPlanty:We guava so weird.
Billy DuPlanty:It's just it just tastes like sweet to me.
Billy DuPlanty:Yeah, and it's like it If it was on its own, we've done like guava on its own and stuff.
Billy DuPlanty:And I'm just like,
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah,
Billy DuPlanty:I, not my thing.
Billy DuPlanty:Cause it's just sweet on sweet.
Billy DuPlanty:I think guava like pairs really well with other like fruits.
Billy DuPlanty:Like that, that passion fruit and orange with guava is the perfect like sweet to acidity ratio.
Billy DuPlanty:I love it.
Gary Arndt:Yeah.
Gary Arndt:I got to ask how many, I grew up in Wisconsin, the number of wine drinkers.
Gary Arndt:In that I remember growing up was something close to zero.
Gary Arndt:So maybe Madison's a bit different, but how many wine drinkers out there?
Gary Arndt:Are needing to be introduced to beer in the state of Wisconsin.
Billy DuPlanty:Well, there's so many, there's a lot.
Billy DuPlanty:I mean, you think of just people that are just turning 21 and thinking, still having the taste buds of a 20 year old being like, I don't like this, right?
Billy DuPlanty:I don't want this.
Billy DuPlanty:I like to drink my boxed wine still.
Billy DuPlanty:I like that from college, that sort of thing.
Billy DuPlanty:And then they want to expand their palate a little bit.
Billy DuPlanty:This is the perfect gateway.
Billy DuPlanty:And it's, it's a lot of, because craft beer is.
Billy DuPlanty:hobbyist thing.
Billy DuPlanty:People go to like brew fest and things like that and they bring their friends with them that may not be beer drinking friends, but they're like, They're down to experiment on stuff.
Billy DuPlanty:Try and find something they like, especially when they're younger.
Billy DuPlanty:And then they stumble across something like this where they're like, now that I can get behind because it doesn't taste like my dad's PBR.
Billy DuPlanty:This tastes like fruit punch.
Gary Arndt:Tastes like a juice box.
Gary Arndt:Maybe it's just that I don't want to acknowledge that there are people that drink wine out of a box.
Gary Arndt:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: Some wine's pretty good out of a box.
Gary Arndt:Here's the deal.
Gary Arndt:I have to.
Gary Arndt:I drink 60 percent of my glasses.
Gary Arndt:Right.
Gary Arndt:Wine out of a box?
Billy DuPlanty:No.
Billy DuPlanty:The people who like the wine out of a box drinking the,
Gary Arndt:Well, that's what I'm saying.
Gary Arndt:I'm wondering if this is Madison's a very different community than Appleton.
Gary Arndt:And how those tastes are going to be reflected in what you guys do versus what's going to go over in other parts of the country, even let alone the state.
Billy DuPlanty:Well, you know, we've, we've done some brew fest out of state and you know, people, We've had a lot of success at some of those, like we just did 450 North their corn maze beer fest and we brought the peach version of this fruit punch sour called, you had me a baby mama, and, and, you know, people came by and they're like, Oh, I see you like you guys are known for your sours, like they come and try the sour and they're like, Oh my God, that was amazing.
Billy DuPlanty:And then they'll go try some other sours because ours are different.
Billy DuPlanty:And they'll come back and they'll be like, this is the best.
Billy DuPlanty:And then we'll just turn and burn on those people.
Billy DuPlanty:So even the consumer that that isn't in the normal, like in a corn maze in Columbus, Indiana is still like, Oh my God, this is, this is, this works.
Billy DuPlanty:This, this is exactly what I like to drink.
Billy DuPlanty:I mean, I'll, I'm not a wine drinker.
Billy DuPlanty:I'm not a box wine drinker.
Billy DuPlanty:In fact, I always say I turn into a giggly little bitch when I'm on some wine because I don't know why, my face turns hot, and I just love the way I feel.
Billy DuPlanty:But, I, And the tequila breaks out.
Billy DuPlanty:No, tequila's a whole different thing.
Billy DuPlanty:My line for that is either I get naked or in a fight, or naked and in a fight.
Billy DuPlanty:Oh my goodness.
Billy DuPlanty:Allison McCoy-Fleshman: I'm just imagining what your day to day like is in the office, because we're constantly yelling back and forth.
Billy DuPlanty:okay, how long till Hildy's finished?
Billy DuPlanty:when you're gonna need some public house pine or something like that.
Billy DuPlanty:I'm just imagining the conversations you have when you're, you know, yelling out, Okay, so how long until we can drive like the wind?
Billy DuPlanty:You magical bitch comes out.
Bobby Fleshman:They just call it magical bitch around the office.
Bobby Fleshman:Imbi.
Bobby Fleshman:Sort of the bitch.
Bobby Fleshman:Yeah.
Bobby Fleshman:When's bitch ready?
Gary Arndt:All right.
Gary Arndt:Well, that's going to conclude this episode of respecting the beer.
Gary Arndt:Make sure to subscribe to the show and your favorite podcast players.
Gary Arndt:So you don't miss an episode and join the Facebook group to get updates between the episodes and support the show over on Patrion links to both of these are in the show notes.
Gary Arndt:And until next time, please remember to respect the wine in the box.
Gary Arndt:You, I mean beer.
Gary Arndt:That was great.
Gary Arndt:Respect the wine in the box.
