Almost one year ago, I was told by my doctor to lose weight and drink less beer. That was a shock to my system! I brew beer, I own a brewery; It’s part of who I am.
I couldn’t debate my doctor. Being in my mid-40s, I knew that I would have this chat with my doctor at some point. I put off adulting for long enough. It was time to change, and I knew it was going to be hard to reduce my carb intake…Liquid Swords is so delicious!
Transitioning to a lower carb life was not easy. I still need to taste beer for quality, consistency and carbonation. I didn’t go cold turkey, but I definitely cut back. I spent time tasting more bourbons, and then found that rye was my spirit of choice. I never cared for white wine, but found myself enjoying rose and unoaked Chardonnay like never before.
I still love my beer. I just save a lot of them for the weekend.
This journey resulted in me cutting back by about 40 pounds. My doctor was happy, I felt better, but I ran into a wall right around the time we went down the shore. On the hot sandy beaches, I needed bubbles. As a result, I turned to hard seltzer. That week down the shore, I learned a few things.
The first was that, with an average alcohol by volume (ABV) of 4.0 to 4.7-percent, I could drink a lot of these little slime cans. Secondly, I learned that most hard seltzers taste terrible. This is not subjective; they just taste terrible, so I went on a mission to find one that I liked.
I tried all of the major brands…seriously. There was a lot of “research” going on at the brewery and in my kitchen. My research also involved talking to some of our accounts where seltzer was sold. I spent time doing controlled tasting like I learned in beer judging. One of the new seltzers I enjoyed was Two Robbers. I found the flavors very subtle and the finish clean. Over my immersion into the seltzer world, I found that Two Robbers was contract brewed at Yards. This little nugget of research led me down a rabbit hole researching ingredients, regulatory issues and labeling. Around the same time, our lead brewer informed us that he was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Between his need to be gluten-free, and my need to watch my carbs, Round Guys decided to brew a hard seltzer.
There is a lot to unwrap about naming, having to change the name and other fun things I will share in my next article, but our new hard seltzer on tap now.
We did a passionfruit hard seltzer. This was mostly out of the luxury of having one gallon of passion fruit extract from when we brewed Ways to be Wicked. We are brewing our second batch of hard seltzer this week. We will split this batch and dry hop some. We already tried it on a 15 gallon bench scale and it was fantastic. We are also going to try Blood orange, and then play around with other flavors. Maybe we will even pumpkin spice one batch.
This isn’t a money grab. Every brewer you talk to is “working on a seltzer.” For me, this is personal. I’m brewing this for me. I’m also brewing this for anyone else watching carbs, going gluten-free or just needing a shift from beer.
This journey over the last year brought to light a lot of upcoming changes that will be occurring at Round Guys Brewing Company. For now, stop in at any of our three locations and try a pint of our newest offering: Gimmie Seltzer. I hope you enjoy.
Scott Rudich is the head brewer and co-owner of Round Guys Brewing in Lansdale, PA. Rudich is heavily involved in the local beer scene, and was awarded the Brewer Award at the 2013 StarChefs’ Philadelphia Rising Stars Gala. This opinion column is sponsored by Round Guys, and appears every Tuesday on North Penn Now. If you have any questions or comments, please email them to [email protected].
See also:
Round Guys: Ditch Amazon, Buy Local And Support Revitalization
Round Guys: Social Diversity And The Craft Brewing Scene
Round Guys: Selling Is Not Selling Out
Round Guys: Embracing The Moments
Round Guys: Collaborative Brewing
