Quick Fuse Brewing + Metropolitan Brewing Q&A

For six months, the mental property of Metropolitan Brewing has been in a form of limbo. The brewery itself closed in December because of their chapter, and following that their IP was put up for public sale in January and rapidly bought … however by who? Earlier this week, we discovered: Schiller Park’s Quick Fuse Brewing.

In enterprise since 2017, Quick Fuse has gained GABF awards for his or her Tropical Harm Locker and Vocal Jam beers, which helped them earn a Brewery of the 12 months award (2001-5000 Barrels) in 2021. Nick Teague is the proprietor and founding father of the brewery, who bought into craft beer whereas working in California. He realized to like beers from Firestone Walker, the Bruery and others, which led Teague to resolve to get into the enterprise again dwelling in Chicagoland. 

After launching the brewery in an outdated industrial constructing close to O’Hare Airport, Teague introduced on former Goose Island and Ten Ninety brewer Brian LaGro (who simply departed lately) together with Craig Kofod, their present head brewer. At this time Kofod works with one other Goose alum, Rob Anderson, to supply beers like their Bearie White wheat ale, Juice Cannon double IPAs, For Goodness Shakes milkshake IPAs and Hop Cycle IPAs. 

With a lineup like that, you is perhaps stunned (and judging by the response we’ve seen, many have been) to study that they acquired the rights to brew a catalog of lagers from a beloved longtime brewery. 

So … how on earth did that occur? Earlier this week I discussed that I’d by no means been capable of contact anybody at Quick Fuse, however shortly after that e mail went out Nick reached out to me instantly. He was concerned with having a dialog about their final half-year as house owners of the rights, how and why that they had acquired them, and why now was the time to let the world know that Metro’s beers had a brand new dwelling.

Right here is our dialogue: 

This interview first appeared on the GuysDrinkingBeer Substack and was shared instantly with subscribers. Don’t miss out on future information and updates! Subscribe now for all of the Midwestern beer information and occasions happening on this planet.

GDB: So let’s begin from the start on the Metropolitan IP acquisition. How does that occur; what made you pursue the IP? Discuss to me about the entire course of.

Nick Teague: Everyone knows what the craft beer market has been since COVID. I feel one of many worst companies you would most likely personal throughout the pandemic was a brewery or restaurant. [During] COVID we pivoted to [all beer packaged in cans] and tried to remain afloat doing dwelling supply or no matter loopy issues we have been doing simply to get a few {dollars} in. Then we come out of the pandemic and gross sales are smooth, and now, a bit of little bit of retreating – I feel all breweries our dimension felt that pinch. That is 4, 5 years in and I’m nonetheless pivoting, , and never making some huge cash doing it. So, we’re simply pondering of what we are able to do – Clearly we stored doing our factor with Quick Fuse, however [also] different choices of contract brewing or what it’s that we are able to do to make our enterprise extra viable. 

All of us adopted [the Metropolitan situation] on the information. They have been closing and we’re at all times keeping track of these auctions, so I noticed the IP was on the market, which I used to be form of stunned by. After which we began speaking about it: is that this one thing that form of works for us? You already know, I perceive folks assume that we make IPAs and fruited sours and form of outlandish beers and stuff, however … our brewers are brewers. Making a beer and making a fruited bitter, I imply, it’s the same course of.  And if you happen to’re a great brewer, you may make a beer, you’ll be able to brew a fruited bitter, you’ll be able to brew a hazy IPA. So I used to be by no means involved about our brewers with the ability to execute lagers, [even though] it was actually the other of what we did. 

Possibly to some folks it appears loopy, however as a enterprise, that’s good, since you’re not going to enter a bar and say ‘would you like a hazy IPA or fruited bitter,’ and so they say ‘no,’ you’re not like, ‘Would you like one other hazy IPA and fruited bitter from one other brewery?’ So, you have got a beer, you have got a pilsner, you have got a kolsch, all of the issues that we don’t actually have on the market, , and that simply appeared like a extremely good match.

And we knew that folks weren’t going to be overly smitten by us or most likely anyone else taking it over. However perhaps simply being in enterprise for a very long time for myself, I understood that it’s gonna occur regardless to any person. Afterwards I discovered that Doug and Tracy weren’t actually seeking to reopen. Often when any person goes bankrupt, they’re pretty carried out with what it was that they have been doing. 

GDB: And that was one in every of my first questions on this whenever you posted the announcement – did you have got a private relationship or reference to anybody at Metro earlier than this; did you attain out to Doug and Tracy at any level, or is all this simply grapevine data getting round? 

I had been to their taproom and I simply met [Doug] in passing. I by no means had any relationship with them. The best way that chapter auctions work is that they occur actually rapidly. They go up [online] and normally the public sale is in just a few weeks. I don’t even assume the IP was added for a very long time; it got here on perhaps per week earlier than. So there’s isn’t loads of time to consider it, and it’s a blind public sale. So – similar to on eBay – you’re throwing up a value and also you don’t know if you happen to’re ever gonna get it or what’s gonna occur. I don’t know if some large firm goes to come back in and supply 1,000,000 {dollars} for it or one thing. You actually don’t know if you happen to’ll ever even get it. 

I suppose in hindsight, might you have got reached out to them and requested them? However they could have been like, you won’t get it so we don’t actually care what you need to say. In my estimate there had been 5 [to] ten folks bidding on it, as a result of it was shifting fairly rapidly at first. So I feel lots of people had the identical concept that we had, which was that it’s an amazing model that makes nice beer, they’ve been round since 2009 and I might see why lots of people have been , like us.

GDB: I feel you additionally needed to be conscious that whoever determined to take this on was going to be met with … let’s say, on the very least, a good quantity of skepticism. How do you react to that, and to an area beer market that also connects the model to the individuals who have been behind it for therefore lengthy?

NT: In any front-facing enterprise like a brewery and a restaurant, you’re met with criticism. Now we have a kitchen in our faucet room and in case you have 100 friends are available and have nice meals, perhaps the 99th individual gained’t. So [there’s] at all times criticism on this enterprise. On-line criticism is a complete different factor. We didn’t assume that we have been going to [announce] this and everyone was gonna cheer from the mountaintops. We do make completely different kinds [than Metropolitan did] and perhaps some folks aren’t huge followers of ours, which is at all times going to be the case for each brewery. 

So, we gained the public sale again in January, and like I stated, it occurred fairly rapidly. And [we’re] like, “Okay, I suppose we gained this … Can we wish to personal this? Can we get out of it?” It’s such a speedy course of that, even for a seasoned enterprise proprietor, it’s form of like, wow, that is taking place actually rapidly. Was this a foul resolution? Ought to we do that? What can we do subsequent? I didn’t even know. The very first thing we did was – I didn’t have Doug’s quantity so I’d reached out to some pals and bought his quantity and texted him. 

I simply informed him we’d gained it and I’d like to speak to him about it. A pair days later, we talked after which straight away I simply informed him, “Look, I don’t know in case you are bidding on this, I do not know of understanding that and I do know we don’t know one another, however I’m not making an attempt to steal it from you, or something like that. So in case you have curiosity in it, inform me and we are able to work out easy methods to flip it over to you. We haven’t taken possession but.” 

Anyone on-line stated that we tried to revenue off of it and that wasn’t the case. Doug knew how a lot it was bought for, as a result of it was his chapter. We by no means actually mentioned cash or something like that. He’d stated that he did attempt to purchase it, or a member of the family perhaps tried to purchase it, however they didn’t actually wish to get too deep into it and he dropped out fairly rapidly as the worth rose. I informed him I don’t need any dangerous emotions, and I’m a brewery proprietor myself, so I don’t wish to, like, steal one thing from him, if that’s how he feels. 

So [I said] , if he needs to consider it, take a while or work out a plan on how it may be his, I’m comfortable to do this. And he considered it for a short while after which stated he had actual no use for it, [other than] perhaps sentimental worth. And I don’t assume it was definitely worth the value of what it was to him. That’s simply my guess, he didn’t inform me that. So in the end, he stated that he wasn’t concerned with it for no matter purpose that was … in order that form of settled that. After which we moved ahead with buying it and taking possession of it from there as a result of legally we needed to sooner or later.

GDB: You alluded to a few of the plans within the announcement however do you have got any preliminary projections for manufacturing? Are there take a look at batches underway? And when can folks anticipate to see Metro beers again on retailer cabinets? What’s the timeline seem like? 

NT: We took most of January to determine all that, after which speak to Doug about doubtlessly approaching and being part of it. In the end he determined that it wasn’t for him and he wished to maneuver on to different issues. Tracy had already made plans to do different issues and had no real interest in actually even discussing being a part of it, so she’d already moved on. Doug vacillated for a bit of bit however in the end determined it wasn’t for him, which, I respect that. So then we talked with him, our head brewer talked with them and met with them and went over how they made the beers. They’ve given us the recipes [but] , with beer, if you happen to give any person a recipe, it’s the way you make it – however placing it onto a special system, you’ve bought to spend a while tweaking and discovering completely different efficiencies, proper? 

So we began straight away making trial batches. Their kolsch gave the impression to be their primary vendor so we began making that, or making an attempt to make the pilsner. We put them out just below our title in our taproom; simply little batches simply to get suggestions from prospects. We discovered some cans in market that have been a bit of bit older however no less than we had one thing to check them to and went by means of some trials for some time. It was simply Krankshaft and Flywheel that we actually labored on. 

However the second half was that their distributor owns the distribution. How Illinois legislation works is that, perhaps we personal the model rights, however we have now no proper to distribute that beer beneath state legislation. Tracy had informed me that CBS [Chicago Beverage Systems] had canceled their distribution settlement, however after I reached out to them, they informed me that wasn’t the case. They nonetheless owned the rights and so they deliberate to proceed to personal the rights. They informed us they wish to proceed distributing it, so we went together with that plan. However ultimately, just a few weeks in the past, they’d truly launched it [the rights]. So now we’re capable of self-distribute it or work with a brand new distributor, no matter it could be. 

In order that’s why we introduced that now, is as a result of we form of have been on the level the place we might doubtlessly distribute it. We had a few small batches in our tanks and that’s why we’re simply going to do a small launch social gathering right here. After which, , the next weeks perhaps [we] get a bit of bit out to some good supporters of Metro previously and simply let folks attempt it and choose it for themselves, how we’re doing. Get suggestions on it, good or dangerous.

After which we’ll have the ability to ramp up manufacturing and get out to some accounts, however it will be a gradual course of as a result of we’re not working with the earlier distributor. We don’t know the place it was once bought at; there’s no chain placements or something like that. So it’ll most likely take us into subsequent 12 months to essentially get any sort of vast distribution. We’ll have it accessible in our faucet room for folks to attempt to some restricted cans.

GDB: So that you’ve acquired all of the recipes. Are you going to make use of the identical names, the identical labels, the identical packaging? Have you ever figured that half out but? 

NT: Yeah, legally, we have now to vary issues [like] addresses … however our plan was to not change something. Truthfully. We thought that Metro was only a nice model by itself. Their beer was nice. Their branding was nice. We didn’t see something that wanted to be modified. The one factor we needed to do is make their beer; attempt to make it pretty much as good as they made it. That was actually the one factor we have been involved with. I feel their kolsch is likely one of the finest on the market. The pilsner is great. Their helles is one in every of my favourite helles, import or home, that I’ve had. I didn’t actually have any plans to vary something. As a result of I feel it’s a credit score to Doug and Tracy and what they’ve carried out.

GDB: Manufacturing-wise, did you need to make any adjustments to the brew home or something like internally to regulate to creating these beers? Or have you ever kicked the tires on working with somebody like Nice Central to contract it, as a result of they’re fairly lager centered? I imply, I’ve to think about you thought of just a few of these issues.

NT: Our brewers felt assured that with sufficient time they’d have the ability to dial it in. We did discover some completely different efficiencies in our brewhouse. The primary couple [batches] had come out the next gravity than the recipe but known as for therefore we needed to pull again on a few of the grain; the kolsch was popping out too bitter at first so we needed to loosen up a few of the bittering hops. Their yeast pressure, we’d by no means used earlier than, so a few them fermented a bit of faster than we thought. They did a special filter. We by no means filter, truly, so it was form of a brand new course of for us. 

The primary couple didn’t go nice. We dumped beer, clearly. At the start we had points the place our chiller crashed one weekend, so we needed to dump a few of these batches that have been in there. You already know, the standard trials and tribulations that you’ve making new beer. However we actually had no time schedule, so it didn’t actually stress us out or something like that. 

The one purpose was to make the beer pretty much as good because it presumably may very well be. And all of us knew that we have been going to be judged fairly extremely, no matter we ran, so we’d waited so long as potential to make it possible for we, in our opinion, bought it as near what we thought it needs to be, and never rush it and never push it out simply to push it out. And if it wasn’t precisely the way in which we wish it, then wait one other month and take a look at once more. In order that was our plan, however there was solely two beers we thought we would have liked to get going, and [Metro made] quite a lot of different nice beers [which] will clearly take time to good as nicely on our system.

GDB: From the whole lot I’ve heard you say, it sounds such as you acknowledge that Metropolitan has a fairly large legacy by way of Chicago brewing and also you’ve taken all of that into consideration right here. 

NT: Yeah, I imply, we’re a brewery as nicely, so we perceive all that. And, I suppose, folks choose it nevertheless they select, however we do perceive the magnitude of what they’ve carried out, and the way huge of part of Chicago beer and Illinois beer that they’ve performed. They’d at all times stayed actually centered on Chicago. Their faucet room was superb. It’s unhappy that we are able to’t reopen that however , that was most likely one of many nicest taprooms in the very best places you would most likely get. 

So we do perceive all that and I suppose we thought that that was a great purpose for it to proceed. Such as you stated, perhaps there’s folks on the market who would select, ‘it needs to be this brewery’ or ‘it needs to be that brewery.’ However I feel a brewery with that form of lager focus most likely wouldn’t have a necessity for a Metro model, ? I’m unsure, however I suppose any person was going to proceed it on, simply due to what they’ve meant. 

And we perceive the load that that places on us. And it does stress us. It does make us involved about screwing up one thing that was round for therefore lengthy and meant a lot to folks. And that’s why we waited so lengthy to deliver it on the market and make sure that it was one thing that we might do earlier than we form of simply jumped into it. And that’s why we didn’t come proper out and say [we bought the rights] as a result of we wished to ensure we are able to make the beer and do it justice as a lot as we expect we are able to. We’ll by no means be Doug and Tracy. We don’t have a taproom on the river and we haven’t been doing this since 2009. However we do perceive what they meant to folks, so we’re gonna attempt our greatest to uphold what that they had carried out and what they meant to folks as finest we are able to.

This interview was edited for size and readability. 

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