Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Beer Talk: Boulevard Lead Brewer, Craig Pijanowski


Last Friday night, the International Tap House hosted a special release of Boulevard's latest Smokehouse Series brew, Rye on Rye. As an added bonus, Boulevard's head brewer, Craig Pijanowski, tagged along and chatted with the crowd. My roommate and I had a bottle of the Rye the night before so I didn't want to miss the chance to talk with the man behind it and some of Kansas City's finest brewskis.

Accompanied by my girlfriend and neighbor, we ventured out into the rainy night and headed to iTap. We started the night with a couple of Rye on Ryes, and were soon joined by Craig at our table. He began the conversation with an obvious question, "What're ya drinking?". We told him and he laughed and told us what a great choice we had made.

Craig wasn't shy and proceeded to chat with our table for the next half an hour so about his life and his life's passion. He informed us that he was from Michigan and had previously worked for Tyson Foods, which he told us was a terrible job (think one of the food mockumentarys such as Food, Inc.). He went on to say that with no prior experience he landed a job in Kansas City at Boulevard. This was from a man who said that he didn't even dabble in home brewing before the transistion, which surpised me greatly.

The conversation quickly turned to the great beers that Boulevard had produced over the years. The now iconic "Chocolate Ale" was brought up and he informed me that many bottles this year were recalled due to a "souring" of the batch (something I experienced first hand at a friend's barbeque). This was something that I did not know being far from the source here in St. Louis. I also asked if there were any plans of releasing their Imperial Stout (delicious) in 2012 to which he told me "not this year".

Even while promoting his own brand, Craig's inner "beer geek" shown through. He let me know that his hometown Michigan brew, Founder's, was one of his favorites which led to interesting transistion into the future of craft beer culture. He let me know that when his kids are college age he believes that big names such as AB and Miller won't even be on their radar. He went on to say that he didn't believe that they wouldn't know about them, due to their constant advertising, but there will be a huge shift to craft beer in the next 20 years. As a beer snob myself, this makes me very happy for the future.

Our chat with Craig ended as more and more people requested to speak with him and his promo crew let us know that our time was up. He ended by giving me his business card and let me know to flash it in case I ever needed entrance onto one of their brewery tours (some require weeks in advance to reserve). It was truly exciting to meet someone that was so passionate about what they do and who looks forward to getting up and going to work everyday. As my Rye on Rye was finally gone I switched to a Tank 7, as even I felt a little brand loyal that night in a place with over 400 beers.

You can find out more about Craig and Boulevard by visiting Boulevard's website at www.boulevard.com.

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