House Character Pt. Drei

Some more responses to post:

Stan Hieronymus said...

Shame on me. I came to this topic late, was slow to add a comment and now it is wrapped up.

I hope to see the discussion continued (here and elsewhere). It might be something to talk about as you introduce your beers.

I would argue that the issues of house character and how many beers you can brew well (which is a question I've heard European brewers ask) are different.

Why can't you have a house character and brew a bunch of different beers over the course of a year? You just wouldn't expect them all to show that character.

So you might choose to leave your brewing water unmodified (or less modified), use the same yeast, etc. for some beers. And if you wanted to emulate beer from a particular region then you'd mess with the water, change the yeast and so on.

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Greg Furgason
I don't think having a house flavor is as important as having a reputation for producing well crafted beers, which the two of you obviously have; and rightfully should have. There definitely is a different culture in Europe surrounding beer, ie how it is priced, what is available at which pub, etc. I enjoy a great deal of European beers, but I have the luxury of having the variety of choice at a good liquor store. For a brewery I would say maybe it would be better to not have a house character but a flagship beer. Something that is available all the time that is recognized as a great brew, like the Pullman has been recently. In the past I would say the Iron Horse was the most popular.
Personally I would like to see more specials rotated through. Right now is great because you have 4 on tap. When there are only 2 available it gets tough to choose which beer I want. If you were to analyze sales of the house beers and see which ones were not as popular, I would not be offended to see one or two of them disappear or become specials in favor of a larger rotation of the special/seasonal brews.
Regardless, you both do an excellent job and give me plenty of reason to stop in for a pint and bite to eat.
Cheers!
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I agree with Rich's posting. I think the House Character of Flossmoor Station Brewery is having your 6 or 7 wonderful standards and two or three others to try. It is a bit like Christmas each time we come in and see what is new on the board. We try a sample of each one and decide what we want. When we find something we're nuts about it is a challenge to see how many times we can come back and have another pint or two before it is gone. But when it is gone there are always a couple wonderful new choices from which to choose. There is something for every taste. We've never left disappointed. Keep up the good work!
- Jen
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So in conslusion, there is no conclusion. I heard about a place in St. Louis that uses Kölsch yeast for all for all of their beers. I don't know who the brewery is or why they chose to do that, but that would certainly be a distinct house character. I like doing a little bit of everything and I think we do it pretty well. And we have a few medals that say we do a pretty good job too. If more comments or opinions trickle in, I'll be happy to post them.