Lupine brewmaster adapts homebrews

For his job interview with Lupine Brewing Co., Grant Aldrich brought a case of 10 homebrews.

"With every single one there was something good and unique about them," recalls Lupine president and co-founder James Anderle. "We were really impressed. We learned he had talent and creativity."

Aldrich's homebrew recipes are slowly working their way into the Lupine lineup alongside the flagship beers developed by Anderle and his co-founders.

Lupine started commercially brewing in November, hit the market in December, won a beer festival poll ahead of more than 120 breweries in January and currently distributes to about 25 restaurants throughout the state.

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The brewery started growler sales Thursday at its 3320 Third St. N brewery, the site of the old O'Hara's Brewpub and Restaurant and McCann's Food & Brew.

It will offer growler sales and refills from 1-5 p.m. Saturday. Lupine's growler sales schedule will be announced via its Facebook page.

"It's been really cool to be part of the growth here from the beginning," said Aldrich, who became Lupine's full-time brewmaster in January.

Aldrich said Lupine's demand has grown significantly each month.

"I've tried making a (brewing) schedule but I have yet to follow one," Aldrich said. "You kind of have to go where it takes you."

Aldrich started using homebrewing extract kits with a former co-worker in his hometown of Bloomington, where he still resides. He commutes to St. Cloud.

But brewing was initially a short experiment.

"I wasn't really happy with them," Aldrich said. "I think part of it was because we were using a dry yeast."

He switched his attention to making honey wines called meads. But after a few years, Aldrich gave homebrewing another crack — this time with a liquid yeast.

"The beer was awesome," Aldrich said.

Aldrich got his first professional brewing job with Marshall-based Brau Brothers Brewing Co. in 2012. When he was hired, Brau's brewery was located in Lucan, which has a population of less than 200.

Aldrich said he still owns a house in Lucan. He helped Brau brewery relocate to Marshall.

"It was a great learning experience," Aldrich said. "It really helped me get things started here. Just the craziness of moving of where you think you have everything planned out, then you forget this or that or something happens that's not supposed to.

"It was a lot of figuring out and thinking quickly to adjust."

Brau and Lupine both use brewing systems built by JV Northwest.

Aldrich adapted homebrew recipes to make Lupine's cayenne pepper stout called unCayndness (pronounced un-kind-ness) and an Irish ale called O'Phelan.

Aldrich, who had previously heard of O'Hara's but was never a patron, is also developing a German-style beer, a wheat beer and a tea beer for future Lupine releases.

He still homebrews in 10-gallon batches, often testing out different yeasts with each batch.

But he admits his homebrews are now for a different audience.

"It's not just asking 'Would I like it?' anymore," Aldrich said. "I have to think of what other people want too."

Follow Jake Laxen on Twitter @jacoblaxen.

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