Between pitches, Indians’ Chris Volstad learns to brew beer

Indians’ pitcher Chris Volstad can usually be found on the mound. He has jumped between majors and minors for seven years, spending time with the Florida Marlins from 2008 to 2011.

But when he isn’t throwing sinkers at 90 mph, he has a new adventure — opening a brewery. Volstad, cousin Karl Volstad and friend Evan Miller are just a couple months away from opening Civil Society Brewing Co. in Jupiter, Fla., near Volstad’s hometown.

I caught up with him recently to get the scoop. Sitting in the dugout of Victory Field, we didn’t talk hits, runs or shutouts — we talked beer. Here are the highlights.

Q: You’re opening a brewery in Florida. But have you been able to check out Indy’s brewery scene?

A: Not a whole lot. And coming up here, my cousin knew the area and knew the breweries. He’s been texting me: “Have you found anything else good yet? You should try this. You should try that.” So I’ve taken his advice and tried to go around a little bit, but it’s just tough with our schedule, because I am on the field so much. The time that I have off is in the mornings, and that’s not really a checking-out-breweries time.

Q: What is your favorite style of beer?

A: I usually like to try the IPAs first.

Q: Hophead?

A: Yep, exactly. My cousin and Evan, they are big-time hopheads. They like to hop up their beers. I’ve grown to like that, too. But I also like stouts and porters. My cousin likes to mix in coffee with some beers.

Q: Are you a coffee drinker?

A: Yep. Big time.

Q: Are you learning to brew?

A: I learned the process this off-season with them. But as far as the ins and outs of it, I’m nowhere near where I should be or could be. But it is something I want to do. Definitely. It could be a great thing to do after baseball. I mean what better job can you think of than …

Q: Making some beer?

A: Exactly. Being a brewmaster.

Q: What is your role in the brewery?

A: As of now, I’m just one of the partners (Karl is the head brewer). We are going through the build-out now, so I’m helping out with making decisions. I’ll talk to (Karl) at least four times a week. While I’m up here, he fills me in on how it’s going.

Q: Why not open a brewery in Indiana?

A: All of our family is in south Florida now. Plus, we’re hoping we are kind of ahead of the curve there. I know there’s Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Delray Beach. Those are the big three areas. There’s probably five or six established breweries in that area. So we are hoping we’re at the front end of the curve to really get established. But I’m sure my cousin has thought about Indianapolis. Who knows? At some point if we are lucky enough, it would be cool to have something going up here, too — just because of the history our family has. Our grandparents grew up here. Both my parents went to IU, and my dad was in dental school at the IU campus here. We have a lot of history here.

Q: Surely you’ve heard of Three Floyds? Zombie Dust?

A: Yes. Actually one of the hardest things we’ve realized is coming up with beer names. My cousin thinks Zombie Dust is the best name ever. He was like, “We need to have a name like that — that sticks out, is cool and people want to try it.”

Q: Have you come up with any beer names yet?

A: One of our IPAs will be called Fresh IPA. There’s also Blondes Make Me Hoppy and J-Town Brown — that will be our brown ale, because of Jupiter. Then we have a Siason called Southern Exposure. Those are the four that we have established.

Q: So you’re a better pitcher than brewer?

A: Yes, 100 percent. Not even close. Not even close. I wouldn’t have any idea what to do. They’ve been trying to teach me. Hopefully with the brewery being open this off-season, I’ll be able to spend a lot of time there and pick it up quickly.

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