Work-Work Balance

As MudHen's only assistant brewer (currently), I've been working two different - yet similar - jobs since last March. I'm behind the bar three shifts a week and with Tony in the brewery two shifts a week (or more, if we're canning). Soon, however, that balance will shift and I'll be taking on more shifts in the brewery and less behind the bar.

What better time to reflect on the differences between bartending and brewing?

Bartending, for me, is therapeutic. Even on my worst days, when life has run me over with a flatbed truck, put it in reverse, and run me over four more times, making drinks instantly puts me in a calm state of mind. It's methodical and helps me focus on things other than what life's putting me through. I guess you could say, that for the past almost-ten years, it's been my "happy place."

Because brewing is still so new to me, it's not so much a place where I can clear my head. Rather it's a full-body experience that involves my mind and my muscles in much different ways than bartending ever would.

Where in bartending, if you miss a step with a simple cocktail, it's not necessarily critical to add ingredients in a certain order. I can throw in triple sec before vodka or after. With work in the brewery, most order of things is absolutely essential. Hot rinsing before cold rinsing, for example. Turning valves in a specific order or ensuring the pump is at the correct setting are critical to prevent injury (both to body and to equipment).

Behind the bar, I pay attention to the feel of my shakers, the color of my drinks, and the smell of wine to ensure it's still good to serve. In the brewery, using those senses is also crucial for much different reasons. Perhaps one of the more surprising senses I utilize often in the brewery is hearing. If something is dripping when it shouldn't be, for example, or how the cycle of a vessel sounds - it can tell me right away if something is wrong or not working properly. Behind the bar, of course listening to customers, coworkers, and the printer are all important things, but it's nothing like using hearing in the brewery.

While it may take awhile yet for tasks in the brewery to become second-nature the way making a bay breeze or margarita is, I'm already much more comfortable performing duties given to me on any given day. I don't think I ever want to get comfortable enough to where I can shut my brain completely off but I will relish the day when I can confidently - without second-guessing myself - get through a day in the brewery.

My bar shifts are numbered, sure, but I look forward to continuing to make and serve Wildwood's best - and freshest - craft beer for people to enjoy.

A Sign Of Things To Come

While Tony and I seem to constantly discuss our business growth and what it means for the brewery and pub, it doesn't quite seem real that this summer will be the busiest yet for MudHen Brewing Co.

But reality is, well, reality, and the outside expansion already underway for the Biergarten proves just that. On the brewery side of things, we've cleaned and passivated our newest fermentation vessel to get it ready for use and are awaiting news of when brewery expansion will begin. 

Things are happening quickly around here, including our canning runs.

This week, we're tackling back-to-back canning runs. By the end of the day on Wednesday, you'll be able to find both brands in the To Go fridge beside the main bar in the front dining room. Swing by, grab a 4-pack (or two, or three...), and stay warm this weekend with some MudHen IPAs. And they'll be showing up on store shelves in the southern Jersey and Philly areas very soon!

Cheers.

We Belong Together

This weekend, we have another new beer to debut. A delightfully delicious collaboration between MudHen Brewing Co. and Laura's Fudge will be released at 5pm on Friday, February 12th - just in time for Valentine's Day weekend - and is aptly named "We Belong Together."

A first for MudHen, our chocolate fudge porter (fudge supplied by Laura's Fudge) was infused with fruit puree a few weeks ago to ensure your taste buds will be tickled pink. Available in either chocolate-covered strawberry or chocolate-covered raspberry flavors, this delectable concoction is EXTREMELY limited in supply!

My suggestion is that you make plans to be at MudHen this weekend to partake in this one-of-a-kind release. And bring that special someone; you'll want to split a slice of chocolate cake or cheesecake for dessert while sipping this beautiful fruited porter.

Beer and Black History

It's officially Black History Month here in the United States, and I wanted to shed a light on something very noticeable about the craft beer industry: how very homogenous it is.

When the average person thinks of craft beer, they probably don't immediately think of the 60+ craft breweries that are black-owned and operated. They probably think of a white dude in his late 30's or early 40's, and probably bearded, standing over a mash tun or posing with a glass of hops or malt. Which is certainly not a false picture but it doesn't reflect the deeply colorful history of beer.

This blog is somewhat inspired by the Beer School Tony held on January 31st and driven by my own curiosity.

Let me take you back a little ways. White Europeans weren't actually the first people to make beer! It's speculated that the people of Mesopotamia, people of color, were the first to discover beer. When civilizations began popping up, and nomadic life became agriculturally based, women became the beer makers for the home, and - in later centuries - the entire neighborhood or village. Those TV or movie scenes of pubs crammed with men while a woman holds four tankards of ale leave something important out - that woman probably made that ale.

When America was colonized, and obviously through the late 1800's, white women delegated the task of making beer to the house slave women, while field slaves cultivated the hops used to flavor that beer. So, once again beer-making was in the hands of women (and people) of color.

Fast forward to prohibition, which was partially rooted in racist sentiments: painting saloons and pubs as places of sin and immoral activity, where only the most degenerate would spend their time (much like the treatment of the opium dens of the West Coast). When the 21st Amendment finally passed, big, white-owned beer corporations were quick to snatch up a large portion of the beer-making industry. Unfortunately, those corporations also held racial bias and racist sentiments that kept a lot of black Americans from working in the beer industry through the Civil Rights Movement.

So, it's no wonder that at last year's All Women Brew Day here in New Jersey, there were only a couple of non-white women present. The beer industry, while also being an expensive endeavor (this is a whole other discussion on systemic racism), hasn't exactly been welcoming to black Americans. Not only was it noticeable there but at every festival I've worked there was a distinct lack of people of color in attendance or behind the booths.

One undisputable fact, since the discovery of it, is that beer brings people together. It's a bridge across cultures, across time, across continents, and across oceans. I would love to see a more diverse craft beer industry here in the States, and I hope someday it will be. We have a long way to go on breaking down walls and ceilings (see: Annie Johnson) but the future is diverse. The future is bright. The future is colorful.

A list of black-owned breweries in America (as of 2020) is a good place to start looking at what's in your region if you're curious. Supporting these breweries is but a small step we can take to support diversity in our industry.

Happy Black History Month and cheers!