Brewing Exceptional Beers Behind the Scenes
Jared Williamson
Schlafly Beer – The Saint Louis Brewery
Maplewood, Missouri
@Jaredbrewsbass does not use Twitter to glamorize the brewing profession, for instance tweeting, “Make wort, CIP, repeat. #brewerylife,” and, “Even when it feels like 100 degrees outside, I get to wear pants to work, and boil sugar water. #blessed,” earlier this year. Nor does he appear to be angling for a job in marketing when he writes, “Brewing the #moneyjuice, for it pays the bills. Back on the close shift, which means the #NightBrewer returns. @radiohead serenades, softly.”
“I have Twitter buddies around the world I’ll probably never meet,” says Jared Williamson, who tweets mostly about his job at Saint Louis Brewery, but also about soccer or playing the upright bass (thus @Jaredbrewsbass, and why he has to explain he does not brew Bass Ale, which is made at a larger brewery in St. Louis). Williamson is most senior of the brewers who rotate through three shifts at Schlafly Bottleworks, its production facility.
“When you brew 1,000 barrels a week, it could be easy to lose sight of your original passion for beer,” he says. Instead he scratches the creative itch that draws many brewers into the trade by focusing on productivity and quality. “You find five minutes here, 10 there,” he says, describing why Schlafly can now brew nine batches in the time it took to brew eight when he started in 2011.
In reality, few days are like the one before. Witness Feb. 2: “It is a happy day, 1st batches of 2015 @Schlafly AIPA are cruising through the brewhouse. Like apple pie, freedom, and unicorns. #AIPAtruth.”
– Stan Hieronymus