This week on Beer Sessions Radio™, host Jimmy Carbone and producer Justin Kennedy are joined by Erica Shea and Stephen Valand, the owners and founders of Brooklyn Brew Shop . Six years ago, Brooklyn Brew Shop was a small operation working out of the Brooklyn Flea. With the idea that making beer (real beer from real ingredients) can be simple, tasty, and – most importantly – fun, they created stylish, easy-to-use beer making kits designed especially for stove-top brewing for space-strapped New Yorkers brewing. Today, Brooklyn Brew Shop is available across the country in addition to 26 different countries.From Italy (a prison that brews beer) to Bamberg, Germany (Schlenkerla not only inspired Erica and Stephen to start brewing but also is the only Bamberg brewery still malting their own grains) to China and Taiwan, Brooklyn Brew Shop is everywhere! Listen in to hear about their world travels and the state of beer around the globe (and check out their homebrew recipe book for inspiration).
Locally, the couple was recently featured on Brewdog Brewing’s TV show hosted by brewers James Watt and Martin Dickie. Erica and Stephen were challenged to make a kit that would be marketed as the “Ultimate Big Apple Beer” and came up with a Belgian strong ale with apples (sauce in the mash, torched apples in the boil, apple-jack-soaked oak chips in the fermenter).
Collaboration is a relatively new venture for Brooklyn Brew Shop. Jimmy asks them the process of co-branding for clone brews: It wasn’t part of their original business plan; several brewers reached out (including Steve Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery) to scale down their favorite recipes for Erica and Stephen to market.
And here’s a scoop: Brooklyn Brew Shop will soon start offering 5-gallon kits!
Tune in to this fun and fascinating episode about the global homebrew movement here.