The Occasional Brew: Create (Y)our Beer
With the amount of secrecy that we're seeing these days in the Springs' beer scene, we've started pulling the state liquor license list on a monthly basis just to keep up. It's by doing this that we've stumbled upon breweries like Storybook Brewing and crazy enough our latest query turned up one more brewery: The Occasional Brew.
Don't start looking up addresses and taproom hours for The Occasional Brew just yet. We got a personal invitation to head up to their super-secret headquarters for some samples and to get some more info on Colorado Springs' latest brewery.
The Occasional Brew is quite simply: owner and headbrewer, Chris Crump. When his wife, Caitlin, was stationed in Korea for 15 months, all he had to do was brew, so he used that time to log tons of experience under his belt. Chris guesses that's what drove him to create The Occasional Brew (Plus, Caitlin wrote his first business plan as a Christmas gift). He's got some other people involved, but at the core, it's his baby. For you homebrewers, his name might sound familiar ... he won Best in Show at Vail Big Beers' homebrew competition (he entered before he got his licensing for R&D of sorts). So with some fairly hefty medals to his name, you've definitely got some confidence in his beer.Now, remember when we said not to go looking for The Occasional Brew beer in stores and taprooms? No taproom? No outside sales? Not yet, but that's because Chris has decided to narrow in on a different market.The Occasional Brew is actually located in the extra garage off of Crump's house. He filed variances with both the Federal government and the City, and after some finagling and structural changes, he's up and running. The Occasional Brew is built for creating beers for Occasions (the name makes sense now, right?) like retirement parties, graduations, celebrations and so on. Instead of purchasing a keg or a case of beer that you hope your attendees will like, you can sit down with Chris and craft your very own beer all the way from the recipe to the brew day. He can do everything from a case of beer to a couple kegs on his 2 BBL brewhouse. It's an extremely personal approach to brewing, and we're excited to see it take off.Right now, The Occasional Brew is by appointment only, creating highly personalized, unique experiences for individuals, but Chris definitely sees room for growth if the concept takes off. For more information, head over to their Facebook page or website, especially if you've got a special occasion that needs a beer brewed for it!
