Atypical Brewing Starts the Newest Batch of Hot Charro Chocolate
The process of brewing a batch of beer at Atypical starts long before the first ingredients hit the large fermenters in the brewing room. For Head Brewmaster Eric Johnson, the process of beginning a batch on January 29th started with Steven Yankovich, a member of the Minot Home Brewing Community contacting Johnson about the possibility of the Skillbridge Apprenticeship program.
According to Johnson, “Steven and I had gotten to know each other over the years through the homebrewing community that exists in Minot. Since Steven had an interest in brewing and I owned a brewing business, Steven told me about the SkillBridge program that is offered to service members. This started me down an approximately 10-month long process to get Atypical Brewery registered with a Federal Apprenticeship program so that Steven was able to apply/register with us.” This would give A-Typical a very reliable, well trained Assistant Brewer “ Steven completed the Apprenticeship program with us last spring and has been acting as an Assistant Brewer under me ever since.
This previous summer we had a second MAFB member, this time someone I did not know beforehand, who was interested in the SkillBridge program here at Atypical. Tristan Lewis has been hired on as a keg washer (where almost all brewery workers start) and now, starting on Jan 1st, Tristan will begin his SkillBridge program with us.”
So, the stage was set for the next stage in the journey, Johnson “Here’s where the story idea begins. As I stated before, there is a small but dedicated homebrew community in Minot. We have had many MAFB members come and go over the years. People we hold near and dear to our hearts. One such member, Jeremiah “Wort-Hog” White began a tradition among us 7 years ago. He built a traveling trophy, along with a brewing competition held among our members. The winner (as judged by popular vote among meeting-goers) then gets the traveling trophy, along with a custom-made tap handle from the previous winner, and then they must decide the style to be brewed for the next competition.
The tradition has been coveted ever since its inception.” The players seemed to be in place for collaboration on a batch of beer using the A-Typical Brewery as Eric explains “One such winner was one of our great MAFB community members Angel Morales, who is currently still living in Minot. His winning beer was a Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout. Here at Atypical we have occasionally invited members of the homebrew group to bring some of their best recipes and brew full-sized batches on our equipment. That is exactly what we have planned to do with Angel and his Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout recipe. And since we will have one retired MAFB member acting as my Assistant Brewer, a second “soon to be retired” MAFB member acting as my Apprentice, and a third active-duty member, all of them here, brewing a recipe that was designed by one of them, I believe this is an incredible opportunity for collaboration” according to Johnson.
By invitation, I was invited to view the brewing team in action as they began their collaborative batch on January 29th, with a target of early March for the batch to be ready for sales and consumption. “Here at Atypical we intend to fully document the event and use it to promote a Military Appreciation Week at Atypical to coincide with the release of the beer. We are extremely thankful for the MAFB and the support that its members give us “continues Johnson. The Military Appreciation week will be the week of March 8th. “We really look forward to continuing to build our relationship with the Minot AFB”
For Johnson, and the other 3 members of the collaborative brew team, it will be an opportunity to show the public how the process of brewing a batch of beer works, as well as giving a bit of notoriety to the Magic City brewing community.
