Opening a New Brewery: Lost Nomad and Dad Strength By Jon Brandt, CW Beermudgeon
T here are many paths to creating a new American craft brewery. Ever since Fritz Maytag bought the foundering Anchor Brewing Co. in 1965 and reinvigorated it by bottling its iconic Steam Beer for the first time in decades, brewers around the nation have been seeking their own paths to share their brews with the public. From that effort nearly 60 years ago, thousands of breweries have risen in many forms. There are full production breweries with the ability to brew hundreds of thousands of gallons of beer for nationwide distribution, and regional and local breweries serving smaller areas. There are self-contained brewpubs that produce beer only for their own taprooms, while others make their beers to sell at local shops, bars and restaurants. As of 2023, there were nearly 10,000 craft breweries in the United States, according to the Brewers Association. In the past year, 493 new breweries opened, while 409 breweries closed (including Anchor , although there are efforts afoot to revive the iconic brand once again.) Among the newest startups are two breweries based right here in Washington, DC — Lost Nomad Brewing Co. and Dad Strength Brewing . But rather than investing thousands of dollars to build out their own breweries, each company is working with existing breweries to develop their products, a practice known as “contract brewing.” Lost Nomad Brewing is the brainchild of Pete Zimmerman, a 15-year Army combat arms
“It’s less about trying to find a new segment in the market than doing ‘beer lab’ brewing,” Zimmerman said. “I brewed it in Africa, and it was delicious.” Zimmerman says working with another, more-established brewery is a good place to start. “Contract brewing is not the recipe for long-term success,” said Zimmerman, who hopes to open a brick-and-mortar brewery in Oregon in the not-so-distant future. “It’s break even at best. But I have a lot of respect for anyone who does it like this.” Dad Strength Brewing is another DC-based contract brewer, albeit with different plans and goals. Founders Craig Carey and Ryan Kut s cher have
every intention of finding an entirely new niche as America’s first mid-strength craft beer brewery. “As new dads, we both love beer, but we don’t love
hangovers the next day,” said Carey, a former restauranteur and serial entrepreneur. One day, they
Craig Carey (left) and Ryan Kut s cher are the founders of Dad Strength Brewing.
officer who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. After he left the service, Zimmerman followed his wife’s foreign service career to postings in Brussels, Haiti, Mauritania and Mexico City. Brewing started as a hobby for Zimmerman, but when the Zimmermans were posted to the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, where alcohol is illegal except in designated foreign zones, Pete had an idea to open his own taproom on the American campus. He was able to send an entire one-barrel pilot brewing system to Mauritania among his personal goods. “It just looked like kitchen equipment to everyone else,” he said. “If I won the lottery, I know
discovered they both were limiting their alcoholic intake by mixing their regular full-strength brews like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with a non-alcoholic brew. “Once we realized we were both doing that, it came down to, ‘Why are we mixing these beers like idiots?” Kut s cher said. “We wanted to come up with a better solution.” As neither dad was a brewer himself, they were able to leverage Carey’s past relationship with DC’s Atlas Brew Works , where they asked Director of Brewing Operations Daniel Vilarrubi to come up with a great tasting IPA with less than 3% alcohol by volume (ABV). “These guys gave me the idea for what they wanted and then we went to work,” said Vilarrubi, who developed the 2.9% ABV Dad Strength IPA , after about five tries over a year. “I loved the idea. I’m just happy to be involved.” Low-alcohol beers, also known as “small” beers, are popular in Europe but have yet to gain much of a foothold stateside. But that doesn’t mean Dad Strength’s ambitions are diminutive. “We want to be the Athletic of the mid-strength beers,” said Carey, referring to the fast-growing non-alcoholic brewing company based in Connecticut, which is among the top 20 craft breweries in the U.S. that saw more than 20% growth in the last year. Dad Strength’s next beer, a 2.8% ABV Apricot IPA , is expected to be released in October. “We want to get these in as many hands as possible,” Carey said. “The likelihood is that this will fail. Nine out of 10 startups fail.” “But if it works,” Kut s cher added, “it will work because it solves a problem in a community that needed this solution.” Lost Nomad and Dad Strength will be featured breweries at Calvert Woodley through the end of 2024, with special pricing and at least two tastings for each brewery at the store before the New Year. Sign up for our weekly beer e-newsletter, Notes from the Beermudgeon , on our website, www.calvertwoodley.com, for more information and updates.
Pete Zimmerman mashes in while making Lost Nomad Best Coast IPA at City-State Brewing Company.
that’s what I want to be doing, so why not just do it now? The bar is a lot lower to open and operate a brewery overseas than in the U.S.” He had a great reception for his beers among the nearly 1,000 diplomatic corps in the capital. This year, Zimmerman found himself headed back to the U.S. and he decided to put his plan in action here. Working with DC’s City-State Brewing Co. , he brewed his first beer for sale in America — Best Coast IPA , a West Coast-style IPA that is good, but admittedly standard fare. His next beer, expected before the end of the year, is more ambitious. With the help of Jasper Yeast , he was able to isolate a yeast strain in Mauritania that he is using to brew his next beer, tentatively called The REDACTED , which he calls a “West African Coast IPA.”
82 — CALVERT WOODLEY 2024 FALL SALE
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