*NEW BREWERY ALERT* Q & A with Marcus Powers of Zipline Brewing Co.

You are about to open a brewery in Lincoln, can you explain how you got to this point?

Wow, sometimes in the middle of the frenzy, you forget to take time and look back to appreciate how far you’ve come.  Right now there are three of us involved with Zipline Brewing Co., but a few years ago it was just an idea in James’ head.  James is a super passionate brewer, one of those guys who digests as much geeky information about brewing as he can and puts it into action.  James started planning for this several years ago.  He began taking Siebel Institute courses to educate himself on how best to setup the brewery, and then built a kick ass brewery/lab area in his basement to give us a controlled environment for test batches. 

Last spring, the three of us (James, Tom, and I), happened to be playing softball together on a team dominated by home brewers.  Last September, a mutual friend who knew James had went “off the deep end” with the brewery idea arranged a patio beer meeting for us.  I walked away thinking the idea sounded interesting, but a little crazy and a lot risky.  James and Tom continued the brewery talk for nearly 3 more hours on James’ patio after I left.  James kept after Tom last fall, and eventually convinced him to attend a Siebel conference in Chicago geared toward starting up a craft brewery.  Tom told me he was going for the sole purpose to convince himself this was a terrible idea.  And, of course, they both returned from Chicago drunker than ever on new brewery Kool-aid.  Tom went all-in with James, and they set out to find a guy on the ground to put their crazy plan into action.

That’s how I got involved.  I had more or less forgotten about our initial meeting, and was just preparing for the winter doldrums last November.  Tom called and told me they were definitely pursuing the brewery, that they needed someone to get it going, and I was that guy.  I was floored.  I went and told my wife about it, and then ducked.  But, once she learned about the plan, she actually thought I should take the leap …  even though we just figured out we were going to have a baby in June 2012 (yes, next month!).  After meeting several times, I learned these guys had done some serious in-depth planning.  But what really sold me was that Tom and James were so passionate about craft beer, they were willing to go to great lengths to ensure we produced some really high quality brew.  Like a bad addiction, I couldn’t shake the idea—I too had become drunk on the new brewery Kool-aid.  I left my job in January of this year and really haven’t had the chance to look back.  It’s been a crazy, but awesome, ride.   

Do you have a target opening date?

We would definitely love to be brewing beer by August.  But, it’s a moving target for sure.  I spend my days trying to orchestrate schedules to ensure we can hit that target.  We have a thousand balls in the air and each one has a specific lead time that has to harmonize with our opening date.  There will be some bumps this summer, but I sense more than ever it’s starting to come together.

Where does the brewery name "Zipline" come from?

Remember how I told you that James has been working on this project for several years?  Well, James loves to travel and he’s a very active guy.  I’m actually not sure whether he even sleeps.  About four years ago, he also picked up a ziplining bug and decided, in James-fashion, to take it to the next level and build one in his backyard.  A lesson for you at home: don’t let your son be the guinea pig on your backyard adrenaline project.  Because James’ son, Charlie, took the first incredible ride down the zipline—and then rode straight to the hospital with a dislocated elbow and a wrist fracture.  Based on this experience, in the spring of 2009, James and some friends were on a trip to Kansas City to see the band The Killers, and a friend suggested the Zipline name while discussion beer and possible breweries. 

When we started talking about brewery names, the concept hit home for me as I remembered when I was a kid and we strung a zipline cable over a spring fed lake high in the hills of northern Nebraska.  We’d ride that cable down from a cliff and plunge in the crystal clear lake 15 feet below.  It was a bit gnarly at times, especially when the rusty line left you hanging over the shallow water full of sticks, but always a crazy rush. 

This all tied into another big part of our mission, which is to bring together people and ideas in our community that might not otherwise connect.  We hope our beers will be a catalyst to start conversations and facilitate discussions that inspire people to try new things.  The whole Zipline concept seemed like a great metaphor for that effort.

And that’s how we ended up with Zipline Brewing Co.  It’s about taking that plunge, that risk, that crazy rush of adrenaline and putting it into action.  We want to reach out to people like us, the ones who are out there hiking, biking, hunting, climbing, running, skiing, and traveling around the world.  There’s adventure all around us, and we wanted to find the doers in Nebraska and reward them with some more tasty local brew.        

Where will the brewery be located, and how did you choose the location?

The exact address for the brewery is 2100 Magnum Circle in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Nobody knows where that is, but it’s just a short drive down west O Street from downtown Lincoln.  Right before you get to the Highway 77 overpass over west O Street, turn south on South Coddington Road.  That comes to a dead end after about 2 blocks at the rail yard — Magnum Circle is the only road you can turn on.  This is as industrial as you can get in Lincoln.  We wanted a place where we could make beer in peace, so to speak.  We also wanted a warehouse that we could grow into, if we could be so lucky.  There’s a big parking lot out front that will be great for events, and even though it’s an industrial area, we have big plans for a tap room which is already in progress.  It’ll be a cool place to hang out, and we’d like to make it a home where our patrons can put up pictures of their crazy adventures and projects to talk about over brews.  Pictures of crazy adventures while enjoying Zipline brews and gear earn bonus points.    

What are your plans for packaging?

Initially, we are just going to offer beer on draft.  We don’t have a set point at which we want to start bottling, but it will probably be within months, not years, from our start.  We are hoping that some early signs from draft sales will let us know what you all want to see on the shelves in bottles.  I love draft beer, but you can’t always be expected to get to a bar or restaurant to try our beer.  So we really want to deliver a portable package, but we want to do it right.  

Tell us about your brewhouse, and feel free to be geeky.

We have an amazing brewhouse being manufactured as we speak.  JVNW (JV Northwest) is a company out of Portland, Oregon renowned for making high quality brewing equipment for the craft beer industry for decades.  Also, having an American made brewery was important to us, because not all stainless steel is created equally, and this outfit really knows their stainless. 

The brewhouse is a two-vessel system with a 20 barrel (bbl) mash tun and kettle.  It’s pretty simple because in the world of highly modified malts, more functionality just adds more cost that’s really hard on a startup operation.  You will learn as you get to know me that I’m not a very traditional brewer.  I appreciate old-world tactics, but I’m not the guy who’s going to go out of my way to fire up a double decoction brew.  I have mad respect for those brewers, but it’s not me.  Beyond the brewhouse, we have two 20 bbl and two 40 bbl fermentation tanks, and two 40 bbl conditioning tanks.  All that stainless is going to look pretty amazing on top of some new tile floors, so we’re definitely excited to see it all come together this summer.

What have you found to be the most challenging part of opening a brewery?

I would have to say it’s the constant oversight of scheduling to keep all the parts moving in harmony toward our goal.  I would love to brew beer every day, work on spreadsheets to graph out fermentation performance, and focus on all the geeky beer stuff that drew me into this trade.  But, building a brewery the right way to stand the test of time means I spend most of my days becoming an expert on random topics.  For example, what’s the best trench drain material for a brewing operation?  I seriously spent hours buried in trench drain spec sheets.    

Have you run into any brewers from the other in town brewing operations?  What has the response been like from them?

We’ve received some really incredible support and advice from the brewers in town, and across Nebraska quite frankly.  We haven’t talked to anyone who hasn’t extended a helping hand to us.  When one brewery told us they would “look out for one of their own,” I felt a real sense of family in the Nebraska brewing community, and am very grateful to have such a wealth of experience to draw on as we go through what will inevitable be some difficult startup times.  It’s a unique industry for sure.

Do you already have an idea about what beers you will offer?  Can you give us any hints?

We are working hard to perfect the American light lager … okay, I’m full of @!#$.  We are pretty close to nailing down our initial lineup.  I’d like to see at least 3-4 beers made in 2012, and then to keep more coming in 2013.  Given our startup target in late summer/early fall, I definitely want to get a beer that tugs at your seasonal instincts.  A coppery, malty brew with some balanced hops.  I’m also dangerously drawn to Belgian varieties, so it’ll be hard to resist that temptation.  Down deep, I’m a hophead that can’t resist a citrusy-smooth IPA.  If you read our blog, you’ll see we’ve run into supply issues with certain hop varieties, and the IPA design veered off the road for a bit.  We thought about parking it, but I still haven’t given up hope!  Closer to winter, I’ll be looking toward a brew to warm up to after dusting off the snowflakes.  An overarching goal we have is to keep you upright as much as we can so you can still get out and be adventurous and not have to give up fresh, local beer.  We won’t focus on any high gravity brews early on, but you can also be assured that we won’t be giving you any beer below 4% ABV either.

Where do you vision the brewery being in 10 years?

When James and Tom started the plan to build a brewery, they really wanted to do this right for long term growth.  To us, it’s about creating a lasting business that’s as important to the community as the community is to us.  Nobody (hopefully) gets into the brewing business to get rich, so becoming an ingrained part of Lincoln and the rest of the state would be a deeply meaningful outcome for us.  From our floor to our brewing equipment, we’ve spent a painstaking amount of time to ensure that our materials and equipment will stand up to at least 10 years of abuse.  I look at the brewery patrons and employees as becoming a big family with long lasting ties. 

It's Iron Chef Brewer Edition, your mystery ingredients include pecans, carrots, figs & white pepper.  What are you brewing?

Each one of these ingredients is tempting in its own right.  I love to cook, and my favorite part of brewing is dreaming up new combinations of ingredients.  A lot of formulas and guidelines can get in the way of the art of brewing, which is really just an extension of the art of cooking.  Even though I’ve wanted to make a fig wine for some time and a fig beer could be interesting, I think the sexiest combo to me is the pecans and carrots.  I threw together a Thai pizza a few years ago where I caramelized some shredded carrots, roasted pecan pieces, and incorporated ginger and some other spices.  While I was brewing with Rahr & Sons in Texas, I tried an amazing pecan porter by 512 Brewing made with fresh roasted local pecans.  To explore new territory I’d throw the roasted pecans on an amber-copper ale base, with some caramelized carrots adding some subtle sweetness to the balance.  Sure, you could invite the figs to the party, but I’d like to keep it simple and isolate the carrots and pecans to see how they mingle with your taste buds.       

Where can we go online to learn more, and to keep up with the brewery?

We want to create a window into our startup operation.  We have pictures of construction, blog entries about the startup process, and lots of other news streaming online.  Our website is www.ziplinebrewing.com, we’re on Facebook at Facebook.com/ZiplineBrewing, and they even convinced me to setup a Twitter account at Twitter.com/#!/ZiplineBrewing.  I told myself once I’d never have a Twitter account, and I feel guilty to admit I’ve really enjoyed all the Twitter feeds from the craft beer industry.  It’s really interesting to follow all your local breweries, as well as catch the thoughts of brewing icons like Charlie Papazian, the Alstrom Bros from Beer Advocate, and of course the Nebraska Beer Blog!