Zauber Brewing

Zauber Brewing Company was one of the most anticipated operations in the central Ohio craft brewing scene. Geoff Towne has credentials. UC Davis, followed by jobs at Great Lakes Brewing, Boston Beer Company, and work in the field as a rep and a brewing consultant. On his website he tells you that he is an Internationally Certified Brewmaster.

It sounds kind of dickish.

However, Geoff's a nice guy who loves beer. If you have the pleasure of meeting him you'll find him to be genuinely warm and engaging. He doesn't talk down to anybody, despite his impressive background. Watching him interact with people as he fills growlers makes you think that his stuffy approach to his bio was in jest.

Surely he knows that some of the best brewers in the business don't have degrees, or certifications. Yeah, he knows. He's got to.

What I like about Geoff is that he's taking a different tack when it comes to beers. He spent a lot of time in Europe and he's trying to bring that approach to Columbus. His plans include a German-inspired beer hall full of German-inspired beers.

I sincerely hope he does well. Columbus has a rich German Heritage and there's a huge, untapped market of beer drinkers who would respond favorably to the less assertive hop profiles one finds in Euro-centric styles.
I'm rooting for Geoff, and I'm pleased that he has a strong following here in Columbus.

BUT...

... I'm not impressed with his beer.

His very first entry into the market was a German Hefeweizen, Vertigo, that missed the mark for me. I got the distinct impression that Geoff tried to filter this a bit to clean it up for his American audience. The result was a wheat beer that seemed a little watery. No harm, no foul. Wheat beers rarely rock my world, but this one had that "almost" quality to it that I normally associate with Annheuser Busch when they try to sneak a craftish product into the market. Every time the brewers at AB come up with a bright idea, some douche in a suit tells them to tone it down. Then some accountant guts the budget. When the beer finally reaches the consumer: suckage. Big time suckage.

When AB announced that it was offering an "American Ale" craft brewers were nervous. They won't readily admit that they were, but when the beer finally hit the shelves they breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then they took another breath and laughed. "American Ale" is fucking awful, craft brewers and craft beer reps will tell you to try it. A rep from Great Lakes actually bought me one. He eagerly watched my face as a I had a pull from the glass as if I was taking the cinnamon challenge.

To be fair, I think Geoff boxed himself into a corner and forced this beer out to satisfy demand. Zauber's brewing efforts were delayed by red tape and I think that Four String Brewing Company, also in Grandview, scared the shit out of Geoff because Four String was out there building up a fan base while Greg was waiting for his permit. So as soon as he possibly could, he cranked out a hefe because it's quick and easy.

I was actually looking forward to Geoff's Stodgy Brown. That doesn't sound right, does it? I'm talking about an alt beer that Geoff bills as being aggressively hopped, like a Pale Ale.

I expected a sweet nuttiness up front, with a dry finish. What I got put me in mind of a Light Grand Cru. There was an unwelcome sourness to it that didn't seem intentional. I checked the profile on the Zauber's website and there was no mention of wild yeast strains. Alt beers are old school German beers that can be aled, lagered, or both, but they aren't generally sour. Maybe something funky got into the fermenter on that batch. Maybe the keg was jacked up. Either way, well, ick.

This was so unusual, I checked a couple of beer review sites and found that I wasn't the only person to pick up on it. One review described the finish as astringent.

The other alt, Myopic Red, is mediocre. It reminded me of the days before craft beer had proliferated the market and I drank Irish Red.

Full Discosure: I'm obviously not a huge fan of Euro-centric beers. That said, I've had many that I like. I was actually looking forward to the Stodgy Brown and desperately wanted to like it. Every brewer needs a flagship beer that he can anchor his brand around and that was the one that had the potential to appeal to a large audience.

Maybe Geoff needs to back off the true-to form approach. He claims to like "style-bending" beers, but nothing he's currently offering seems to bend anything. What I've tried so far could have come from a prepackaged home brew kit.

Them's fightin words in the craft brew business, especially for a guy a well-traveled as Geoff, but I think they are words Geoff needs to hear. People have been singing his praises but I think that's because they like the idea of Zauber. We're all caught up in the "buy local" movement and there's nothing wrong with that, but you have to deliver the goods. Columbus has been really fortunate to have some great local business open over the last several years and those businesses have enjoyed support. You can't betray that trust with bad product. It's not fair to the comsumers, but it's a real disservice to other entrepreneurs who will follow you.  Don't salt the earth.

Geoff's doing a great job of working the crowd by connecting with the Food Truck scene to host events at his brewery, but the beers leave a lot to be desired and you can't hide behind food trucks and big talk forever. Especially with other brewers trying to carve out a slice of the same pie.

The good news is that Geoff has an opportunity to make it work. He's got a following that should afford him enough breathing room to get his beers on track.

Look, if I'm just a snob, and he manages to carve out a niche, more power to him. There's a huge segment of the market that all of the current craft brewers is not reaching. If Greg can lure them away from conglomerates with lightly hopped, Euro-brews, everybody in the business will give him a huge round of applause.

That's a big if.


http://zbeers.com/