Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Schubert
Hi Bryan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I always had a passion for home brewing and began winning several home brew awards and competitions through the years, then in spring of 2019 everything fell into place.
My then employer downsized, and I was let go from my career in Marketing. At that same time a building that I had always loved in my hometown of Millstadt, IL. came available. With a little encouragement from my wife, Lizzy, we decided to take a leap and make brewing my full-time career.
Our family and friends helped us renovated a 1940’s service station located just a mile down the road from the butcher shop my parents owned in Millstadt for over 37 years.
We opened October 3rd, 2019. As a small hometown brewery, our focus is, and always will be, on improving our community, utilizing local ingredients, and offering a thoughtful rotating variety of beer showcasing our style of brewing.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
6 months after opening COVID changed our business model. Which included selling to-go beer in cans. We luckily were able to buy cans from a local brewery in Festus, Main and Mill, and started single canning beers one by one to stay afloat.
The community really supported us through that time, including local breweries, so while it was a huge struggle, it also brings back some fond memories.
Outside of that, probably nothing much different than all the challenges any other small business owner experiences.
We’ve been impressed with Millpond Brewing, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We excel in producing an exceptional range of different lager styles, hazy IPAs, and have found early success with our, only two-year-old, barrel-aged program.
Brand wise, here are some beers I am most proud of:
Old Millstadt was initially brewed for Millpond’s first Maifest celebration. Brewed with rice and pilsner malt, this light lager is crisp, clean, and crushable. The beer features a replica label from the pre-prohibition Millstadt Brewery Co.
Dunkes Bier is a German Style Pilsner made from the authentic, 188-years old, Schönberger family recipe from Millstadt’s Sister City, Gross-Bieberau, Germany located in the Odenwald region and founded in 787. The Schönberger family founded their bierbraurie in 1835 but closed it many years ago. The Oldenwald region has its own ancient dialect, “Odenwälder” and in that dialect the friendly word for a person from Gross-Bieberau is a “Dunkes”.
We named this beer in honor of that deep tradition because Millstadt was founded in 1836 about the time the ancestors of many current Millstadt residents immigrated here from Gross-Bieberau. We brew Dunkes Bier to preserve the cultural bier heritage of Gross-Bieberau and honor our own ancestry.
Crisp, refreshing light-bodied pils with crackery malt and an elegant, floral-herbal hop character.
I love Hazy IPAs, sometimes that higher ABV is a bit too much. Schubie Snacks is a Double Dry-Hopped Hazy Pale Ale with a lower ABV, but dry-hopped with the same pounds per barrel as our Hazy IPA’s. The lower ABV makes it easier to drink without missing out on the hop punch we all love from Hazy IPA. We used some of my favorite hops, Mosaic & Strata, to get flavors of fresh berries, tangerine, melon, grapefruit, along with the dankness Strata is known for.
Pronounced say·no·tei, Cenote is a Hazy IPA, double dry-hopped with Citra and Mosaic hops providing huge flavors of tropical fruit, berries, and citrus, with a juicy round finish.
We put a lot of time into building recipes and sourcing ingredients, using local ingredients and vendors whenever possible. Our honey comes from my father’s bee hives, we foraged our own elderberries and have a family member grow rhubarb for a tart beer we have available now.
This year we founded a charity, A Millpond Giving Place (named in reference to the breweries motto “A Gathering Place”)
After learning 22% of Millstadt students rely on free/reduced lunch, and 26% skip breakfast, meaning 1/4 of our student population comes to school not fully prepared to learn. Plus, on the weekends and during the summer months many students go without meals….we knew we had to do something about it.
Through our event Millpine Derby, a Pinewood Derby style race, we were able to raise $4,800 for Millstadt Consolidated School’s food distribution program – that’s over 50% of their entire year’s goal from our event
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Always surround yourself with good people!
We have great employees at Millpond, and I can’t thank them enough for being so educated about our beers, they make sure the taproom is in top shape and excel in customer service. Their positive attitude, especially handling all the curve-balls during our recent production expansion to support our recent distribution expansion into Missouri, is what helps make us successful.
It’s very comforting to know that we have a staff that’s always prepared and willing to do what it takes.
Our slogan is “A Gathering Place” so creating a great family friendly experience is what we’re all about!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.millpondbrewing.com/
- Instagram: millpondbrewing
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/millpondbrewing/
- Twitter: millpondbrewing
