A few weeks ago, I was able to treat our readers with a behind the scene’s glimpse into the construction of our new 1/2 BBL mash tun. Our custom built wood-clad beauty ended up being just about everything I had hoped that it would.

In early use, it has performed beyond expectations, and we are very excited to be able to put it through even more paces in the months to come. I also was able to show you our new 25 gallon kettle, which…while by no means fancy…has also performed exceedingly well in early use.

Which brings us to the next key component in our expansion…our fermenter. Continue reading →

Justin is out of town and is busy enjoying the beauty, nature and beer culture in Boulder, Colorado, so he is unable to provide your weekly dosage of Regular Guy insight. Regardless, the show must go on, so I will be stepping in to do my absolute best to keep our avid fans and supporters (Hi Mom!) in the know.

We didn’t do any brewing over the weekend. Had a few other brewery related irons in the fire, so we weren’t able to fit it in. Hoping to fire up the kettles again soon though as we have three new recipes we want to fit in before it gets too cold to mash outdoors with any level of effectiveness.

While we didn’t brew, we did get together for a while Friday night to tend to some final arrangements for a competition we took part in on Saturday. Among those final preparations included adding a few final details to our serving station/bar. Continue reading →

The midnight shift sucks.

I’ll repeat that in all caps so you will understand my disdain and also that I’m yelling.

THE MIDNIGHT SHIFT SUCKS!!!

I added three exclamation points to show the intensity of my boisterous clamor.

Yes, while most of the working world is nestled snug in their beds, I am working my hands to the bone. Well we’re forced to wear gloves so technically I’m just wearing out a pair of gloves, but you get the point.

Things I hate about the midnight shift:

1. I don’t get to sleep in my bed with my wife.

2. For some strange reason I miss my kids. If I was working a normal shift we would all be asleep and I wouldn’t see them anyway. Weird.

3. I don’t sleep well during the day. I’m a professional napper, I can fall asleep pretty much on command, but naps are short. I need a full block of sleep, like I get at night, but I generally wake up about once an hour.

4. My food schedule is thrown way off. I don’t eat at work when I’m on midnights. I don’t eat when I get home. I usually eat a protein bar when I first wake up and then dinner. That’s it. It’s weird to eat a full meal when I would normally be sleeping.

5. My bathroom routine is thrown way off. I won’t go into detail, probably already more information than you would like to have heard.

6. It’s really hard to get back on a normal schedule after the midnights are over. Plus, there’s only two days to get back to normalcy because Monday I’ll be back on day shift.

7. You miss out on fun stuff. Like, going to watch Brian and Seth play hockey. While the rest of the world is winding down from a long day’s work, I’m just getting ready to go in.

8. I could go on forever about why I hate midnights, but I’ll end my list with this. I haven’t had a beer since Saturday, today is Thursday. Also, I have this in the fridge.

I put it in black and white and added a vignette to intensify the seriousness of my predicament.

There’s also this in my fridge. You can’t go wrong with that!

There’s a lot of guys out here that don’t let midnights stop them from enjoying their beer. They get off work at 6:00 am and start drinking. I can’t do that. The only thing on my mind at 6:00 am is going to bed. I could have a beer after I wake up in the afternoon, but I have to pick up my daughter from daycare. I’m pretty sure her provider would call DCFS on me if I showed up smelling like beer. I could have one with dinner, but then I run the risk of smelling like beer when I get to work. It’s a vicious cycle.

All I know is I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. I’ll get to drink my beer, hang with my bros and bottle our EPA.

Wish me luck getting through the dark, cold beerless days.

Until next time…

Please note. The following article is entirely satirical and fictitious and was penned in response to this article about the newest release from Dogfish Head.
Further note: We have a great deal of respect and admiration for Dogfish Head and what it’s founder Sam Caligione has accomplished. They have been vanguards in the craft beer industry, and have opened many of the doors that have paved the way for the microbrewery boom of today. For that, we have the deepest appreciation to the brewery and its founder. We are just not fans of needlessly esoteric beer. Beer shouldn’t require a culinary degree or access to the internet to understand. It should just be good. While Regular Guy Brewing by no means adheres to the strict rules of reinheitsgebot, we prefer to stick to ingredients and inspirations that Regular Guys…and regular craft beer drinkers…can relate to and enjoy. After all…you earned it.

Seth Treptow is a man of routine. Each morning, the co-founder of Illinois’ Regular Guy Brewing takes twenty minutes or so to walk his dog around the neighborhood to provide the schnauzer with an opportunity to defecate and urinate. The solitude allows Treptow to clear his head, and the dog a chance to clear its bowels, before delving into a busy work schedule.

“It’s my most productive twenty minutes of the day in terms of thinking creatively about stupid new ways to seem cool and esoteric and blow people away with my ingenuity,” says Treptow. Continue reading →