Bryan brewed his first batch – an Irish stout – using a kit he and his dad purchased together from Schmitty’s, a local brew shop in Kansas City.  It was love at first brew. Bryan has been brewing ever since, for more than 25 years now.

It was time to venture into  designing our own recipes, starting on this day with a Belgian white ale.  It didn’t suck, and that inspired us to keep going.  

Upgraded to an all-grain brewing system (about time, right?  Only took 16 years!), which supercharged brewing creativity.  Bryan LOVES formulating interesting malt mixes for new brews!  

Entered our first home brew competition, the Blarney Brew Off, hosted by Grains and Taps in downtown Lee’s Summit.  Came up with the name “Cock-a-Doodle Brews” for the competition to represent our Lone Jack, MO country lifestyle (and because we had just started raising chickens!).  It was a great day… Our brews won the People’s Choice Award and we took 3rd in the Stout category! 

The recipe for Rhode Island Red Rye Ale was brewed for the very first time.  We introduced this beer at Grains and Taps’ Blarney Brew Off in February 2018 and it quickly became one of our favorites!

Partnered with Weston Brewing Company to brew the first commercial batch of Rhode Island Red Rye Ale.  It first hit shelves on July 27 and we had launch parties in August at both Fringe Beerworks (thanks Eddie!) and Grains and Taps (thanks Brian and Brad!).  No kegs of the Red Rye survived at either one!  Our buddy Corey from Weston Brewing Co. said that seeing your beer on shelves feels like hearing your song on the radio… Well said brother!  Wisdom.

After months of tinkering with a new recipe to get the hops bill to work with the brewing system (Hippie Chick has a TON of hops!), we finally solved the riddle.  On Christmas day we announced the launch of our second commercial brew - Hippie Chick Country Cream IPA!