Today we are continuing our 12 brewers of Christmas series with a little bit of a twist. Today we have two brewers in one review. For our Fourth Brewers of Christmas we took a trip out to Stumblebum Beer Co. in Troy and chatted with Eli Green and Chris Coburn.
Eli is the owner and proprietor of the brewery and Chris is the head brewer of the facility. Eli used to brew over at Cadillac Straits in Madison Heights before he opened up Stumblebum. He also used to run the homebrew supply shop at Cadillac Straits, which allowed him to meet most of the homebrewers in the Southeast region of Michigan. This allowed him to pick their brains about the process of homebrewing and allowed him to strengthen his repertoire as a brewer himself.
Chris has been working in the brewing industry for about 15 years now. As far as formal training outside of the brewhouse, Chris took brewing courses through Siebel. He began his professional brewing career on the Westside of Michigan, he started as an intern at Greenbush Brewing Company in Sawyer, Michigan. After a few years at Greenbush, Chris moved back to the Metro Detroit area and took a position as head brewer at Woodward Avenue Brewers in Ferndale. He stayed in this position until COVID hit and they shut their operations down. Chris then moved onto B. Nektar for a little while before he took a job as head brewer at Batch Brewing Company in Detroit. After a couple of years at Batch, Chris got laid off, that is when he decided to join Eli in his venture of opening up Stumblebum, and that is where he has been brewing ever since then.
With all the experience that he has brewing beer at breweries, there is one thing that Chris had never done in his brewing career until he agreed to work at Stumblebum. Chris had never started a brewery from the very beginning and watched it grow from day one. This is a challenge that Chris was very excited about and really gives him the challenge of establishing a brewery’s identity through his creations.
If you are thinking about becoming a brewer in the near future, Chris recommends that if you don’t think about beer constantly then he says that you should stay away from brewing for a profession. In his years in the industry he notes that unless you like creating things and are okay with working long hours for a pay amount that is shrinking year over year, maybe you should just enjoy brewing as a hobby. He noted that the average lifespan of a professional brewer is about seven years, this is due to people leaving the industry for better pay, health insurance or for health reasons. Brewing beer is definitely a very physical job that takes a huge toll on your body over the years.
15 years is a long time to be a brewer, so I asked Chris what keeps the passion for brewing beer burning for so long. He responded that he is very obsessive by nature, he has been making food and drinks for people since he was 15 years old. He claims that he is a glutton for punishment, he even has a hobby as a home roaster of espresso. Both that and brewing require making things complicated, and he has always enjoyed things that are complicated. Even as a child he enjoyed taking his bicycles and nintendos apart and putting them back together. As an adult he likes taking apart old European motorcycles and putting them back together, he truly is the poster child of being a glutton for punishment. In the end though, he does really enjoy watching people enjoy his creations and that is the driving force that keeps Chris coming back for more.
As far as styles that Chris personally loves brewing, he calls himself an old school brewer and he enjoys brewing German style beers and Czech Pilsners. Chris states “to the novice, it is a boring beer, but you can’t hide any imperfections in the beer.” This is a sentiment that many brewers involved in this segment have also echoed. Another style that Chris enjoys brewing is a big West Coast IPA. He loves the smells that are given off by the hops on a bold West Coast IPA, the aromatics alone make him absolutely love this style. Contrarily, two styles that Chris isn’t particularly fond of are the Hazy IPA and Smoothie Sours. He describes brewing a Hazy IPA as a boring brew day, “once you have figured out the parameters of a Hazy IPA, there isn’t much else there.”
Now that we have learned all about Chris and his brewing background, we are going to switch gears and let Eli tell us a little bit more about Stumblebum Beer Co. The name was the first thing that I had a question about, and Eli explained that the name “is an alias of a gentleman vagabond with really good taste, that doesn’t play the part of a gentleman”. Originally people thought that the name was Eli’s nickname because he is clumsy, alas that is not the case.
After 6 months in business, I had to know, what has the response been to Stumblebum thus far? Eli mentioned that the response has been great so far, people love the beer and always leave the brewery happy. They receive very high praise on their German Lagers from the employees of Heller, which is a German company that sits around the corner from their taproom. Stumblebum has been featured on multiple morning shows and newspapers, but one thing that Eli has said is a challenge to overcome, getting your name out there and increasing your visibility. He says, “it is always just so much harder than you would think”.
If you are hungry when you visit the brewery, Stumblebum has become known for the beer and cheese pairings. They offer charcuterie boards that pair very well with the beer options that they have on tap. One other thing that people talk about a lot after visits to Stumblebum are their fry flights, which just like beers, are sample sizes of different flavors of fries that they offer at the brewery. In addition to these options, Stumblebum has various sandwiches that are made fresh daily in the brewery.
On your trip to Stumblebum, some of the beers that you might see on the board include German Lagers, various IPA options, Belgian Beers (which go very well with cheese pairings), and a few Sour beers. These are not their only option though, and the taplist changes quite often. A few of the beers that are currently on their taplist include their Schwarzbier, Peach Sour and a Belgian Blonde.
Some of the beers that you can expect to see coming up in the future and during the holiday season include a Hazy IPA with Citra and Pacific Sunrise hops, a West Coast IPA with Strata Hops, and a Belgian Chai Stout. Last but not least they will have their first limited bottle release soon, Abby Ale’s Abbey Ale (which is “the beer named after the dog named after the beer”, which will clock in around 12% ABV),
The next time that you are craving a great beer, visit our Fourth Brewers of Christmas Eli Green and Chris Coburn at Stumblebum Beer Co. in Troy, Michigan. There will always be something delicious on tap to try and a perfect cheese to pair it with. Prost!
#cheers #holidaybeer #drinklocal #beer #beerlovers #michiganbeer #CraftBeer #TroyMI
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