Today’s installment of the 12 brewers of Christmas takes us to Oak Park, Michigan and Dog and Pony Show Brewing. I had a chance to sit down with the owner and operator of the brewery and he will be our Fifth Brewer of Christmas, Kyle Gierada.
Although he is not the head brewer at Dog and Pony Show, he did begin homebrewing with his brother Josh, who is the head brewer at Dog and Pony Show. A little about Josh’s experience in the brewing industry, he started by working at Northville Winery and Brewing Co, where he learned to brew cider and beer. After that he moved onto Schramm’s Mead, where he gained some experience making Mead. He has been at Dog and Pony Show for the last three and a half years perfecting his craft.
Kyle, like a lot of other brewers that we have featured on this segment, used to work in the corporate world and like most other brewers got sick of the monotonous routine that the corporate world provides. He noticed though that in a lot of situations beer, and especially craft beer was a great uniter of people from different backgrounds. He realized that on your day to day routine, you might come across someone that you think you have nothing in common with, then you sit down and drink and enjoy the same beers, this makes you realize that you have much more in common than you think. This was the driving force behind Kyle deciding to enter the beer industry and leave the corporate shenanigans in the rear view mirror.
One thing that Kyle mentioned when I asked him for advice about people looking to get into brewing beer for a living was to volunteer and learn about the brewing process in a professional environment before diving right in. He made the analogy that beer is a lot like cooking, just because you can cook one high quality brisket for you and a few friends does not mean that you can necessarily go out and replicate the same quality for a group of 300. This is a lot like brewing beer, just because you can make a quality beer in a 5 gallon soup kettle doesn’t mean that you are ready to do it on a much larger scale. Learn as much as you possibly can before deciding to do it as a living, take classes, ask questions, and gain experience by helping people that are already in the industry.
When it comes to keeping the passion for the industry alive and burning inside, Kyle mentions that it is a labor of love. He states that you might consistently be putting in a ton of hard work that no one takes notice of, but when one person comes in and compliments your beer or the atmosphere in the brewery, that one little compliment can keep you going for days, weeks or even months at a time. Whether you’re a beer novice or a beer savant, any sort of small compliment can make a brewer or bartender’s day, this is a sentiment that I totally agree with being a bartender myself.
The name of the brewery is an interesting one for sure, so I had to ask how they came up with the name Dog and Pony Show. Kyle replied that their Dad was an ex-Marine who came home to three rambunctious boys on a daily basis, when he used to come home and they were being mischievous he would ask “What is going on today at this Dog and Pony Show?” So to honor their father and the fact that all three boys work at the brewery in some capacity (Aaron handles the social media aspect of the business), they decided to name the brewery Dog and Pony Show Brewing.
RELATED: Dog and Pony Show’s 1st Anniversary Party! (2022)
Over the three and a half years that Dog and Pony Show has been operating they have made over 100 unique styles of beer. The brewery has run the gamete from lighter options like their delicious Czech Pilsner, all the way up to their very popular, heavy Barleywines and everything in between. Kyle states that when it comes to the beer that they brew at the brewery, “If it’s a style that we don’t personally like, we probably haven’t brewed it, but there aren’t many styles that at least one of us doesn’t like.”
You can expect to see 12 to 14 taps of their creations on tap at all times at Dog and Pony Show Brewing. Usually they have six standards or flagship beers that are constantly on the list. Then the other taps will be taken up by various styles that rotate in and out including their gluten-free Ciders and big Barrel-Aged Beers and Barleywines. You can keep up to date on what is going on at the brewery and the options that they offer by signing up for their bi-weekly newsletter that they send out.
Over the past year or so, Dog and Pony Show has added a two-headed can filler and a canning line to start packaging their beer for off-site consumption. They can all the beers that they make in the brewery with the exception of their Nitro Beers, this does present a whole new slew of problems and much more equipment than they have at the moment. To be honest though, Nitro Beers taste a hell of a lot better on draft than in a can in my personal opinion. The brewery has even started self-distributing their beers to various shops and bars in the Metro Detroit area. Keep an eye out for Dog and Pony Show Brewing products at a store or bar near you.
This time of year can be a real dog and pony show, if you are looking to escape the madness that is the holiday season and enjoy a beer made by awesome people. Pay a visit to our Fifth Brewer of Christmas, Kyle Gierada at Dog and Pony Show Brewing Company in Oak Park, where something delicious is waiting to be poured exclusively for you. Prost!
#cheers #beer #holidaybeer #drinklocal #michiganbeer #craftbeer #beerlovers #merrychristmas
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