We have a new concept that will take place on the page today and in the future. On occasion, I will sit down with a brewer, brewery owner, bartender, customer, follower, basically someone in the brewing community and we will have a little chat about the brewing industry.
The first person that I am going to feature in this segment will be Nick Cornell. Nick is the Co-Head Brewer, General Manager, and just overall, Master of The Universe at SuperNatural Brewing and Spirits in Livonia, Michigan.
Nick is a veteran of the brewing industry, he started home brewing 5 gallons a week, 10 years ago right after he turned 21. Shortly afterwards, Schoolcraft Community College began operating their brewing program, Nick didn’t wait to enroll. He ended up graduating with a brewing degree, and graduated as the top student in his class.
After graduating from the Schoolcraft Brewing program, he went on to intern over at Ascension Brewing Company. After his internship was over, he moved on to become a brewer at Witch’s Hat Brewing Company for 2 years. Then in January of 2018, Nick ended up making the move to become the brewery manager at Supernatural Brewing Company and the rest is history.
Nick can be seen chatting with customers, brewing the beer, bartending, running food and various other jobs throughout the brewery. Basically if someone at Supernatural needs help, Nick is there to help them. I asked Nick what inspired him to become a brewer, and his response was that brewing beer is cool, and brewers are cool. He got into this industry for the same reason most of us do, we love our job and the people we meet on a daily basis.
When it comes to Nick and his personal beer preferences, one of the first things he mentioned was smoked beers, specifically citing Rauchbier. Both Nick and I wish that Rauchbier was a little bit more popular of a style, Nick would love to be able to smoke beers constantly. Playing into the Supernatural theme, I asked him what was the weirdest beer that he remembers brewing over his years in the industry. His response was a Dill Pickle Beer, those have been popping up quite a bit lately.
Supernatural likes to play into the Supernatural theme quite a bit, so naturally they have to do something for Halloween, right? One of the promotions that Supernatural does every October that Nick plays a huge part in, and is currently going on until October 26th, is the 13 beers of Halloween.
The 2024 celebration is the 5th year of this promotion. Usually the last day of the event each year is the Saturday before Halloween. For the previous 12 days on the calendar a new beer is released each day. This culminates in a new beer release on the 13th day, and then all the beers from the previous 12 days go back on tap for a huge celebration.
Some of the beers from this year’s 13 beers of Halloween include Will-O-Wisp- Smoked Marzen (Since he really likes smoked beers, I bet Nick definitely had a hand in this creation), Hell Van- Spicy Brown Ale, and on the last day BB DOOMcakes. This beer is a salute to rapper MF DOOM and is a Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. This beer is absolutely delicious, I have had previous iterations of it over the years. To see a full list of their 13 beers of Halloween, head on over to their Facebook page and check out their daily releases all the way up until Saturday, October 26th.
Other promotions that Nick and Supernatural run throughout the year include the 12 Braggots of Christmas. This is very similar to 13 Beers of Halloween, except replace the Beers with Braggots. The last weekend in August, they also run a Sour Fest that takes over the whole property. This is an unleashing of all different sorts of sours for those that love Sour Beer, I have attended Sour Fest a few times, and it is always a blast.
The next time you are looking to chat with a really cool dude who knows his stuff about the brewing industry, make a stop at Supernatural Brewing Company and chat with Nick Cornell. You will definitely learn a thing or two from him, I know that I did. Salud!
P.S. If you or someone you know in the brewing industry would like to be featured on this segment in the near future, reach out to me through the comments and we can work on setting it up.
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