The Hoosier Beer Geek 6 Pack: Jeremy Kosmicki, Head Brewer, Founders Brewing Company

The Hoosier Beer Geek 6 Pack is a feature where we run six questions by the folks behind the scenes at breweries to get a little more insight into what they do and like and how they got their start.

While the beer from Founders Brewing Company certainly needs no introduction, we found it strange that we haven't heard much about the folks behind the actual brewing of the beer. With that in mind, we got in contact with the folks up at the Grand Rapids, MI brewery to get a better grip on what they're all about.

1) Who are you and where do you work?

My name is Jeremy Kosmicki and I’m the Head Brewer at Founders Brewing Company.

2) What inspired you to start brewing beer? How did you get your start?

It was 1994 and I was 19 years old when I bought a homebrew kit. My cousin was attending Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, so Bell’s beer was a big inspiration. I helped another friend get started homebrewing, his name is Nate Walser. Nate went on to be the assistant brewer at New Holland, and then in 2001 he became the head brewer at Founders. I had been working on the bottling line there for a little while, then when Nate started I became his assistant. We were given permission to change the recipes and things really took off from there.

3) What's your brewing mission? What are you trying to accomplish with your beer?

My mission is to brew beers that I like to drink. I enjoy big flavorful ales and that’s what I brew best. I like my beers to be bold and assertive, yet still fun and easy to drink. I don’t want to be extreme just for the sake of being extreme – a lot of beers are interesting but not really palatable. I rarely attempt Belgian, German or English style beers. Those beers have been brewed for centuries now and there are plenty of brewers who have mastered them. I prefer American hops and American yeast, so if there is such a thing as “American-style” craft beer, that’s how I’d like Founders to be thought of.

4) Was there a beer that you benchmarked your own against? How did you know your beer was good enough to take to the general public?

As a homebrewer I was impressed by all the flavor and body that Bell’s beers had, so I suppose I wanted to brew beers like that. All of our friends enjoyed our big strong homebrewed beers, so I thought that if I ever made it to commercial brewing, then that would be the type of beer I’d want to make.

5) What beer are you proudest of? Which of your beers is your personal favorite? Why?

I’m proud of all our beers, and for different reasons. I’m proud of the national hype that beers like Breakfast Stout and KBS get. I’m proud of the huge amount of IPA that gets served in our taproom. And I’m proud of the balance and drinkability of our pale ale. My personal favorite is our Harvest Ale. I love that hop flavor and aroma that can only be found in wet hopped beers.

6) Which beers outside of your own do you enjoy? What beer do you wish you came up with? Why?

I love hoppy beers. Bell’s Two Hearted has long been a favorite of mine. I like North Coast, Lagunitas, Three Floyds, etc. I’ve been impressed with places like Firestone Walker, Russian River, and Surly, but they don’t distribute here so it’s rare that I get to enjoy them. I went to Belgium a few years back and fell in love with sour beers also.

7) There currently seems to be a little bit of the "Brewer as Celebrity" sort of thing going now (think Sam Calagione (22,000 google entries), Garrett Oliver (28,600 google entries), Jim Koch (48,600 google entries), and even on a smaller scale, maybe even Nick Floyd (5,150 google entries)) - considering that you're brewer beer as good as or in many cases better than theirs, why the lack of hype? I mean, 112 google hits for Jeremy Kosmicki?

112 google hits? That seems like a lot to me. I suppose my bosses like to hoard all the glory for themselves. I’ve actually already achieved fame with my rock and roll band, Oracle. We’re like huge in Grand Rapids and eastern Scandinavia. I’m a bit shocked you haven’t heard of us.

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All of us at Hoosier Beer Geek wish to thank Jeremy and the folks at Founders for taking the time to answer our questions, and for their dedication to good beer.

More on Founders from HBG:

KOTBR #22 - Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

KOTBR #38 - Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

KOTBR #65 - (Delayed) Jingle Bells

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Knight of the Beer Roundtable #65 was an event several months in the making. Despite our best repeated efforts to drink Christmas beers before Christmas, the weather continued to ruin our plans. We blamed this on Baby Jesus not wanting us to drink.

So last Wednesday, when the forecast called for more bad weather, we tempted the fates and went ahead with our plans. Some of us made the trip to Matt's southside deluxe apartment in the sky, some of us stayed home.


Shiner Holiday Cheer ($8.41/6 pack, Alabama Liquor)

Very rarely (actually never) do I pick up a beer and it reminds me of a mixed drink, but this beer does exactly that. It might sound odd, but if I was craving a "girly" mixed drink, I'd grab a Shiner Holiday Cheer to satisfy that craving.

The first smell is that of peach iced tea, with a malty hint. Orange in appearance with darker amber notes, this beer confuses the drinker with a taste of white grape juice. I would compare this beer to Welch's White Grape Peach juice, with a little bit of malty, roasty, beer flavor. It's an odd combination for sure, but a very delicious one. If you have someone in your life who doesn't like hops and doesn't like most beer, they might like this.

I'd also like to point out that this would be the perfect beer for a Girl Drink Drunk party.

I give the Shiner Holiday Cheer a solid 3.0 mugs.

Mike: 1.2 Mugs Gina: 2.0 Mugs Rodney: 2.6 Mugs Matt: 2.75 Mugs
Knight of the Beer Roundtable Score: 2.31 Mugs


Stone / Nogne 0 / Jolly Pumpkin Holiday Ale ($5.00/12oz. bottle, Jungle Jim's (Cincinnati))

Wow, I've never tasted something like this before. It's as if this beer was designed to be paired with a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. The aroma is like roasted turkey aromatics with fresh rosemary, caraway seed, rye, sage and thyme. The surprising flavors of rosemary, sage, beef broth and oregano all mix well in this beer. Standard beer flavors, such as caramel and dark brown sugar blend these spices together into an interesting mixture.

All these things I'm saying make this beer almost sound gross. This is definitely not the case. I would never drink a pint of this beer or order it at a bar. That said, I will very readily pair a wine-sized pour of this with Thanksgiving dinner next year. This beer is adventurous, creative and interesting. I think this is a product of beer being pushed into new realms and I commend the three breweries for their accomplishment. 4.0 mugs

Mike: 3.0 Mugs Gina: 3.15 Mugs Jess: 4.0 Mugs Matt: 2.5 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.33 Mugs


Oaken Barrel Epiphany Tripel ($11.99/6 pack, Crown Liquors)

There have been some great things from the Southside lately (not you, Mike). Oaken Barrel's Epiphany is no exception. This beer pours golden yellow and cloudy and has a spicy aroma with banana, clove and candy sugar. The flavor is sweet and has a little alcohol punch to it, but is highly refreshing. The bottle doesn't list the ABV, but I would suspect it's fairly high. I give it 4.25 mugs.

Mike: 3.8 Mugs Jess: 4.1 Mugs Rodney: 3.9 Mugs Matt: 3.95 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 4.00 Mugs


Left Hand Snow Bound Winter Ale ($5.99/22oz, Goose the Market)

This is a darker beer, with a color that's only slightly darker than the brown of your typical beer bottle. A really thin head leaves a nice lacing on the glass. A strong ginger nose won't be a huge surprises to anyone that's had Left Hand's Juju Ginger, but for those of you who haven't had a ginger beer, it's not what you might call a typical beer element. The front is all ginger, with a hint of honey and orange, and is followed up with a creamy mouthfeel and a nice alcohol zing on the back. At 8.6% ABV, it does a nice job of providing a little warmth for a cold day. 3.3 Mugs

Gina: 3.3 Mugs Jess: 3.2 Mugs Rodney: 3.14 Mugs Matt: 3.25 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.23 Mugs


Mikkeller Santa's Little Helper 08 ($11.99ish/22oz, Parti-Pak Liquors)

You might recall that we named the 2007 version of this beer as our Beer of the Year. When trying out the 2008 version, we also got out a bottle of the 2007 to compare. Unfortunately, as of right now the 2008 version does not live up to its predecessor's reputation.

The 08 version: A creamy caramel nose that reminded me of Brach's Royals candy led to a front of sweet fruity gum flavors and a high alcohol presence. Hot, with earthy tobacco flavors, hints of molasses and darkest chocolate in the dry finish.

All in all, an interesting but disappointing experience. I think this is a beer that might be best drank with some age on it. If you're sitting on a bottle, keep sitting on it. It might be best drank around Christmastime next year. 3.2 Mugs

Gina: 4.3 Mugs Jess: 4.0 Mugs Rodney: 3.8 Mugs Matt: 1.75 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.41 Mugs


Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale ($7.99/6 pack, Crown Liquors)

We all know Sierra Nevada brews a ton of beer, and I've found their lineup to be a very solid selection of beer. Most people know their pale ale, and this really wasn't that far of a deviation from that. It has a dark amber color with good head retention, but is has the hop aroma of their standard pale ale with mostly floral hops with a touch of pine. The flavor profile is slightly malty, but the hops also have a rather soapy presence as well. This isn't a bad beer, and a decent IPA, but I don't really know what makes this a winter beer. Perhaps a California state of mind would make this beer better for me, but I was expecting more of a winter warmer than an IPA. 2.0 Mugs.

Mike: 2.2 Mugs Gina: 1.8 Mugs Jess: 1.7 Mugs Rodney: 2.4 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 2.02 Mugs



N'Ice Chouffe 2004 ($?/22oz, Parti-Pak Liquors (bought before 2005))

Every time I have a beer from Chouffe I think of the French film Amelie, but that is only because of the Gnome factor in the movie and on the bottle of every single Chouffe product. This bottle is their 10% ABV yearly winter beer. The bottle we sampled from was from 2004. A dark brown body reveals a sugar bread sweetness with a malty and nutty dominant base in the nose. As the beer warms more dark fruits and spices coming to life as well. Curucao peel, spices, clove, tart orchard fruit, and a bit of anise flavor this beer nicely with most flavors working together, but the spices are quite strong and not really restrained in a beer over four years old. The alcohol is well hidden on the mouth, but I certainly do the feel the warming alcohol after the swallow. This was a good offering from Chouffee, but make sure you have people to share a bottle of this with. This was personally my second favorite beer of the night. 4.4 Mugs.

Mike: 4.06 Mugs Gina: 4.5 Mugs Jess: 4.2 Mugs Rodney: 3.7 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 4.17 Mugs

All prices/locations approximate (from memory)

The Michelob Craft Pack

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In a recent effort to compete more vigorously against Sam Adams, Anheuser Busch's Michelob line has received a makeover. In addition to such awesome flavors as Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus, they have updated their recipes and adjusted their "serious" beer lineup. Craft Packs are now available featuring Marzen, Irish Red, Pale and Porter styles (and if you find the 20-pack, Amber Bock is among the varieties). For this 4-style sample pack we paid a $9.99 sale price at O'Malia's downtown.

There were two things we noticed immediately. First, they've switched back to regular caps (not twist off) and have somehow attempted to spin this into some amazing new pry-off technology their marketing team came up with. Second, there is a tasting chart included. This is actually pretty neat. If you're new to making a concentrated effort to pick out flavors, aromas and other characteristics of what you're drinking, they do a pretty good job of guiding you. Of course they do so with a lot of heavy marketing speak, but the effort is respectable.

The tasting notes, complete with a link to the website.

Marzen

I picked up very faint caramel and buttery notes in the nose. The taste overall was very crisp with light malt, lemon zest and toffee flavors. It seemed somewhat watery, like a light German lager. A bit of floral honey emerged after it warmed up. This is better than Budweiser American Ale but it's still very light for the style they are attempting. Regular Michelob is a better beer.

I couldn't get over the smell of wet dog in this beer. The color was fairly light and golden with a hint of amber. It tasted slightly sweet with a butter finish. This was representative of a German lager but unlike that style, it wasn't very refreshing and had a funky aftertaste.



Irish Red

This beer was surprisingly impressive. Sweet malt, cherries, milk chocolate, brown sugar, butter and toasted pecans created a fairly complex aroma. The Irish Red tastes like toasted pecans and caramel with a ton of malt character and a creamy yet light body. There's a hint of something fruity sweet in here, maybe peaches? Overall this is stylistically similar to Michelob but comes across with a sweeter and more concentrated malt flavor.

This beer was a dark red color with a healthy head. The nose was a pleasant mix of hops and malt. It was slightly sweet and very balanced. This would make a good tailgating beer. No wet dog here.




Pale Ale

It should be noted that this beer should be served at a slightly warmer temperature (maybe 50 or 55 F). If you server it ice cold you're going to miss out on a lot of the delicate hop presence here. The nose contains a mix of citrus and pine hops with a bit of mint and chamomile in the background. The flavor is very gently hoppy with flavors of pine, honey and grapefruit zest. This isn't nearly as hoppy as an APA or an IPA. It's a decent, mildly hoppy Pale Ale. Something many craft brewers forget exists, and definitely a good warmup to the standard American Pale Ale style for someone not used to the flavor of hops.

The color of this beer is golden orange and the body is slightly cloudy. It has a spicy, hoppy nose with a slight sweetness to it. Overall this is a very mild pale ale that is very floral and light in taste. The finish is very dry and refreshing.




Porter

This is the belle of the ball. The nose is full of molasses, roasted malt, caramel, cocoa and a hint of coffee. Chocolate plays the lead part is the flavor of this Porter with hints of coffee, sweetened milk, walnuts and dry baker's chocolate. This beer could stand on its own. I would buy a 6-pack of this. Very impressed.

The Porter has a roasted malt and chocolate nose. The color is very dark with red hues. This beer has a very nice mocha coffee and roasted malt flavor. This wins the title of the most drinkable beer in the craft collection.



Summary

Michelob isn't going to win over any hardened beer enthusiasts with this one, but they have improved their lineup. The Marzen is a good stepping stone for someone used to the standard American Lager. The Pale, Irish Red and Porters are all excellent gateways into the vast world of craft beer. We were both very impressed with the Porter and thought the Irish Red wasn't too bad. The Pale was a bit light for our extreme tastes and the Marzen was just not very good. I think we were both happy with the result of this experiment. If you've tried any of these, let us know what you think.