Kosciusko Kettleheads homebrew club collaborate in Warsaw
Talking—and tasting—home brews with the Kosciusko Kettleheads
Northern Indiana
Marshall County Brew Club shares knowledge and a love of beer
“There’s an old homebrewing joke,” says Ian Rogers. “I tell my wife I like to brew beer, and it’s more like, I like to do a lot of dishes.”
Rogers, of Plymouth, IN, imparts this bit of wisdom as he and two other members of the Marshall County Brew Club (MCBC) are—spoiler alert—doing dishes. They are cleaning pots used for steeping grains (called mashing) while the wort (what beer is before yeast is added) is boiling with hops.
Homebrewing means washing up on both ends of the process. Afterward, of course, because everything’s dirty, but also beforehand, to ensure all the equipment is sanitized. Otherwise, random bacteria and yeasts in the air can spoil the flavor of the beer.
But the process—the chemistry, the endless tinkering with recipes, not to mention the end product—makes all that effort worthwhile.
MCBC is made up of homebrewers who encourage each other to experiment with their craft and share their creations.
Started in 2013, and going through a sort of reboot in 2015, the club has about 25 members, with 10 or so the most active. The club became a registered nonprofit organization in 2017.
In addition to brewing on their own, members often get together at someone’s home for “Brew Days,” where a lot of knowledge is swapped—verbally and through observation. They have also hosted public brew days in Centennial Park in Plymouth, where anyone can stop by for an introduction to homebrewing.
If you’ve attended the South Bend, IN, Brew Fest or Zoo Brew, Bremen, IN’s Oktoberfest, or the Summer Sippin’ Festival in Plymouth in the past few years, there’s a good chance you’ve sampled MCBC’s brews. They’ve also poured farther afield, at the Indiana Microbrewers Festival in Indianapolis and HomebrewPalooza in Westfield, IN.
According to member Tom Carbaugh of Plymouth, pouring at festivals is what prompted the nonprofit status. There is no other legal way for a club like this one to participate at nonprofit festivals and benefits.
The club members brew one or two styles each for the events, offering a fairly wide variety for people to try. It’s the best way to do it, considering the effort involved.
“We could do a lot more if we ranged further (around the area),” Carbaugh says. “But we don’t get paid. We donate our beer. And it’s a lot of work to make a beer and not get to drink any of it.”
But the rewards come in a variety of forms—emphasis on variety.
“Even though we’re pretty busy, we take a walk through the festivals,” says Carbaugh, whose first beer festival was South Bend Brew Fest.
The bigger the festival, the more beer styles and recipes they can sample. That also means people get to sample something from the MCBC that will likely be one of a kind.
“It’s a huge ego boost for complete strangers to come up and say ‘This beer is awesome’ for a beer that you were 50 percent going to dump out the night before,” says club member Michael Lushbaugh of South Bend. “You want to bring a variety. ‘Look at this gnarly beer we made: It’ll never exist again. It’s a unicorn.’”
Club member Darsha Maxson of South Bend agrees. “Definitely an ego boost when somebody asks how to buy your beers.”
The club is working on barrel‐aging a stout. About seven of the club’s members made at least one 5-gallon batch at home. Then they combined them in a 50-gallon whiskey barrel purchased from Four Roses Distillery (Lawrenceburg, KY). If all goes according to plan, the beer will take on notes of vanilla, oak and bourbon from the barrel as it ages for about seven months.
“I’ve always been a beer lover. I’m a stout and dark beer girl, and that’s what I’ve stuck with,” says Maxson. She brewed a double batch of Russian Imperial stout to go into the bourbon barrel.
“I didn’t start brewing on my own until two years ago,” she says. “It’s very addictive, being part of the brew club. They’re excellent teachers.”
Lushbaugh agrees. “You get excellent feedback. That’s what’s great about the brew club,” he says. “They’ll tell you ‘This flavor’s great,’ or ‘This one got away from you.’”
The feedback pays off. A number of the club’s members have won awards at various regional and national competitions, which provides fresh perspective.
“You might get a beer that you think is good and it doesn’t score well,” says Rogers. “And then you get one that you don’t like as much and it places second or third.”
One of Lushbaugh’s first beers was a kriek, a fruity sour beer that won a bronze medal in Wichita, KS. And last year an old ale he made took first place in a regional American Homebrewers Association competition. (“That’s braggable,” he says.)
Festivals notwithstanding, brewing and drinking new beer are what the club’s about. And the more, the merrier.
The club got started because there weren’t a lot of homebrewing clubs in the area. So membership is open to anyone.
“We do want to get more people,” says Rogers. “It’s more fun.”
Membership in the Marshall County Brew Club is open. Dues are $25 annually and are used to defray expenses for activities. For more information, visit facebook.com/MarshallCountyBrewClub.
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