Pub Crawl Reporter
After a long uphill battle, local sports bar and grill Emerson Biggin's, 3512 Clinton Parkway, is finally brewing beer.
Scott Bentley, head manager, has been striving for a brewery license ever since Biggin's opened their doors in Lawrence. Why was becoming a microbrewery so important? Having the equipment already installed in the building sure didn't hurt the idea.
"When this place became available and it already had the brewery built into it," Bentley said, "it seemed like a good fit for us. We knew we'd be able to move beer down to Wichita (the restaurant's other location) and sell it down there."
Emerson Biggin's has been open for quite a few months now, but a brewing license didn't just fall into their lap. Although the place was fully equipped to start chugging out the beer, the government has to give their 'okay' before one drop is sold.
"This has been a nightmare," Bentley said about attaining a brewing license. "This has been a federal government nightmare."
Bentley said that under normal circumstances, a brewery license takes about three months to go through. It took Emerson Biggin's six.
According to Tom Ricker, Emerson Biggin's brewery consultant, the ATF has to do background checks on all investor and owners of an establishment that wants to brew. This is to make sure that Al Capone isn't running a brewery.
"Really all the ATF is worried about primarily is making sure that your not cheating on your taxes,"; Ricker said.
Once the red tape of the government was out of the way, Bentley brought in Ricker to help get the brewery off of the ground. Ricker has been brewing for ten years now, and according to Bentley, he's the best in the business.
Ricker made sure that the equipment was in working order, tried different recipes, and trained people on the system. Also, he was there to prevent a common mistake among new breweries.
"Initially when you make your first couple batches of beer, you're too aggressive," Ricker said. "Joe Q. Public might get scared or frightened by them, and if you come in with a really big ballsy pale ale or something like that, people (that are not used to it will say), 'I don’t like this stuff,' and then on you're labeled as 'his beer's too strong'."
Bentley agrees, deciding that the Emerson Biggin's brand will be "pedestrian beer".
"We sat down and decided 'what do we want out of a beer?'," Bentley said. "The consensus was everybody's: We want beer that's drinkable for the masses. We're not trying to appeal to the snobbish crowd - brew some exotic blends that only four people in the world would drink."
What if people complain that the beer is too weak?
"You can always make it bigger," Ricker said.
The new pedestrian beers that Emerson Biggin's is now brewing includes the four flavors Premium Lager, Unfiltered Wheat, Amber Ale, and Double D Stout.
Bentley sees the benefits of brewing these beers as a step in the right direction in establishing a name for Emerson Biggin's.
Don't believe for one second that the other beer companies who sell their beer at Emerson Biggin's to be dancing a jig for them and their quest to establish a name for themselves. Brewing most definitely cuts into the bigger guns' sales.
"We can brew it cheaper than we can buy Budweiser, Miller, Coors; so we can sell it cheaper," Bentley said. "I honestly believe that whether you get beer at Free State or other microbreweries in the area, you're getting better quality beer for your money."
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