Want the juicy details on how a Christmas gift from 2017 was the jumping off point to starting a business? Check out the latest episode of Bite Me below where I talk with one of the owners at Unified Beerworks about a home brew kit being the impetus to starting their own brewery, and how “All The Juicy Things” IPA has had a following since the beginning.
Tell me how you got started brewing beer
I bought my husband a home brew kit for Christmas back in 2017 and that’s kind of where it all started. We both completely fell in love with it. He loved making New England style IPAs and I loved the brewing process so much. I also love sours and I said “I’m going to start making my own” so he took care of the New England IPAs and I took care of all the sours. My husband also does stouts and then we just branched out after that.
How long after the initial kit did you then decide to launch Unified Beerworks?
It was October of 2018 when we opened our doors.
How’d you come up with the name Unified Beerworks?
Interestingly enough, our original name was supposed to be Good vs. Evil Brewing because Jeff and I like two different styles of beer but we actually ran into some trademark issues. It worked out because I think Unified is much better. Jeff came up with the name, Jeff actually comes up with all of the names for our beers. He's very creative that way. Unified Beerworks- I feel like it’s much more fitting because we come together with our styles in order to bring them out into the community. Unification is definitely a good theme for the past year and this coming year and our future.
Do you focus mostly on IPAs and Sours?
That was our original focus and we definitely wanted to have a stout because we love stouts so we always have one on tap. I also like to do some of the more traditional German style beers. I will do an Oktoberfest and my husband actually brews our “A Glimpse of Bavaria” which is a typical German style lager.
Were you always entrepreneurial or did you do something else before this?
My husband and I both worked for corporate America for a long long time. I had been getting the entrepreneurial bug for a while, I just wasn’t sure what it was going to be or what I wanted to do. We sort of stumbled into craft beer and that world and I absolutely fell in love with it.
Is there a beer that represents Unified Beerworks?
There are a couple of different beers like “All the Juicy Things” which is one of our most popular New England style IPAs. That’s one of the first ones that Jeff brewed at home and wrote his own recipe for which came out amazingly. It’s definitely one that we are very proud of and almost always have on tap.
What’s in the future for Unified Beerworks?
Surviving the pandemic is key and I would say that’s number one. There are so many question marks out there right now for a lot of people, obviously not just us. We’re definitely thinking about what the future is going to look like and we invested in a new canning line this year. That isn’t anything that we thought we’d be getting into right now but because of the pandemic, it just made sense. It’s difficult to think too far ahead because we are thinking more about the immediate future and making sure we can keep up with that. We are always thinking maybe a 2.0 down the road or maybe a different location? We’ll see!
Unified Beerworks is located at 7 Stonebreak Rd Malta, NY 12020
