Robin Shepard Profiles Capital's Brian Destree

That's Brian Destree, the new production manager of Capital Brewery who took over after Kirby left last month. Robin Shepard has a profile of him (and that's where the photo came from as well) up at The Daily Page.

Look at the guy. He has the face of someone who lugs around sacks of grain and manhandles barrels all day. It was nice to read:

Destree describes his personal approach to brewing as old school with an appreciation for lagers. He doesn't plan to make any dramatic changes in the brewery's well-known lineup of beers, especially brews like its popular Supper Club. "I appreciate what it takes to make them, but we are also going to step outside those boundaries," he says.

I was relieved to hear that the emphasis on lagers isn't going to go away, although if Supper Club disappeared, you won't hear a complaint from me. It's also good news that he is looking to step outside Kirby's legacy as well as he has proven with Pumpkinataur Wrex*** as I thought it was an excellent beer.

The article notes that Eternal Flame 2.0 comes out next month and will be in bombers as the initial sortie in the Capital Square Bomber Series which will feature a new brew every 2-3 months. After Eternal Flame comes a beer called Jacked Maibock. What is that to be? Maibock aged in Jack Daniels barrels? Destree also says, "I'd like to make a beer that puts the hops forward, and that may shock the Capital faithful." It will be very interesting to see what he comes up with. An IPL like Coney Island's Sword Swallower?

Capital seems to be in good hands.

***Shepard reviews Pumpkinataur Wrex in the new Isthmus although the review is not online yet. He gives it 3 out of 4 bottle openers and says, "Pumpkinataur is best on its own as a dessert beer." I respectfully disagree. Personally I thought Pumpkinataur was much better than Lakefront's Pumpkin Lager which Shepard gave 4 bottle openers to. It doesn't attempt to be pumpkin pie in a bottle by de-emphasizing the spices and so would go well with a pork-apple combination or a cuisine that doesn't treat allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon as the exclusive province of autumnal pies. Think curry.