by Dean Kallas, Grocery Category Manager
Giant Jones Brewing Company is one of the LGBTQIA+-owned Inclusive Trade vendors we're highlighting for Pride Month. To learn more about our Inclusive Trade program, click here.
Dean: How did you get interested in brewing?
EJ: “Jessica grew up around her Dad’s homebrewing. When she turned 21, she decided to try beer. The cute little character on the Alpha King bottle from Three Floyds caught her eye, and, it turned out it tasted great! She promptly called her dad and said she wanted to make a batch of beer with him. She’s been brewing ever since! After we met, we discovered our shared interest in learning more about craft beer. When we moved to the SF Bay Area in 2004, we quickly discovered a vibrant craft beer scene, the Toronado Barleywine Festival, fellow homebrewers, and the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). We immersed ourselves and discovered/nurtured a love for Barleywine and brewing during our five years living there. We also were fortunate to meet some professional brewers from Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro, who let Jessica get even more immersed by helping out occasionally with their brewing and packaging. Our passion and future in the beer world was definitely fermenting! Moving back home to Wisconsin, a state with a strong brewing history, ample fresh water, and more affordable locales made the most sense to us to pursue our future in beer. “
How would you best describe the style of beer you make to someone who has not had one of your brews before?
EJ: “We specialize in big, flavorful beers! We focus on classic styles that are 7% ABV and above, and always try to have a Barleywine style beer available. We make beer flavored beer, using organic malt, hops, and yeast!”
How do you source your organic ingredients?
EJ: “We like the complexity of high ABV styles, and the variety we can get from a small range of ingredients. Since we are certified organic, it’s important to maximize flavors of the ingredients we can get, as there aren’t as many options available to us. The current brewing industry is really a commodity, industrialized market, so as a small, organic brewery, we have to work within and against that, which is a big challenge! Our malt and hops come from all over the world, but we’re working to source things locally, when possible. We’re part of the Artisan Grain Collaborative which is a network of folks involved in the regional grain shed and we’re excited about the future of regional barley and small-scale malting facilities that are in the works! We’ve also started making historical styles that utilize unmalted grains so that we can source from Meadowlark Organics. And we’ve used local hops and spruce tips from Harmony Valley Farm in a couple beers so far, and look forward to using more locally sourced ingredients in the future!”
Who is your biggest influence?
EJ: “There are so many! I think we are inspired by a lot of brewers that have come before, as well as the organic farmers/producers in our area who have, like us, stubbornly stuck to their ideals and passions to make delicious things that are good for the environment and community.”
What kinds of challenges have you faced while starting and getting your business going?
EJ: “There was this pandemic that happened 18 months after we started, which kind of put a bump in the road! Overall it has just been a steep learning curve on all fronts—but we’re stubbornly idealistic and totally invested in seeing our brewery and beer succeed!”
What is the best part of your work?
EJ: “Collaboration—we love partnering with people across the community, other producers, and each other. It’s fun to see how we can have a greater impact by teaming up with others to see a shared vision—whether for a beer, a fundraiser, an event, or the future of our grain shed—come to fruition.”
What are your favorite beer-making ingredients to work with and why?
EJ: “One of the things we are working on is sourcing more local ingredients. In partnership with Harmony Valley Farm, Meadowlark Organic Mill, and the Artisan Grain Collaborative, we’re working to get more local, organic ingredients into our beers! Using these unique ingredients requires a lot of thought, patience, and experimentation, which is both challenging and exciting for us!
“Harmony Valley Farm has added some new wildcrafted products to their organic certificate so that we can use them in our beers—you may have seen some Spruce Beer on the shelf, as well as Kornøl, both which use spruce tips from HVF. The Kornøl also used hops from HVF, and we plan to use sumac from their farm in our anniversary beer, a Witbier Grand Cru, coming late June!
“From Meadowlark Organics, we’ve used a number of raw grains, including spelt, rye, wheat, and oats in beers such as our Kaves, Antwerps Gerstebier, and Goedt Bier. We look forward to making these beers again this year, as well as adding some new beers featuring Medowlark grains.
“Finally, we are part of the Artisan Grain Collaborative—a network of farmers and end users who are working to add right-scaled infrastructure that bolsters our regional grainshed. We are hopeful that in the coming years a small-scale, organic maltster will be in operation so we can use even more local grains in our beers!”
When did you start making beer? What was the inspiration behind them and their names?
EJ: “You may have noticed that we don’t name our beers! We decided that the most important thing was to communicate the style of beer. The characters we put on our labels often do have names, as they are giants from mythology or history. We want the characters to personify the beer and give the drinker a point of connection. It is fun to try to pick a character or story that connects in some, often punny, way to the beer style or history.”
Do you have any other hobbies or interests?
EJ: “We are big foodies and love seasonal cooking. Our latest endeavor is hosting small, monthly multi-course (7-12 course) dinners featuring seasonal, local ingredients. It’s a fun challenge, and an opportunity to cross train by pairing dishes with other great local beverages like American Wine Project wines (also available at the Co-op!).”
Do you have any new products in development?
EJ: “We’re always putting new beers into the mix, like the Canadian-Style Spruce beer, and coming soon—a Breslau Schoeps Beer, Tropical Stout, and our Witbier Grand Cru…lots of fun new beers, as well as our ongoing favorites like Tripel, Extra Blonde, and Grand Porter!”