SPRINGFIELD, MO – If fate can bring two people together, can it also create beer? The guys behind Mother's Brewing certainly hope so.
The wheels started turning after Thanksgiving dinner in 2008, when Founder Jeff Schrag was reading a Wall Street Journal article about the rise of craft beer.
Like most, Schrag had a yurning to turn his love of good beer into a business. Two years later, he has done just that in the form of Mother's Brewing.
Schrag's first phone call was to long time friend and beer-drinking buddy Jeremy Wicks.
"I was living in Chicago at the time and wanted to do something I had more passion in," said Wicks
At the same time, Brewmaster Brian Allen was in the process of moving from Wisconsin to Springfield, where his wife had earned a teaching job at a local university.
Brian helped start Boston Beer Works and had more recently been working at Capitol Brewery in Middelton Wisconsin. While interviewing potential candidates for Capitol, he learned about thejob in Springfield. The rest was history.
“The beer gods looked down on us and all of a sudden Brian moves here from Wisconsin, I get the phone call from Jeff and it all just kind of happened,”said Wicks.
Now the team is hoping the beer god's enjoy their suds, as they will be starting out in a 40,000 square foot facility that houses a 30 barrel system capable of producing 7200 barrels annully.
"I don't think a lot of people typically start out this big on day one," said Wicks.
Mother's is hoping they can pour their first pint in April but admits that they have been perfecting their recipes for last 7 months. They will start off with three beers initially and plan to release a summer seasonal offering on May 14th.
The three brews that will be available immediately are Mother's Li'l Helper, and Mother's Tow Head. Li'l helper is an IPA and Tow Head is an American Blonde Ale. The third beer, which is awaiting approval from the TTB, is entitled Three Blind Mice.
"For lack of better words Three Blind Mice is a Brown Ale," Wicks said. "It is our take on a Brown Ale. It is a Brown beer that has a ton of flavor to it, and elements of a German Alt beer, an English Brown Ale and Irish Red Ales."
Though primarily a production facility, the space Mother's Brewing is on will feature a tasting room and be open for public tours. Wicks said the plan is to hopefully open in the Spring and pour draft only selections for up to 45 days before they release their beer in bottles.