Erica Shea and Stephen Valand are co-owners and -founders of the Brooklyn Brew Shop. They sell their beer making kits and ingredient mixes at BrooklynBrewShop.com, the Brooklyn Flea, Williams-Sonoma, Urban Outfitters, West Elm, and Whole Foods. Both they and their kits have been featured in Food & Wine, the New York Times, Real Simple, Cosmopolitan, Serious Eats, and on the Early Show, Regis & Kelly, ABC, NBC, and Fox. Their book, Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book, goes on-sale 11/1/2011. They live in Brooklyn.

We sat down with Erica Shea and Stephen Valand, authors of Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book (on-sale 11/1/2011) and asked them some questions about their business, their kits and beers and the book.

1. We can’t think of anything better than beer. How did you guys think to start getting into the beer kit business?

We started brewing beer when we inherited some old brewing equipment (Erica’s dad brewed briefly some 20 years ago) we were making pasta and ice cream from scratch at the time and thought beer was a great new project. Then we figured out a way to make it smaller and more like cooking so that we could really experiment with new recipes.

2. Where were you putting all of these kits together?

The classic story is starting your business on your kitchen table – well in New York City you are lucky if you can even fit a kitchen table in your apartment. We were sawing down parts by hand and hauling everything over to the Brooklyn Flea on weekends. We quickly moved production from a cramped apartment, to a loft in Downtown Brooklyn, to a 6,000 square foot warehouse in just 18 months.

3. When do you think you realized, “WOW – this is really taking off. This is our career, and we should write a book”

We kept having customers who got super into brewing ask us what we would recommend for brewing books. And while there are some really informative ones on the market they tended to approach brewing more from a science perspective – and often recommend using extracts and syrups instead of using real grain. We think of brewing more like cooking and wanted to create a beer book that was more like a cookbook, straight-forward, accessible, and ingredient driven.

4. How do you get your product into stores, such as Whole Foods and West Elm?

We were unbelievably lucky. And had a really cool product. The first store to ever stock our kits was Whole Foods on the Bowery, which has an amazing beer room. We dropped the kits off two days before Christmas in 2009 and they sold out in 2.5 hours. Most of our retail accounts start with a customer who is hooked on making their own beer and wants to get it in their store. We didn’t hire an actual sales person until last month.

5. Do you get customer testimonials? Do people ever contact you and tell you how cool it is to make their own beer?

That was one of the best things about starting out of the Brooklyn Flea – we got to really interact with our customers. It was those early questions and conversations that shaped and clarified our instructions. Customers would come back a month after their first batch and bring us a bottle amazed that it came out so well – and then pick up the latest three seasonal mixes and keep brewing. We heard so many great stories about daughters brewing with their dad’s over Thanksgiving (and then drinking it at Christmas), couples and roommates competing on batches, and grooms brewing beer for their wedding favors (and getting kits for their groomsmen gifts). We also have a great national and international community on Twitter (@bklynbrewshop) and Facebook (/brooklynbrewshop) where customers ask brewing questions and share photos and videos of the beers they brew.

6. Ok. Time to brag. What are some of the most innovative flavors you brew?

People are often surprised at the flavor combinations we come up with for our mixes but beer has such a diverse and long history that it is actually really hard to do something that hasn’t been done at one time or another. So while a Lobster Saison (p. 84) sounds a bit far-fetched it was inspired by traditional oyster stouts – and is absolutely delicious. We like to use flavor combinations we love in food and use them in beer such as our Chocolate Maple Porter (p.138), Grapefruit Honey Ale (p. 68) and our Gingerbread Ale (p. 142) which is spiced with candied ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon.

7. What are your personal favorites?

We really love them all. So we’ll just go with what we are craving today.

Stephen: Bourbon Dubbel (p. 150) now that it is getting bit colder the warming bourbon character makes it great for sipping.

Erica: Apple Crisp Ale (p. 102) is just perfect for fall. It has a light malt backbone, some cinnamon spice, and a tart apple finish.


Recipes From Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book