When Mattingly Brewing Co. shuttered its doors on July 1, its most esteemed brewer was nearly as surprised as the rest of us. Drew Huerter had been working at Mattingly since the shop opened more than two years ago and was the face and head brewer behind its popular “peek a brew” series. When word spread that Mattingly would not be renewing its liquor license early this month, Huerter was getting ready to start another batch.
“I was sad to see Mattingly go, but the signs have definitely been pointing that way for a little while,” Huerter said. “I was surprised to see it happen that quickly though.”
For now, Huerter will continue to work with local brewer Schlafly, which has been his full-time gig for a few years now (he calls the time he spent at Mattingly his passion project, though he’s had plenty of fun at Schlafly too, he muses). His Burn Ward Wheat was released at Schlafly Bottleworks on July 2 and should run out either today or tomorrow, which is “pretty quick for a small batch of beer like that,” he said.
So what’s next on tap for this local brew-lebrity? Well, he’s been heading to Schlafly between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. all week to work on the brewery’s upcoming Oktoberfest and pumpkin ales, and he is delving into a couple new projects including one new brew that has our interest piqued: Hop in the City (he promises more on this as it nears).
He’s also applying a bit of what he learned at Mattingly to his work with Schlafly. “We’re exploring more intensely stuff we haven’t done before, like Belgian ales,” Huerter said. “The focus I put on Belgian ales at Mattingly is proving beneficial in getting these projects off the ground.”
The happy ending to this otherwise sad story? This brewmaster’s creativity is staying local, at least for now.
This article appears in Jul 1-31, 2010.