An Interview with Grant Chandler and Will Kelly: 2016 Bluebonnet Brew-Off Best of Show Winners
On March 12, 2016, we received a flurry of Facebook group page postings from some fellow Central Arkansas Fermenters members attending the 2016 30th Annual Bluebonnet Brew-Off competition in Irving, TX. Bluebonnet is considered the largest single-site homebrew competition in the U.S. This year they had about 1,500 entries from all across the country and in pretty much all categories of beer styles. Grant Chandler and Will Kelly won, not only first place in the BJCP Category 28A (American Wild Ale: Brett Beer), but they took down the whole contest with Best of Show! The winning beer was their Dunbar Brett, which just oozes everything about Little Rock, AR, everything these two guys are about, and the growing brew and homebrew scene. I just had to meet with them to conduct my first interview for HomeBrewDoc. Without missing a beat, they had just finished lautering a big oatmeal stout, and they had invited me over.
I was greeted at the door by Will who was grabbing a quick bite, and I was hit immediately by the smell of mashed grains and boiling wort. As I stepped in, I quickly noticed two stir plates with yeast in suspension in 5 liter Erlenmeyer flasks, a shelf full of growlers, and Grant carrying a keg of beer to the garage keezer. This was no doubt the home of homebrewers. Grant brought me downstairs to the basement brewery for a quick tour and Will joined us as soon as he finished his lunch. Fermentation chambers. CHECK. Yeast bank. CHECK. Frozen storage for hops. CHECK. BIG ASS propane three-vessel brew system. CHECK. No wonder where the heavenly smell was coming from.
How long have you two known each other?
Kelly: We’ve known each other for a long time. We were childhood friends first and later reconnected in college since we were both at Hendrix College in Conway, AR.
How and when did you get started homebrewing?
Kelly: I started brewing while a freshman in college in 2009. I started out with wine and then moved to beer. I probably did about 6 to 8 extract beer kits before moving on to all-grain brewing in 2012. One of the reasons I started brewing in the first place is because I could make beer that was better than the cheap beer people tend to drink in college. At that time (*laughs*) I was doing all the crazy things in beer making including starting a siphon with my mouth and dumpster diving for bottles.
Chandler: I brewed my first extract batch in June of 2013 and did about 6 to 12 of those before moving on to all-grain brewing.
What are your backgrounds? Has that contributed to who you are today as homebrewers?
Chandler: We both have backgrounds in science, particularly molecular biology. We were both aspiring to be doctors, but that wasn’t as attractive as we envisioned. Nor was a career in academics. So I went on to work in a laboratory at Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute. I now work as a brewer at Lost Forty Brewing.
Kelly: I’m a baker. After working in a lab, I worked for this Whole Foods bakehouse that supplied bread to all their stores in the region, but that doesn’t exist anymore. I now work for Mylo Coffee Co. where I continue as a baker. Grain and fermentation captivate us. Beer and bread are foundational to everything that is western culture and we resonate with that.
So, you two just won 2016 Best of Show out of some 1,500 homebrew entries with the Bluebonnet Brew-Off homebrew competition this past weekend in Irving, TX! Tell us about your entry?
Chandler: We entered our Dunbar Wild Ale (the same beer we entered into the first Damgoode Pies homebrew competition made on a larger scale with Josiah Moody of Moody Brews). The wild yeast is from the Dunbar Community Garden Project harvested from a plum. This time, however, we made a batch of the Dunbar Wild and secondaried it with Brett Brux. Brett Brux is a brettanomyces species which is currently a rather ill-defined genus, and this is one example of that ‘species.’ So here we have the wild yeast native to Arkansas, very likely a type of saccharomyces ceravisiae, and on top of this, we have the brettanomyces bruxellensis. In effect, we produce an even “wilder” beer!
Did you enter any other entries? If yes, how did they do?
Chandler and Kelly: Yeah, we entered a Munich Helles and an Oatmeal Stout. We’ve yet to hear back about our scores, but we are thrilled with the result for our Dunbar Brett.
Do you have a tip or two you’d be willing to share for homebrewers?
Chandler: I take to heart something that the founders and headbrewer at Jester King (Austin, TX) value, "Our beer varies from batch to batch a lot. And that's intentional. I kind of embrace inconsistency" (Garrett Cromwell, headbrewer). Whereas most breweries rightly focus on consistency, I believe that embracing inconsistency encourages a better understanding of brewing. When things don’t go as you think they will, instead of resigning, use that as a learning experience, experiment with the variables involved by brewing again and again. Great beers can come out of inconsistency.
Kelly: For me, I would say that that timing is important. That is, all beers have “its time,” and we shouldn’t try to rush the process. This is relevant to fermentation, racking, and aging. Beers can reach their peak at different times. All that having been said… for new homebrewers, focus on simpler, style-specific recipes and nail down the basics. Don’t rush into complex beers. Another thing I would add is for homebrewers to identify a competition, and brew specifically for that competition. It will up your game.
Thank you so much for letting me visit with you guys. I’m proud to be associated with you. Congratulations again on winning Best of Show for the 2016 Bluebonnet Brewoff! Enjoy the victory, and thanks for bringing recognition for Arkansas and the Central Arkansas Fermenters!
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