Brewery Rowe
Humor is kosher to Shmaltz brewer
by Peter Rowe
San Diego Union Tibune
December 17, 2003
"Holiday beer" is often a synonym for "Christmas beer," but not always.
From their witty labels to their merry flavors, Jeremy Cowan's two beers are truly festive. Go ahead and serve them with your Christmas turkey. The beverages will fit right in, and their creator won't mind in the least.
But that wasn't the original idea. Cowan launched Schmaltz Brewing Co. in 1996 by making 100 cases for another December holiday, Hanukkah (which begins at sundown Friday). And while He'Brew's home office is Cowan's San Francisco apartment, he has always aimed for a national audience.
"There are beer-drinking Jews everywhere," he noted.
True. But like Hebrew National hot dogs, He'Brew beers are top-of-the-line products that can be enjoyed by consumers of any denomination. It helps, though, if you have a sense of humor.
Cowan certainly does. We met recently in a Mexican restaurant in downtown San Diego, at the start of a cross-country tour to promote his brown ale, Messiah Bold ("It's the Beer You've Been Waiting For!").
Cowan dubbed the trip "Forty Days and Forty Nights: The Wandering He'Brew Beer Tour of America."
"I love wordplay," noted the 34-year-old brewer, who holds an English degree from Stanford.
The labels for Messiah Bold and Genesis Ale ("Our First Creation") are rich with jokes and Biblical allusions. They are also arty - the central figure in both labels is a rabbi, based on a figure found in Marc Chagall's poster for the Paris Jewish Theater, hoisting his glass in a toast. L'chaim!
For a few, this zesty enterprise smacks of blasphemy.
"I get the occasional religious Christian who feels that somehow religion and beer shouldn't go together," Cowan confessed. "I also get religious Christians who understand that it is important to celebrate your religious culture in a way that is fun and relevant and meaningful."
Did he also mention "profitable?" So far, Cowan's ledgers have been stained with more red ink than black. This year, in a bold gamble, he shifted his beer-making operation from Anderson Valley Brewing Co. to Mendocino Brewing Co. Both California breweries are among the nation's most honored, but Mendocino also has a brewery in upstate New York. Now Cowan is preparing to test his theory that this nation needs a good Jewish beer.
"We're going from brewing a couple of hundred cases at a time to 1,500 cases at a time," he said. "This is a gigantic leap forward."
Spoken with, what else, chutzpah.