Bodega brewer coming

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Jan 22, 1999

A Wisconsin native who has spent the past five years making beer in Colorado will open the Pearl Street Brewery sometime this spring in the basement of the Bodega Brew Pub at 122 S. Fourth St.

Joe Katchever signed a lease this week with Bodega owner Jeff Hotson, who will be one of the microbrewery's customers.

Katchever, 26, said Thursday he will sell his beer to the Bodega and other Coulee Region taverns and restaurants. He also plans to sell kegs of beer to the public.

It will be the only microbrewery in La Crosse, and the first since the Black River Brewery & Pub, which operated from 1995 until January 1997.

Hotson said the Bodega has made about 60 small batches of beer -- a half-barrel each time -- since early 1996 with its small brewing system. But the Bodega will make no more of its own brew, he said. "With Joe moving in, he'll be taking the space we've been using plus more."

Katchever already has begun moving equipment into the brewery area, which Bodega customers can view through windows. He has bought nine stainless steel processing tanks.

Katchever will brew seven barrels of beer per batch, and said he may make one or two batches a week. He said his annual production capacity will be about 650 barrels. There are 31 gallons of beer in a barrel.

"My goal is to have four or five different beers as soon as we get into production," Katchever said.

"My primacy goal will be to make the highest-quality product I can produce," he said.

Initially, most of his hops will come from Europe. "Eventually, I'd like to have all my ingredients come from local farmers and local suppliers," Katchever said.

He will do all of the brewing for the first few weeks, and said he probably will hire another brewer a month or two later.

He also said he has been buying brewing equipment over the past three years, while planning to open his own microbrewery in Wisconsin. He chose La Crosse after visiting the city last spring and meeting Hotson.

Katchever was raised in Port Washington, Wis., and attended the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He decided to travel to Colorado to learn to make beer. He said he brewed beer for the past five years as an employee of two microbreweries, and as a guest brewer at three others. He also took brewing classes in Colorado.

"I like the fact Joe has a good background and appreciation of beer, and he's going to have the right kind of equipment and skills to turn out really good beers in our building," Hotson said. "It complements our situation."

Hotson, 44, and a partner opened the Bodega Brew Pub in June 1994. Hotson now is the sole owner.