This is an ongoing series of mini blogs to highlight the breweries like Factotum Brewhouse partnering with Drink for Pink.
Recently, we did a Getting to Know You interview with Rails End Beer Company. This time, we’re back with an interview of Laura and Chris, co-owners of Factotum Brewhouse. This year, we’ve been fortunate to work with Factotum in a few different ways including brewing two different beers and hosting a painting night. They have been huge supporters of our mission from the very start, and we couldn’t be more excited to work with them!
What’s the origin of Factotum Brewhouse?
Laura: A few times a year my siblings and I get together for a sibling-only dinner (there’s 4 of us) and one night we were talking about Chris’ latest homebrew and how homebrewers’ friends and family often tell them that their beer is good, even if it isn’t. Then we started talking about how cool it would be if bars could blindly put a homebrew on tap and get REAL feedback from people and/or how cool it would be to bring your office friends to a place for Friday happy hour, and voila!, your beer happens to be on tap. The idea really snowballed from there, even though we took zero action on it for over a year.
Chris: I’ll just add to what Laura said. After that discussion and after a good long time had passed Laura and I decided to move forward with the idea. We took a business course through the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and a brewing class through the Brewery Immersion Course at the Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery in Ridgway, CO. Then began the long and arduous journey of finding a space, procuring equipment, and construction. During that time, we did some collaboration brews with local brewers so that we could attend local festivals and start getting the word out. Here’s a bunch more info about all this at this link.
What’s your favorite beer and why?
Laura: My favorite beer is an après-ski beer. Nothing feeds my soul more than a great day on the mountain and that first beer afterwards is the best tasting beer ever made.
Chris: It depends on two things: what’s the season and have I had it yet? Generally, I drink to the weather and the time of year (light beers in the summer, dark beers in the winter, Marzens in September…etc.) and I usually order the beer I haven’t yet had.
If you could make any beer, what would you call it and what would it taste like?
Laura: I’m working on a Clementine/Cutie Saison right now…Name still TBD 🙂
Chris: My favorite types of beer fall under the “historical” category; beers that, while not necessarily unusual in their flavor, are unusual in that they include some ingredient or process that is no longer widely used. For example, our house beer at Factotum is Soldier’s Reward. We advertise it as a Pilsner but, really, it is a Classic American Pilsner, a sub-set of Pilsner that is rarely seen anymore. To the average beer drinker, it tastes pretty familiar but it uses uniquely American ingredients like corn, rice, 6-row malt, and Cluster hops.
Three words that describe your brewery
Laura: Community, Friendly, Inclusive
Chris: Open (as in not secretive), Educational, Collaborative
What’s next for your brewery?
Laura: Creating a larger neighborhood presence and maybe, one day, purchase that extra Brite tank we need 🙂
Chris: There are always new beers at Factotum given our one-of-a-kind business model. We’re always brewing the next beer.
Our pink IPA and pink saison are still on tap at Factotum! Stop by and give them both a try during the month of October to support the cause and a great brewery.