In just more than a year, Kyle Vetter of 1840 Brewing Company (342 E. Ward St.) has built a reputation as a brewing alchemist, experimenting with extraordinary flavors and even colors (he just released an eye-catching “Caribbean Sea Foam Fruited Sour”). When industrial hemp was legalized in Wisconsin, Vetter was immediately intrigued as to how it would work in beer.
“We’re constantly trying to experiment and do different things to achieve fun flavors and colors, so when hemp became something we could play around with, of course we wanted to do that,” says Vetter. His team and he are currently doing small five-gallon test batches of hemp-infused beer. So far, they’ve experimented with Wisconsin-grown hemp seeds and cannabidiol (CBD) isolate; they’re also trying to acquire honey from hives that were raised on a hemp farm. They’ve also played around with THC-free hemp extract. “We’ve been using a lot of different products to see which flavors and aromas and other things we can get into the beer by using those products,” he says.
While CBD is currently the hot cannabinoid best known for its health and wellness properties, Vetter also wants to experiment with other parts of the plant and use different aspects of it to make beers. Once they discover a hemp-infused formula that’s just right, Vetter notes they will have to have those formulas approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Vetter recalls not having too many challenges in brewing with hemp for the first time, other than some uncertainty about how the hemp seeds and the grain would create sugars and, thus, the final alcohol content of the beer. “That was something kind of fun to play around with,” he explains. “We’re still dialing in to what proportion of seeds we could actually use and still taste them.”
‘We’re Way Behind Other States’
At this point, Vetter is unsure when the first batch of his hemp-infused beer will be ready for release, but when it is, 1840 Brewing Company’s VIP members will have first crack at it. Vetter started the brewery with a model similar to crowd-sourced investing, in which people pay a yearly membership fee and receive access to private release parties and other perks. Vetter now offers two tiers of annual memberships. In September, he expanded tasting room hours from only one day per month to three. The brewery has 10 draft lines with nine beers on tap. Beer in 500- and 750 milliliters are also available.
Vetter had lived in Colorado, where he worked in the craft brewing industry and also saw first-hand how cannabis legalization can benefit everyone. “I saw the system work,” he affirms. “Forty million dollars went to schools in the state in just that first year of legalization alone. It’s hard to deny the power that responsible regulation can have on an economy. We’re way behind other states, and my fear is if we don’t move actively toward full legalization, when we finally do, we’ll be giving all the money to well-established, out-of-state companies that got their start in earlier-adopting states, and they’ll come in here and snap up all the licenses. So, if we can make hemp products and draw attention to the fact that this is a helpful plant that has health benefits—as well as positive financial implications for the people of our state—we’ll be doing our part.”
For more information, visit 1840brewing.com.
