Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery future looks bright after averting disaster
2024 started rough for Christian DeBenedetti. Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery, the Newberg, Oregon operation he founded in 2016, experienced what he describes as a “catastrophic failure of the steam jackets in our brew kettle.” It happened in early January, just one day before an ice storm swept through and effectively shut down much of Portland and Willamette Valley area. While the issue was mechanical and not directly related to the storm, it certainly didn’t help.
“This was mid-brew, on the way to the boil. Almost no steam was returning to the boiler; we were stuck at 140F. But we knew the boiler was running like a clock and the steam traps on the brewhouse were relatively new and inspected. It had to be internal. With the jackets ruptured behind copper and steel cladding and completely inaccessible, not only was there no way to complete that new experiment which we were excited about, nor was there a way to brew again on that system, perhaps ever,” recounts DeBenedetti.
Turns out, it was forever, and just like that the brewery was unable to produce beer. Insurance companies are not always sympathetic to covering these types of losses, but luckily the Wolves & People team had brewed a batch of their flagship Postman pale ale the day before without issue and this helped prove the event was a sudden loss. Despite the great news, DeBenedetti was suddenly faced with the challenge of how to replace his entire brewhouse.
“Five weeks of back and forth later, we were officially backed for repair or replacement. During this time, I spoke to scores of fabricators and no one believed it was fixable — or if they had some vague notion of how it would work, none would agree to take it on. Time was of the essence. So we pivoted to sourcing new or used gear,” he says.
After exploring options, it was a stroke of luck and a friendly professional connection that helped land Wolves & People its new brewhouse. “The extraordinary part is the same day insurance backed us in writing, just a few hours later, Italian wine and beer processes manufacturer Della Toffola’s new U.S. sales rep Mike Paladino, who is based in Portland, reached me on LinkedIn to network, as we share many colleagues across the beer industry. He had started with the company three days before. I told him that was pretty wild because three hours before we found out we will be looking at new gear. And he had seven very nice systems on the floor that could conceivably replace ours,” he says. ”They have not sold many brewhouses in the U.S. to my knowledge, but were supplying companies we look up to like Bierstadt (Denver) with complex machinery and I instantly knew this was the way forward. It was both incredibly lucky and exciting to work with this company which has been leading the EU industry for decades — it’s over 100 years old.”
With a new brewhouse on track, it seemed that things would be up and running sooner rather than later. During their downtime, they relied on breweries like Heater Allen, Dwinnell, Xicha, and Foreland to brew collaborations that kept their beer list filled with optimal brews. Then another challenge popped up with the departure of head brewer Shilpi Halemane as he decided to leave the beer industry entirely. It didn’t help that the loss of the brewhouse had essentially prevented the team from producing beers and they were forced to rely on a handful of brewery friends to help them brew enough beers to have product for their customers. Halemane had played an important role at Wolves & People as an expert on wild yeast and fermentation of both clean and funky beers as the former brewmaster of Logsdon Farmhouse Ales.
“We are super proud of Shilpi’s time here and remain close friends (and someday soon, collaborators) as he ventures into the world of food science. It has been hard on us all to be out of production for so many months but we weathered it all well and enjoyably packaged a lot of Cellar Society beers together and also talked a lot about ways to optimize in the future. He made a lasting impact and was a super valued and enjoyable colleague, and we wish him the very best in his new career,” remarks DeBenedetti.
While other business owners might have given up and closed shop with the loss of their brewer and entire system, not to mention over half a year of not being able to brew in their own facility, DeBenedetti kept on trucking. Setting his sights on landing someone talented enough to replace Shilpi, he ultimately landed on Eric Burda, former Director of Operations at Cascade, as his new head brewer and right hand.
“Eric’s tenure at Cascade included a successful time as lead blender as well and his resume is full of the kind of deep experiences that made him the best candidate for this unique job. We had some remarkable candidates I felt lucky to be considering. He starts this week and one of the best parts to come out of this is that we are collaborating with Alissa Larrance as she winds down Cascade to source both aging barrels and bulk barrel stock that would otherwise never see the light of day. More on all this later, but we feel it is important to tip our hats to them as true pioneers, and we are proud to bring some of those excellent beers (including but not limited to sours, saisons, and stouts) into our cellar for aging, blending, and eventual release as Wolves & People beers that owe more than just lip service to the legacy of Cascade. We are so grateful to Alissa for working with us on this unique aspect of transitions here and there,” he says.
DeBenedetti is ready to embark on a new chapter for Wolves & People though he is quick to point out that the major changes don’t necessarily mean huge changes for the process, beers, and overall ethos of the brewery. He points out that the new mash tun is just 1.5bbl bigger than our original and they are still going to be brewing the same and similar (as well as new) recipes with their in-house yeasts and aging in oak and using hyperlocal sourcing as often as possible. Overall, he expects the new brewhouse to have a lot more instrumentation and fine-tuning options that should increase efficiencies and hopefully lead to even better beers.
There are other technical improvements that DeBenedetti is excited about as he expects them to make the overall brewing process slightly simpler. “Aside from a slight gain in per-batch volume, the real gain is in being able to double batch in a single normal (or, around 9.5hrs) workday. But we have been double batching most beers since late 2018, so this is a big step forward in efficiency and allows us to spend resources in different ways, such as in R&D and sales support, etc.”
However, he is quick to say, “this is not an automatic situation, not by any stretch. We are still milling our own grain, hand turning the 20-odd primary valves, and very much keeping the farmhouse approach alive. Right off the bat we will be brewing saison, Italian pils, fresh hop blondes, Honeycone (of course!), and so many new and familar beers for distribution with Day One here in Oregon, and in some other key markets where we have earned fans.”
Besides getting the system online, there are other big things happening at Wolves & People. They are currently seeking a shared sales rep position with cider company Son of Man (anyone interested should email resumes and proposals to jobs@wolvesandpeople.com and hello@sonofman.co). This is part of a new partnership between the Basque-style cidery and the brewery, aiming at helping both brands drive sales. DeBenedetti, a diehard music fan and musician who has also hosted bluegrass jams at the brewery in recent months, is launching a music festival called Newgrass to take place March 14-15, 2025 at the Chehalem Cultural Center’s new state-of-the-art performance hall. Of course, Wolves & People will be brewing a special beer for the event and hosting related happenings at their brewery.
In other words, 2024 may have started off on a bad note for Wolves & People, but it may end up closing out in a better way than ever. DeBenedetti’s resilience and optimism is refreshing during a time when much of the beer industry is struggling, and proof that some of the best success stories can come from hardships. At the end of the day, his passion is what keeps it all moving.
“I feel so fortunate to be a farmhouse brewer and to be part of a growing movement amid some truly dark times in the overall industry. There’s a sense of purpose and optimism we are going to be holding onto no matter what the news is saying. For me personally, having built this place from the ground up and brewed so many original beers for the first time and weathered so many storms from logistical to legal, this feels like a new vista and I’m loving the process. It took a year and a half to build out W&P and we have basically rebuilt completely in under 5 weeks. Intense and interesting and yes, hopefull. I love this project more than ever, and am grayer than ever! But grateful to everyone who has supported it from the start and along the way.”
