5 Questions for Buoy Beer brewmaster Kevin Shaw
Buoy Beer Kevin Shaw
Kevin Shaw stands in front of 110bbl horizontal lagering tanks at Buoy Beer Co. (Astoria, OR)
Kevin Shaw once taught 9 year old's about growing up, now he teaches adults about hops, water, malt and yeast as brewmaster of Buoy Beer Co. in Astoria, Oregon. Before he knew that brewing craft beer was a viable career path, Kevin Shaw was a substitute teacher.
Kevin Shaw has only held two different careers in his life, teacher and brewer. As an educator of young children one of the most important skills you need to have is patience, it's played a major role in Shaw's job as a leader at Buoy Beer Co. and before that at Bridgeport Brewing.
Patience. "Certainly had to have a lot of that in teaching and have to have it in brewing as well...I have trained a lot of new and younger brewers over the years. Just working with them, allowing them to make mistakes and to see them grow is rewarding."
Shaw grew up in the central coast of California in the small town of Atascadero before moving to Oregon in 1991. His early experiences with craft beer came from his father who always had a Celebrator magazine in the back of the car.
"Beer was always his choice and he was a fan of Weinhards," remembers Shaw. "He discovered craft beer pretty early on when he was driving on 101 through Hopland and saw a sign for fresh locally made beer so he pulled over to try some. He was at Mendocino Brewing Company and was most likely drinking a Red Tail if I had to guess."
It was around the year 1983 and Mendocino had just become the first brewpub in California, Shaw Sr. was hooked. As a kid, the Shaw family would travel around a fair bit and always stop at brewpubs along the way, it gave Kevin an early sense of the culture.
Kevin Shaw Buoy Beer
"It wasn't uncommon for my dad to stop at a brewpub and go in to have a quick pint while the family waited in the car. On of the best things about turning 21 was actually being able to go in to these places and share a pint with my dad," Shaw fondly remembers. "He died a few years back and that is still one of the things I miss the most about him being gone."
Shaw moved to Portland to go to get a degree in elementary education at the University of Portland. After living for 4 years in Oregon, he moved to Seattle at the age of 23 and rediscovered his love of craft beer and rediscovered craft beer as an adult. At the time he was living with 6 other people and substitute teaching 3rd grade.
"We lived on the north side of the city about 3 blocks from one of the original alehouses Cooper's. They had a great beer selection and we would go up there a few times a week for some pints and steel tip darts," recalls Shaw. "We were in a volunteer program so we weren't making very much money and these nights ate a lot of our income."
He got to talking one night with one of his housemates about trying their hand at homebrewing to save some money. His girlfriend of the time purchased him a homebrew kit for Christmas and they were off and running.
"My buddy Jeff and I each read about half of the The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and decided we were more than good to go. Looking back those beers weren't very good and we really had no clue what we were doing. A lot of mistakes were made to say the least, but I was hooked and had a blast doing it."
It was 1995 and after a year of teaching in Seattle Shaw's contract was up, he didnt want to say he never gave professional brewing a try. Moving back to Portland, Shaw began bugging everyone to bring him onboard. He eventually landed a job doing grunt work cleaning kegs, racking and bottling beer.
"I eventually worked my way up onto the brew deck. The work was hard (looking back some of the things we were doing were ridiculous), but I loved it and have been doing it ever since," says Shaw.
Star Brewing closed in 1995, but Shaw was in this for life. He went to Siebel Institute to advance his experience with some formal brewing education. He ended up back in the industry at industry pioneers Bert Grant's in Yakima, Washington for from '97 to '99 where he rubbed elbows with the legendary Bert Grant himself.
By the time Shaw arrived in Yakima, Grant had lost the company in a nasty divorce but still kept an office in the brewery and was around from time to time.
"I was fortunate enough to hang out with him a few times and even went over to his house once with a group of people to drink some late night scotch from his extensive collection. He was a rock star brewer before there was such a thing," says Shaw. "People would get so excited when they would see him and make the connection of who he was. Long before social media and all of that stuff obviously. Good times."
Experience around industry pioneers and legendary breweries like Triple Rock in Berkeley, CA and the OG Bridgeport pub before it was remodeled for the pearl, gave Shaw early ideas about keeping a lowkey profile and delivering on classic styles. It was another legendary brewer that in some ways inadvertently led to Shaw becoming the head brewer at Bridgeport Brewing Co. in Portland.
Bridgeport founding brewer Karl Ockert is considered one of the industry pioneers and a legend in Oregon beer. Shaw was a lead brewer in 2010 when Ockert departed the company and Jeff Edgerton was promoted to brewmaster.
"I was then promoted from Lead Brewer to Head Brewer and I ran the brewing department until I left for Buoy. So Karl leaving helped me progress in my career. Thanks Karl!" laughs Shaw, his 25 year career has been nothing if not fortuitous and educational.
Kevin Shaw left Bridgeport after 14 years to help open Buoy Beer Co. in Astoria in 2014, he has lead the brewing operations now for 7 years.
Kevin Shaw
Q: What is life like at the coast right now?
Kevin Shaw: Things have been pretty good for us out here on the coast. We were lucky in the respect that the business model that we had prior to Covid-19 meant that the pandemic hasn't hit us as badly as many other breweries. We were selling about 75% of our beer in packaged form and what we lost in draft sales due to the pandemic has been made up with increased packaged beer sales. We had a slight dip initially, but have been brewing and selling as much beer as we are capable of making since then. The summer months have been just as strong as they were last summer. The big hit was on the restaurant side of things. We are back open in the restaurant in a limited capacity and with a smaller menu than normal. It has been going fairly well, although nothing close to what a typical summer would look like. We have seen a huge increase in the amount of people coming into the area recently. While nice on one hand for the local economy we hope that it doesn't lead to a bigger spike of coronavirus cases in the area.
Q: Are you getting out much for dine-in or take out food and drink, and if so, what have you been enjoying?
I haven't been getting out at all really for food or drink since the original shelter in place order. The last time I went out for a meal or drink was a breakfast get together in March prior to all of this. I have some health things that put me in a higher risk group for the virus than many, so I have been staying away for the time being. I'm also a bit of an introvert so the stay at home stuff hasn't been as hard on me as it is for some. I do miss going out for a beer and a bite to eat though. We have done some take out and my wife has gone out to a few places with friends. The one thing I have done is trying different things at home. I bought a smoker a few years ago, but hadn't really used it a whole bunch, so I have been playing around with that. So far I've made some ribs, wings, tri tip, stuffed meatloaf, pot roast and bacon wrapped pork tenderloin on it. Various veggies as well to go with the meals. All with varying levels of success, but all tasty. I also bought a griddle a couple of months ago and have been playing with that as well. Smash burgers on it are great!
delivery cans at Buoy Beer
Buoy Beer Co. headquarters in Astoria, Oregon
Q: What are some of your favorite beers right now, both Buoy beers and from others?
We have had a couple of seasonal beers that have come out or are about to come out that I have been excited about. We have been doing a rotating can series as well as a rotating bottle/draft series. It has been fun to see Helles and Dunkel in cans. We just released our Pale ale in cans and that has been cool. We will be releasing a Kolsch in bottles and on draft very soon. It's been fun to see more of our beers in the package. Like I said I haven't been getting out lately, but some of the beers I was really enjoying prior to the pandemic were the lagers from both Ruse and Von Ebert. All of their beers have been great to be honest, but I have to throw in some lager love. Speaking of lagers, Occidental has been crushing it for almost a decade. Their Helles in a can was a treat. Too bad their Head Brewer Sam doesn't know anything about baked cheese crackers. I also like what Level has been doing. In particular I believe they have made some excellent pale ales. Hot take...pale ale is a very underrated style. I can feel some of you cringe and roll your eyes. Well you're wrong. Also, Level has some of the best named beers in the biz to boot! I see you working Jason and Shane. Grains of Wrath. The brewer/owner is kind of a dick, but he has good brewing chops. I kid Mike, who knew you could brew lagers? I also think that Baerlic has been crushing it lately. Lots of good lagers and lower abv beers. Not sure what it takes to get patched in there and get a denim vest, but I might be game. You can maybe see a pattern here. My flavor palate has definitely shifted towards lower abv beers and more sessionable beers as I've gotten older. So many great beers and breweries out there and so many that I left off the list. We are fortunate to be living, brewing and drinking in an area with such good beer all around us.
Q: It's a difficult time for craft breweries right now, but what are you excited or optimistic about?
Yes it is a difficult time for sure in the industry. We have seen some fallout already and I am sure that we will see some more. I think some of this has been inevitable due to so many new breweries opening and entering the market the last few years. However, none of us hoped this is the way that fallout would happen. On the positive side, at least for us, we have been looking at a potential expansion that would allow us to brew more beer and to serve more markets than we are in currently. We aren't quite ready to elaborate on what those plans might entail, but exited for what the future may bring. As a larger brewing community it has been exciting to see us band together in these tough times and push forward through all of this. The brewing community was proactive in reacting to the Covid-19 outbreak and very creative as well. Business models changed literally overnight for many breweries. Things like to-go beer and food orders, home delivery of beer and food, breweries shifting from draft beer to packaged beer, drive through beer markets, virtual brew fests, virtual educational opportunities and sharing of knowledge, etc. The list could go on and on, but all cool things that that the industry has done to keep pushing forward. I've always said the brewing industry is the best business community to be a part of and the one most willing to share information freely, collaborate and generally work together. Things suck for us all right now, although it's going to get better and beer helps!
Buoy Beer Kolsch is being released in bottles this summer
Q: What is currently in your tanks, fermenters or in planning that we can look forward to?
As I said earlier we have a Kolsch that is coming out soon and should be perfect for the warmer weather. We will be canning our Dunkel again in a couple of months and Strong Gale, our winter beer, will be coming out in bottles and draft after the Kolsch. We have a foeder beer that we are looking to package and are trying to figure out the logistics. Originally we were going to put most of that in draft, but with that segment so much in the air right now we are potentially looking to put it into cans. We are working on a few things on the pilot side of things as well. A collaboration beer with Goschie Farms and Skagit Valley Malting to help out the Oregon Brewers Guild. The Guild has been hit hard by Covid-19 because so many of their fundraising events have had to be canceled. They have done and continue to do a ton for the betterment of the Oregon craft beer industry, so we are excited to be a part of this. We are also figuring out a lager to brew with Indie Hops using one of their new experimental hops. Oh yeah, we have an IPA in the works on the pilot side because I guess people still like those. Haha.
Kevin Shaw brewmaster of Buoy Beer