It rained the day of your funeral,
so all we saw was gloom.
But all these drops innumerable;
they made the flowers bloom.

This week’s blog is going to be a little different. Of course we want to do things like highlight and hype upcoming events, such as Ditty Wish Ventures to do a GAME SHOW on Thursday and Storyteller’s Sunday this weekend. That’s what the blog is for, after all. But last week, as you may have heard, a frequent regular and friend of brewery, Brian Crowe, passed away unexpectedly. So we’d like to spend a little time remembering our friend.
As a bartender here, I’ve spent a lot of time talking with Brian about all sorts of things. The running joke is that regardless of the topic, it always came back to food. At one point, there was a discussion that since cheese cake exists, shouldn’t it be logical that there should be a cheese pie as well? As it happens, this turned into a more-than-a-year long running conversation, involving multiple people. But Brian was the only one who made the mistake of saying that he was going to make one! To date, there has never been a satisfactory definition of what a proper “cheese pie” should even be; the best sounding recipes ended up being closer to a quiche, and we were specifically going for a dessert.
I’d like to think Brian would roll his eyes and say something like, “really, you’re going to bring that up again now?” if he could see that we’re talking about the cheese pie again. But that’s just the stuff you think about when someone is gone. The whole eye-rolling thing would be just for show, though. He’d actually love that this is what we’re talking about.
Another thing one tends to think about when someone dies so young is what they haven’t done yet. Brian said he’d make the pie because he loved to cook, so much so that he had plans of quitting Pepsi to run a food truck. Issues surrounding health insurance and the initial investment gave him pause, but these were things that he just knew he had to work around. The food truck was going to happen. He regularly would show me trucks and trailers he found for sale that would be a good platform for this new business venture. He even had a list of locations to park where he knew he’d get a good influx of people for lunch.
We just have to make peace with the fact that his food truck will never park outside the brewery. And that’s hard. We don’t want to think that.
But what is easier is being thankful for the time we had with Brian. We’re fortunate enough to be able to remember the good times and the laughs. All the times he would say “ok, one more” after he swore he was on his last beer, all because another friend came in. And all the little things that we don’t even remember today, but will be reminded of because he left enough minor impressions to always have a call back.
Speaking of call backs, Brian was the first non-employee to be interviewed for this blog. So we’ll leave you with a few of his own words…

We Barley Know You, But We Hop to Change That. It’s the Yeast We Can Do: long-time regular at the taproom, Brian Crowe
Question: How long have you been a regular here?
Brian Crowe: I think only about three years, as a regular. It hasn't been that long. It took me awhile to actually come here, and I don't know why.
Q: What's your favorite Klockow beer?
BC: I don't necessarily have a favorite. I have multiples that I like a lot. Supply Line (Hazy IPA), One Aught (Cold IPA), Siduri's Garden (Saison); depends on the season, depends on the day.
Q: If all those are on tap, which one would you pick?
BC: Probably Siduri's Garden, because it's the least likely to be on tap! Or just for a short amount of time, I mean.
Q: When you're not drinking Klockow beer, what do you like to drink?
BC: Mountain Dew Kickstart Fruit Punch. It's my coffee.
Q: Sticking with the theme, what are some of your favorite foods?
BC: A lot of smoked barbque. Ribs. I like smoked fish. And I've become a fan of sushi!

Q: What do you do for work?
BC: I'm employed by Pepsi Cola as a service technician. Which means I fix anything that dispenses Pepsi products; bar guns, fountain machines, coolers, vending machines. I've done just about every job in the company over 25 years.
Q: What do you like to do for fun?
BC: Camping, curling, and hanging out by a bonfire!
Q: What's a fun/interesting fact about yourself?
BC: That's difficult. I can't think of anything... Only thing I can think of is that I've participated in BBQ contests, rib contests. In three years, we went from 9 out of 10, to third. It was ribs.
Q: Was there a secret to your success?
BC: Yeah, and it's a secret! But we did change the recipe. We went from 9th, to 7th, to 3rd, and it was the last year that we changed the recipe.
Q: And lastly, if you could be transported back to any time or place in history, when and where would it be and why?
BC: Oh gosh... Actually, the land rush days when everybody was claiming their lands, where it was a free-for-all run to stake your land, I'd like to go back and see that. That's kind of a cool thing; now it takes so much to get a piece of property. Back then, well, you had to work hard on it to make it work, but you worked for what you got. Now you work for everything but you can't get as much.

Thanks for checking out our humble little brewery! As long as you keep coming by, we’ll do our part by making the best damn beer possible and serving it in our always inviting atmosphere.

The Klockow Staff

Beer drops this past week:

Local, etc -

Raven Stone - Coleraine
Boulder Taphouse - Grand Rapids
Hotel Rapids - Grand Rapids
Pokegama Plaza Liquors - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Liquor - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Foods North - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Foods South - Grand Rapids
Timberlake Lodge - Grand Rapids
Blackberry Junction - Blackberry
Red Eye - Swan River
Sammy’s - Grand Rapids
Unwined Up North - Grand Rapids
KM Corner Store - Nashwauk
Timberwolf Inn - Marcell

Bemidji, etc. -

Bemidji Curling Club - Bemidji
First City Liquor - Bemidji
Lakeview Liquor - Bemidji
Tara Bemidji - Bemidji
Beehive Offsale Liquors - Bemidji

International Falls, etc. -

SuperOne Liquor - International Falls
The Rocky Ledge - Kabetogama
Revelation Ale Works - Hallock

Cuyuna, etc.

Happy Tree - Emily
Deer Haven - Remer
Grizzly’s Wood-Fired Grill - Baxter
Remer Municipal Liquor Store - Remer
SuperOne Liquor - Crosby
SuperOne Liqour - Baxter