We don’t want to brag. So we won’t.
…But if we WERE to have some horn tooting to do, we might talk about some of our fantastic craft beers, our excited and loyal local fan base, the accolades we receive from wide-eyed passers by, and our place in the community as a location where one can both have a quiet and relaxing pint one day and thrashing heavy metal party the next. But we’d do so humbly, with all humility, of course.
Why are we not bragging, you may ask? Because it’s time once again for the Grand Rapids Herald-Review’s Best of Itasca competition, 2024 edition! And we’ve been nominated for Best Beer Selection, Best Brewery, and Best Entertainment Spot.
We wouldn’t do anything as gauche as to campaign for the top spot in any of these categories. Heavens to Betsy, no! But in the spirit of competition, at least, I suppose we could make our case as to why we deserve to win. Once again with all humility, of course.
It’s important to consider quantity as well as quality when it comes to beer selection. Sure, one could load up with just a lot of different beers, but they gotta be good. And our record surely speaks for itself! And this is to say nothing of the wide variety of different styles that we make, from the obvious West Coast and Hazy IPAs, to the easy-drinking Irish Blonde and American Light Lager, to the unique Belgian Tripel and Saison, to the time-intensive Barrel Aged Hays on Tay and Throcken Red Wine Barrel-Aged Tripel. And it’s for those same reasons, as well as the fact that you can find all those and more at liquor stores and bars throughout the state why we make a strong candidate for Best Brewery as well.
As for entertainment, we freely admit that we don’t have the most shows. But if you look at the shows we do do, from stand-up comics, our 48-Hour Band Contest, the Erste Mai Punk Festival, Klocktoberfest, and the Panopticon concert, there’s clearly a reason why we were nominated.
And all of this is to say nothing of the fact that we have an extremely popular monthly Open Mic the last Sunday of the month, which happens to be this weekend! Ditty Wish will be back coordinating the army of artists we regularly see for this event, starting right as we open at noon and going until 4. It’s a great way to day-drink the day before heading back to work, with a little music and good company. The only complaint we ever have about it is that due to how many people we have sign up, we hardly get to hear Ditty Wish play! C’est la vie, I suppose. We can’t have everything, after all.
But we can have a lot, due to the friends we’ve made along the way. And we do like being a space for those friends. Members of Itasca Area Indivisble and Itasca Pride will be setting up for a trivia night here on Thursday, July 25, from 5 to 7 p.m. Though originally conceived as a private event for members, by having it here at the brewery, we’ve been told that they’re open to, and hoping to, have more people join in to take on the Trivia master! So do you have the useless-knowledge wherewithal to win?
There’s only one way to find out.
We Barley Know You, But We Hop to Change That. It’s the Yeast We Can Do. EXIT INTERVIEW EDITION: Max Chamberlain
Question: So, you’re leaving. What are you going to do next?
Max Chamberlain: I’m going to go back to school for a physical therapist assistant degree down at Lake Superior College in Duluth.
Q: Will we ever see you again?
MC: Of course! I plan on coming back real soon for Klocktoberfest. So I won’t even be gone over a month.
Q: How about after that? Will we be seeing you with any regularity?
MC: Yeah, on and off. I plan to be pretty busy with school. But it’s an hour and a half away from home, so I’ll be back up to visit my family often, so you can expect me to pop in whenever I’m around.
Q: You’ve been here a long time. What are some of the professional take-always that you’ve learned over your time here?
MC: Ooh, a professional take-away. What would you even describe that as?
Q: Some sort of job life lesson?
MC: I feel like I’ve had so much fun at this job that to call it professional is honestly a bit of an oxymoron, in a sense. I dunno, Andy and Tasha are such awesome bosses that they allow us a lot of freedom with how we do our jobs. It’s an ongoing bit that I’m supposed to work here at 9:00, and if you check my punch-in logs, it’s 9:20 every day! Because they let me get here a little bit late, and so long as the job gets done, I think they’re happy with my performance. I don’t know if that’s professional of me, but…
Q: Maybe that means you’ve learned the value in self direction?
MC: Yeah. I mean, take the work seriously, but be able to be flexible with it too. If something goes wrong, you got to be able to pivot and make it work. You don’t just go, “oh no, plan A failed. Now what?”
We asked Max to just act natural for a photo, so he did.
Q: I think that’s a great takeaway. So, you’re a big fan of One Piece. Tell us a bit about it.
MC: We’re going to get right into it, eh? To me, it’s the greatest story ever told. You know, it has its flaws for sure. I’m not going to say it’s perfect. But to me, it’s my favorite.
What is it…this year is, like, the 27th anniversary of it being written, and it’s ongoing! I think July 22 in Japan is National One Piece Day. It’s a Japanese manga, so a comic book, written by Eiichiro Oda. It’s a story about a pirate named Monkey D. Luffy who dreams of going on a grand adventure and finding the legendary treasure called One Piece and becoming the King of the Pirates. He makes friends along the way, gathers a crew together, and together each of them go about finding their own dreams looking to achieve the One Piece at the end of the road.
Q: Who do you think is going to be King of the Pirates at the end?
MC: I mean, the King of the Pirates will be Luffy for sure. At least to the fans. But in the world of One Piece itself, we all know it’s going to be Buggy. Buggy the Clown, the genius jester, he’s going to be King of the Pirates.
Q: Why is that?
MC: Because he has a trend of failing upwards! So it just makes sense that his greatest failure is going to lead to his greatest success.
Q: That sounds great, actually.
MC: Like I said, this is a near 30 year long story that is ongoing. It’s a daunting task if you were interested in jumping into it right now. I will say that there is a great Netflix live action adaptation that might be up people’s alley if they’re interested. I would highly recommend it. Like I said, I think it’s the greatest story ever. If you like action, adventure, and bits of comedy, I think it’s great. And don’t think it’s shy on emotion either! There’s a lot of heavy, dark scenes in there. Even though it’s written for a younger audience, there’s a lot that everyone can pull from the story.
Q: I mostly just wanted to give you a chance to talk and wax poetic about One Piece.
MC: Oh, we could go for hours longer, but we don’t have that much time!
Q: But since it’s your favorite, I wanted to do that for you. It’s going on the blog, but that was just for you. But one last question and this one is for us; if you could have a super power, what would it be and why?
MC: Hmmm… that’s tough. There’s so many you could pick from. I dunno, one I feel like I’ve always had in my brain since I was young would be to make more of me, just so I could get more stuff done. Even just one more duplicate. Then the idea would be, like, we could combine again and gain the experience that each of us got. So while I’m work, I could have another me at home studying. If that was the case, I could be doing this job and getting a PTA degree all at the same time! So that’s always a thought I’ve had since I was young, to have a copy that I then gain the experience from. Yeah, that would be the super power of choice if I could have that.
Q: Well thank you very much for your time, as well as for your time!
MC: Of course. Thank you for having me. Thank you to Andy and Tasha for hiring me nearly 7 years ago. It’s been fun, and it’ll be weird to be on the other side of the bar from now on.
Q: I’m sure you’ll still get a free pint every now and then.
MC: I’m sure I’ll still sneak in the back and use the employee bathroom.
~
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 and Shrubbery Drops this Week:
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Eveleth -
Marge’s Liquor
Hibbing -
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Virginia -
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