Firehouse Brewing Co.

Last month in July my family and I went on Vacation to the Black Hills in South Dakota so one of the first things that I did was do a brewery search and to see what South Dakota had to offer. The only brewery we were going to be close to was the Firehouse Brewing Co. in Rapid City.

Luckily it is both a brewery and a restaurant which makes it easy for me to get to since the family was with me (meaning they don't have to wait while I go beer geek out). We went there for dinner. I'm not sure if it is sad or not but it was probably the thing that I was most excited about while we were on vacation.

The restaurant and brewery are located in an old firehouse so the restaurant of course follows that them. The menu was pretty much the standard brew pub fair. I was able to get some Bison brisket which was good but I really wasn't there to eat.

I was able to have 2 of their beers while I was there. I'm always a big fan of red beers so my first choice from the beer list was the Firehouse Red. I really liked this beer. It really hit the mark for a great malty red. The second beer that I was able to have was the Smoke Jumper Stout. I also really like smoked beers and this one was good. I would have liked a little more smokyness to it but it was still a very well made beer. When we left I picked up a growler for my collection full of the Firehouse Red which was nice to have back at the hotel for the last night of vacation.

Overall I thought the Firehouse Brewering Co. makes some pretty good beer and will look forward to having more of their offerings if I ever make it back to the Black Hills.

Beer drank while writing this post: Levity Amber Ale by Odell Brewing Co. out of Fort Collins, CO.

1st real post

I started this blog because I wanted to talk about some new found passions of mine that I've developed over the past few years. For years I always sold myself as a seafood chef. Over the past few years as I've adopted a appreciation for the amazing local ingredients raised right here in Nebraska. And of course it is really hard to be focused on local products and seafood when you live in landlocked Nebraska which is about as far from an ocean as anywhere in the country.



As a chef I've always been interested in Butchery. Actually when I was a kid for some reason I thought it was always cool. Lately I've become very focused on actually training to be a butcher and really understand what it is to be able to know everything there is about meat fabrication. I've also become obsessed with whole animal utilization and cooking which in my opinion really goes hand in hand with being a butcher and a chef.


As for the beer side of things that all got started from when I took my Beverage Management class (I'm also a full-time college student working on my bachelors degree online from New England Culinary Institute). As part of the class we had to develop a beverage program for a restaurant that included a beer list. While writing the list and reading about all of the different kinds of beer out there it re-sparked an interest that I had from before in craft beer. I did and still do race mountain bikes and always had to watch my weight so I stopped drinking beer but I've started again and couldn't be more happy about it. I've become somewhat obsessed with Craft Beer. I've decided that as soon as I graduate from school (hopefully later this year) I'm going to persue becoming a Certified Cicerone, which is the equivelent of a beer sommelier. That journey should be interesting.


I decided I'll end this first real post with a picture of one of the pigs that is being raised at Branched Oak Farms. These Berkshire Pigs are being raised on the leftover whey from the farms cheese making process. They are also being fed the leftover barley and hops from beer made by Modern Monks which is one of the best breweries in Nebraska. They should be ready in late september. You'll see lots of pictures of the animals when they are still alive. I love visiting and seeing the farms. I always want to know where my food comes from. Makes me respect them more when they are on my cutting board.

Beer drank while writing this post: Golden Frau by Thunderhead Brewery out of Kearney, NE.

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