Ordering Online from The Cellar

Last Sunday, The Cellar Brew Shop posted on its Facebook page that it was rolling out the online ordering system the shop has been working on since July. I thought I'd give it a spin.

At the moment, I'm pretty well stocked with malt, hops, and yeast. So I placed just a small order: three pounds of specialty malts. The system works like most online ordering forms. You make your selections, add them to your cart, and head to checkout. With each item you select, there's a comment box where you can add notes. I noted that I didn't want my grains milled. At check out, you leave your name and contact info and when you plan to pick up your order. Easy. Done.

I placed my order on Monday morning and scheduled the pickup for Tuesday at 10:30 am. Monday afternoon, I received an email saying my order was ready.

When I arrived at The Cellar on Tuesday morning, my malt was waiting. The only problem was they had mixed all three of the malts into the same bag. These malts are going into different batches of beer. Having them blended together wouldn’t work. Brian at The Cellar quickly fixed that. He put together a new order for me.

Next time, I’ll include a note that I need the malts in separate bags. Though, really, that ought to be standard practice on the part of The Cellar.

This is just the first iteration of this system. At this point, the menu only includes brewing ingredients and beer kits. It's a decent start, though, and I'll definitely be using it more in the future. You can check it out HERE.

Craig Zoltowski in The Cellar

Over the past month, The Cellar, a beer and winemaking supply shop in Oshkosh, has been undergoing an expansion. Behind that expansion is one of the shop’s new owners. His name is Craig Zoltowski.

Craig Zoltowski at work in The Cellar

The Cellar opened in Fond du Lac in 2009 and moved to Oshkosh in 2016. Zoltowski and co-owner Jeff Duhacek purchased the business at 465 N. Washburn St. from Dave Koepke this past May. They've been operating the store since the beginning of June.

It's the first time either Zoltowski or Duhacek have run a homebrew shop, but they come to the business with bona fides, especially on the science side of brewing. Duhacek is a Ph.D. chemist. Zoltowski has a master’s degree in chemical engineering and an MBA. He's also a professional brewer.

Zoltowski is co-owner of Emprize Brew Mill, a brewpub that opened a year ago in Menasha. And with that, his path changed. "I've been in corporate America pretty much my entire career,” Zoltowski says. "I decided to get out and do this, do something I'm really passionate about."

His enthusiasm shows when he talks about his plans for the store. "We want to optimize this place," Zoltowski says. "We’re really trying to add a huge capability here that will help the homebrewers and small breweries and winemakers in this area. We’re adding more of just about everything.”

Inside The Cellar.

"We've added a lot of equipment," Zoltowski says. "We tripled out Blichmann inventory. We've added CO2 and nitrogen tanks. We have more corny kegs and fermenters and now we have sanke kegs and keg washers. We've also added more kits for wine and beer, and we've added a lot more honey for people who make mead. We're carrying a wider variety of yeast and hops. We're also starting to bring in more locally grown hops from Wisconsin and Michigan. We’ve probably added five times the amount of grain and new varieties of it. We also have a new, three-roller malt mill coming that we can really dial in, so we can offer different grain crushes for people who want that."

Zoltowski says his top priority now is a web-based ordering system. If it works as planned it will make the shop's inventory accessible online and allow people to place orders for pickup.

"We want to arrange it so we have people’s orders ready when they come in," he says. "What I'm thinking is, if you get an order in by 5 p.m. I can have it ready for pick-up by 10 a.m. the next morning. We're about to start beta-testing that and I'm hoping that in a month or so it will be ready. We want to make shopping here more convenient."

As part of that effort, the store is now open on Sundays. "That way if you are brewing on the weekend and run out of something you can come in and still finish your batch," Zoltowski says. "We're just trying to find ways to differentiate ourselves and provide a service. And we have the experience where we can answer questions and help people through their issues."

The educational component is something Zoltowski is also looking to expand. "Tim Pfeister is going to continue teaching classes here," he says. "Our goal is to eventually do a class every month. We’d like to be able to build it into something like a curriculum.”

Zoltowski says it's the community aspect of the shop that has been the most rewarding part of it for him so far.

"I enjoy the customer side of it,” Zoltowski says. "It's been fun. I'm an engineer, I like problem-solving and I really like teaching people. We’re trying to connect to the brewing community, both homebrewing as well as the nano and microbrewers and make it more like a co-op effort. We want to be a part of that community. There’s something powerful about that.”

The Cellar is For Sale

Dave Koepke plans to start a brewery. That’s created a dilemma for him. Koepke is owner of The Cellar Homebrew shop, which he moved to Oshkosh from Fond du Lac three years ago. At the time of the move, Koepke was already entertaining the idea of launching a brewery. Initially, he thought he could operate both businesses in tandem. His view on that has since changed.

“I realized that I can't manage this and get a brewery off the ground at the same time,” Koepke says. “The shop is one of those businesses where the owner has to be here and know the customers. The brewery isn't going to leave me enough time to run this business the way it needs to be run.”

Inside The Cellar.

Koepke now has The Cellar up for sale. "I'd like to find somebody in the next couple of months to begin taking over and train them," he says. "I'm basically going to be available until December 31. I'm going to be doing other things, but the person who takes over will have me until the end of the year to walk them through the transition."

Koepke opened The Cellar in Fond du Lac in 2009. He moved the business to Oshkosh in 2016 to be more centrally located among homebrewers in the Appleton - Oshkosh - Fond du Lac corridor. His current location at 465 N. Washburn Street, is just off Highway 41 and includes a warehouse along with the retail space.

"I've priced it very reasonably," Koepke says. "You couldn't buy all this, put it in here, and start this business for what I'm asking. Everything is in place. This is going to be a turnkey business when I sell it."

As for his brewery in planning, Koepke is currently exploring his options. "I don't have a spot yet," he says. "Right now I'm looking at Fond du Lac or Oshkosh. More than likely, it will be a brewpub, not just a brewery and taproom."

In the meantime, Koepke is still at The Cellar helping area homebrewers with their beer. "I just want everyone to know that I’m not closing the store," he says. "I’m not going to abandon the customers who have built this business. I've been doing this 10 years. I've put a lot of time in building the clientele and the reputation. It's not like the business is capped. It's still growing. It's been great, I've really enjoyed it, but I just can't do this and do a brewery build-up at the same time."

Koepke says he’s open to talking with anybody who may have questions or an interest in what running a business such as The Cellar entails. He can be reached using the contact information on The Cellar's website.

It’s Time You Learned How to Make Beer

Like it or not, believe it or not, summer's end is nearing. The good news is that now is the perfect time to start homebrewing.

Here's how to get started the right way… This Saturday, August 25, The Cellar Homebrew Shop in Oshkosh begins a new round of how-to-brew classes at its store at 465 North Washburn Street. The first class starts at 11 a.m. and, as always, admission is free.

The August 25th class will cover the basics of extract brewing. That class will be followed with a session on all-grain brewing on September 15. You'd be best off hitting both of them. From those two classes, you'll take away the skills you need to make great beer at home for years to come.

The Backstory
The Cellar has been offering brewing classes here since the store moved to Oshkosh from Fond du Lac in 2016. For the past couple of years, classes have been taught by Oshkosh area homebrewer Tim Pfeister. He has over 10 years of homebrewing experience behind him. “I've been addicted to it for at least a decade,” Pfeister says. And he’s been teaching others how to brew for nearly as long.

Tim Pfeister

“I was excited when David (Koepke, owner of The Cellar) asked me to do a teaching gig at The Cellar with no political ties to clubs, just focusing on the building of community through the sharing of passion and knowledge,” Pfeister says.

You hear that word passion a lot among homebrewers. This is a hobby that tends to consume people. For Pfeister, that sharing of passion works both ways. “I love the involvement,” he says. “I get students of varying levels, all full of questions. Their excitement to learn fans my own flames. It's cyclical that way.”

It even inspired him to return to his roots and do some extract-based brewing again. “I bought a kettle and returned to my stove top for a while,” Pfeister says. “It allowed me to take a decade's worth of experience and apply it to extract brewing, which I could then share the results with my classes, proving that you can actually make very good extract brew with correct practices.”

It’s about more than just beer. Pfeister views The Cellar classes as an alternative for people looking to learn and become part of a homebrewing community that isn’t tied to the agenda of an organized homebrewing club.

“I want to stress that our number one priority is community,” he says. “This is where I feel that we differentiate a little from the clubs. Not that what they do isn't good, but politics and bureaucracy tend to get in the way. The Oshkosh club, unfortunately, is a little obsessed with festivals which, in my opinion, is off-putting to fledgling homebrewers and tends to rob time from education; which I feel clubs should really focus on. We are trying something a little different, that's all.”

In the end, though, it always comes back to the beer. And for a beer lover, there’s nothing like the satisfaction that comes from drinking a good beer that you created. It’s what recently sent Pfeister chasing after his vision of the perfect IPA, and in the process “Eliminate my dependence on shelf-bought product for good, hoppy brew.”

Pfeister has been methodically constructing his recipe for what he’s calling STANK IPA. “In fact, It took me nearly four years to make an IPA I was happy with,” he says. “I now have a house recipe that is better than just about anything you can buy off the shelf at Festival. We now consume more homebrew around the house than commercial beer.”

That’s a place most homebrewers would like to be in. Getting started the right way will get you there that much quicker. To keep up with the upcoming classes at The Cellar follow the store's Facebook page or contact The Cellar via its website.

A Year in The Cellar

In 2009, Dave Koepke opened The Cellar Brew Shop in Fond du Lac. A year ago, he moved his store to Oshkosh.

1921 S. Washburn St., Oshkosh.

Koepke decided to relocate the store for an obvious of reason. "The initial idea was all about reaching a larger population," Koepke says. But along the way, things changed. "It quickly became more about building a community."

That sense of community is becoming ever more crucial in Koepke's line of work. The rise of online retail has been devastating for some traditional homebrew suppliers. Local shops, once the cornerstone of the hobby, are being driven under. But The Cellar appears to be thriving.

Koepke's store is as well stocked as any homebrew shop you'll find. And he's been quick to pick up on what online retailers can't provide: direct contact with fellow homebrew enthusiasts. His own enthusiasm for the hobby is manifest.

"I'm an opinionated son of a bitch, I know that, "Koepke says. "But it's not about me. I love beer. This is such an awesome thing. It's giving people who aren't artists a chance to be artists. That's the way I look at it."

Dave Koepke

His zeal animates The Cellar. Homebrewers seem drawn to it. Koepke’s shop quickly became the hub for brewing activity here. Over the past year, the Society of Oshkosh Brewers has held a couple of their club events at the store. Local homebrewer Tim Pfeister has been teaching beer-making classes there. Koepke has even drawn in professionals from area breweries, wineries, and distilleries.

"That's the weird thing that kind of blows my mind," says Koepke. "I don't know how many other shops have people from breweries and meaderies coming in. They're just supplementing small amounts of minor stuff; bottle wax, a couple of mesh bags for dry hopping. It's just small stuff. We can't take care of everybody all the time, but we like that they're coming to us."

Part of the draw is Koepke's background. He’s been involved in nearly every aspect of craft beer. He’s a graduate of the Siebel Institute’s Diploma Course in Brewing. He brewed professionally at the former Appleton Brewing Company (which became Stone Arch Brewpub). He's run a bar and worked in beer distribution. "I'm not just a homebrewer,” he says. “But, am I a homebrewer first and foremost? Absolutely."

After more than 20 years in the profession, he still brews on a regular basis. "There aren't many who homebrew as much I do," he says. "I've brewed about 45 batches in the last two years."

Most are pilot batches. He's usually testing out a new kit or ingredient. He wants to know what he's selling. "When we get something new I have to try it," Koepke says. "For example, right now we have about 70 hop varieties in stock. I think there's only five of those that I haven't tried."

Much of what he brews he shares with customers. There's usually a few kegs on tap in the keezer at the back of the store. "The proper way to ask if you can have a beer is just to say 'Hey what do you guys have on tap?' It's that simple. As long as I'm stocked on glasses, sure, you can have a beer. The whole point is to brew with the stuff and test it out and let customers come in and try it."

The Cellar Keezer.

All of this a distinct change from what has long been the norm in Oshkosh. The modern homebrew movement arrived here in the early 1990s. Since then, the only local option for homebrewers has been stores selling a limited range of supplies as a sideline to another business.

The most recent of them was Nutrition Discount Center (NDC) on Main Street. Their dabbling came to an abrupt end in June. NDC is about to establish a second location on Witzel Ave. But they have no intention of getting back into selling homebrew supplies.

"There was no way they were going to keep up with what we can stock," Koepke says. "I'm not saying I had it all figured out. I'm a terrible businessman. We stock way too heavy and our prices are too low. But that's the game. You have to. Our biggest competitor is Amazon. And that's how we have to think. A lot of people don't want to leave their house. But when we get them to come here they find out they can get answers to their questions. Homebrew stores are different. People have relationships with the people in the store. It's not like going into a Walmart."

If you've been to The Cellar, you know it's nothing like that. In fact, it's not like any other store I've been in. Koepke is voluble. He'll talk beer with you all day. The discussions often range beyond methods or ingredients.

"The whole thing comes down to attitude," he says. "What are you here for? Are you here to make the best beer? I tell people, I can make some of the best beer in the world and I don't mean that as an ego thing. It's me and you and we share one thing in common. We own the brewery. We can tailor our beer to our own tastes. We control the freshness. You go to the store and almost everything there is three, four months old. My stuff has been in the keg 10 days. You can't get beer any fresher. I don't know, I'm not even talking about the shop. There are guys coming in here now that are going to have careers in brewing. I want to see them flourish. I want to see them make great stuff!"

No, that's definitely not Walmart. And it's definitely not a UPS driver dropping a brown box at your door. It's better than that. It's the way it should be.

Turbid Mash Time at the Cellar

The Cellar homebrew supply shop, which opened at the end of August in Oshkosh, will have its first brew session/class in Oshkosh this Saturday, October 8 at 11 a.m. The guest instructor will be Andrew Roth, assistant brewer at Pearl Street Brewery in La Crosse.

Roth will brew a saison and talk about methods for homebrewing the style. As part of the demonstration he’ll conduct a turbid mash, an old Belgian technique for producing an especially dextrinous wort. I’m looking forward to seeing that. I plan to use what I learn Saturday to brew a rustic lager this winter. Anyway...

The event is free, open to the public, and a great chance to check out the excellent homebrew shop that’s now calling Oshkosh home. The Cellar is located at 1921 S. Washburn St. See you there!

The Cellar's Move to Oshkosh

I mentioned last week on Facebook, that the Cellar Brew Shop will relocate to Oshkosh. Doors to the homebrew supply shop will open here on Tuesday, August 30 at 1921 S. Washburn. Here's a look at the outside of the place. The Cellar will go into the space formerly occupied by Ruff Cuts.

A bit of background: The Cellar is currently located on S. Main St. in Fond du Lac. It's been in business there since 2009. This is a full-scale homebrew shop selling everything for brewing and packaging beer. The store also offers a full-line of winemaking supplies. The owner is Dave Koepke. He’s been in the homebrew supply business since 1997. For more backstory, go here.

The Cellar’s last day in Fond du Lac will be August 27. Koepke says if you’re looking for bargains on brew supply’s you’ll want to visit The Cellar that day. When the Oshkosh store opens on August 30, Koepke anticipates that he’ll still be working to get things organized. “The doors will be open, but it’s going to look like a construction zone,” he said.

The new space is 3,200 square feet. Large enough for the brewing demonstrations and classes Koepke plans to offer. The easy access provided by its location just off Highway 41 will likely make The Cellar the hub for homebrewing activity in this region. Here’s a look at the interior, currently being remodeled.

This should provide a tremendous boost to the Oshkosh homebrew scene. Considering how many homebrewers there are in this city, it’s surprising we haven’t had a store like this before. I’m looking forward to finally having a local homebrew shop.

Checkout The Cellar's new store opening event page on Facebook.