Planned Merrill brewpub hopes to catch local brew wave

MERRILL – Why did Stan Janowiak decide to start up Sawmill Brewing Company in Merrill?

“Well,” he said, “I needed something to do.”

Janowiak moved into town last year, and had to give up farming — a career he’d had for years. But once he was in town, he wanted to find not only something that he thought was a good use of his time, but also something that would benefit Merrill and the surrounding community. One of the attractions of a brewpub was that Janowiak would be brewing his own beer in the building, as well as hops, barley, and other ingredients sourced from local farmers.

“Brewpubs selling craft beer is just another piece in the farm-to-table movement going on throughout the nation right now,” he said. “Buy local, eat local, drink local. That whole philosophy is gaining momentum and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Wisconsin had a nearly 27 percent increase in breweries over the past two years, according to information from the Wisconsin Brewer’s Guild. Wisconsin went from 90 breweries in 2013 to 114 today, with more on their way, like Janowiak’s Sawmill Brewing Company.

But even though there are more and more small-scale breweries opening up, established brewpubs in Wisconsin don’t view them as competition: they welcome them, and try their best to help new brewers get on their feet. Chad Hoffer is working on starting up North Abbey Brewing Co. in Mosinee, and said that it was other brewery owners such as Red Eye Brewing Co. owner Kevin Eichelberger, who convinced him to turn his craft beer brewing hobby into a business.

“It’s a really cool industry to get into,” Hoffer said. “Everyone knows what kind of operation everyone else is running, what size, what systems. If someone sees something they know you’re looking for, they’ll call you first and tell you about it. Everyone’s friends and known each other for years.”

Local brewers don’t view each other as competition: in fact, they know that they’re helping each other out by expanding the craft beer industry in central Wisconsin. More people will come for tours and to visit the breweries, and more people will visit the other ones nearby, Eichelberger said.

“We’ve seen positive production growth every year, mostly in the double digits,” said Kevin Eichelberger said. “And that’s only going to get better if we establish Wausau as a craft beer community.”

More than competing against each other, brewers see it as competing against mass-production brewers like Miller Brewing Company, or Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. which makes beers like Budweiser and Busch. Craft beer had an 11 percent market share of beer sales in 2014, but passionate small brewers like Hoffer want that to be a much bigger proportion.

“Even though Budweiser and Miller like to pretend they’re making craft beer, they’re not,” Hoffer said. “It’s never us versus each other, it’s all craft brewers versus the big guys.”

Though breweries view themselves as different from bars, Janowiak says that a big part of making a brewpub successful is getting people to go drinking at breweries instead.

“It’s almost like trying to convert someone to your religion,” Janowiak joked. “I know there are people in this city that will never start drinking craft beer, they’re never going to give up their Bud light. But more local beer is part of a movement, and part of a change that’s coming to the beer industry. It’s not getting rid of big companies like Miller or anything, it’s just giving people more local options.”

However, he says that it will be a different atmosphere: more about enjoying good beer and having a conversation than getting drunk and dancing to loud music. Hours for the Sawmill Brewing Company will most likely be 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., very different from typical bar hours. And Janowiak is looking at hosting different events and talks at the pub modeled after events at an Ashland brewery.

North Abbey Brewing Co. is currently raising funds to start their brewery through a GoFundMe. Sawmill Brewing Company is currently looking at an opening date of December 10, 2015.

“When I decided to start with this brewpub project, I wanted to make sure I was doing something that would help the Merrill community,” Janowiak said. “As people start seeing that local brewing is bringing more money in, it’ll make the brewing industry stronger, and the economies in the communities they’re in stronger.”

Robin Opsahl can be reached at ropsahl@wausau.gannett.com. Follow Robin on Twitter at @robinlopsahl.