I had a great time welcoming several collaborators from our upcoming Rocktoberfest to the brewery and podcast. We’re really proud of this event and everyone’s generous spirit and ongoing efforts towards quality. It’s a light hearted group that takes their work seriously, without taking themselves too seriously. It was a learning curve to mic five guests without a tech on hand, so I hope you an pardon some atypical audio challenges. Those issues aside, I think you’ll enjoy an engaging conversation with passionate folks I’m glad to know, and call friends.
Episode 20 - The Details
The Drinks: New Holland’s Macatawa Stout, Uncle Bert’s Red Lager
The Music: “Wealthy Street” © and courtesy of Drew Nelson
Guest Bios:
Ken Estelle is CEO of Feeding America West Michigan. He joined the organization after a 30-year career in the aerospace industry and firmly believes that hunger can be solved. Feeding America West Michigan works with hundreds of local farmers, retailers, and processors to provide food to half a million people in need each year.
Dale Beaubien, Culinary Director for New Holland Brewing, has been working in restaurants on and off since he was sixteen. After studying at Northern Michigan University, he devoted himself to his culinary education by working in some of the most educationally advantageous kitchens. He’s worked alongside several James Beard Award-nominated chefs and spent some time as an adjunct faculty member in the culinary department at Secchia Center for Culinary Studies, to pay some of that knowledge forward. He is fascinated by the traditions, seasonality and purity of food and drink, spending his free time outdoors and vinyl record collecting.
Mark Schrock is a lifelong roots/rock/Americana musician who has been active in the Michigan music community since 1974. He currently plays guitar and mandolin with his sons Jasen and Andrew in the Schrock Bros; works as a bassist with Grammy award winner and harmonica wizard Peter Madcat Ruth; is a multi-instrumentalist with Red House Records artist Drew Nelson, and sings and plays swing guitar with Jive At Five. He also co-owns and direct the music program and Salt of the Earth, a farm to table restaurant and entertainment venue in Fennville MI.
Steve Berthel has been a professional brewer in the state of Michigan for twenty years. Steve has been co-owner of two breweries, Kraftbrau and The Livery, prior to joining New Holland Brewing in 2012 as the Pub Brewer. Steve has dreamed of brewing beers with all Michigan grown ingredients, and has made that dream reality within New Hollan’ds Pub on 8th in Holland, MI. Steve has worked closely with growers, maltsters and Michigan State University Extension Services to achieve this goal.
Matthew Millar
Matthew Is a twenty plus year veteran in the restaurant scene in West Michigan. While in the kitchen at his Journeyman and Rye restaurants in Fennville, he developed personal relationships with the growers and producers of the region which he cultivated vigorously until the restaurants closed.
He maintained this habit of sourcing locally to unearth and define the regional character of West Michigan cooking as chef at New Holland Brewing Company in Holland,Michigan, and Reserve, a high end wine bar in Grand Rapids until he left to pursue opening a new restaurant in his home community near Lake Michigan. Matthew, who grew up in Michigan, has roots in east Tennessee and has had a life long passion for the cooking traditions of the American south. His newest project, The Southerner, celebrates these traditions with a little influence from the north.
Matthew is a two time James Beard Award semi finalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes, honored in the peer reviewed guide Best Chefs In America in 2012, and also authors the food blog Post Agricultural Acts. He lives in Fennville, Michigan with his wife, Amy Cook.
Fred Bueltmann, aka “The Beervangelist,” is an owner of New Holland Brewing, where he serves as Vice President of Brand and Lifestyle. He is a nationally recognized expert on pairing beer and food, and a Certified Cicerone®. Bueltmann is past president of the Michigan Brewers Guild and recipient of their prestigious “Tom Burns Award” recognizing the pioneering spirit of the “Great Beer State.” Fred serves as a judge for the Brewer’s Association’s Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup. His first book, “Beervangelist’s Guide to the Galaxy” is a seasonal tome on pairing, cooking and hosting with craft beer, and was recognized as an Indie Book Award finalist. Fred hosts and produces New Holland’s “Stop & Taste Conversations” podcast, and speaks to audiences large and small around the country, which has included serving as 2013 Keynote Speaker for the Michigan Restaurant Association and TedX Macatawa in 2015.