Head Brewer Wanted!!!! Come Live in Paradise and Help Us Make Amazing Beer.

Yep, it's official we need resumes, cover letters etc. We want a head brewer and we need them to start sometime in June. Here are the specifics.

Accepting Resume’s: Full time Head Brewer position for Katabatic Brewing Company

Katabatic Brewing Company is a start-up production brewery in Livingston, MT a world-renowned fly-fishing mountain town 1-hour from Yellowstone National Park, minutes from the Absorka Wilderness, and 30 mins from Bridger Bowl Ski Area. Montana is second in craft breweries per captita! Our brewery is located in a historic brick building downtown that is currently being totally renovated. We are a production style brewery with a retail sample room and a 7-barrel(bbl) Premier Stainless brewhouse, with four 7 bbl fermenters and four 7 bbl bright tanks. We will not be serving food. We will initially focus on the sales to area bars and restaurants as well as out of the taproom offering 4-6 beers with a number of creative seasonals. The Head Brewer is responsible for every aspect of managing, operating and maintenance of the production side of the brewery.

The head brewer will lead wort production, yeast management, ordering supplies, QA/QC panels, documentation for in-house and regulatory reporting, etc. This position offers an exciting growth opportunity and fun, creative work environment to a passionate brewer.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate has at least 1-3 years on the brew deck as an assistant or head brewer on at least a 5 bbl or larger system, and has working knowledge of all aspects of brewery operations as well as packaging and distribution. They must also be a team player and be willing to engage the public during tastings, special events and at festivals. The head brewer must be able to lift in excess of 75-150 lbs repeatedly. This candidate needs to understand barrel-aging, sours, yeast strains, hop varieties, grain varieties, grain roasts, etc. Duties include but are not limited to:

•              Filing all state and federal excise reports and brewers report of operations

•              CIP and maintain all brew house and cellar vessels

•              Clean beer lines and maintain draft equipment on site and at outside accounts

•              Build a Mug Club in the tasting room

•              Host brewers dinners on and off site

•              Hold beer classes, pre-shift and store meetings to educate staff about company beers and planned events

•              Forecast sales and production for all company beers

•              Fill kegs for outside accounts and tasting room guests

•              Create recipes for seasonal brews

•              Participate in regional beer events and festivals including the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup

•              Establish tasting panel to insure consistent quality of all company beers

   

    Essential Functions and Responsibilities

·       Cleaning and sanitation of all equipment in the brewery

·       Brewing recipes to specifications, and ability to develop recipes. Awards for beers a plus!

·       Yeast management and propagation

·       Responsible for the entire brewing and quality control processes and hence should be well versed in scheduling, brewing, cellaring and packaging operations

·       Manage raw materials, inventory control, scheduling and hop contracts, coordinating with suppliers

·       Sanitary sampling, yeast cell counts and record keeping of all beers produced

·       Equipment maintenance and troubleshooting

·       Start and maintenance of a top quality QA/QC program

·       Process development and Standard Operating Procedures enhancement

·       Strong verbal communication and organization skills.

·       Monthly detailed inventory

·       Weekly production accounting, overseeing budgets and expenses for department

·       Mentoring to all employees on the brewing process and beer education

·       Cutting controllable costs and maintaining a profitable brewery

·       Use of proper and safe chemical handling techniques

·       Safety Protocols and OSHA compliance

·       Fill server shifts in the sample room as needed

·       Ability to work flexible shifts

·       Participation in events, festivals, promotions, etc. (this is a must).

 Compensation:

This is a full time salaried position with benefits. We acknowledge the importance of an outstanding head brewer and are interested in offering top candidates the potential for profit sharing in the company. The brewer position will receive a competitive salary based upon previous work experience and expertise. The benefits package includes accumulating leave days at start of employment and upon completion of probationary period includes using leave days, medical benefits and the potential for profit sharing based on performance. We are looking for a rock star brewer who has set their sights on the moon, as we would like to get there ourselves. Come along for the ride!

To Apply:

Send resume, cover letter, and references to katabaticbrewing@gmail.com. Applications received on or before May 15th, 2014 will receive priority review. Please include any relevant work experience including size and type of equipment that you have worked on as well as any awards and accolades that you’ve won!

There is no relocation assistance provided for this position.

Proof of eligibility to work in the U.S. required.

Taking it down to the studs....

I recently wrote a post about the reconstruction we are doing at our building after all the deconstruction. I forgot that the whole back of the building, where our brewing equipment will be, still needed to be completely demolished.

Looks a tad different than it did! So that's all done and now we get to rebuild. Here's to upward and forward movement.

Our progress

We've shared a bit about our progress so far. Many of you have seen the virtual renderings of the space and we've had a lot of questions about when we'll open. We're just as excited as you are and we can't wait to serve you our beer. However, we are just starting the reconstruction phase.

By Sugato Studio

It's been humorous and interesting. We are staying positive, and as a husband and wife team that's super important!

Here we are standing in the space. Our friend Kim Wishcamper with Sugato Studio shot all these photos. She's an amazing photographer and is helping us memorialize our progress with photos at different stages of the build out.

You can see that behind us we have a temporary support wall holding up the second floor. This is temporary until the columns get put in place that will permanently hold up the second floor. Having a solid structure helps :)

Also behind us you see the joists with no flooring. Our bathrooms will sit on the left and our cooler on the right. This floor is being structurally upgraded to support all this new weight. I often wonder how the Long Branch Saloon, which was housed here way before, safely held all those people on busy Friday and Saturday nights!

By Sugato Studio

We've essentially gutted the building. Thankfully we have supportive landlords that are involved in the process. On the right you'll see that we took out the drop ceiling, which ended up being 5-7 layers thick. It seems the longer it goes the number of layers goes up! Kind of like a fishing story.

The new ceiling height is awesome and those carpets are going away too!

By Sugato Studio

As we wait for the building, that is now deconstructed, to become reconstructed we'll continue to brew batches at home. Grinding the grain is therapeutic and meditative. Smelling the brewing process reminds us there is a silver lining out there soon.

We're still months out, we hope to be open in July. Keep checking back here for more pictures and more updates. Thanks for you interest!

New Virtual Brewery for Katabatic!

Sample room facing Park St.

 We are so excited! We just got the plans from our architect and these wonderful mock-ups that were rendered in Sketchup. A big thanks to Jenn and her team at Encompass V2, and BCE Consulting for their work on the design and fixing some of the architectural wonders of the building.

Sample room facing production area, serving area.

Where the Green and Red walls meet will be a stage area for live music.

A big shout out to Travina Lufholm at Encompass V2 for her amazing 3-D rendering of our brewery and it's sample room.

More construction photos!

Here is a photo of taking everything back to the basics. We have stripped 100 years of quasi-building down to an 1890's superstructure. Uprgrades include leaving a toilet, no floor and a wall 3 stories high that was taken out because it was structurally unsound.

The 2x6's are a temporary wall that will be replaced by a super cool 2014 model wall that will allow us to have a wide enough door to add new equipment and keep the roof from collapsing. A win/ win!

We will be replacing the floor, adjusting the height of the stringers, and in the back area that used to be the kitchen we will be replacing the tile floor with a new concrete floor.

Note to the left where the green wall meets the white wall there is a strip of brick brown. This is where the 3-story high brick wall that was not structurally sound was taken out. After we tore off all the layers, a terribly crumbling wall was left. So we took it out.

Back in the green wall area is where the brewing production area will be, and where you see the plywood and open stringers is where a walk-in cooler will be housed.

This photo is from Thurs February 27, two days ago. It was 43 degrees F at 5 PM, as I write this, it is currently -9 degrees F and snowing. Additionally there is about 1 foot of snow on the ground, blown into large drifts in some places.                

Getting Out!

At KATABATIC brewing company, we work hard, damn we work hard. We also like to play just as hard. The other thing that happens when we get to play after having a really long hard week of work, is that we like to get after it! What good is work if you can't go have some fun as a reward? Am I right?

The above video is my skiing and climbing comrad Chris Bangs at http://humanpoweredmountaineers.blogspot.com/. 18" of light dry cold smoke in his face about every other turn.

Cheers to getting out and having fun, whether it's ice fishing, ice climbing, skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, ice kiting, kite boarding, kite skiing, basejumping, basejump skiing or flying in a flying Squirrel suit!

We would like to raise a glass to you, however you get out and celebrate what this state has to offer in winter, Prost!

Wanted: Head Brewer

Katabatic Brewing Company is searching for a Rock Star Brewer! 

We are looking for someone who is half Rock Star, half mad scientist. Like half Lemmy from Motorhead and half Gene Wilder from Young Frankenstein? Ok, that sounds nice, and with a beard. However, if you're a female brewer you won't be expected to grow one, though we can look into beard rentals.

We are a small production brewery start-up in Livingston, MT; the "Gateway to Yellowstone Park!" We are planning on opening in May or June of 2014 with a 7bbl system looking to distribute kegs to area bars and restaurants with our own retail "sample room." We are looking to produce 625 barrels our first year.








Katabatic winds are rugged winds and we seek characters who are rugged in mindset too. We like to work hard and play harder! We will have a steady rotation of all styles of beer with dedicated rotating tap handles to always have something fresh and new on tap. We will also have our flagships that we will be self-distributing, as well as starting to develop a barrel-aged and cask-conditioned ale program. Creativity and self-motivation is a must!

Please email us for any further info and send your resume to: katabaticbrewing@gmail.com or call (406)370-5923 and ask for Brice.

HEAD BREWER

Scope and General Purpose of Job:

In addition to being a shift brewer the Head brewer is responsible for overseeing the production of the highest quality beer, operation and upkeep of brewing equipment and maintaining quality control throughout all aspects of brewing process. The Head brewer position is responsible for maintaining shift schedules and recipe changes. The Head brewer is in charge of all assistant brewers and cellarmen. 

Job Requirements

• Minimum of 3 years experience in production brewery

• Degree in Fermentation Science, Diploma Course or related course work is a big plus

• Management experience a plus

• Flexible work schedule to accommodate production as needed, i.e. be able to work beyond normal hours when necessary

Duties and Responsibilities as Head Brewer:

• Overseeing brewery staff if more than one brewer

• Oversee budgets and expenses for department

• Maintaining and enforcing the use of standard operating procedures (SOP's)

• Overseeing the inventory of raw materials

• Overseeing the brewhouse and keeping it clean and ready for tours

• Able to make decisions in a timely manner regarding brewhouse production

• Responsible for management of production staff

• Maintain a QA / QC program

• Be able to use Excel and Word  and similar programs for brewery schedules

• Begin developing a barrel program

• Must enjoy beer and the culture of beer

• Must be willing to always be looking for ways to make the beer better.

• Milling, mashing, lautering, wort boiling, cooling and transferring to fermenters

• Yeast monitoring, pitching and evaluation

• Process development and enhancement

• Ensure supply of raw materials

• Raw material evaluation

• Monitor fermentations

• Equipment upkeep and maintenance

• Maintain cleanliness of all brewhouse areas

• Completion of paperwork in an accurate and timely manner

• Adhere to safe practices

• To communicate regularly and efficiently with fellow employees and management

Pay based on experience, profit-sharing is available.