Presenter: Jeffrey Schaefer, New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, WI.
We have developed a protocol for draft-line cleaning, as well as a program to educate tavern owners and line-cleaning companies in Wisconsin. Draught line cleaning is arguably the most inconsistent and least understood aspect of draught beer. Each state is unique in how these systems are maintained. Wisconsin is a free-enterprise state, meaning bars and restaurants are responsible for cleaning their own draft lines or hiring a third party to clean them. We have encountered many challenges in implementation and training accounts on the 2009 Brewers Association Draught Quality Standards. Once retailers, line cleaners, and distributors see what is happening within their draft systems, they make the needed changes to meet or exceed our draught quality standards.
Jeff Schaefer is a long-time beer industry enthusiast beginning with his experience as a keg route delivery representative and retail sales manager; he is currently working as brewery sales director at New Glarus Brewing Company. Jeff is the resident draft specialist and has been the driving force behind New Glarus Brewing Company’s retail draft beer team. Jeff has been trained by Siebel Institute of Technology, Micro-Matic, and Perlick in draught beer quality and draught beer dispense. Jeff heads up the training of New Glarus Brewing Company’s distributor draught specialists throughout the state! His enthusiastic passion for draft beer is contagious. Jeff became a member of the WI Brewer’s Guild Technical Committee in 2010.
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