Hacienda Brewing Launches This Weekend

Danny McMahon, center, head brewer of Door County Brewing, looks forward to this weekend’s launch of Hacienda Beer Co. Pictured, from left, are Matt Sampson, brand manager; Kyle Gregorash, assistant head brewer; McMahon; Ben McMahon, sales manager; and Allyce Mohs, operations manager. Submitted.

Danny McMahon knows people are having trouble wrapping their minds around the idea of the successful, young Door County Brewing Co. spinning off a new brewery that launches this weekend.

“I’ll probably have to explain it another thousand times. I understand it. We knew this was going to happen,” McMahon said, adding that the easiest way to understand is to stop by on Saturday when the first Hacienda Brewing Co. drafts will be on tap.

“It may sound a little fuzzy, so come in and see what it’s all about,” he said.

It’s been a heady six years since the family-owned Door County Brewing Co. got its start. Anyone who talked to Danny and his father John back in those early days will recall that plans for Hacienda Beer Co. sound very much like their scheme of things in the very beginning, with wild fermented ales and locally sourced ingredients.

Door County Brewing Co. quickly grew into a staid provider of reliable beers such as Polka King Porter, Little and Big Sister Witbier and Silurian Stout.

“Door County Brewing has turned into a very approachable brand, in the best possible sense,” McMahon said. “Most of our beers range between 5 and 6 percent ABV, so we’re not killing you there. Very approachable style, very approachable marketing. We’re not using death metal anything that will isolate a certain group of people. It’s very creative, but approachable. That’s just naturally what we grew into. The biggest thing is nothing is changing for Door County Brewing Co. That is still going strong.”

And then he quickly added that there will in fact be some slight changes.

“We’re updating a bit,” he said. “We’re switching to cans. The logos are getting a slight makeover, but not going off the deep end. It’s just a way to keep that brand going.”

The majority of Door County Brewing Co. beers will continue to be contract brewed under McMahon’s supervision at Octopi Brewing in Waunakee, while all the Hacienda beers will be brewed in the new 15-barrel system at the tap room/brewhouse in Baileys Harbor.

The Hacienda branch will allow the brewers to stretch and allow the company to tap into the work of other artists for labeling.

“We’ve had a bunch of projects that we wanted to brew – whether it’s a style of beer, the ingredients we use, or the artists we want to work with – that just cohesively did not make sense to keep it under the Door County Brewing Co. label,” McMahon said. “We wanted to keep Door County Brewing Co. very cohesive, so the best way to do these things and work with these other artists and not worry about cohesion was to start the other label,which is Hacienda Beer Co. That brand will focus mostly on beers that are of a higher price point, unique ingredients, sometimes foraged ingredients, barrel fermented. Pastry stouts are a big thing now. Stouts with all these different adjuncts and flavors, and we’ve met a lot of people who do cool art. It would make no sense for Door County Brewing Co. to do these things.”

So the name Hacienda?

“To us, this building is 50-50 Door County Brewing and Hacienda,” McMahon said. “To be on the main street in a bigger building, a bigger brewhouse, a beer garden with the Chives food truck – hacienda means estate, essentially. For us, this is us, Hacienda. Estate Beer Co. is pretty awful. Hacienda we just thought is a cool word and we’re all from Texas, too, so it makes sense for us. It encompasses Baileys Harbor.”

The Hacienda logo of an antlered armadillo was designed by 26-year-old Baileys Harbor native Toler Wolfe. McMahon said he already has some other artists lined up for label designs, such as brewery employee Matt Sampson, Milwaukee artist Francisco Ramirez, and an unnamed Green Bay tattoo artist.

“If you’re an artist and you do stuff we like and you approach us, we’ll find a place for you somewhere,” McMahon said. “We’re excited. It’s going to be cool. Once people understand, they’ll think it’s cool, hopefully.”

The first Hacienda drafts will be poured beginning at 11 am Saturday, Feb. 3. The Hacienda beers include a milk stout with coffee and cinnamon called Vertigogo, a saison fermented in a chardonnay barrel. At 2 pm there will be pouring of a firkin of Vertigogo with chocolate and raspberries.