19 Apr Summit City Brewerks Finding Footing In Growing Fort Wayne Market
The last time I was in Fort Wayne I made a quick stop into a little brewery named Summit City. I was surprised I hadn’t heard more about the place. Once I had a couple of flights and the PB & J Hotdog I knew I needed to go back and spend more time. The tap list includes twenty of their own beers, and twenty guest brews. This means there is no shortage of new beers to try.
Summit City currently occupies 4,000 + sq ft at 1501 E. Berry Street in the old Fork and Hoe building (insert inappropriate joke here). The actual brewing area takes up a little over 400 sq ft and includes a 3 barrel system, with the capacity to create 6 barrel batches. The kitchen is small, and when I say small I mean less than 50 sq ft., but the quality of food coming out of this micro-kitchen astounds me. You will not be disappointed ordering the Nutella Dog, Bourbon Bacon Chicken Tacos, the homemade hummus, or any other item from the menu. If you can’t decide which beer to pair with your meal, just ask and they will walk you through the process.
The building at one time also housed the Bun Candy Bar factory. The scuttlebutt is David and Will found a couple pallets of finely aged Bun Candy Bars in the basement. I heard the aged caramel is the color of pure gold and it tastes like unicorn farts! Make sure to ask for one when you go in!
The décor is a rustic collage of items obtained from around the Midwest. From the exposed brick and beam to the chandeliers, and the deer and buffalo heads hanging on the wall to the rope lights leading you to the restroom, Summit City’s David Tomaszewski and Will Long have created a fun and interesting environment to match their fun and interesting beers!
David and Will, both in their early 30’s, met over 20 years ago during Sunday school. It seems like a logical place for two future brewers to meet, right? David followed a path through the culinary and service industry to prepare for the joys of owning his own brewery. Will went into logistics and moved around a bit, gaining knowledge and experience that would later help him as an owner/brewer of Summit City. Each owner brings the experiences of their past to help the brewery reach its max potential.
Not including the owners, there are 13 employees at Summit City. The guys were quick to point out this means they are responsible for the wellbeing of 13 individuals, and in some cases entire families. The employees must buy into David and Will’s vision of what Summit City is and what Summit City will be. To understand what that vision is I asked each one to tell me what they want people to know and think about when someone mentions Summit City Brewerks. Below are the responses in their words:
Will:
- “Our thing is always gonna probably to be variety. We got 10 beers back in the cooler ready to go, that are new right now. So I don’t know how many places have 10 beers ready to go every month… You can show up here in the midst of you wanting to try something new and you can come here and try something new pretty much every single day.”
David:
- “Something that is very important given my background is service. We care that you enjoy your time. Yeah, we want you to enjoy the beer, but we want you to come back because of the experience. Not because you loved the Bretta Moretta, or the hot dog was good, or your server was very friendly; we want it all to bring you back.”
When I asked about future expansion, distribution, events, etc Will and David started playing coy. I was told they are working on potential bottle releases and other fun events in the near future. As far as distribution, Summit City distributed about ¾ of a barrel in all of 2015. This was done locally and the partners looked at it more as advertising than distribution. David said “You can’t buy the amount of advertising you get from word of mouth by someone trying your beer somewhere else.” After that I was told there are BIG THINGS in the works, and NEW THINGS are coming. I am not exactly sure what that means, but you can guarantee I am excited to see them!
Keep drinking great beer and talking about it, I know I will!
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