Anyone out there like to gamble? I know that I like to gamble and today we have no chance of crapping out. For our Eighth Brewer of Christmas we are going to take the casino for every penny they are worth and sit down for a chat with Jef Smith. Jef is the owner and former brewer at Loaded Dice Brewery out of Troy, Michigan.
Jef started homebrewing approximately 25 years ago when he stumbled into Cap N’ Cork (A ton of brewers got their start by visiting them back in the day) and bought a homebrewing kit. Shortly after this happened Jef moved out to California, and he didn’t really know anyone out there. Everyone that he worked with enjoyed playing poker, barbecuing and brewing beer, which were all activities that he enjoyed. This is when he started to get serious about brewing beer and perfecting his craft.
Jef comes from a software design and development background and still has a day job in this field. For the first few years of operation, Loaded Dice was only open on Friday and Saturday. Jef worked his job during the day, and brewed beer at night. After expanding their hours he had to hire a staff to accommodate the needs of the brewery. At this point Jef took a step back from brewing. One point that Jef was very proud of, opening up Loaded Dice has allowed him to provide jobs for people. Someday in the future, his goal is to quit his day job and live off of the revenue from Loaded Dice. At the current moment though, any extra money that he and his wife Jennifer acquire goes right back into the business.
When I asked Jef about what inspired him to finally decide to open a brewery, he responded that his father passing away a few years ago was instrumental in his plans to open a brewery. He stated that he was very close to his father and that his father was a guy who had grandiose plans about doing various things, but he never followed through and executed his plans. Jef realized that he didn’t want to have all the plans in the world and never do anything about it. So he decided to take action and put plans in place to open up his own brewery.
Although he never brewed in a commercial setting consistently before opening Loaded Dice, Jef did brew a few times with the people from Ascension Brewing Company, and with Andrew Thomas, owner and brewer at Starving Artist Brewing Company in Ludington, Michigan (Andy is a super cool dude in his own right, and you should totally check his brewery out next time you are out that way). Andy helped Jef along by helping him hammer out a business plan, figuring out his costs and helping him to run the brewery as efficiently as possible.
One of the pieces of advice that Jef can give to anyone that is looking to start brewing beer for a living is to ask questions, ask for help when you need it. Not everyone knows everything about anything when they first start doing it, someone is always going to know more than you. I personally believe that is true in every aspect of life, no matter how much you think you know about any topic, there is always someone out there in the world that has more knowledge than you. Jef summed it up best by simply stating “Always be humble”, that is just great life advice in general if you ask me.
As far as the beers that Jef personally likes to brew, he started out in his earlier days by trying to perfect Hazy IPAs and really big, weird Sours because that is what he was drinking at the time. Nowadays he is more into brewing Lagers, yet again because that is what he is into drinking at the moment. Along with most of the brewing world, he enjoys the challenge of brewing Lagers. If you brew a Lager and it doesn’t go as planned, you can’t hide it (no matter how much you try), everyone will be able to tell that the beer didn’t turn out as planned. Being able to brew a good Lager as Jef says, “Is the ultimate sign of a really Good Brewer”. Since Jef doesn’t really care to drink them, he is not big on brewing Belgian style beers. Not every style of beer was meant for everyone though, and that is the great thing about the craft beer world.
Why the name Loaded Dice is what you might be asking yourself. The answer to that is simple, going back to Jef’s father, gambling was a big thing at family functions. They used to play poker and Michigan rummy at family gatherings. They were also a family of bowlers and there is no shortage of gambling at the bowling alley. As Jef stated, “Gambling has always been a cornerstone of my personality.” He chose Loaded Dice as the name because all the other gambling related names, Full House, 21 Brewery, had all been done before. Since Jef loves to “play poker to fuel his craps addiction”, Loaded Dice was the perfect name.
As mentioned earlier, some of the beers that you will see on the taplist at Loaded Dice include various Lagers, Hazy IPA’s and Sours. One of the other styles that they are well known for are their big stouts. They do all sorts of crazy stout recipes at Loaded Dice. They even have an Elvis inspired line of beers that they brew which uses Bacon, Banana and Peanut Butter, which was the King’s favorite sandwich. The base beer for this line is a Weizenbock called The Fat King, it has expanded to include a toned down version of it, Birth of The Fat King. There is a Wheatwine version of it called The Death of The Fat King, and last but not least a pastry stout version aptly named The Resurrection of The Fat King.
There will be a few holiday themed beers hitting the taplist just in time for this article, including a Sour that is a part of their All the Marbles Sour series, which will be out in mid-December, which was brewed with candied plums, apricots and caramelized figs. In addition, there will be a holiday spiced beer which will include clove, nutmeg and cinnamon called How Do You Know It’s Not Eggshells, which will be brewed in collaboration with Hot Mulligan, a band out of Lansing, MI. Last but not least Jef will be releasing a holiday Golden Ale just in time for Christmas. If these beer releases don’t put you in the holiday spirit, I don’t know what will.
Some promotions that they offer throughout the year also have a gambling connotation to them. For example during Red Wings watch parties, if Dylan Larkin scores a goal, you will get 7.1% off of your tab, corresponding to his jersey number of 71. They also do a barrel share program called Future Bets, I am not going to get into too many details because I don’t want to explain it wrong. The gist of it involves you buying into the event, then you will be given a draft position and you get to pick the beers that you want based upon your position in the draft. From there you and other patrons can trade picks and beers throughout the entire event, just like a professional sports draft. For more on the Future Bets program at Loaded Dice check out their webpage.
What does the future hold for Loaded Dice Brewery? As of now, they have reached their brewing capacity at the facility in Troy. In the near future, they are planning to move the brewery into a bigger facility in Clawson which will allow them to continue growing and expanding the Loaded Dice brand. In the Troy facility at the moment parking is limited, there is no storage space, and they are harder to locate. The move to Clawson alleviates all of these problems and sets Loaded Dice up very nicely for a bright future. No two-outers needed on the river in Loaded Dice’s future.
Next time you are thinking about gambling, instead of going to the casino where the house always wins, take a trip out to Loaded Dice and visit our Eighth Brewer of Christmas Jef Smith. This is one gambling themed place where the brewing community always wins. Cheers!
#craftbeer #drinklocal #michiganbeer #beer #cheers #holidaybeer #beerlovers #troymi
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