Kraft Beer With Kindsey: Mile Wide Beer Co

It is no secret that bourbon dominates this state, but the craft beer industry is growing in Kentucky. There are locally owned breweries and microbreweries scattered all around the state and it is my mission to travel to each and every one and tell their story.

---

 

 

The Ohio River is 981 miles long and that borders six states, but the widest point on the Ohio River is just north of downtown Louisville where it is one mile wide.

When Scott Shreffler, Kyle Tavares, Matt Landon and Patrick Smith decided to open a brewery in Louisville, they wanted to pick a name that was tied to the city but wasn’t Louisville specific.

“We didn’t want to go after horses or baseball bats or things like that,” Shreffler said. 

After months of discussion, Smith pitched the name “Mile Wide” in honor of the widest point of the Ohio River.

“The name is kind of made sense,” Shreffler said. “We’d gone back and forth with a couple of them, a couple different names and, you know, it’s it’s all about feel. When you hear the right name, you know it.”

“It [the name] kind of gives us the idea of being open,” he said. 

Mile Wide opened in December of 2016 and has done exactly what the name suggests. It has never stopped moving and welcomes a wide range of people; beer lovers and non-beer lovers.

The goal at Mile Wide is to open people’s minds about beer and Shreffler and Tavares have made it their mission.

“Everybody likes beer, they just haven’t found the right one yet,” Tavares said. “And some people many never find it. They may not open their mind up enough to be open to trying enough to find that beer, but there’s beer for everyone. There’s too many styles brewed throughout the world for somebody just blankety say I don’t like it.”

Mile Wide sees this challenge as a way to decide which beer to brew.

“We need to provide a certain variety for people because everybody’s beer tastes are different,” Shreffler said. “Those people that come in here that are like “I don’t even like beer, I just got dragged in here”. Well we have a variety of beer that you should try because, you know, maybe you just haven’t had the right beer because there is a beer out there for everybody.”

One of the biggest challenges that Shreffler and Tavares see in owning a craft brewery is that people will say they don’t like craft beer without trying it.

Shreffler and Tavares are adamant that people who come into Mile Wide and don’t like craft beer, just need to try a little taste.

“I tell them if you don’t like it, just pour it into that bucket right in front of you,” Tavares said. “I’m not going to be offended. I would rather people try 10 samples of our beer and throw out nine of them, but find the one that they like then for somebody to be like I just generally don’t like beer.”

Tavares says most people see beer in three categories: Budweiser, IPAs and stouts. Those people see craft beer as IPAs and stouts and nothing in between.

To get people more comfortable with IPAs, Mile Wide decided to brew a series of Northeast styles IPA because of people’s objection to the high bitterness of IPAs.  The staple of Northeast style of IPAs is very low bitterness.

“What I love about that style and that series of beers we’re doing is getting to be in those situations where it’s a tasting format and somebody isn’t going to be committed to a full beer,” Shreffler said. “You get them to try. Here you say you don’t like IPAs, here take four ounces of this. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to drink it.”

IPAs are a scary to most non-craft beer drinkers, but stouts are even scarier. Most people aren’t used to a beer being dark and heavy, which makes them hesitant to try stouts.

“People are so scared of stouts,” Tavares said. “Thinking they are so big and heavy. And they try it and they’re like “Oh my gosh. It’s like a dessert in a glass.”

Shreffler and Tavares knows that despite everything they do, there are still going to be people who try their beer and not like it. That’s why Mile Wide carries liquor and wine.

“We hope that by having liquor and a limited wine selection the people will come here to just hang out and want to also try beer while they’re here,” Tavares said.

“When we were conceptualizing the taproom, you know, the one thing that we don’t want is to give anybody a reason to not come,” Shreffler said. “There’s going to be times when the wife drinks beer the husband doesn’t or the husband drinks beer and the wife doesn’t. Whatever it may be, we want them to still come here.”

And people do still come to Mile Wide because the beer is good. So good that one of their beers won a medal at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver in early October.

Mile Wide won a bronze medial in the Sweet Stout or Cream Stout category for McPoyle, a milk stout. Mile Wide was the only GABF winner in the state of Kentucky and the state’s first award winner since 2015.

Mile Wide has carved out a niche in the Louisville craft beer community, but despite all the success, they are still trying to spread the word about their brewery in Louisville.

“It’s amazing to see truly how many people don’t even know we exist in our own city,” Shreffler said. “How many people within two square miles of the brewery don’t know that we’re here. Hard core beer geeks do and more and more the general public is becoming aware there we’re here, but we still got a lot of work to do to just increase our awareness in our own city.”

Having not even celebrated one year of business, Mile Wide’s is on the right path to great success and their beer is a testament to that.

My beer picks at Mile Wide:

Something light(er): Brabble (blonde ale) or Barstow (American wheat ale) are both smooth, light beers that are a good for any new craft beer drinker.

Something in the middle: Moxie/Tuck Rule are Mile Wide’s two Northeast IPAs. I am not a huge IPA drinker, but NE IPAs, especially Mile Wide’s, are very different and very good.

Something dark: McPoyle because it is an award winning beer.

---

If you are interested in sponsoring this post, please email [email protected]. Cheers.