Shmaltz Brewing Co. announces its farewell season after 25 years in the beer business with the first and final release of Bittersweet Lenny’s RIPA in 16 oz cans, vintage gems from the Shmaltz beer vault, and a fitting tribute, Exodus 2021 Barleywine Ale (8.8% ABV) brewed with Date, Fig, Pomegranate, and Grape.
Shmaltz goes out with a bang with a nationwide “Farewell to Shmaltz Tour” a.k.a. the Class of ’96 Celebration a.k.a. Let My People Brew a.k.a. The No Shmucks Tour, which kicked off at the Craft Brewers Conference 2021 (Denver, CO) with a dozen Class of ’96 breweries plus industry sponsors all presented by ProBrewer with more than 400 enthusiastic craft beer fans.
When Shmaltz Brewing began in 1996 hand-delivering 100 cases of its beloved “HE’BREW – The Chosen Beer” out of owner/founder Jeremy Cowan’s grandmother’s Volvo, 700 small independent craft breweries represented only 2% of the beer market. Along with other “Class of ’96” breweries (Stone, Firestone Walker, Victory, Three Floyds, Two Brothers, Original Sin, Iron Hill, Coronado and many others), Shmaltz put roots down for an industry that has since created and sustained a transformative movement, growing to nearly 10,000 craft brewers and over 20% of the overall beer market by revenue. Shmaltz stood out as one of the most idiosyncratic brands of its day; one that cooked along for an initial 10 years and in the mid-2000s became a pop-cultural phenomenon with a dedicated global cult following.
From the early years of self-distributing to growing to four then 45 wholesalers nationally, Shmaltz served as an unusual example and vocal advocate for contract brewing before opening its own 50-barrel 40,000 square feet production brewery in Upstate New York. Shmaltz expanded production volumes by 400% to over 30,000 barrels by then contracting for other renowned national and regional beer brands in addition to brewing their award-winning Shmaltz portfolio.