Matt Nadeau from Rock Art Brewery

I know it's been a while since I have posted, but I had to bring you some good news today. Check out this killer interview with Matt Nadeau, aka the brewer at Rock Art Brewery, aka the guy who stuck it to Monster Energy Drinks!!!!

Matt and Renee, Fight on friends! We're doing what we can to spread the word here about your recent fight against The Man. Hope we can generate some buzz for you across the pond! Cheers to you for not giving in. If you've got any time, I'd love to hit you up for a short interview about this ordeal, just a few questions:

1. You are a small micro-brewer in Vermont. Why fight?

Principles, It's my name, I have it trademarked in VT since 2006, lawyers told me the name is fine to submit an application to the federal government. The trade mark office reviewed the name and saw no conflict with the name, yet a one billion dollar company wants to get into the beer market and felt they could keep me from using the legal rights to the name. Not this time, justice is for sale here in the US as told to me by lawyers in the trademark court of law. That's not right, we did not pledge " and justice for those with the deepest pockets".

2. How has the world of facebook, twitter and blogs made it possible for your voice to be heard?

Over the top! The total media campaign was 21 days from being told I will get nothing , to "ok we'll work with your offer before any of this started.

3. Has any of this publicity affected your brewery in a negative way?

Not too much at all, a few corporate types , maybe students? said that I was whining about the court system and that I needed to buck up and be more corporate like. I hope those poor souls will someday realize what life is really all about and for their sake I hope they make enough money in this world to "put their money where their mouth is" because they will need a lot with that attitude. I've been told by lawyers that deeper pockets will drain you till your gone and then they win by default.

4. Why are you brewing full flavored "different" beers in the first place?

Ahhh…Why did I get into brewing???? I think it all started back when I found that beer was my beverage of choice. I was the youngster at the family parties that would order some odd beer off the menu because I wanted to try something new and hoped that it would have flavor. I would get that odd look from all the relatives at the table because I wasn’t ordering the same national beer that the rest ordered. I loved going to Montreal and drinking the Canadian beers back in the 80’s The beers had flavor, something that was hard to find with the few American offerings available at the time. I enjoyed tasting different flavors in beer, some had distinct malt flavors some had more hops or bitterness to them, end result was flavor.

Flavor was my driving force to enter into home brewing. My wife ordered me a copy of Charlie Papazian’s “Joy of Home Brewing” and I was off to the races. I was brewing one level of beer, while reading and studying the next level. Soon I was cultivating yeast from test tubes and propagating them up to pitching level and holding/ brewing with that culture for 3-4 months at a time. I brewed every weekend usually 2-3 batches, sometime 4. I was all grain brewing in a few short months, and writing my own recipes. Why did I stay in brewing? My very first homebrew was a failure, I put the carboy in a room for the hot water tank, thinking it would stay warm, well it did not. It got so cold that night in Northern Vermont that the yeast” went to sleep” and did not finish fermenting. My Grand Father Nadeau who used to brew at home during prohibition and the great depression tried that first beer of mine, “very malty” he said. That was kind of him not to say anything more. I kept at brewing, I loved it, a little science, a little cooking, room to create pieces of equipment as needed, fire for cooking, it has it all! Best of all, you have a great beer at the end of your efforts, what more could you want? My first recipe that I created was another disaster, I way, way over hopped it, and I couldn’t drink it for a year till the hops calmed down a bit. I wonder how that recipe would do in today’s EXTREME beers? Maybe a good hit, I think I’ll dig that one up and give it a try.

Today I brew based on inspiration, when I have a beer in my mind that I would like to create, I can taste it in my mind and then I go about writing the recipe for it. I’ll order hops and grains that are new to me, smell and chew them, experience what they will bring to the beer and then write the beer on paper, transform it to mathematical numbers and then brew. My favorite part of my week at the brewery is still the fermentation of the beer. I just have to visualize the “living” beer as it moves around in the 50 barrel tanks of stainless steel, unlike a glass carboy when all that life is right there before your eyes. Amazing!

5. Where are your beers available in the US?

VT, MA, CT, NJ, PA, AZ soon FL

6. We've got your back here in Japan, wanna come for a visit?

Love to! Have a few craft beers and get some scuba diving in off the shores of Japan !! Now I just need to get some time off......just getting back to the swing of things after this 6 week MONSTER issue....