94 - Jefferson Beer Supply: How to Build a Brand Beyond the Taproom

Catelin: Hey Caitlin. Hi. Uh, what? Tell me.

Rich: No, I was supposed to, there was some like sort of, I did that rhyme thing with Caitlin Dre is like on the way or whatever. I don't remember. I was supposed to do something, but I forgot 'cause my brain doesn't work. Oh. Mm. Ums.

Catelin: Okay. If we're not rhyming. Yeah, I think it's, I was Dad jokes earlier today.

It was pretty, oh Lord. Pretty hilarious. You know, that could be

Rich: good. So we're here to talk about beer. I understand. Well, brewery and community and marketing and all that good stuff.

Catelin: Yeah. Nobody wants me to talk about beer, which is why we have the lovely and talented and wonderful Nikki Werner of Jefferson Beer Supply.

Uh, one of Sioux City's just like. Well, s Siouxland Siouxland, I guess. Yes. I'm like the, the Greater Siouxland metro. Um, just a bright spot. Jefferson. Yeah. So located in Jefferson, South Dakota, which is just right

Rich: up the interstate a little ways. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah, so we're gonna talk about unique marketing challenges of a brewery, kind of how, uh, Nikki and team found their niche and why, um, they're so awesome and why we love them have being here in the community.

Yeah. Yeah. So welcome Nikki. You're here with us. We don't always start with the guest. Hey.

Catelin: Yeah. Thank you for being here. Um, I know this is like, yeah. Such a highlight. Nikki and I kind of, um, we like run in maybe like parallel. Parallel circles is not a thing, but like in, um, maybe concentric circles or like Okay.

So you overlap occasionally? Yes. Like we're, um, both members. It like defunct members of the same club. Like, like we like the people that are in the book club, but we're like, we're very busy. I can't read, I can't read books that somebody else picks. And also I can't, um, break away on a Tuesday to go talk about a book, which is sad because, um, I think it's a great group.

So

Rich: I thought book clubs were mostly about drinking.

Catelin: Well, this, am I wrong this? I mean, that's like, no, but this, they do a pretty good job of like, at least starting, do you read the book? Starting the book.

Rich: Book. Okay. Got it.

Catelin: Yeah. All right. Yeah. Um, one of the other members is a bartender at my favorite local, uh, bar, the diving milk.

And so it's just really like the, the, the cocktail culture is, is also deeply integral to this particular book club. But yes. Anyway, um, I think that I want you to talk to us about this recipe and then I have some questions just about like how you, how you got here, Nikki? Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah,

Rich: I love it.

So I do want to confess before we get too far in, I don't drink beer, so I am. I just apologized in the beginning, um, however I read. So I do drink a sour occasionally. It's gotta be a really good one. And I was reading this Thai Taki Sour, um, my favorite burrito is the Takis Burrito from DGAs. And so I am very interested in this cocktail.

So, um, yeah,

Nicki: um, it was actually from, uh, last summer we did a tiki, uh, beer cocktail night with, um, the Hello High, which is the cocktail bar in Sioux Falls. Okay. So they have their. We planned these drinks with their mixologist, and then they came down and did them, and we had a really good, um, local food truck.

Um, Molly's on wheels, so it was tacos and tiki tiki drinks. Um, and so yeah, this, uh, Taki sour, um, we actually had a Taki beer on, um, at that time. But you can make it with any kind of fruited, sour, or, um, really a lot of. Uh, jalapeno beers or chili beers are very readily available right now. Like, um, a jalapeno blonde would also be good for this.

Nikki

Rich: gave us product. We're very excited.

Catelin: This is for the kids. I'm doing a little.

Rich: Mm-hmm.

Catelin: Yes. Um, I just, and we'll talk about this, but I just love. The look of everything is so like, cohesive and cute and mm-hmm. Um, and sturdy. It ha it's like distinct. I feel like sometimes small breweries have a like slap dash quality to them where it's like, like I clip arted this label like kitchy a little bit.

Yeah. Um, mm-hmm. And I just, the whole brand is so cohesive and um, I'm excited to talk more about that. But first thing is first.

Rich: Can we just address the elephant in the room? Tiki and tacos. She's speaking our love language case. I know, right? Like Zach. I was like, this is Zach is ready to fly back.

Catelin: When you talk about Hello.

Hi too. My husband went, 'cause he's like in the, the cocktail, like cocktail adjacent culture of the greater Siouxland area as well and went and did like a, a rum tasting or something with a crew from Hello High. And he was like, it was so fun because they went to like all these different little. Bars in Sioux Falls and because he was like with the bar people from Sioux Falls, they all kind of got the like.

The vibey treatment and not just like a, oh, here's your drink, and away you go. It was like, they were all just like taking little sips of everybody's and like sharing it around and you know, obviously not worried about gers, but yeah. So it's,

Rich: it's fine. Yeah.

Nicki: I'm not like crazy deep into the Sioux Falls bar scene, but we do have a handful of accounts there and the hello, if you like.

If you like cocktails and if you like tiki cocktails, the Hill High is definitely like a gem, um, that you don't find in this area. You know, it's a real legit tiki bar and mm-hmm. Um, their beers are legit. So this cocktail, um, when they did it, it was amazing. They made, they handmade all the syrups and everything.

It might be like a little bit, uh, complicated if you're just like a at home bartender wanting, we're not afraid of that, a beer cocktail. But, um, also there's so many like, good, uh. Cocktail syrups and bitters that you can buy now if you, if you're not make them. So, um, yeah. This one kind of ha We, the recipe has, um, lemongrass and ginger pineapple yum.

A little tiny bit of sesame and, um, some Thai chilies, and then a sour beer or a chili beer, uh, and a taki rim. We can take the hot Taki chips and crush 'em up and make the rim. Mm-hmm.

Rich: I want that on every drink though. I know. I

Catelin: converted. You've converted me. Well, I'm feeling like it's like a beer garita.

Really? Oh, I'm

Rich: feeling like mango margarita with taki dust.

Catelin: Yeah. Oh, there you go. Why not? That was like two episodes ago. Like, go back. I still have the

Rich: mangoes. I don't have any limes, though. I have the mangoes in the freezer. I found 'em. I was cleaning it out and I found them.

Catelin: All right, so to make this, you're gonna take an ounce and a half of lemongrass, ginger, simple syrup, um, which we'll talk about in a second.

An ounce of fresh pineapple juice, a dash of that toasted sesame oil, which I love, like I give me all the mm-hmm. Sesame soy, Ooh, yum. Uh, one small Thai chili, which are. Strong, those arey. Sturdy chili. Yes. Uh, sour beer. Preferably a citrus based fruit sour. Um, or as Nikki said, you could use a hot pepper beer, like a jalapeno blonde.

A jalapeno. I just like, there's so many, anytime we talk about blonde beers, I'm like, it just lends itself to talking about like women, which is not ni here nor there. Um, also not really our specialty. And then as we discussed, uh, you're gonna rim your glass with, uh, taki dust and, um, the language. So, and, uh, tell me one tip

Rich: before we get too far, if you are worried about the heat on that Thai chili, cut it in half and scrape it out.

So you take out the seeds and, mm-hmm. The, I don't know, I wanna say plinth, but I don't know if that's the right word for it. But it's the, it's the fiber membrane thing. Rims that's in there. The what? The ribs. The ribs.

Nicki: Yeah.

Rich: Yes. So if you take that stuff out and then you muddle just the chili like um mm-hmm.

Fruit, I guess skin, whatever you wanna call it. Skin. Yeah. Just the main part of the killing. And get those seed out. You're gonna get all the flavor, you're gonna get some heat, but it won't be as bad.

Catelin: Won't be quite

Rich: as as, yeah. That's like when I had that burger that had jalapeno slices with all of the seeds in them and I was just like, I had to just, that hurts.

Yeah. It was a lot. Yep. Yep. Alright, so now. Make it up

Catelin: to make your lemongrass ginger syrup, which I might do just to have, um, 'cause it'd be really good in like a bubble water too. Uh, simmer, one cup of water, one cup of sugar. So you're making simple syrup. And then you wanna add two stalks of chopped lemongrass and a thumb of sliced fresh ginger for 10 minutes.

Um, just simmer. Simmer. That I know, right. Thumb of ginger, is that the technical term for that? Ginger is such a pain to work with that I always just get like the tube squeezy tube anyway. Hmm. It's

Rich: valid.

Catelin: Let that cool strain and store in the fridge for up to two weeks. Uh, a hot pepper tincture or simple syrup would also work in the place of the fresh chili, um, which I.

I feel like you could buy, right? Like a little hot pepper dropper. Perfect. Mm-hmm. Okay, so to start, you're gonna rub the rim of a chilled pint or cocktail glass with lime. Uh, then dip it in the crushed hockey seasoning. Um, the photo of this is so cute 'cause it's got the, like, it's not just around the rim, it's like got the extra Anyway, uh, build the base in a shaker.

You're gonna combine the syrup, pineapple juice, sesame oil, uh, sesame oil, and the muddled chili if you're using that. And then shake that gently with ice. Strain over fresh ice in your prepared glass, and then slowly so as not to disturb the bubbles top with your favorite tart, citrusy sour beer. And give her a quick stir.

If you wanna be really extra or you like cilantro, which is a thing that I don't, you can add a sprig of cilantro, or, it's not even that, it tastes like grass to me. I just don't. I just don't like it. Or soap. I like the grassy tastes. Soap is what it tastes like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think it just tastes like grass.

Uh, I would like to know more about this, um, serving note serve with a side eye and a straw. Is, is side eye a like a cocktail term that I don't know Or side, is that supposed to be side car? I think it would be

Nicki: side car. Yeah. He's like a little side car walking mean you can serve it with a side

Rich: eye.

Catelin: We're

Rich: gonna all have to give Zach some side eye.

Now

Catelin: it's like, I don't know what a side eye is at the bar other than the like, Hmm. So can you, for those it need to slow down

Rich: for those who are uninitiated. What is a sidecar?

Nicki: It's just a little tiny beer that come. Yeah. Either what doesn't fit if you're using the beer to mix, or like, a lot of times Bloodies will be served with like the little tiny cans or little sidecar.

Catelin: Yeah. I like a little, like the little, um, Miller High Lifes the little, the little like six ounces. Are they little six ounce glass bottles? Yeah. The only time I drink a high life is if it's got a shot of, is it Aperol? I may, I may the, mm-hmm. Uh, a

Rich: I've never heard of that

Catelin: spoke. Oh my gosh. The German. Yeah, it's got a name it that the Miller High Life and Pink Liqueur has a name and my husband is divorcing me as we speak because I can't remember what this, it's called.

No, he won't

Rich: divorce you. I mean, I kind,

Catelin: yeah. I was like, spa was always coming up with it. Yeah, it's a spaghetti. It's a spaghetti. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for saving my marriage.

Rich: Yeah. Interesting. I've never ever. Thought about that. Yeah.

Catelin: Um, yeah, it's, they're so good. They're so, um, coincidentally, Katie, our, our joint book club member is the one who, uh, who turned me onto a spat because, um, yeah, the, I think the last time I had any, uh, amount of them was in the parking lot of the Green Bay Packer Stadium.

You can drink high life at a football game. This is fine. Mm-hmm. Um. Okay. Before we break, I would like to know a little bit about how, how you got here, Nikki, um, to Jefferson Beer Supply. Um, kind of the, the like five minute version, if it's that, but like take like two minute version. Version. You contain multitudes and I don't wanna short sell the story.

Um, take time. Yeah.

Nicki: I mean some of them are probably boring, um, or. Let go, let's go down the rabbit holes. You guys wanna go down? But, um, I wa I was an artist for a long time and my partner and I both were. And, um, I was actually a college professor and I just, uh, needed a summer job. So I started working at this brewery that was connected to this art space.

So I had like my studio there and then I was kinda like helping build out the bar and paint and do like constructiony type work. Um, and then I just kept learning more and got more into the brewing side. I was also. Um, cleaning for them. 'cause I just like needed money. Um, and then I went starving. Artist lifestyle.

We've all been there. Yes.

Catelin: Right. Good.

Nicki: And I, and I went back to teaching. And um, then when I was teach teaching, I was like, that I liked brewing better, it was a better fit. So, um, and then part of, part of why I was so into the brewing is like in academia, especially at that time and in that climate, it was like really hard to find money and funding for things and, um.

Really complicated to feel like what you're doing is making an impact. Mm-hmm. But this brewery, on the other hand, it was, it, it was a really cool, it was pretty innovative. It was like each bar had, it was when QR codes were new and each, um. Beer had a QR code that you would scan that would go to a soundtrack of, um, like 12 bands.

And then each label was a work of art by a local artist, not like designed by a local artist. It was like a good piece of art that they like built the beer around. And so the idea was that like the art and the beer would make like this self-sustaining loop, um, which was way more attractive than like this old academic model of like begging for money for things all the time.

Um. So that was part of why, but I also just liked the work. I liked the recipes. I liked, um, I was really process oriented, just like a lot of the art stuff I was doing. And um, so that's how I got into brewing. So, but that, I, so that led to other jobs. And so I've been in the beer industry for about like, um, I.

Uh, I think it's almost, uh, 10. It's past 10 years now. Um, and so that was in Wisconsin. Um, we, I, we ended up moving to Colorado for me to brew. I worked at a big brewery there. Um, I've gotten a lot of great opportunities through brewing, like, um. I got to go to Germany and study with a bunch of other women brewers that's so in Colorado we were kind of like in the beer mecca.

So I got to collaborate with all these other breweries. I got to go to all these conferences, see all the coolest new science, learn from really cool people. Um, and then we moved back to the Midwest. And, um, we moved to Jefferson, South Dakota, just outside of Sioux City to be with family. Um, my partner's from Jefferson and, um, we thought we were gonna move to Sioux Falls and I was working at a brewery in Sioux Falls.

Um, but then COVID happened and mm-hmm we really liked living in Jefferson. And, and, and Siouxland and we really didn't wanna move. And it was also kind of a time of like, if now isn't the time to like make the culture you wanna be a part of when is, you know, right. Mm-hmm. Um, and then also the other thing, wonderful thing about small town Midwest Siouxland specifically is um.

When we were in all these other cities, beer was so competitive, so almost oversaturated. Um, and the, and the barrier to entry was so high financially. Um mm-hmm. And in a lot and in a lot of different ways. And after working at a startup myself in Wisconsin, I was like, I'm never starting a brewery. I never wanna do that.

Rich: I feel you.

Nicki: Yeah. Mm-hmm. But then when we got here, there was huge opportunities. We really wanted to be in Jefferson. And, uh, we just did it, I guess. Boom.

Catelin: That's so, so rad. And I think, um, and like I said, we'll talk more about this, but like the continuity between your like visual brand and the tap room and the, the vibe is so good.

Um, I remember the first time I went up to the Taff room and I was like, I want to live here. I was like, are we moving to Jefferson? And like, I, um. I'm not a rural gal. Not that Jefferson is like super rural, but, or that Sioux City is, or that Sioux City is super big, the of metropolitan areas. But I was like, it's, it's such a cute spot and you like, you do such a great job and I think we'll talk about this more too, is like that community building piece where you know you're doing like, yeah, we're talking about coming up to the plant swap and there's food trucks and there's just all of these.

Kind of little micro opportunities for people to connect around the tap room. And, um, that doesn't happen by accident. And so I just, I'm so impressed by your, you know, love of this area and you, and you've collaborated too with like the folks at Mardo and Jackson Street and like all of, you know, like, it does seem like, um, the, the brewery culture in the area is a little bit more, um.

Cohesive and mm-hmm. Collaborative, where it's not like you're all fighting for the same slice of pie, like you can, um, kind of stay in your, in your area and then also commend other folks that are doing something similar, which I think is, um, it's just rad. It's really rad and I'm so glad you're here. Yeah, thanks a lot.

I appreciate it. Ugh, so good.

We are back. Thank you. Thank you for indulging a break. Uh, Nikki, I just wanna jump right in. Your personal mission, which I think is so rad as a business owner, is to make the culture you wanna be a part of. How are, like, what are you doing to shape that in the business? And then also kind of, I mean, without in life?

Yeah. Not necessarily in life, but like in the larger community of Jefferson, which is a really tight knit. Area. So like talk about what that looks like on a day to day for you.

Nicki: Yeah, I mean, I could talk about it in a lot of ways. Um, the, maybe one of the easier ways is like Jefferson itself. It's like, I love life here.

It's so nice. Mm-hmm. There's, it's so quiet. The, um, there's great schools. The, uh, the soil is really great for gardening. If you wanna have, I've never had a garden as amazing as the garden I can have in Jefferson, just 'cause the soil's so good. Um, all these awesome things about the community and, um. But there are things that are hard, you know, there's not a lot to do here.

There's not a lot to do for families. There's not a lot to do, um, besides, uh, the casino, like dive bar culture. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Sometimes. Mm-hmm. Plenty of that in South Dakota, Gracie food, um, and which I love that, but some of, some not every day. Yeah. Yeah. Um. You know, it's like, like I wanna do yoga. So we have yoga class or like, um, uh, there's like, there's great farmers in our area growing all these local products, but mm-hmm.

There's nowhere to buy them. So we have a farmer's market once a year Right. At harvest time. Um, that's so

Catelin: cool.

Nicki: You know, just, uh. Or like, uh, craft classes or, um, we had a birdhouse building class, which Oh, nice. You know, we loved on, uh, multiple levels, but also then it like, brings birds to our town. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. We're a little bit landlocked by farm.

Rich: I want to make. One point of clarity for people who don't know, because who knows who's listening to this? Jefferson, South Dakota is like 450 people. Like, like when we say small town, like I grew up in a town of 3000. Like we're saying small, small, I mean there's more communities around there and you can draw from there.

And like, you're not that far from Sioux City. Um, I wanna say like a half hour maybe from Sioux City. Is that about right? 20

Catelin: minutes depend. I mean, it depends on which, you know,

Rich: which I have family from up in the Elk Point, landmark, Jefferson area. Yeah. I was up there as a kid a lot. Um, what you're saying to me.

Now makes a hundred percent sense. I'm looking at your website and I'm looking at the main photo you have on the main page, and I'm like, this is not like a brew pub, like this is more community center vibe. Mm-hmm. This is more like art center vibe or studio vibe. And what's interesting to me is you guys do a lot like what you're describing is you are sort of a community center mm-hmm.

That brings people together. But also we brew beer and it's really great and you can have some beer while you're here. Um. But you do things for like families too, right? Like you're family friendly. So can you like dive into that a little bit? So like bar or, and I know you're not a bar necessarily, but bar, brewery and family, like you're used to like, must be 21 or accompanied by an adult.

Oh yeah. Like at the door. How do you, how do you, how do you do that? Like what inspired you to go that way and how do you. How do you carve that niche?

Nicki: I mean, we were a little bit inspired by like old school German, um, beer gardens, you know, drinking culture in the United States, uh, especially before the Germans like was heavily influenced by German beer culture, where it's low alcohol you drink in the day and the whole family's there.

So yeah, we don't serve any liquor. Um, and. W mostly, almost all of our beers are under 6%. Um, a lot of our beers are like about four or 5%. Um, and then we also have a ton of non-alcoholic offerings. Mm oh, nice. But. And I, I like, it's, some of this stuff is hard to sort out, like chicken or the egg thing. Like on the one hand that's, that's like what we want, you know, we're a little bit older.

We aren't into, um, getting super trashed every day, but we do like the casual social vibe of mm-hmm. Having a, a pint here or pint there. Mm-hmm. Um, and then the other thing is like, there was a need, there was a hole in our market for that here. So there was like, yeah, our town is only 500, but our county is like 17,000 and growing and we're the only, mm-hmm.

Brewery in our whole county, and we're kind of the only Wow. Like, there's really even only a handful of places that have food and drink that are family friendly in our whole county, you know? And um, so people were looking for things to do together as a family and like grandparents, parents and kids. And that's our biggest demographic, I would probably say is like, um, 30 to 50 year olds.

Uh, with kids, even adult kids, young kids, all, all kinds of kids. That's so cool. Yeah. So, and I

Rich: feel like, well, except I moved. I know, but like, like this sounds like where you and Carol and Dorothy could all just go have an afternoon,

Nicki: right? Yeah.

Rich: Yeah. And we, that is,

Nicki: you know, our building has a playground right behind it, like the park.

There's a park and a playground. We have a big. Family friendly patio, you know, we're dog friendly. Um, honestly, I'm a cat person. I like dogs, but I really am a cat person. But it was kinda like a niche in the market. Like there's nowhere around here that was dog friendly or people could go with their dogs outside.

So like, or to like walk,

Catelin: right? Because it's a small community too. So like even in your immediate neighborhood where it's like, I'm just gonna walk down, have a pint with my dog and yeah. A friend or whatever, and then walk home and like that's. Oh, I love it. It a

Rich: convenience, 'cause like if you're walking the dog, especially in a town that size, like, I mean, even in my neighborhood in San Diego, when we were walking the dogs, we'd go by like a place and be like, oh, like I would love to stop there and grab a drink or grab a whatever.

But they don't have a patio for dogs and they don't. Mm-hmm. And you've, mm-hmm. And by the time I take the dog home, I'm like, I'm not walking back up there. So, um, I do like that you've created this niche where it's kind of a place for everybody. Um, a little something

Catelin: for everyone. It's like where everybody knows your name, you're just like tying a sign.

Our reference if I can. Yeah.

Rich: Your food trucks. Oh my God. Like the food trucks you guys have come there like, woo. Because do you have a kitchen or no? Kitchen. It's just food trucks

Nicki: actually, we're ju um. It. We're getting our first delivery for our bigger menu tomorrow. So, um, we've been working a lot. The last, the last month we added big giant pretzels and pretzel bites and a really good cheese sauce.

Mm-hmm. And we do pizzas from a local pizzeria. Um, yes. And, uh, but now we're adding a bunch of nachos and apps and other Yumi food. And then in May we're doing like a, another rollout of food.

Rich: Caitlin, I think we should have our summer party there.

Nicki: Oh, but we are still doing the food trucks, which is like what everyone asks.

So we'll still have food trucks three days a week and then our kitchen five days a week.

Rich: That's

Nicki: nice. So rad,

Catelin: Nikki. Seriously. And I was like, when is, because I woke up this morning and I was ready to dress for the weather I want and not the weather I have. So we're not quite there yet. Um. But I'm like, when is the earliest that my husband and I can come have like a dinner, set our kid free on the playground and just like, chill?

Um, it's not, it's not coming soon enough is what I'm trying to get, get to. I'm like, we're, we are taking a day trip, uh, over the weekend soon. Um, I wanna, I wanna talk about a little bit more about the. Hearing you and your partner's background as artists makes the visual identity much clearer to me. I'm like, oh, that makes sense.

Like they, you have dialed in what you want the visual feeling to be when you see a can or, um, wi like the stickers even, or like all of your branding is just so good. It's so good and distinctive. Um. I'm curious if that has, like if the visual side or if there have been challenges that you've kind of faced as a smaller establishment.

Like what does that look like? I guess we'll go back to a day to day, like when you're thinking about growing business or you know, putting yourself out there.

Nicki: Yeah. I mean, as an artist or like a marketing person or a designer, it feels like. You have much more time to do these things and think about these things.

Um, and whereas us sometimes we're just kinda like, go, go, go. And sometimes the details of it get away from us and then before we know something doesn't look like we want it or, um, doesn't quite fit in like we want it. Um, and uh, so that, that's one thing is like, if, if we were. If we were just designers or artists, everything would be a lot more perfect.

But we have all these other things to do. Um, yes.

Catelin: Can you give me an example of like, something didn't look the way that you want to? Uh, if you, if you're, yeah, if you're comfortable with like, oh, yeah. Course showing your scars.

Nicki: Yeah, I mean our Facebook in general, like either there's just such pressure to Facebook post all the time mm-hmm.

That the pictures aren't always perfect or we're using the pictures again, or like something has an old font on it and we've switched fonts. Um, and you know, as artists or designers, that, that like kills us. But it's also like. We sometimes done is better than perfect. Um, a hundred

Rich: percent. We've had a whole episode on that.

Nicki: Yes. And especially like, um, our food, food truck partner, a lot of our partners, a lot, a lot of their stuff isn't where we want it to be. Like whether it's a picture of food or mm-hmm. Their getting their logo on something and or their menu and, you know, sometimes it bums me out. Sometimes I feel like I spend a lot of time posting.

Pic, bad quality pictures of melted cheese and tater tots. And it's like, this is not the aesthetic that I want for us, but it is functional, you know?

Rich: Yeah. I mean, most actual food photos aren't really food like, I mean, if you're doing the, depending if you're a big studio or a big restaurant, none of that's edible.

Like the cheese. Melted cheese isn't cheese. But you can do good photos though, like Yeah. Um, of food. That's interesting. Like, so you're, you just have to kind of fight that instinct and be like, okay, mm-hmm. I need to breathe through this. It's fine. Yeah. Everybody will be okay with it. They know we have tots with cheese.

Nicki: Like we print our menu, you know, probably about, uh, once a week or once every week and a half. And, um, if my partner had it his way, we would redesign it every single week. And it's like sometimes we just needs, we have. So, um, well, who's the,

Catelin: is he the, is he the pusher in the, is that like, is that fair? Where it's like, um, oh, who's the, who's the boss?

I'm boss who's, sure. Yeah. Boom. So it just like to get, just to give you an example where like, I'm the dreamer in, in the partnership at my house where I'm like, we could do all of these things and then my husband is like, or we could start and do this thing. Well, and then we'll talk about the rest. So it sounds like maybe you have a little bit of a Tyrell Dre energy.

Yeah. Where it's like, or we could, um. Pump the brakes. All right. Yeah. I think this is a

Rich: one good point that you could use as an argument to him is your, um, your patrons will appreciate consistency in the menu. They don't like to hunt for things because it's a funky design. Like that can be really rough.

I'm looking at your website, like that's why I'm distracted over here and you have memberships and I'm excited and obsessed. Um. So I may, you may, you may see something come through from me on your website here soon.

Catelin: The Not Beer drinker in, in awe. I love it. I love it so much. Um, it's interesting. I just really also wanna reiterate that no one has ever been mad at tater tots and melted cheese.

No matter what they looked like in that photo works, even if it looks, looks like trash, it's gonna be delicious. It's, it's gonna feel so nice. Yeah, 'cause it's a potato and it's cheese, so, you know, we can rest on that a little bit too. Um, but yeah, photos of food are tricky. Just, it does not matter how you slice it.

Um, and

Nicki: it, like, all that stuff works, but it's like, sometimes I wish we had more, sometimes there's so much pressure to like, um, get people to come in that night to do that thing. Mm. And we have a lot of events and a lot, so we, it's almost like we have to market for every single day almost. And I wish I had more time or space to market, like our bigger mission, like deep dive into stories about each, each, uh, beer or brand.

Um, to talk about our employees, to like talk about the things that I think are our culture. Mm-hmm. Um, and, but we do get like bogged down with like the day-to-day marketing stuff a lot. So, oh man. Singing song. You read song. Yeah, the

Rich: biggest question I was gonna, I was gonna be like, what marketing challenges have you faced?

And you're like, nailing them just before we even ask the question. Um, and I think that, so that happens with retail and restaurant a lot. Mm-hmm. Where you're so in the weeds on, I need people today. Mm-hmm. I need people tomorrow that. Uh, finding that time for that bigger piece that's like, this is why you should support us regardless of trivia night or your favorite food truck.

Mm-hmm. Or, you know, whatever. Um, I think that that's a, a lot of people can empathize and relate to that. Um, I mean, we're terrible at marketing ourselves. Agencies are always awful at it. Um, just because, you know, we're doing things and we're doing things for other people and we never look at ourselves.

Mm-hmm. Um. Yeah, I think, do you see like, it

Catelin: seems like a universal problem, right?

Rich: Yeah. Do you think you'll have a moment where you can step back from some of the nitty gritty and actually be able to do that? Like do you see that in like six months or five months, or is it like. So that's never gonna happen.

Nicki: I mean, um, some, sometimes in winter we do, 'cause we are slow. Like we, there's a week that we closed in January and I'm always like, all right, what stories am I gonna tell on social media this week because I don't have to do all the other stuff. Um, and then like also this move away from, we're moving, now that we have grown a lot, we're.

Moving away from like these littler events and the littler food trucks and whatever, and we're only having food trucks three days a week. And, um, and we're a, a lot of our offerings are gonna be more consistent, so I'm hoping that then there's more space to tell other stories. Mm. But we did kind of have a, a marketing win just this last week it was, um, farmer Appreciation Week.

Mm-hmm. Um, and we, this year. A couple years ago for Farmer Appreciation Week, we had brewed a beer with, um, a seed company down the road there. Some, some local guys. So it was an American light lager with corn in it, and they're a corn seed company. Um, so the beer's called Southern Plains and it's got the, they're a pioneer, so it's got the pioneer.

Uh, riff on the logo on it. But, so anyway, that beer became one of our flagship beers 'cause everyone loved it so much. And so this past week for Farmer Appreciation, we kind of tied the whole week with that one beer. And so we were able to spend like, you know, a good couple days of the week, like talking about farmer appreciation.

But it, it also kind of talked about that exact beer. It talked about why they should come in that weekend and talked about like. This is our bigger mission and this is how farming is like a part of our community in a bigger way. Yeah. So, um, I don't know how to. Do things that cohesive all the time, but it really worked last week.

That's spectacular. I think you got a

Rich: good formula there though. When you've got a micro thing that you need to talk about that's urgent, just just tie it even loosely back to your greater mission and be like, Hey, this is. This is local. This is made with seed from right down the street, farmers that are local.

And here's why we did that. And I think that that's like, even if you just get a sentence in there that's about like, you know, we're super big on community and local. Mm-hmm. And that's why all of this is local. Even just. Telling the story of that one particular beer helps people get like, oh, they must care about like the local community.

That's really cool. Yeah. Caitlin, I need you to go buy one of each sour for me and bring them around because I'm looking at your website again and I, it's not like we do a project thing, but we chicken sour, like I love a good orange chicken. And then I'm going down and like you said, the restaurant with Real Chickens.

Catelin: No, it's not really. I get

Rich: to Burn Book Sour and we all know where the burn book comes from. Like that's like,

Catelin: that was one of the, it was one of the samples that was in our little Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. I'm

Rich: gonna, um, yeah, I'll have to email.

Catelin: I, I did, the last time that I was up was in the fall. It might have been two, it might have been two years ago, but it was like stout, stout week or something.

And you did, um, you had like the hot poker beer. Mm-hmm. Which is a thing that I had never, I mean, not a beer drinker, but when I do drink beer, it's always a stout, like I want like mm-hmm. Rich and multi, you wanna chew it? Chocolatey? Yes. Mm-hmm. Pudding beer. And I was like, this, uh, this is very interesting.

Um, but it, the whole. Like the, I remember the gal who was like serving that night. She also had just like, such a deep knowledge and appreciation for the beer itself. And then also kind of the, the, the why behind you sticking a, a, you know. Molten hot piece of metal into your beer and like what happens chemically and where that was like socially and historically and like, it was just like, so, um, like cohesive is like the word that I keep coming back to, but, and unique

Rich: like, yeah.

Catelin: And, and I think like one of my favorite things just as a human is to watch someone do the thing that they love and that they are best at. And like the, the whole thing that you have created, like, is that like it's you and, and your partner doing the things that you love and that you're best at, and I think mm-hmm.

Um, that can't be like, celebrated enough when, when people are like, oh, there's nothing to do here. And it's like, so then you should do something about that. And like you, you're doing something about that in, in our community, which just. Hats off. Yes.

Rich: So I think, um, we gotta wrap up here shortly, but, um, or maybe we needed to wrap up like 15 minutes ago, but that's okay.

This is great. Yeah. I think my next thing I'm thinking about this and I'm like, okay, like geographically, next time I'm in Lamars where my family is, instead of coming back down 75, I could cut across to South Dakota. Yeah. Load up on. Basically all the sour, all the sours, the, and now I'm, I mean, the burn book is lemon, strawberry and marshmallow.

Come on. Mm-hmm. Um, the fender bender sounds good. A cream ale. I'm, I think I might like that, but basically load up on those and bring 'em home. Um, I'll just bootleg that stuff down into Nebraska.

Catelin: I don't think it's bootlegging if it's a personal purchase.

Rich: Uh, so South Dakota, Dakota, Nebraska is, I think is

Catelin: okay.

Or is

Rich: it crossing? Crossing state lines, crossing state lines from Nebraska. There's an old, old law in the book still, we've talked about it before, where basically if I take a bottle of wine to Council Bluffs, I've broken the law. Like, but no one, you don't get busted for it. I mean,

Catelin: well, you might now 'cause it's, you just set it on the internet.

So doubt it. You gotta be careful it. Um, okay. I want, I want to know this one final thing. You wanna be remembered as someone who is doing something. If in 10 years you look back now, what do you hope people say about you and Jefferson Beer Supply?

Nicki: Uh, I mean, I, this is a fair, deep question. Um, Jefferson Beer Supply to feel like it belongs to the, our community and to our employees.

Am I gonna cry? Okay. That's, that's what I would want. I would want, like, and I, and I do think that's already happened a little bit, but I just want everyone to be, everyone from Jefferson to be proud of the brewery, everyone that works there to be proud of the brewery. And, um, that would be my dream. Like we also have a plan to like be employee stock owned, um, which we're not like we have to be a little, we have to make more money to be there.

Mm-hmm. Um, so I would hope in 10 years we're like employee stocked, owned. Like all of these people are like, yeah, I own part of that brewery 'cause I worked there for a long time, or I work there now. Or, yeah.

Rich: So we're working on that as well. And it is way more difficult than you think it is. And yes, it requires money, um, not only for the attorney's fees to draw everything up, but you've gotta have the money for, like, if somebody cashes in their stock and things like that, you've gotta have a reserve.

Um, that's so cool. I am I, I, I had truthfully never heard of Jefferson Beer Supply before it came up and Zach was like, Hey, we're gonna have Nicky from Jefferson Beer Supply. And I was like, okay, that sounds great. I am. Now a fan girl, like a hundred percent he would

Catelin: like to come work for the employee stock ownership, uh, portion of this, like I, I would wanna work for,

Rich: I wanna work for Orange Chicken Sours and burn book sours.

Like just pay me in those. You could one hour concentrate

Catelin: me in sour. I love it all. Uh, do you wanna talk about, Nikki has been so wonderful. I know. Just what a treat I like. Will you come back? This? Yeah. Awesome. This is like the blink of an eye. This was so rad.

Nicki: Just, yeah. I, I, I really like a lot of your other episodes.

I really like, um, it's, it's been fun. So are,

Rich: are loose, rambling.

Catelin: We've ti we've tightened it up a little bit. Uh, rich, you wanna talk to us about what's, what's maybe coming up? Do we know?

Rich: Um, sure. So as we've kind of explained with some of the, um, the guest episodes, we, we record these when we can record them when our guest is free.

And thank you for taking, um, this, I mean, better part of an hour to hang out with us. So I don't know what's coming next week. It will be another episode,

Catelin: another exciting episode.

Rich: These get slated in. 'cause we don't want to do like, here's 10 guests. Um, so they get slated in. Maybe we do, we will have a great episode coming up in a week or so.

Um, no idea what that will be, but, um.

Catelin: We'll be just as excited as you are to find out about it. How's that? We'll,

Rich: maybe we recorded it already. Maybe we didn't recorded it already. Story. We have no idea. All right.

Catelin: I'm gonna read us out. You can find our agency at Antidote seven one. If you have a question you'd like to send way you can visit CTA podcast live to send us an email, or you can leave us a voice message on our hotline at.

4 0 2 7 1 8 9 9 7 1. Your question, we'll make it into a future episode. And, um, just our eternal gratitude for your presence here, Nikki, and also for what you are doing to, uh, propel the greater Siouxland culture forward. Uh, we appreciate you. So much. Do you have gift cards, Nike? We do. Sorry.

Rich: You do have gift cards.

Okay. Um, I was thinking we could run a crossover and we would buy the gift cards, but we could give people a gift card to Jefferson Beer Supply if they call in. Oh my gosh. If's a local person, person who calls in get

Catelin: yes or not, I don't know. We can figure out or I could just buy 'em for the staff.

Rich: And that could be like a We get

Catelin: merch.

We get some merch. There is

Rich: merch too. All right.

Catelin: See? All right. Solved. Okay. Problem solved. Zach is like,

Rich: wrap it up. We are out. Get Thank you again, Nikki. Get it.

Catelin: Thank you. Yeah, thanks a lot. I appreciate

Nicki: it.