Nebraska’s Growing Harvest – Craft Beer

, Nebraska’s Growing Harvest – Craft Beer

It’s probably fitting that the next place I chose to imbibe was Lucky Bucket Brewing Company, a growing brewery with 15 employees and a well-balanced assortment of seasonal brews overseen by acting president Jason Payne and partner Brian Magee (who is also, as I mentioned previously, president of Upstream Brewing Company).

They’ve got their priorities straight here – the first thing you’re offered as you come inside is one of their brews on tap. Then the tour begins with an amusing video highlighting the brewery’s passion and perspective on craft beer. From there, our charismatic and energetic tour guide Adam Krueger climbed atop stairs accessing two sizable mash tuns to describe the brewery’s beginnings.

, Nebraska’s Growing Harvest – Craft BeerThe La Vista-based brewery takes its inspiration from pre-prohibition days, a time when beer was simply brewed and unadulterated by additives and (ahem) less-than-ideal ingredients that some macrobrews contain. Likewise, the name Lucky Bucket evokes the images of bygone days before the advent of kegs and bottles, where the only way to get beer was to take a bucket to the local brewery, fill it up, and lug it back home.

As I moved around to check out the brewery’s bottling line, I sampled the brew I chose out of the six available at the tour’s onset – their seasonal winter warmer, Snowsuit. A spiced abbey ale, the Belgian yeast imparted an unexpected dimension of sweetness to the style, while clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon spices soundly grounded it as a holiday brew. After trying their big Barleywine and the lighter-bodied Heartland Wheat Ale, my favorite was the American Imperial Porter appropriately named Certified Evil. The roasted, bittersweet chocolate notes sucker you in and make you forget the fact that it’s nearly 10% ABV.

Not only is Lucky Bucket a brewery, but it’s also a functioning distillery. The distillery just released its first rum, Chava, and will soon release a whiskey. Placing the two operations under one roof, however, was a true challenge and a gutsy move for a local brewery. Even though the state legalized distillation in 2008, one of the laws governing Nebraska alcohol manufacturing is that a brewery and a distillery cannot operate on the same premise unless there is a clear separation between the two entities. After shipping distillation equipment from Scotland, the brewery was not about to let the laws stand in the way of making their own spirits. Their out-of-the-box solution: putting up a chain link fence inside the brewery, effectively severing the brew space from their distilling equipment.

Luckily, I snagged a few bottles of Lucky Bucket’s brews before I headed out of town – you can buy them at the brewery or at a number of local retail shops such as Omaha-based Brix. I may even sacrifice some of my Certified Evil to make this devilishly delicious-looking cupcake recipe, courtesy of craftbeer.com. Maybe my conscience will intervene when it comes time to share.

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