In Milwaukee Record’s “Meet A Brewer” series, we aim to introduce you to some of the professionals behind the scenes who are responsible for making your favorite local beers. The recurring series continues with 1840 Brewing Company head brewer Casey Seymour.
Milwaukee Record: What brought you here? What was your path to the brewing industry?
Casey Seymour: I’ve been in the industry a little more than six years. I was in early childhood education for about 13 years before that and then I pretty much scrapped my whole professional life and started over. Six years ago, in June of 2018, I was working at Good City on the packaging line. I slowly worked my way up there for two years doing transfers, carbonation, packaging, running the canning line—that kind of stuff. Then in 2020, I went to Eagle Park for about three months during the pandemic. In late October 2020, [1840 owner] Kyle [Vetter] posted a cellar lead position. I enjoyed Kyle when I came here as a customer even before I got into brewing, and stylistically it was a fit, too. So I applied for that, got the job, and was in the cellar for two years running that. When the head brewer left, Kyle approached me to take over the head brewer role.
MR: You mentioned cellaring, which seems like a natural lead-in to talking about some of your favorite beer styles. What are some of your favorite types of beer to drink?
CS: When I first got into beer in my early 20s, Belgian beer was kind of my first gateway into import beer and craft beer. That’s still my favorite. They’re usually highly carbonated, have a nice yeast profile, are fairly balanced, and they’re really drinkable. Belgian saison or Belgian table beer is my favorite beer style for sure.
MR: What about on the macro end of things? If you’re just at the grocery store or a liquor store, what are you picking up?
CS: Well, it’s not macro, but New Glarus is kind of a go-to for me. I still buy a lot of Sierra Nevada and a little bit of Stone. But if you’re going with big, big beers, I would say High Life or Modelo. Pilsner Urquell is something I’ll pick up too.
MR: How about locally? What are some of your favorite Milwaukee or Milwaukee-area breweries?
CS: Supermoon is good. I think he does a really good job in doing traditional saisons and funky stuff, so I go there a lot. I like what Nate [Bahr] is doing at Central Waters. I think his profile is really good. He does good lager and good IPA. And I like Bavarian too with Jacob [Sutrick] there. He’s a really intelligent guy who’s been in the industry a long time. He’s been a huge influence and taught me a lot of my skills when we were together at Good City. I like what Indeed is doing as well. Those are probably the main ones.
MR: Getting away from beer for a little bit, what are a few of your favorite musicians?
CS: I would say ’60s-style sunshine pop is kind of my go-to. Nowadays I listen to a lot of jazz. As far as music that I make and what I strive to make is any kind of music from the ’60s. I also really like hip-hop. I don’t like to pin myself to too many genres.
MR: Elsewhere in the entertainment realm, what are you watching right now? Any comfort shows?
CS: Me and my wife watch a lot of murder shows, which is really too bad. It’s something we watch at night to turn off our brain. Right now, I’m re-watching The Simpsons from the beginning and it’s hilarious. As far as stuff I’ve watched recently that I like, I Think You Should Leave, anything Tim and Eric are involved in, and that Little Dickey show, Dave. And football is back and I’m watching the Pack and feeling good about where they’re at right now.
MR: What are a few of your favorite bars, restaurants, and other neighborhood haunts?
CS: I live in Riverwest, so Nessun Dorma is one that I frequent. I love Troublemakers’ that’s in Central Waters. I feel like their food is incredibly unique and elevated. I live right around the corner from Corazon, so I go there a lot. I’ve gotten really into Alphonso’s. Their pickle pizza is really good. West Allis’ pizza scene is really kicking ass right now.
MR: What are some misconceptions or things you feel the general customer doesn’t really understand about the craft beer industry?
CS: I mean, it is really hard work and it’s not super glamorous by any means. When you’re on such a small scale, the pressure to perform—especially if you’re doing a lot of one-offs—is pretty intense. I love my job and I love my position, but I worry a lot. I wake up at four in the morning thinking about process, thinking about things we could do, even just thinking about the schedule. It took me a while to get my footing here and to try and just relax. It is performance-driven and it’s an intense process. On such a small scale as a business without investors, dumping a beer is a big deal to us.
And one thing I don’t think a lot of people know is the stickers that come on cans now aren’t recyclable. You have to take that shit off. You don’t have to include that, but I don’t think a lot of people know cans with stickers still on them aren’t recyclable.
MR: Outside of brewing, you’re also a musician. What bands are you in? Anything we’ve maybe written about in the past?
CS: Yeah. Right now, the main thing is Ravi/Lola. We put out an album May 31.
MR: What are a few of your favorite local acts?
CS: Anything Zack Pieper does. I’m a little biased because I was in the band Peeper & Le Play with him, but anything he does—whether it’s poetry or music—I’ll pay attention to. He’s kind of a genius. I don’t really like to use that word, but recording with Zack and writing with Zack was inspirational. I maybe wouldn’t have pushed myself as far as I have so far if I wouldn’t have seen how he works. He’s really a true artist and I think at some point in my life, somebody will be interviewing me for a documentary about Zack. He’s got just a really interesting, brilliant mind. Other than that, I always like what Connor LaMue is involved in. Long Mama is good. And Spidora, Dialogues, and Long Line Riders. That’s all I can really think of right now.
MR: What are some dream local spots where you’d love to have beer you made on their draft lines or stocked in their coolers?
CS: I don’t mean to sound like everything is crossed off the list, but I never thought I would get this far in brewing. I always just wanted to be part of a good team that I could learn from, make good beer that I could feel proud of. I feel like everything else is icing on the cake. I went to Downer Wine & Spirits in my 20s and 30s and we’re in there. Cafe Hollander and the Lowlands Group taught me a lot about Belgian beers and we’ve done a couple beers for them. Discount Liquor is another place that carries our beer. Sugar Maple and a lot of other really cool places have put us on draft, which is really fun and exciting.
MR: We always end with this open-ended question: Brewing in Milwaukee is…
CS: I would say a dream come true. It sounds hokey, but I never thought I would be doing this. There are some days I’m so fucking stressed, but when someone says they like a beer, it makes it all worthwhile. That’s why I do it. Even just the people I’ve met and the storied history of beer in Milwaukee, what else could I want?
