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 Component Brewing Co.‘s new head brewer Jamie Bone.
Milwaukee Record: What brought you to Component, and what’s your brewing history?
Jamie Bone: It’s kind of a weird path. I’m actually from Canada. I was doing a white collar office job in medical devices, was on a plane every other week. My wife got recruited by Medical College of Wisconsin, so we decided to take the leap. I quit my job and my resting heart rate went down tenfold because I had no stress. We moved to Milwaukee and I couldn’t work for three years as I waited for work authorization and a green card. We used to live right across the street from MobCraft and we got to know all the ownership there and the guys that work there really, really well. So at that point, all my friends were brewers.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had been out of my past life for a number of years at that point. I was sitting down at Enlightened and I had just gotten my green card. I was sitting down and having a beer with James [Larson] and I asked him how people got into the industry. He told me he was looking for some part-time help washing kegs, and I was like, “Sign me up, dude!” Within two days, I was hired part-time at Enlightened. I was washing kegs, offloading the production line—the real grunt work. I started learning more and getting more and more on my plate, then my friends at MobCraft gave me a call and told me they were looking for some help. That part-time position turned into a full-time position. So I left Enlightened—James and Tommy [Vandervort] were very supportive of me getting a full time assistant brewing job—and started working at MobCraft. That’s where I actually started to learn how to brew.
I was there just shy of a year and just looking for new experiences in my career, so it was no hard feelings, but I left and was out of work for about a month before I got a job at Third Space. I started at Third Space and all the skills I learned at MobCraft got thrown into high gear because Third Space is a big producer of beer. It’s a lot of brewing, so that got me a lot better at my craft. This spring, I got a call from [Component co-founder] John [Kowalske] to tell me their current brewer was leaving and to ask if I was interested. I said yes, and here I am.
MR: What are some of your favorite things about the Milwaukee brewing scene? It seems like you’ve encountered the collaborative and supportive spirit of local brewing.
JB: With how big it is in Milwaukee, there’s so much to learn from people in the field. Everyone brings their own skill set to the table and to even be able to pull a little bit of that from someone else and put it into your own methodology is great. There’s a lot of camaraderie, paying it forward, and willingness to work together. Coming from my past life, it’s just great to have such a close-knit community.
MR: And here at the Lincoln Warehouse, it’s literally a close community of brewers. You share a wall with one and are right below another. What’s that like to not only share a neighborhood with another brewery, but the same building?
JB: There’s a lot of booze in this building. Everyone is super friendly and if someone needs to borrow something, we’re like 50 feet apart. It’s like an apartment or college dorm mentality where we pop by each other’s places. You don’t really get that anywhere else.
MR: What are some of your favorite beer styles?
JB: I’m a big West Coast IPA fan. Fortunately, John is too, so we’re trying to focus in on that. I’m also a big fan of mixed-culture, spontaneous fermentation-type beer. If I go anywhere, I’ll always try their IPA, I’ll probably try their lager, and if they have something wild, I’ll try it. Stuff like that is a style I was never even aware of until I moved to Milwaukee. I’m always looking to try some of the more niche brew styles.
MR: On the more macro end of things, what are some of the go-tos from that sector?
JB: High Life is always a go-to. Hamm’s…you can get a 30-rack for like 13 bucks. There’s a macro brand back home in Canada called Sleeman. My dad was a big Sleeman’s Cream Ale fan, so I grew up drinking that. There’s a lesser-known brand there called Traditional that’s a pretty solid red ale, but you can’t get that here.
MR: What are some of your non-brewing hobbies?
JB: It’s really just three things. First and foremost is music. My band is called Overflow. I’m a big video game nerd. And I have two dogs at home, so they take up a lot of my time as well—especially in summer by going to the beach. So my life pretty much revolves around beer, music, video games, and dogs.
MR: That’s a pretty good list! What do you play in the band?
JB: I play guitar and sing. I write the songs, then the guys add all their parts and we collaborate.
MR: What are a few of your favorite musical artists and bands?
JB: I’m a huge fan of The National. When I used to be in medical sales, I used to have a lot of driving time between accounts, so I taught myself to sing by singing along to National songs. I’m a big fan of The Cure, and a big fan of this Danish band called Mew. Lately, I discovered this band from The UK called Ist Ist that’s really solid post-punk and new wave. One of my songwriting heroes is an artist called Matthew Good out of Canada. I’m also a huge Joy Division fan and a big David Bowie fan.
MR: Excluding Component, what are some of your favorite local breweries?
JB: I do spend a lot of time in this building and I go up to Torzala a lot. The dogs love taprooms and they love to go up there. We go to Supermoon quite a bit. We’ll go up to Riverwest and visit Gathering Place and Amorphic. We’ll go to Enlightened. Pretty much, if there’s a dog-friendly taproom, we’ll go there. And MobCraft still treats me like family.
MR: How about non-breweries? Any favorite bars or restaurants in Milwaukee?
JB: I’m a big wine fan, so we go to Voyager and Nonfiction a lot. My wife and I actually took a trip to Sardinia with some of the Voyager staff and regulars. Food-wise, I love that the two Dans opened up EsterEv right down the road. My wife and I are big sushi fans, so the fact we now have two sushi places along KK is fantastic. Oh, and it’s not open anymore, but I definitely miss Lazy Susan. That was such a great place and A.J. [Dixon] is such an amazing chef and great person.
MR: Do you have any goal or aspirations with brewing or, at the risk of asking you to give up some secrets, is there anything you’re working on that you’re excited about?
JB: I’m a pretty simple guy. I’m willing to do anything. I have stuff that I like, but I’m open to brew other things. We have a small barrel aging program here. We’re working on a pumpkin spiced latte-inspired beer and we’re going to be putting some of it into a bourbon barrel for a year to see what happens to it. We definitely want to do more West Coast-style IPAs. Really, I just like what I do and as long as the end product is really good, it doesn’t really matter what it is. That’s the goal right there: making a really solid product that people like.
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