The Beatniks

World Beer Cup gold. Multiple GABF golds. Back-to-back wins in the Alpha King Challenge. Small brewpub of the Year. Up until a few months ago, might have been the most decorated 3 BBL brewhouse in the country. And the only reason they’re not now is the addition of a gleaming new 30 BBL brewhouse, production facility, and canning line in Alpine, Wyoming. These self-professed Kung Fu and hip hop fanatics, with beers named in honor of the Wu-tang Clan, are on the march to take their brand of unrepentant hops-forward beers to beer fans throughout the Rockies and PNW. Can anything stop them?

WHAT STARTED AS A

tiny 20-gallon brewery tucked in the back of an eccentric Thai food restaurant in downtown Jackson, Wyoming, has become a production facility with a 30-barrel brewhouse in Alpine, Wyoming, and will become a new tap house in Bellingham, Washington, later this year to boot.

Meet Jeremy Tofte (center), the ski bum who opened Thai Me Up in tourist town Jackson in 2000. “At the restaurant, we have two TVS. They both play Kung Fu,” he says. “We only listen to hip hop. We have secret things on the menu that tourists don’t know about because we’ve got to take care of the locals.”

“Everyone who works at Melvin has a chip on their shoulder,” adds Tofte of his offbeat businesses. “I have this theory that it’s us against the world.”

In 2010, Tofte installed a 20-gallon system in the back of Thai Me Up. The next year Tofte installed the 3-barrel system that’s currently in place and called on Melvin Cofounder and current Head Brewer Kirk Mchale (far left) to help him develop recipes. Mchale flew to Jackson and posted up at the bar with Tofte. The result was 2x4 Double IPA and Melvin IPA.

All good beer recipes start on a napkin, Tofte says. “It sounds cheesy, but that’s exactly what happened... well, more like a scratch piece of paper instead of a napkin. Kirk and I sat down at the bar at Thai Me Up and wrote recipes for 2x4 and Melvin IPA, just playing around with ideas and flavors and thoughts. We brewed those two beers almost exclusively for the next six months, aside from a couple of porters and a strong ale.”

“Dear (insert your name here), This is the best damn DIPA in the world,” explains the beer description for 2x4. This