Punk meets brew for a hoppy pairing
When Fat Mike arrived at Stone Brewing’s Escondido (San Diego County) brewhouse, he was handed a pair of pink boots. As the brewery’s Senior Innovation Manager Jeremy Moynier puts it, the staff knows the NOFX frontman has “a bit of flair,” so they outfitted him with appropriate garb before getting to work on an equally fun collaboration beer be-
tween the rocker’s band and the brewery: the Punk in Drublic hoppy lager.
The resulting beer, on shelves now, heralds the forthcoming eponymous traveling punk and beer festival hitting the Concord Pavilion on Saturday, Oct. 14, and Papa Murphy’s Park at Cal Expo in Sacramento on Sunday, Oct. 15.
The miniature tour, which has several dates around the Western United States and plans to head overseas, was the brainchild of Cameron Collins of Brew Ha Ha Productions. To make it happen, Collins, a former punk rocker, reached out to Fat Mike to help him create a massive, 21-band punk and beer fest in Los Angeles. However, Mike, not enthused with a large festival, countered, instead suggesting a short, roving tour showcasing a handful of bands and craft brews.
It was a win-win for both, but particularly for Mike, who says he’s over the hustle of nonstop touring. “I don’t want to play clubs for three weeks in a row,” says the 50-year-old musician, “because it turns into a job and you can’t party a lot.”
So Fat Mike and Brew Ha Ha got to work hand-selecting a few acts to join each date of Punk in Drublic’s lineup. It was, as Mike says, more about bringing bands NOFX is friendly with than anything else, leading to a Northern California billing populated by Flogging Molly, Goldfinger and Less than Jake.
And then, of course, there was the beer.
The grand plan was, fortunately, an easy sell for Stone. The ninth-largest craft brewing company in the country soon got on board to create 1,036 barrels of Punk in Drublic, but not just because Stone boasts a number of employees who are musicians (including the co-founders, Greg Koch and Steve Wagner). It was also because, as Moynier says, the brewery and the band “share the same ethos.”
“We’ve always been independent and have made a stand that we’ll continue to be independent,” he says. “Fat Mike has pushed that as well.”
It’s a compliment that the rocker returns.
At “Stone they just make any kind of beer they want. Any rule they made they make themselves,” Fat Mike says. “I definitely wanted to work with an independent company because as (NOFX) we just make up fun rules. Or no rules. Either way.”
Stone, though the main brewery involved, certainly won’t be the only brew pouring at the festival. Since Punk in Drublic kicked off in Tacoma, Wash., the beer lineup has changed to include breweries local to each venue. For Saturday’s Concord event, for instance, Walnut Creek’s Calicraft, Berkeley’s Gilman Brewing and Alameda’s Faction Brewing are on tap.
Punk in Drublic, which also has upcoming dates in Phoenix and Huntington Beach (Orange County), is a novel multi-date event that fuses music and beer, but that doesn’t mean NOFX is the first band to tack its name onto a collaboration brew. In recent years, New York’s Interboro crafted an IPA with rap duo Run the Jewels, Canada’s Unibroue brewed a saison with metal act Megadeth, and the Mikkeller brew house in San Diego made a coffee IPA with another punk outfit, the Descendents.
Such joint projects are a trend that Moynier doesn’t think is going away anytime soon, especially since the amity between the industries comes naturally.
“They’re both creative processes,” Moynier says of music and brewing. “There’s a blend of art and there has to be a backbone, but there’s a scientific part to it. You have to have chords and structure.”
Maybe that’s why so many musicians turn to the food and drink industry later in life, Fat Mike reckons.
“It’s what happens to all punk rockers: They become brewers or chefs,” he says. “It’s one of the best jobs for people who were f—ups as kids.”