Brewery Review: The Fermentorium

The newest brewery out of Cedarburg is TheFermentorium.  They setup shop in the former Critter Supply location on Hwy 60 in the 5 Corners area with their brew house and tap room in February 2016.  During a transitional period in where they were waiting for approval to brew their own beer they had several Wisconsin beers on tap so that patrons could view the taproom and brewery setup.  On February 20^th they announced they had begun brewing, first batches to come out were a Hello World, a red IPA and Dunkel Weizenbock.  I have had the opportunity to come here a few times now and wanted to share my thoughts on the location, their beers and my personal views.

I got an invite to check out the brewery and get a tour before they started brewing their beers.  Karl Wendtlandt was our tour guide for the day.  The space they have is impressive in size which allows for them to expand.  The water filtration system is also pretty impressive as they had to dig their own well.  You can pretty much see everything from the windows of the tap room so the majority of the tour was in the center of the space talking with Karl and the head brewer Ted Briggs.  We did get a chance to chat with the owner, Kristopher Volkman about his history and future plans for the brewery.  Having been a home brewer for a long time and loving all things fermentable lead him on his path to opening his own brewery.  Depending on how the regulations line up, we hear he would like to dabble in wines, ciders and maybe even Kombucha.  At home I understand he even likes fermenting his own food.  He wants everyone to enjoy his beers so his brewing philosophy is to brew something that almost everyone can enjoy.  His passion for brewing will surely lead to some interesting and outrageous pilot brews!

The Brewery / Taproom:

It’s an easy location to get to right off of Hwy 60 but the parking lot may take some maneuvering because of a fun obstacle in the middle of the parking lot.  If someone has one too many I can see that being an issue (and they probably should not be driving anyway!). Walking in you are welcomed by a larger tap room and nice a bar area. Turn around and you will see a big rooster watching over the taproom from his perch above the front doors. To the right you can see the windows that allow you to view the brewery operations and on the left is the nice seating area. There are two “living room” style seating areas along with a large handmade communal table and other metal tables to fill the space.  There is also plenty of bar seating if that is more your speed.  They have board games to help keep you occupied but no TV’s.  This is kind of nice actually because it does force you to communicate with your friends.

I would call this a family friendly place as you can bring the kiddos here and get them sodas at the bar. While they offer snacks and will probably offer packaged foods in the future, as of right now they don’t offer anything substantial.  I never inquired on their thoughts of bringing in food, but would assume it wouldn’t be an issue. I would still call ahead to make sure.  A very relaxing atmosphere but I can see that when they get busy it could get pretty loud here.  I don’t typically boast about restrooms, but they have the coolest faucets I have seen in a long time!! And if you are a fan of Ghost Busters you will surely enjoy the portrait at the end of the hallway by the restrooms.

The Beers:

While I was there they had three of their own beers on tap, Hello World (Red IPA), Dunkel Weizenbock and Manoomin (a cherry wood smoked beer). They still have guest brews on tap as well.  I was disappointed I didn’t make it in time to try their two test batches, Strawberry Honey Wheat and Mexican Cake.  

Now as a disclaimer, I am not a beer judge.  I tend to have a hard time picking out different flavor profiles and basically base a beer on if I like it or not.  While I can appreciate people looking for beer reviews, I am not that person.  I will score a beer on a scale from 1-5 (similar to Untappd). My belief is this, not all beer is going to be for me but I can appreciate the craft so rarely will you ever hear that a beer is bad.  It just may not be for me.

Hello World: A nice red IPA, it was abrasive on the bitterness palate. It kind of hits you in the back end some.  Score: 3.5

Dunkel Weizenbock: Sweetness up front with a smooth finish, tastes pretty refreshing.  Didn’t get any bitterness at all. Easy drinking. Score: 3.5

Manoomin: This beer poured out lighter than I had anticipated. You get some smokiness in the nose but I got none of that in the flavor.  Got some sweetness and a little bitterness, but would have liked to catch more smoke here. Score: 3

Final Thoughts:

I love the space and environment here.  While the first batch of beers didn’t inspire me to rush back, I will not judge them solely on that fact.  These are their first beers on their new system and as they become more comfortable with brewing beers I can expect that they will produce more unique and quality suds.  I am excited and hopeful that we will see some amazing limited brews coming out of this brew house and that it will have the state talking about making a visit.  Everyone should go see the taproom at least once and give their beers a shot.  My tastes will be different from yours and you may end up finding your all-time favorite brew there!  Cheers!!