INhonolulu Magazine Issue #15 - March 2014 | Page 14

Q+A / Craft beer

Iron Fist Beers
Renegade Blonde

Kölsch Style Blonde
Crisp, mild, refreshing
5.2% ABV
Beeradvocate: 80
Available at Whole Foods Market,
12th Avenue Grill, Bar 35, Bevy and
at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.

Nelson The ImpALEr

The Iron Fist of craft brewing
Will Caron
Iron Fist Brewery, located in Vista, California, may only be 3-yearsold, but its beer’s drink like they’ve been crafted and refined for
decades. This is no accident—the brains behind the operation,
22-year-old Brandon Sieminski, is a reflection of the product he
so carefully crafts.
Sieminski is self-taught; his brewery, family owned; his style, professional but ultra laid-back; and his brew-method, experimental
but highly adept.
Iron Fist has partnered with local wine, beer and spirits distribution company Young’s Market to bring its delicious craft beers to
select bars and retail locations on O‘ahu, Maui and in Kona. INhonolulu caught up with Sieminski at Pint & Jigger, in Late February, after a tasting dinner that paired several of Sieminski’s brews
with various dishes prepared by the P&J house.
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INhonolulu (INHNL): Iron Fist is a
relatively new brewery—what do you
think about your beers being introduced to consumers here in Hawai‘i?
Brandon Sieminski (BS): I think it’s
great. This really reminds me of the
kind of atmosphere and energy we
would have in one of our gastropubs
or beer-bars in San Diego. I think
that’s perfect for craft beer. I think it
really conveys what we’re all about—
high quality. The food that was paired
with everything tonight and the
whole experience is important and
places like this really allow that idea
to come through.
INHNL: What sets Iron First apart
from other micro breweries?
BS: Well we’re really well known for
our Belgians, but we do a little bit of
everything. More than anything we
emphasize balance in our beers—
which can be a little bit lost on some

of the bigger, heavier brews these days.
Also, we don’t force-carbonate
anything; our kegs are all naturally
carbonated by closing off the fermentor at the end of the fermentation.
And then we lager all of our beers for
no less than two weeks, sometimes as
much as five weeks depending on the
beer, to clear it up and crisp it up. And
our bottled beers are all bottle-conditioned with champagne yeast.
INHNL: Where did the name “Iron
Fist” come from?
BS: A lot of brainstorming [laughs].
My family and myself we tried to
think of a name for at least a good
four months. Finally, one day, Iron
Fist just kind of happened and we
all loved it, double checked to make
sure it wasn’t already taken, so we
went for it.
INHNL: Nice, and I noticed that all of
the beer titles themselves have to do
with hands or, very prominently, with
rebellions and overthrows.
BS: Yeah, we try to tie everything back
into the theme of taking traditional styles of beers and updating them
using non-traditional ingredients and

methods. It makes it fun for us.
INHNL: What do you think about the
current micro brew scene and its surge
into mainstream markets within the
past decade or two?
BS: I think it’s good because it’s giving
brewers like us legitimacy in the eyes
of people that aren’t traditionally invested in craft beers, especially with
legislators and at a legal level. We’re
getting a lot more leverage so the big
guys can’t throw their weight around
as much as they have been able to in
the past.
People are realizing more and more
the impact and, I think, the sustainability of craft beer as an industry,
as opposed to macro beer, which is
a style of business that is really only
going to benefit the company that
makes the beer ,while everyone else
suffers. That attitude is reflected in
their model, where they’re not trying
to make their product any better—
they’re simply trying to destroy the
competition with their power. With
craft beer it’s all about community,
it’s all about collaboration—we’re ma
and pa operations, in your backyard.

Extra Pale Ale
Tropical and grapefruit notes with
light malt character
5.0% ABV
Beeradvocate: 85
Available at Shiroma’s Wine and
More, Tropics Tap House, Whole
Foods Market, Bar 35. Bevy, Fresh
Café Downtown, Home Bar & Grill,
Pint & Jigger, Tsunami Hawaii and
at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.

Hired Hand

Saison (Belgian farmhouse ale)
Malty, sour with refreshing dry
finish
6.5% ABV
Beeradvocate: 82
Available only at Pint & Jigger.

Imperial Rebellion

Imperial Farmhouse Ale
Intense, tropical and citrus flavors
9.3% ABV
Beeradvocate: 87
Available at Shiroma’s Wine and
More, Whole Foods Market and at
Bevy.

Spice of Life

Bière de Garde (“beer for keeping”)
Spiced ale, bitter orange and coriander flavors
6.5% ABV
Beeradvocate: 84
Available at Tropics Tap House and
at Bevy.

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