At Moonshrimp Brewing, no beer goes unhugged.
This practice started very early in Moonshrimp Brewing history. As our 3rd or 4th batch of beer was brewing, the fermentation process unexpectedly stopped. The beer was definitely not done. Dan immediately went into problem-solving mode. Could he restart fermentation with a heater? Somehow circulate heat by stirring? Physical solutions.
But sometimes, problems are beyond the reach of physical solutions. Lindsay seemed to sense this. She nudged Dan out of the way and said, "I've got this."
She wrapped the fermenter in a firm hug and gave it an inspirational speech. Dan recalls the speech well, "She told the beer that so many gluten free people were going to be happier now and that she believed in the beer."
Miraculously, fermentation restarted after the hug and the speech.
Since then, every batch of Moonshrimp beer gets a hug and an inspirational speech before bottling. Sometimes beer even gets an apology if Dan almost forgets to hug it, as was the case with the Hibiscus Lime Gose.
Because of the pandemic, Dan and Lindsay are the only ones doing this important step in the brewing process right now. In the past, other friends and customers have helped with the effort. Dan and Lindsay hope that more people will be able to encourage the beer once life gets back to normal.
Has your beer been hugged? Stop by Moonshrimp Brewing to pick up a bottle if you want to be sure that it has.