Today we’d like to introduce you to Benjamin Schnurle.
Hi Benjamin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I fell in love with craft beer attending Ithaca College in upstate NY. Ten years later living in Colorado I met my partner Morganne Matheis, and we started dreaming of owning a craft brewery. I moved to Michigan to be with Morganne who is the love of my life. Once here we started One Drop Brewing Company as partners in her grandfather’s building in Oxford Michigan. With the help of her father, we soon we were in construction at our current site. It took us almost 4 years to complete the interior design and build of the tap room, as well as the pipe fitting and installations of the brewing system. When we completed the build, we set a grand opening date for St. Patrick’s Day 2020, what a disaster. Covid hit the day we launched, but I (Ben) refused to allow my dream to fail. I decided the only way to make it work and profit was for Morganne, and I do it ourselves. I made and served all the beer, Morganne kept up with the paperwork and social media. Three profitable years later, One Drop is successful, and still rapidly growing. Focusing on old-world German styles we have found a niche market by importing all of our ingredients from Weyermann Malts one of the best masters in America and focusing on quality. We steam sterilize, avoid chemicals, plastics, and contamination by transferring our beers to serving tanks behind our bar and serving them direct draft from the tanks. We only have 4 beers on served through these tanks, which seems weird compared to other breweries, but people soon discover that it’s because we always maintain 4 GOOD beers, fresh, clean, and palatable. The overwhelming outpour of support from all over the state keeps me striving for better quality and better ingredients. It is my passion to craft these beers to the best of my ability, and that is the driving force behind One Drop Brewing Company.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not. Our first hurdle was M24 road construction that made it almost impossible to access our location during the build. Next came covid, and with the shutdowns, we were forced to dump many of our tanks down the drain after long shutdowns. The Oxford school shooting came next, which destroyed this community for a long time. I think we are all still so hurt by that. Oxford is such a small town and tragedy of that magnitude has really long-lasting effects on the community. Covid also put huge financial strains on the company. Our investment money dried up, and we were unable to hire a staff due to lack of funds. We were forced to do it ourselves, and I never have given up on the dream.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work in the brewery defines my passion for craft beer. The design and implementation of equipment in my brew room is the backbone to the quality of the beers I can produce. The space is clean, and logically installed all on one wall so I can access each tank through a series of process plumbing that is highly organized, with efficiency in mind. I specialize in experimental IPA and Pale Ale, but also am rooted in old-world traditional German styles. I’m known for the time and research I put into each of my beers, as well as perfecting water profiles for these styles. People really know me from interacting with me one-on-one across the bar and being able to taste beers as they condition in the brite tanks behind the bar. This gives our customers a sense of being a part of the brewing process, which has led to so many great friendships and camaraderie for craft beer. I’m most proud of the quality standard I’ve been able to uphold and the effect and confidence it has instilled in my customers in relation to my product. People know me, they know the level of my passion, and they know that if it was bad I’d dump it down the drain. They trust me and know I’d never compromise quality for money ever. I’d never serve iffy or contaminated product and that I literally stand in front of my product day in and day out serving every pint myself. This sets us apart from other breweries where the owner doesn’t make the product.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Bad luck has definitely played a role in One Drop, but has also taught me resiliency in my life and my business. When the world throws you obstacles, they are there to force you to learn and adapt. You must do some inner searching to discover what it is you were put here to do and then even deeper what it is you were put here to make. You have to be very truthful with yourself to discover that origin story, connect it with your heritage, and make the beer you were always meant to make. I feel this way about my German heritage, and it drives me to do long historic beer studies bringing back old-world flavors that may have been lost for hundreds of years.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onedropbrewingcompany.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/onedropbrewery
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/onedropbrewery
