#16 BADERBRÄU BOCK BEER- PAVICHEVICH BREWING CO.
click picture for larger view
Some facts from Beerme.com
Opened: 1989.
Closed: 1997.
Brewer: George Vlamis.
Annual Production: 20,000 bbl.
Now part of Goose Island. Goose Island bought the Baderbräu brand, and brews that beer for the Chicago market now.
I checked Goose Island's website and it seems Baderbräu is no more.
More information about the brewer and beer can be found here.
BREWERY STATUS: DEFUNCT
BEER STATUS: DEFUNCT
BREWERIES STILL ACTIVE: 11 of 15
BEERS STILL ACTIVE: 11 of 16
Please note that all information on the graphic is from the book MICROBREWS: A GUIDE TO AMERICA'S BEST NEW BEERS AND BREWERIES published in 1996 and may or may not be outdated. All use is for educational purposes only.
posted by the @ 11/14/2006 07:56:00 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Thank goodness that immediately after I promised to write something nice about the next beer that next beer turns out to be terrific.
Baderbrau was a wonderful beer, but Chicago was a brutal place to get a brewery going - only Goose Island survived from the 1980s and there were times it wasn't clear that would happen.
Recently I've read commentary that suggests that the breweries who failed in the 1990s did so because their beer was flawed. Indeed there was some pretty badly made beer around, but there were also great beers like Baderbrau that never found traction.
Maybe it was ahead of its time, offering a pilsner with more flavor than Chicago drinkers were ready for (and those who were already had an above average number of relatively fresh European alternatives).
Maybe it would still be ahead of its time. Big, bold beers get most of the attention. Baderbrau was long subtlety and nuance.
Toast the memory of Baderbrau tonight. It doesn't matter if it is a pilsner or an Imperial Oatmeal Cherry Holiday Stout. Just raise your glass.
Nice history lesson!
Do you know if the brewmaster is still making beer somewhere?
First, I should have paid more attention. The Baderbrau pictured is the Bock, which was produced only in the last few years Baderbrau brewed beer.
It was pretty good, but not a beer to remember like the Pilsner (the beer I was writing about).
Anyway, I think Ken Pavichevich - whose name was on the brewery - employed different brewers over the years. In any event, Pavichevich was the driving force behind the beer. I don't know what he went on to, but I've never seen him mentioned again in a brewing context.
"A new chapter in bankruptcy code
Changes put debtors at disadvantage
Kenneth Pavichevich still shudders as he recalls his descent into bankruptcy four years ago. "It was very painful, but I learned a lot about business and about my own life in the process," he says.
Elmhurst-based Pavichevich Brewing Co. sold a pilsner called Baderbrau that won a raft of tasting awards, but the product was saddled with lousy marketing and distribution. The tiny firm hadn't turned a profit since its launch in the late 1980s. After Mr. Pavichevich missed a payment on $1 million in debt in April 1997, bankers pulled the plug, forcing him to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
But the reorganization never happened. Within weeks, worried creditors forced the company to sell its brewing equipment and even its plant and real estate.
The swiftness of the liquidation shocked Mr. Pavichevich, who had put up his home as collateral to guarantee part of his bank loan. "More time and more money might have helped us get through that rough period, but bankers weren't offering me any options," says Mr. Pavichevich, who is working as an independent consultant."
from Chicagobusiness.com
Baderbrau pilsner was the best beer I have ever drank, and I have tried a helluvalot of beers folks.
It was complex, smooth and subtle. The hops stayed at the forefront but didn't dominate. And the aftertaste was exquisite.
It's a damn shame that people didn't support them. It was in Osco for $5.99 a sixer, for goodness' sakes !
Seriously - that is the steal of a lifetime.
The dark was good too, but that pilsner was unequalled.
Used to play hockey w/my dad. Ken and his brother? would bring the beer to drink after the the game. Had some after I was old enough, and never had a better beer, until coming to germany. The funny thing was, Ken would routinely visit stores who distributed the beer and check that it was always refrigerated, thus avoiding the skunked beer (it was brewed to the german purity law). He would pull distributorship if found not cold. Really cool quality control extending well beyond the brewery. Too bad it didn't work out, I would enjoy a quality product like that in the states.
Used to play hockey w/my dad. Ken and his brother? would bring the beer to drink after the the game. Had some after I was old enough, and never had a better beer, until coming to germany. The funny thing was, Ken would routinely visit stores who distributed the beer and check that it was always refrigerated, thus avoiding the skunked beer (it was brewed to the german purity law). He would pull distributorship if found not cold. Really cool quality control extending well beyond the brewery. Too bad it didn't work out, I would enjoy a quality product like that in the states
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