THE BREWERY…

Grimm Artisanal Ales is a Brooklyn-based brewery founded in 2013 by Joe and Lauren Grimm after nearly a decade of tinkering with fermentation. Grimm specializes in concise, elegant ales epitomizing the creative, experimental spirit of the American artisanal beer revolution. With each limited edition release, we seek to push the boundaries of style and flavor in order to create beers with the utmost depth and complexity.

For five years, Grimm operated as a nomadic brewery. Joe and Lauren would develop each recipe in the kitchen of their Gowanus apartment and travel to existing breweries near and far to craft their commercial beers.

In June 2018, they opened their permanent location in the East Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.

THE PREHISTORY OF GRIMM…

Joe and Lauren have been experimenting with the near-magical transformative qualities of yeast since 2005 when they met as students and artists in Providence, Rhode Island. Initial experiments in their apartment kitchen with mead, hard cider, kombucha, kvass, and ginger beer soon gave way to a fascination with Belgian-style ales.

While performing music in Belgium, Lauren and Joe became transfixed by the complexity of Belgian ales. Soon after arriving back in the states, the two began tasting beers methodically in order to teach themselves about the subtle and distinctive qualities of malt, hops, and yeast that created the aromas and flavors of their favorite beers. Alongside their art and music practices, they eagerly researched techniques for beer-making and started brewing five-gallon batches in their apartment to drink and give to their friends.

As more and more people began to share their excitement for the homebrews that they had been making, the two began brewing beer on the sly for gallery events and music performances in Chicago, where they were in school studying sculpture and sound art at the time. Alongside these pop-up bars, the Grimms operated a homebrew CSA to distribute beer to their friends. They had so much success that they began thinking about bringing their beer to a larger community. Once back at home on the East Coast, Joe and Lauren founded Grimm Artisanal Ales as a nomadic brewery in 2013.