Justin Marx is a local artist, but he creates beer instead of illustrations, sculptures or music. As the owner of the nano brewery BG Beer Works, Marx has made a name for himself as an experienced beer maker and manufacturer.
One of the things Marx likes so much about making beer is working with yeast, a living organism. He enjoys the fact that managing it in different fermentations, which each have their own set of rules, keeps him on his toes.
“I liken it to being like a zookeeper. You have to be a bit of a ‘beer whisperer.’ You can try to put beer on your production schedule, but the way to make a good product is to be on the beer’s schedule. Breweries tend to deteriorate when they try to rush things because time is money, but we try to package our product when it’s ready,” he said.
BG Beer Works is forward and experimental, yet traditional. Its variety allows people to try beers from around the world while sitting in the tap room. Marx likes to revive uncommon traditional pub ale styles, such as the normally imported Scottish 60 Shilling Ale, while also making experimental drinks like a double cream India Pale Ale with mango, which has lactose, a sugar that cannot ferment.
“We’ve done hazy IPAs, New England-style IPAs, we’re working on a brewed IPA recipe that is a new style out of San Francisco area. We’ve also got our first sour experiments going on right now. We do it all, and the fun of this kind of experimentation is what’s great about being small,” he said.
The nano brewery celebrated its third year of business in September. Marx is planning to expand the business and its accessibility by increasing manufacturing scale, product storage capacity, seating space and the brewery’s overall footprint.
“We’d like to have more seats, so people can play games and do other things. We don’t have a lot of seating for large groups of people, other than outside on the patio right now. We have one floor top, and it’s hard to accommodate families who come in and meet around the holidays. We don’t have any TV’s; it’s kind of a folky place that can be intimidating because it feels very local-only,” Marx said.
Custom-printed BG Beer Works T-shirts, stickers and pieces of locally made artwork, all of which are for sale, cover parts of the tap room’s walls and counter. These items are prominent during the brewery’s bi-annual art openings. BG Beer Works has been attracting an older demographic, which was expected because of its location and prices.
“I knew there was a bit of an underserved happy-hour-type of community. It’s been really good to see people get together here. We have some grad students, but we don’t have a lot of college students since we’re at least $5 a pint, even on a cheap night. It’s been something that a lot of townies have made their own, which is great. … Beer tourism’s so big, and right now we’re the only brewery in Bowling Green,” Marx said.
