KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Get ready to fill up your mug! Oberon Day is Monday, and we’re getting a closer look leading to the big day.
“The first sip of it is like your first, your first day on the boat this summer, out on the lake,” Bell’s Brewery Brewmaster Andy Farrell said.
Bell’s Brewery’s bottle line is working around the clock.
“There's a tremendous amount of volume that gets put into the pipeline for Oberon Day,” he added.
Farrell wasn’t always the head of the brewery.
“The entry-level job at Bell’s at the time was working in a three-stage keg washer, very, very person-driven, and moving kegs from station to station to station, stacking them, wrapping them, and then having them prepared to be filled by hand the next day,” he recalled.
After being tapped to do other jobs, he’s also handling research and development.
“In the case of Oberon Light, I would say we started working heavily on this about 11 months ago, actually, maybe 10 and a half months ago,” he said.
This will all be pouring nonstop on Oberon Day.
“It’s a tremendous, tremendous feeling of accomplishment, just because I know of the amount of work and the amount of different people from all different facets of the company. Going back to the teamwork element of this and how many people it really takes to pull this thing off,” he added.
To get ready for the big day, Farrell and his crew start brewing six weeks prior.
“We have to prioritize having fresh beer in market which means there is a tremendous amount of high-quality beer brewed and packaged in a very short period of time. It is a busy time which I think ties in really nicely to that feeling of accomplishment the whole team feels,” he added.
The team is ready to handle the many flights of people. Last year’s Oberon Day saw them go through 100 kegs, with people drinking 12,000 pints of Oberon and its variants—just at the cafe location in Kalamazoo.
“Did I think I would end up in a position like this? And that Bell’s would be as big as it is today? No, no, I didn’t,” Farrell said, offering his advice: be ready for a great time.
“It’s really a great time, and I think it really speaks to the heart and soul of Oberon Day. And in a lot of ways, our identity is Bell’s. So if you haven't experienced that, I recommend everybody come and check it out,” he encouraged.
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