Since the beginning, New Oberpfalz Brewing has been committed to bringing quality, locally-made beer to Northwest Indiana. The independent Griffith brewery is best known for its German styles of beer, most notably Helles, along with modern American styles to fully round off its selection.
“Helles Lager is our most popular brand of beer,” said New Oberpfalz Brewing Founder, President, and Brewer Daniel “Gus” Lehnerer. “It's a classic German lager, really clean tasting, lower ABV, and sessionable. It's an everyday beer for everyone who loves beer.”
New Oberpfalz additionally brings an approachable style to its menu. It offers a wide selection and a little bit of everything suited for just about any taste.
“Ours are a bit more relaxed in terms of adjunct use—flavoring ingredients and things that can goose up the profile of a beer. We tend to be restrained in our approach to making them,” said Lehnerer. “We shoot for quality over creativity every day. Our beers are more approachable; we're appealing to the 99% of people who want a quality, locally made, great tasting beer.”
As a smaller, independent brewery, the community and local businesses have played a major role in helping New Oberpfalz see the success it has today. This includes Indiana Beverage, which has been a key resource for the brewery for product distribution. When New Oberpfalz was just starting out and self-distributing, Lehnerer and his team would occasionally run into Indiana Beverage employees on the job. Through these interactions, the two companies built a quality relationship that eventually led to the partnership they have today.
“Before we expanded, we were always out of beer, so we would buy brands from any distributor selling it,” Lehnerer said. “We would buy from them, generally lurking in their shadow, as we’d put it. Indiana Beverage is a very big company that can accomplish a lot, and we were a small brewery that flourished in their shadow to some degree.”
Indiana Beverage has had its footing in the Region’s beverage industry for some time, which really gave New Oberpfalz a leg up when it came to sharing its beers further in the Region. Quality products and quality service have always been ingrained into New Oberpfalz’s core values, and working with the distribution company has only furthered that message even more.
“The quality of our beer is really the greatest benefit, and that's what we've always shot for. We don't want to make average stuff; we don't want to make crummy beer. We want everybody who drinks a New Oberpfalz to believe it's the best beer they've ever had, and Indiana Beverage, with their physical plant and equipment, has been able to deliver that for us much better than we could deliver it ourselves,” Lehnerer said.
However, no matter how much New Oberpfalz grows or how far business takes them, its roots will always be planted strongly in the town of Griffith. Lehnerer loves being a part of the Griffith community and can’t imagine where the brewery would be today had it not got its start in a town with a lot of charm and people to match.
“Griffith is a great town. It's full of hard-working people. I call it a blue-collar community full of people who appreciate hard work. It's good to be a part of a community that takes pride in its approach to how the town is generally maintained and run. It's a fun town,” Lehnerer said. “We also pull Lake Michigan water because we're north of Route 30, and we're able to tap into the greatest resource in the Midwest: Lake Michigan.”
Lehnerer also loves the work itself that comes with owning and operating a brewery.
“I get to solve problems and overcome new challenges just about every day. No two days are the same; every day throws different things our way that we need to work with or work in spite of while producing great beer,” Lehnerer said. “As a brewer, the journey of going from a startup where I have very little professional experience into a gold medal award-winning small brewery in the course of seven or eight years while watching my kids grow up in the brewery and around the brewery with me.”
At ages 10 and 12, Lehnerer’s kids aren’t quite old enough to explore the brewery to its fullest, but they have had a hand in working with and learning about the business side of things. Lehnerer has enjoyed incorporating them in things where he can, and having the family involved has made the overall experience of running a brewery all the better.
“They make boxes and erect six-pack cartons, so if people buy a six-pack of our beer, there's a chance a 12-year-old put that box together,” he laughed. “As they've gotten older, they get to see and understand more of the business side of things, like how to order things and create things and resell them. I think it's interesting for them. When they get here, they tend to open their eyes a little bit more and ask questions about how we do things, and we have a commercial kitchen which is fun for them because there's a deep fryer. It's rewarding for me to see them in this place that I love so much and they’ve grown accustomed to it and feel at home here.”
To see how you can find a quality beer from New Oberpfalz Brewing, be sure to visit its website at newoberpfalz.com.
For more information on Indiana Beverage, visit its website at indianabev.com.
