Midwest Microbrew
Midwest Microbrew is a craft beer discovery site dedicated to celebrating and promoting the independent brewing scene across the American Midwest. We go beyond the tasting notes to share the untold stories behind the Midwest's best craft breweries.
Midwest Microbrew
Episode 23: Brian Buss, Co-Owner at Bust'd Brewing
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How does a small craft brewery build a fiercely loyal customer base in a competitive market? Brian Buss of Bust'd Brewing in Peoria, Illinois breaks down exactly how he's done it.
In part two of our conversation, Brian shares the strategies and tactics Bust'd Brewing has used to attract all kinds of people to their taproom and keep them coming back — from die-hard beer geeks to total newcomers. If you're a craft beer fan or a small business owner, this one is packed with real, actionable insight from someone who's built something special in central Illinois.
🎧 Missed part one? Watch it here: https://youtu.be/_v6PWLg8q5Y]
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Midwest Microbrew is a craft beer discovery site dedicated to celebrating and promoting the independent brewing scene across the American Midwest. Host Henry Nosek sits down with the brewers, founders, and visionaries behind the best small breweries in the region. Visit us at midwestmicrobrew.com for more.
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Hey everyone, welcome back to Midwest Microbrew. I'm your host, Henry Notick. If you're new here, uh this is the show where we dive deep into the craft beer scene right here in the heartland of the Midwest. Today I'm bringing you back to part two of my conversation with Brian Bust, the man behind Busted Brewing in Peoria, Illinois. If you already caught our first interview, you already know that Brian is doing something really special over there. And this time we get into the how. We're talking about how Busted Brewing has built one of the most oiled, diverse tap room communities in the whole region and the specific strategies that Brian has used to get all kinds of people through that door and keep them coming back. Whether you're a craft beer enthusi enthusiast, a small business owner, or just someone who loves a great local story, this one's worth sticking around for. Let's get into it. Hey Brian, welcome back to Midwest Microbrew. It's great to have you back on. Since our last interview, I think we did it in February, I want to say, but it could have been earlier than that. I just thought it would be fun to catch up and ask some uh follow-up questions for you. See how things are going.
SPEAKER_08Hey Henry, thanks for having me uh back on. Yeah, this is uh it's uh it's a fun time. I like doing this. And yeah, things have been uh things have been going pretty well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's good to hear. That's great to hear. So for those of my listeners who didn't catch the first interview, would you mind just kind of reintroducing yourself and telling them about a little bit about what you do?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so I'm my name is Brian Bus, along with my wife Amber. We opened Busted Brewing in uh 2023 uh in May. In two days is actually our three-year anniversary. Kind of started as a home brewer, like a lot of pro brewers do, and just kind of kept working on it and just kind of found one of these things that you know kind of hopefully pretty good at. And we just wanted to kind of open a place where people can come and come enjoy a good beer and good company and just overall have a good time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. And it sounds like you guys are doing real well for one of the uh the newer breweries that I've interviewed. Definitely uh hot item right now, for sure.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, no, it's it's been going pretty well. We've been uh pretty busy this year, packaging a lot more, getting more distribution, and uh just overall more uh more more eyeballs in our place. So it's been pretty good.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. That's what we like to hear. So getting right into it, what beers are hot right now, and why do you think your customers are gravitating towards those? You know, I think light is the name of the game right now.
SPEAKER_08You know, I think people, especially getting into the warmer months, people want a little bit. You know, there's I don't know if we talked about this before, you know, but there's always a stigma that craft beer is just heavy, dark, hoppy, all that. But craft beer can also be very light, very flavorful. We uh I think I mentioned last time we met about our our American Light Lager Heights Heritage. That beer has taken off in popularity, like it's become one of our best sellers uh just because of the it's very light. It's it's it's the beer people ask when they say, What's what's your closest to bush light? And we kind of point them towards this and they like it, and they have a few and they're they're definitely digging at it. Uh a beer, one other light beer we actually have on right now is uh it's called Jolly Good Melon. It's our uh watermelon summer wheat, very light, very crushable, you know, just one of those that's only about uh four and a half percent. And it's it's a great patio beer. So we've been been trying to, as we get into the warmer months, kind of aim a little bit lighter, but also, you know, still making some IPAs, still making, you know, a little bit of darker beer because you know, try to have a good selection for everybody. But but yeah, I think light's the name of the game right now because people peop people just want to be able to they want to support, but they also like what they like. So you gotta you gotta lean into that.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Yeah, and IKAs aren't going anywhere for sure, but I I like what you said about light beers kind of being the name of the game right now, which is kind of a fun trend because if you think about it, people go in breweries, you know, they can have a few more drinks, they can stay a little bit longer, socialize longer. It's uh makes for a better time, in my opinion, in some ways.
SPEAKER_08Well, absolutely, you know, the and the customers don't know what they don't know, so you kind of guide them, you know, you kind of find out what they like and and what they enjoy, and you know, and you kind of help them. And sometimes they just don't know what's out there that they might like. So that's and what's one thing I pride my staff on. You know, they do a heck of a job helping customers out and kind of just knowing what it is that they uh might not know that they like.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. It's great to have a good staff that uh is able to guide the customer like that for sure. Oh, for sure. So uh tell me about a beer that you'd love to develop for this brewery and uh why why do you think that?
SPEAKER_08You know, honestly, it was the Heights Heritage that I really, really dug digging into because there's a historical aspect to it. You know, that beer kind of was born out of uh kind of I call it a PBR throwback, basically. So it was born from kind of an inspired by an old Pep's uh recipe from the 40s. Now I had to make it completely different because my system doesn't allow me to kind of use the stuff that they did back then, mostly just the amount of corn. Uh I I don't have that kind of equipment, but uh but that was a fun one because you know I always kind of stress like making lagers like very technique-based, so you can't really hide any flaws, so you gotta make sure that you're you're doing everything right. And the way it's turned out, the reception has been great. People hear about it because there's a historical tie to the to the area that people really dig on to when they have fine, they have it and they see the label and they get really invested in it, and it's it's kind of cool to see.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. That makes sense. I I love that historical aspect of beers and just makes them just another layer of interest thing to them. What's your approach to developing beers that appeal to both a craft beer enthusiasts and also those who are new to craft beer?
SPEAKER_08You know, I I I often think, well, what would I like to drink? And I know that sounds a little conceited, but I I don't claim to know what people like. But normally if I if I'll if I'll key in on a style, I'll just kind of think like what would I like it to taste like? And I hope I'm right. You know, don't get me wrong, I've been wrong a few times. But typically I just, you know, whenever I see a style, like, you know, I I have finally perfected our hazy IPA. You know, there's been a lot of trials, a lot of dipper runs, but I was just never super satisfied with it. And finally this last iteration turned kind of turned out to what I want to be. And it turns out everybody that I knew that drank the hazy loved this iteration the best, you know. So I try to think, you know, because I'm I'm very stylistically driven when it comes to making beers. So I want to kind of, you know, lean into what the beer should be. I try to be stylistically driven, you know, trying to fit the beer into the category that I like, but also kind of put my own twists on it sometimes. You know, my I always tell people the brown ale that we make is not a real traditional brown ale because I actually don't use brown malt, but I added some depth and you know a little bit of uh some chalk cutting notes, stuff that would lean it into being a brown ale. And people dig it. It's one of our one of our uh one of our best top room sellers, and there's actually a place here in Fioria that sells a lot of it too.
SPEAKER_03Sounds awesome. Yeah, great there. And Fiori's a great community for that too, I think.
SPEAKER_08We got some good beer bars here. You know, we've we've we got and and we like to I mean we sell beer to anybody, you know. We've we've had our beer in crap beer bars and dive bars and kind of anywhere by your beer. We're we're trying to get it in there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It's good to hear it. Have you ever experimented with unusual ingredients or techniques? And uh what was the outcome of that?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so there there's been this new ingredient uh from uh it's called crystallized orange, so it's kind of a uh breakaway from like using purees and whatnot, at least for some citrus flavors like uh orange. So today we're actually releasing a beer we call Summer Bash, which is a dry hopped pale ale with crystallized orange. So it's it's citrusy, a little bit of acidity, nice, refreshing on a day like today. And it honestly comes in like a powder form, but it's all natural ingredients and there's nothing nothing processed about it. And yeah, it's just kind of one of those things that uh you know when I I saw it was advertised towards breweries, and I was like, well, let's have a shot because I've been trying to find this one particular flavor, and it turned out this one actually went pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Nice. Sounds good. I like those more interesting.
SPEAKER_08It's our best-selling summer seasonal this beer, so I wouldn't be surprised if I gotta make another batch before the summer's out.
SPEAKER_03And you said that's already uh that's already on the shelves right now for you?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I just tapped it today. I'm actually working on getting label approval um uh through the T T B to get some cans out there, so actually I need to do that when we get off this phone call. I need to go get my label resubmitted.
SPEAKER_03All right, you're ready for first, guys. Sounds good. Um kind of getting into some like the uh the loyal customer-based questions, because you guys have been around for a few years now and you've already attracted quite a following of customers. How did you define your brand identity early on and has it shifted at all since your opening?
SPEAKER_08I don't think so, because I I think we, you know, people that kind of I g I guess the the real loyal people, the the ones that kind of knew me, being a bird, you know, I think they they at least hope they think I've kind of stayed true to what it is I do. You know, but being a hobbyist and being in business is two different things. So you do kind of you get you know, the voice of the customer is always important to kind of follow. But I think for those that know me, know that I've kind of stuck true to uh what it is I do and just kind of hope that, you know, we we we'll always try to, you know, make make just really good drinkable beer and hopefully have a really good uh place for people to come visit and hang out and yeah, kind of do all those things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, and that's what makes it a great place. I guess uh how important is storytelling to your marketing and like do you have a why behind the brewery?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's there there's a why and then there's a who, you know, so like so we've been doing these radio spots this year, uh, and we've really kind of honed in on the fact that we we pride ourselves in being a family, very family forward brewery, you know, like we want people to bring their kids and you know you know our son is seven years old and not uncommon now to see him outside drawing on the sidewalks with side sidewalk chart or uh sidewalk chalk. Yeah, you know, but you know, having some other kids and we got games and all that stuff. So I think I think now that we're in year three, we have definitely established our our kind of identity as being, you know, no, I always tell people we're not a bar, we're brewery, you know, and that's not to take a dig at bars, you know. That's just not the model that we got into, you know. We we do beer and we do a couple other things just to give people options. We have uh, I don't know if I mentioned this last time, but we have like a choose your own seltzer adventure um thing, you know. So it's like giving people that other option for people who may not dig on beer uh has been definitely a big plus for people. So and we actually just did some patio updates. We built a big uh about a 40-foot-long pergola outside. So we've really uh really leaning into the summers. Yeah. So I'll just go. Oh yeah, yeah. So I always say like that's that's the who we that we become, you know, is just we're family friendly, come hang out, you know, just come hang, enjoy yourselves, bring the kids, bring the family, bring everybody. You know, we we don't we we want people to come enjoy themselves.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. And what I mean, what you're saying about like kids throwing on the sidewalk with chalk and all that, like you don't see that so much anymore. So it's it's nice that it's happening like at your your brewery there. So it's you know, that's always a great sign for sure.
SPEAKER_08Like I said, it was a that's a bit an important aspect for us of just being just doing that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, that's really great to hear. How do you market seasonal or limited releases to you know create a buzz without overpromising them?
SPEAKER_08You know, so I've been bit I've been bitten in the butt a few times, uh kind of overpromising and under delivering just due to some issues. So, you know, we always try to put some word out and uh mostly via word of mouth, you know, telling our regulars and other people that'll come in. I try to engage people as much as I can when I'm working here. I'm just kind of, you know, people are curious, you know, who who are we, what are we, you know, kind of that. And I always try to say, you know, hey, this is what I got coming down the pipeline. And like with this week, you know, being our anniversary, like we've been advertising our beer releases uh so people, you know, see it on our social media, and hopefully that that kind of entices them to come in as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Wow, that makes total sense. What role does your tap room play as like a marketing asset besides just selling the pines?
SPEAKER_08I mean, we've all you know, going back to the family aspect, you know, we always try to make sure, you know, that it's it's clean, you know, tables are clean, bar tops clean, you know, that it and we got game, we got a bunch of games here inside, you know, we got a giant connect four, you know. We we always try to make sure that people just know it's a it's a good place to to come hang out, come chill, you know, just you know, be one of the, like I said, one of our one of the more uh I'll say quieter spots, you know, to just be able to come drink beer, conversate, you know, kind of kind of do that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. No, that sounds like a great space. Yeah. It was important to make it just comfortable for people to come in and just hang out at a note.
SPEAKER_08It's again another one of those things we've always prided ourselves on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Can I forward, can't argue with that. What uh what marketing channels have actually kind of moved the meat or the needle for you? Have you done like a lot of like social media or events?
SPEAKER_08Um I mean social media always does pretty well, but honestly, I think radio has actually done a pretty good help to us this year. Oh really? We I mentioned earlier, you know, we won this package of radio spots for the whole year, and in between of like kind of telling, you know, who we are and what we are, uh we you know have been running ads for like our beer fest, which is in next weekend actually. And by you know, running that ad from about March to April or the end of April, uh by April 1 or April 30th, we had outsold last year's attendance. So I I I I I credit the radio with kind of helping us get there because I think it obviously just helps us reach a broader audience.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_08So yeah, so we're already like getting to that point. It's like, yeah, well, you know, gotta buy more beer and you know, get more things because we apparently um we got more people coming this year. So it's it's been pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, it sounds like it's working as a great billboard for you guys. That's awesome. Yeah, um, yeah, because I remember last time we talked, you'd mentioned like you've got the you've got the loyal following and you're you got the great beer, and your biggest thing was just making sure people could actually find you guys. So it sounds it sounds great that people are you're finding out and news to do that. I like to hear that.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. Well, and also too, you know, I'll say like the visual aspect. So there's been a lot of construct a lot of improvements on the property um that we're on. So we got a nice big parking lot now where our our beer fest is gonna be. You know, we built a pergola on the side of our building that looks really great. The neighbor, our neighbor in the back of our building built a patio for his sandwich job. So, you know, and now there's been ton of landscaping, so like we're we're we're kind of building our own identity down here as far as like this block, you know, and Purice. And and those that are familiar with it'll know what I'm talking about, you know, just kind of you know, there's just been a lot of good improvements, and we've kind of helped, you know, kind of put our our hat in the ring as far as you know, making our our our spot just a little bit more apparent.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. No, that makes total sense. Sounds like a great spot to be. Have you leaned into your like Midwest identity as part of the brand? And if so, how how are you doing that?
SPEAKER_08Not intentionally, I'll say that. You know, like obviously we with the historical aspect of being in a town that PBR occupied for a few decades, you know, we've we've definitely leaned into that aspect, but I don't think we've ever like intentionally not intentionally or unintentionally, not leaned into our Midwest roots, you know. We I I do pride, you know, I try to speak on you know being an advocate for the area and like saying, you know, like we we've had a lot of good progress in the last 10 to 15 years around this area. And I hope to continue more, you know, good restaurants, good, good breweries, good bars, you know, good entertainment, you know, just kind of that whole thing around, you know, we we should have nice things, you know. I always tell people, you know, like we we need the events. We we we should be we should be up there, you know, and enticing people to come around. And that's why we started the beer fest, because we we are the only beer fest in town now in the entire Peoria metro area. There was one for a long time ran by the JCs, and it was a great festival. I think COVID, obviously, along with a lot of things, you know, kind of helped bring it uh an end to it, but you know, saw an opportunity to kind of pick up the flag, and so far the reception's been pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, sounds awesome. So, kind of getting into your customer loyalty a little bit more. How how do you guys consider customer loyalty? Do you have any like a customer, like regular first programs or perks that people can get by coming?
SPEAKER_08Oh, for sure. Um, we do we we do have a membership club uh that people can join and uh enjoy kind of all the perks from that. And you know, we also have a lot of people that aren't a part of the club that also do come in as well. So, you know, you can always tell, you know, the loyalists by the repeats, you know, the people that come back in. And you know, people, you know, you you make those connections with people, you know, and to me that's always important because it kind of helps them feel invested as well, you know, like when they're you're you're sitting or when I'm you know, when I'm sitting talking beer with people, you know, and just kind of saying, hey, this is how we do it and this and that. It just helps them be a little bit more invested in in, you know, again, the who we are, you know, and you know, we're just not here to make beer. You know, we actually have a uh a fundraiser tonight here for uh it's called Career Summit. So like we and we do we do a fair amount of these every year, uh, you know, because we we didn't want to just open a business and sit back in the corner and just you know do a thing. We wanted to be, you know, out of the community and helping. And I'd I'd say that's definitely helped a lot with people, kind of help, you know, get them invested in us as well and then become repeat customers.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no, I uh you're definitely a community focused brewery, and I I love that about busted brewing. Yeah, amazing. So kind of getting into some of our our closing questions here. Do you have any like final thoughts or messages for people who you know either listen to one or both interviews and might be wanting to pay a visit?
SPEAKER_08I mean, just you know, for those that have visited, thank you, and those that want to come join us. You know, like I said, I think once people kind of get to know who we are and and what we're about, they definitely lean into it. We've made we personally, me and my wife have made new friends, you know, just having this place. And, you know, and our son has made new friends having this place. And, you know, it's kind of it's opened up all these new relationships and community connections and just things that we're pretty, pretty passionate about, you know, and just kind of overall being just who we are, you know, like that's the thing, you know. Like I I love doing this, I hope to continue to do this. And you know, we like meeting people, we like seeing new faces, you know. We've had a couple people honestly bring, you know, their their their small babies in, you know, after that, you know, and it's just like to me that kind of that warms my heart, you know, because they feel comfortable enough to to come in and do that. So it, you know, that that I feel probably speaks more to who we are uh as a place because they they feel they feel that comfort level of like, you know, they can bring the kid in and you know, you might have three, four people asked to hold, you know. Now, obviously, they gotta you know say yes and whatnot, but you know, but but that's that's just the kind of community that we are, you know. So I I pride ourselves on that, you know, just being that kind of place that people feel comfortable in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, having a great community that you've built is one of the best aspects that a brewery can have for sure. Yeah. How can people keep up with what you're doing? Where can they uh find you?
SPEAKER_08I mean, we're on Facebook and uh social media, and you can also go to our website. Uh our manager Bree keeps uh all those up to date, you know, especially our tap lists and also our events as well. We keep all of our events out there, so we're uh kind of in the middle of events season, but uh may May is obviously just a very busy month because we have our anniversary and the beer fest also. So yeah, we just that that's probably the best place to kind of keep tabs on us, but also to stop in and have a chat with us, you know, because who knows what we might be up to next. You may get an early uh early lead on something.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's great to hear. Well, I appreciate you taking the time during your uh your busy month, like you said, and uh doing this interview with me. It's great having you back up.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, anytime, man. I appreciate you having me on again and uh yeah, hope to uh hope to talk again soon.
SPEAKER_03All right, great. Um Hey Brian, welcome back to Midwest Microbrew. It's great to have you back on. Since our last interview, I think we did it in February, I want to say, but it could have been earlier than that. I just thought it would be fun to catch up and ask some uh follow-up questions for you, see how things are going.
SPEAKER_08Hey Henry, thanks for having me uh back on. Yeah, this is uh it's uh it's a fun time. I like doing this. And yeah, things have been uh things have been going pretty well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's good to hear. That's great to hear. So for those of uh my listeners who didn't catch the first interview, would you mind just kind of reintroducing yourself and telling them about a little bit about what you do?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so I'm my name is Brian Bus, along with my wife Amber. We opened Busted Brewing in 2023 in May. In two days is actually our three-year anniversary. Kind of started as a home brewer, like a lot of pro brewers do, and just kind of kept working on it and just kind of found one of these things that uh you know, kind of hopefully pretty good at. And we just wanted to kind of open a place where people can come and come enjoy a good beer and good company and just overall have a good time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. And it sounds like you guys are doing real well for one of the uh the newer breweries that I've interviewed. Definitely a hot item right now, for sure.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, no, it's it's been going pretty well. We've been uh pretty busy this year, packaging a lot more, getting more distribution, and uh just overall more uh more more eyeballs in our place. So it's been pretty good.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. That's what we like to hear. So getting right into it, what beers are hot right now, and why do you think your customers are gravitating towards those?
SPEAKER_08You know, I think light is the name of the game right now. You know, I think people, especially getting into the warmer months, people want a little bit. You know, there's I don't know if we talked about this before, you know, but there's always a stigma that craft beer is just heavy, dark, hoppy, all that. But crap beer can also be very light, very flavorful. We uh I think I mentioned last time we met about our uh our American light lager Heights Heritage. That beer has taken off in popularity, like it's become one of our best sellers uh just because of the it's very light. It's it's it's the beer people ask when they say, What's what's your closest to bush life? And we kind of pointed towards this and they like it, and they have a few and they're they're definitely digging at it. Uh a beer, one other light beer we actually have on right now is uh it's called Jolly Good Melon. It's our watermelon summer wheat. Very light, very crushable, you know, just one of those that's only about uh four and a half percent. Uh and it's a it's a great patio beer. So we've been been trying to, as we get into the warmer months, kind of aim a little bit lighter, but also, you know, still making some IPAs, still making, you know, a little bit of darker beer because you know, try to have a good uh selection for everybody. But but yeah, I think light's the name of the game right now because people pe people just want to be able to they want to support, but they also like what they like. So you gotta you gotta lean into that.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Yeah, and IKAs aren't going anywhere for sure. But I I like when you said about light beers kind of being the name of the game right now, which is kind of a fun trend because if you think about it, people go in breweries, you know, they can have a few more drinks, they can stay a little bit longer, socialize longer. It's uh makes for a better time, in my opinion, in some ways.
SPEAKER_08Well, absolutely, you know, the and the customers don't know what they don't know, so you kind of guide them, you know, you kind of find out what they like and and what they enjoy, and you know, and you kinda help 'em. And sometimes they just don't know what's out there that they might like. So that's and what's one thing I pride my staff on. You know, they do a heck of a job helping customers out and kind of uh just knowing what it is that they uh might not know that they like.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. It's great to have a good staff that uh is able to guide the customer like that for sure. Oh, for sure. So uh Uh tell me about a beer that you'd love to develop for this brewery and uh why why you think that?
SPEAKER_08You know, honestly, it was the Heights Heritage that I really, really dug digging into because there's a historical aspect to it. You know, that beer kind of was born out of uh kind of I call it a PBR throwback basically. So it was born from kind of an inspired by an old Pep's uh recipe from the 40s. Now I had to make it completely different because my system doesn't allow me to kind of use the stuff that they did back then, mostly just the amount of corn. I I don't have that kind of equipment, but uh but that was a fun one because you know I always kind of stress like making lagers like very technique based, so you can't really hide any flaws, so you gotta make sure that you're you're doing everything right. And the way it's turned out, the reception has been great. People hear about it because there's a historical tie to the to the area that people really dig on to when they have fine, they have it and they see the label and they get really invested in it, and it's it's kind of cool to see.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. That makes sense. I I love that historical aspect of beers and just makes them just another layer of interest thing to them. What's your approach to developing beers that appeal to both a craft beer enthusiasts and also those who are new to craft beer?
SPEAKER_08You know, I I I often think, well, what would I like to drink? And I know that sounds a little conceited, but I I don't claim to know what people like. But normally if I if I'll if I'll key in on a style, I'll just kind of think like what would I like it to taste like? And I hope I'm right. You know, don't get me wrong, I've been wrong a few times. But typically I just you know, whenever I see a style, like, you know, I I have finally perfected our hazy IPA. You know, there's been a lot of trials, a lot of different runs, but I was just never super satisfied with it. And finally this last iteration turned kind of turned out to what I want to be, and it turns out everybody that I knew that drank the hazy loved this iteration the best, you know. So I try to think, you know, because I'm I'm very stylistically driven when it comes to making beer, so I want to kind of you know lean into what the beer should be, but also come.
SPEAKER_03Brian, can you hear me? Henry? I think I lost you for a second there. Yep. I don't know how much of that you got. Uh yeah, you're saying that you were stylistically driven.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. So so yeah, I try I try to be stylistically driven, you know, trying to fit the beer into the category that I like, but also kind of put my own twists on it sometimes. You know, my I always tell people the brown ale that would make is not a real traditional brown ale because I actually don't use brown malt, but I added some depth and you know a little bit of uh some chalk putting notes, stuff that would lean it into being a brown ale. And people dig it. It's one of our one of our one of our best top room sellers, and there's actually a place here in Fioria that sells a lot of it too. Sounds awesome. Yeah, great there.
SPEAKER_03And Fiori's a great community for that too, I think.
SPEAKER_08We got some good beer bars here. You know, we've we've we got and and we like to I mean we sell beer to anybody, you know. We we've had our beer in craft beer bars and dive bars and kind of anywhere by your beer. We're we're trying to get it in there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's good to hear it. Have you ever experimented with unusual ingredients or techniques? And uh what was the outcome of that?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so there there's been this new ingredient uh from uh it's called crystallized orange. So it's kind of uh kind of a uh a breakaway from like using purees and whatnot, at least for some citrus flavors like uh orange. So today we're actually releasing a beer we call uh Summer Bash, which is a dry hopped pale ale with crystallized orange. So it's it's citrusy, a little bit of acidity, nice, refreshing on a day like today. And it honestly comes in like a powder form, um, but it's all natural ingredients and there's nothing nothing processed about it. Uh and yeah, it's just kind of one of those things that uh you know when I I saw it was advertised towards breweries, and I was like, well, let's have a shot because I've been trying to find this one particular flavor, and it turned out this one actually went pretty good. Nice.
SPEAKER_03Sounds good. I like the more interesting.
SPEAKER_08It's our summers, it's our best-selling summer seasonal this beer. So I wouldn't be surprised if I gotta make another batch before the summer's out.
SPEAKER_03And you said that's already uh that's already on the shelves right now for you?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I just taped it today. I'm actually working on getting label approval um uh through the T T B to get some cans out there. So actually I need to do that when we get off this phone call. I need to go get my local resubmitted. All right.
SPEAKER_03You're already here first, guys. Sounds good. Um kind of getting into some like the uh the loyal customer-based questions, because you guys have been around for a few years now and you've already attracted quite a following of customers. Uh, how did you define your brand identity early on? And has it shifted at all since your opening?
SPEAKER_08I don't think so, because I I think we, you know, people that kind of I g I guess the the real loyal people, the the ones that kind of knew me, being a bird, you know, I think they they at least hope they think I've kind of stayed true to what it is I do. You know, but being a hobbyist and being in business is two different things. So you do kind of you get you know, the voice of the customer is always important to kind of follow. But I think for those that know me know that I've kind of stuck true to it to what it is I do and just kind of hope that, you know, we we we'll always try to, you know, make make just really good drinkable beer and hopefully have a really good uh place for people to come visit and hang out and yeah, kind of do all those things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, and that's what makes it a great place. I guess uh how important is storytelling to your market and and like do you have a why behind the brewery?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's there there's a why and then there's a who, you know, so like so we've been doing these radio spots this year, uh, and we've really kind of honed in on the fact that we we pride ourselves in being a family, very family forward brewery. You know, like we want people to bring their kids and you know you know our son is seven years old and not uncommon now to see him outside drawing on the sidewalks with side sidewalk chart or uh sidewalk chalk and you know, but you know, having some other kids and we got games and all that stuff. So we I think I think now that we're in year three, we have definitely established our our kind of identity as being, you know, no, I always tell people we're not a bar, we're brewery, you know, and that's not to take a dig at bars, you know. That's just not the big model that we got into, you know. We we do beer and we do a couple other things just to give people options. We have uh, I don't know if I mentioned this last time, but we have like a choose your own seltzer adventure um thing, you know. So it's like giving people that other option for people who may not dig on beer uh has been definitely a big plus for people. So and we actually just did some patio updates. We built a big uh about a 40-foot long pergola outside. So we've really uh brilliant leaning into the summers. Yeah, so oh yeah, yeah. So I always say like that's that's the who we that we become, you know, is we're family friendly, come hang out, you know, just come hang, enjoy yourselves, bring the kids, bring the family, bring everybody. You know, we we don't we we want people to come enjoy themselves.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. And what I mean, what you're saying about like kids throwing on the sidewalk with chalk and all that, like you don't see that so much anymore. So it's it's nice that it's happening like at your your brewery there. So it's you know, that's always a great sign.
SPEAKER_08It was a that's a bit an important aspect for us, uh just been just doing that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, that's really great to hear. How do you market seasonal or limited releases to you know create a buzz without overpromising them?
SPEAKER_08You know, so uh I've been bit I've been bitten in the butt a few times, uh kind of overpromising and under delivering just due to some issues. So, you know, we always try to put some word out and uh mostly via word of mouth, you know, telling our regulars and other people that'll come in. I try to engage people as much as I can when I'm working here. Just kind of, you know, people are curious, you know, who who are we, what are we, you know, kind of that. And I always try to say, you know, hey, this is what I got coming down the pipeline. And like with this week, you know, being our anniversary, like we've been advertising our beer releases, uh, so people, you know, see it on our social media, and hopefully that that kind of entices them to come in as well.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That makes total sense. What role does your tap room play as like a marketing asset besides just selling the pints?
SPEAKER_08Um I mean, we've all you know, going back to the family aspect, you know, we always try to make sure, you know, that it's it's clean, you know, tables are clean, bar tops clean, you know, that it and we got game, we got a bunch of games here inside, you know, we got a giant connect four, you know. We we always try to make sure that people just know it's a it's a good place to to come hang out, come chill, you know, just you know, be one of the, like I said, one of our one of the more uh I'll say quieter spots, you know, to just be able to come, drink beer, conversate, you know, kind of kind of do that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that sounds like a great space. It was important to make it just comfortable for people to come in and hang out.
SPEAKER_08Another one of those things we've always prided ourselves on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Can I fork? Can't argue with that. What uh what marketing channels have actually kind of moved the meat or the needle for you? Have you done like a lot of like social media or events?
SPEAKER_08Um I mean social media always does pretty well, but honestly, I think radio has actually done a pretty good help to us this year. Oh, really? We I mentioned earlier, you know, we won this package of radio spots for the whole year, and in between of like kind of telling, you know, who we are and what we are, we you know have been running ads for like our beer fest, which is in next weekend actually. And by you know, running that ad from about March to April or the end of April. Uh by April 1 or April 30th, we had outsold last year's attendance. So I I I I I credit the radio with kind of helping us get there because I think it obviously just helps us reach a broader audience.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_08So yeah, so we're already like getting to that point, it's like, yeah, well, you know, gotta buy more beer and you know, get more things because we apparently um we got more people coming this year. So it's it's been pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, it sounds like it's working as a great billboard for you guys. It's awesome. Yeah, yeah, because I remember last time we talked, you'd mentioned like you've got the you've got the loyal following and you're you got the great beer, and your biggest thing was just making sure people could actually find you guys. So it sounds it sounds great that people are you're finding out and use to do that. I like to hear that.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. Well, and also too, you know, I'll say like the visual aspect. So there's been a lot of construct, a lot of improvements on the property um that we're on. So we got a nice big parking lot now where our our beer fest is gonna be. You know, we built a pergola on the side of our building that looks really great. The neighbor, our neighbor in the back of our building built a patio for his sandwich job. So, you know, and now there's been a ton of landscaping. So like we're we're we're kind of building our own identity down here as far as like this block, you know, and Puries. And and those that are familiar with it'll know what I'm talking about, you know, just kind of you know, there's just been a lot of good improvements and we kind of helped, you know, kind of put our our hat in the ring as far as you know, making our our our spot just a little bit more approachable.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. No, that makes total sense. Sounds like a great spot to be. Have you leaned into your like Midwest identity as part of the brand? And if so, how how are you doing that?
SPEAKER_08Not intentionally, I'll say that. You know, like obviously we with the historical aspect of being in a town that PBR occupied for a few decades, you know, we've we've definitely leaned into that aspect, but I don't think we've ever like intentionally not intentionally or unintentionally, not leaned into our Midwest roots, you know. We I I do pride, you know, I try to speak on you know being an advocate for the area and like saying, you know, like we we've had a lot of good progress in the last 10 to 15 years around this area, and I hope to continue more, you know, good restaurants, good, good breweries, good bars, you know, good entertainment, you know, just kind of that whole thing around, you know, we we should have nice things, you know. I always tell people, you know, like we we need the events. We we we should be we should be up there, you know, and enticing people to come around. And that's why we started the beer fest, because we we are the only beer fest in town now in the entire Peoria metro area. There was one for a long time ran by the JCs, and it was a great festival. I think COVID, obviously, along with a lot of things, you know, kind of helped bring it uh an end to it, but you know, saw an opportunity to kind of pick up the flag, and so far the reception's been pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, sounds awesome. So, kind of getting into your customer loyalty a little bit more. How how do you guys consider customer loyalty? Do you have any like a customer, like regular first programs or perks that people can get by coming?
SPEAKER_08Oh, for sure. Um, we do we we do have a membership club uh that people can join and uh enjoy kind of all the perks from that. And you know, we also have a lot of people that aren't a part of the club that also do come in as well. So, you know, you can always tell, you know, the loyalists by the repeats, you know, the people that come back in. And you know, people, you know, you you make those connections with people, you know, and to me that's always important because it kind of helps him feel invested as well, you know, like when they're you're you're sitting or when I'm you know, when I'm sitting talking beer with people, you know, and just kind of saying, hey, this is how we do it and this and that. It just helps them be a little bit more invested in in, you know, again, the who we are, you know, and you know, we're just not here to make beer. You know, we actually have a uh a fundraiser tonight here for uh it's called Career Summit. So like we and we do we do a fair amount of these every year, you know, because we we didn't want to just open a business and sit back in the corner and just you know do a thing. We wanted to be, you know, out in the community and helping. And I'd I'd say that's definitely helped a lot with people, kind of help, you know, get them invested in us as well and then become repeat customers.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no, I uh you're definitely a community-focused brewery, and I I love that about busted brewing. Yeah. So kind of getting into some of our closing questions here. Uh, do you have any like final thoughts or messages for people who you know either listen to one or both interviews and might be wanting to pay a visit?
SPEAKER_08I mean just, you know, for those that have a visit, thank you, and those that want to come join us. You know, like I said, I think once people kind of get to know who we are and and what we're about, they definitely lean into it. We've made we personally, me and my wife, I've made new friends, you know, just having this place. And, you know, and our son has made new friends having this place. And, you know, it's kind of it's opened up all these new relationships and community connections and just things that we're pretty, pretty passionate about, you know, and just kind of overall being just who we are, you know, like that's the thing, you know, like I I love doing this, I hope to continue to do this. And you know, we like meeting people, we like seeing new faces, you know. We've had a couple people honestly bring, you know, their their their small babies in, you know, after that, you know, and it's just like to me that kind of that warms my heart, you know, because they feel comfortable enough to to come in and do that. So it, you know, that that I feel probably speaks more to who we are uh as a place because they they feel they feel that comfort level of like, you know, they can bring the kid in and you know, you might have three, four people ask to hold, you know. Now, obviously, they gotta, you know, say yes and whatnot, but you know, but but that's that's just the kind of community that we are, you know. So I I pride ourselves on that, you know, just being that kind of place that people feel comfortable in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, having a great community that you've built is one of the best aspects that a brewery can have for sure. How can people keep up with what you're doing? Where can they uh find you?
SPEAKER_08I mean, we're on Facebook and uh social media, and you can also go to our website. Uh our manager Bree keeps uh all those up to date, you know, especially our tap lists and also our events as well. We keep all of our events out there. So we're uh I'm kind of in the middle of events season, but uh May is obviously just a very busy month because we have our anniversary and the beer fest also. So so yeah, we just that that's probably the best place to kind of keep tabs on us, but also to stop in and have a chat with us, you know, because who knows what we might be up to next. You may get an early uh early lead on something.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's great to hear. Well, I appreciate you taking the time during your uh your busy month, like you said, and uh doing this interview with me. It's great having you back up.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, anytime, and I appreciate you having me out again and uh yeah, hope to uh hope to talk again soon.
SPEAKER_03Alrighty, guys, that's gonna do it for today. Be sure to check out some of our other exclusive interviews with the people from the best breweries in the Midwest. Bye now, I'm gonna be honest.