Finding his true calling

Lisa and Mike Beckman behind the bar at their 238 Brewing Company on Green Bluff.

Opening a brewery on Green Bluff in the dead of winter wasn’t exactly what Mike Beckman had in mind.

But when he finally received federal license approval at the beginning of January following a 14-month grind – which he calls “the single most painful experience of my life” – he didn’t want to wait any longer.

So 238 Brewing Company , fueled by recipes Beckman has honed over five years of homebrewing and staffed by wife Lisa and daughter Taylor, has been opening on the weekends at Legacy Farm, the family Christmas tree operation.

The name comes from the Green Bluff phone prefix, reflected in an antique telephone-style logo. And it’s fair to say that Beckman is still getting things dialed in. He’s been busy brewing away on a tiny 1-barrel system, trying to keep his six taps stocked.

“I’ve lost 15 pounds since we opened. If I’m not driving a cop car, I’m making beer,” says Beckman, a sheriff’s deputy by day.

“We’re not making any money, but we’re paying the bills. It’s all that I hoped for and everything I feared, all at the same time.”

The temporary taproom, in a century-old, 200-square-foot former millhouse, is cozy with a homey charm from an assortment of mismatched furniture, a pellet stove and an array of farm photos, art pieces and beer memorabilia on the walls.

The short bar is fronted with corrugated metal trimmed in wood, a motif echoed on surrounding walls. There are no stools – which, under the state’s sometimes curious liquor laws, means minors are allowed on the premises.

“Green Bluff is a family-friendly atmosphere all around, so we’re going to stay family-friendly,” says Beckman.

It’s been standing-room only at times, with customers coming from all around through word-of-mouth. Having the bluff’s first brewery, nearby Big Barn , open on weekends this winter as well has helped.

“He sends people my way, and I send people his way,” Beckman says of Big Barn’s Craig Deitz, adding: ”I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor.”

Reflecting both the remote location and his professional sensibilities, Beckman’s beers are sessionable in strength. “This is a jaunt for somebody to come up here and have a beer,” he says. “I don’t want people to get hammered.”

The soft, smooth Legacy Wit (5.2 percent alcohol by volume, 29 International Bitterness Units) isn’t a Belgian-style wheat beer, as the name might suggest, but brewed with a Bavarian yeast for a mild clove spiciness with hints of fruit.

There’s also a lightly sweet-tart raspberry version dubbed Snozzberry. That’s made with an extract, but Beckman plans to use produce from the bluff in everything from a peach hefeweizen to a honey lager to a holiday spruce tip ale from his own farm, where he also eventually hopes to grow hops.

Station 47 Red (5.6, 39), which salutes Green Bluff’s fire station, is on the drier side for the style with a pleasant sharpness from rye and grapefruit notes from Cascade hops.

5K IPA (6.3, 80) – a nod to the annual Cherry Pickers Trot – is inspired by Bale Breaker’s Topcutter , one of Beckman’s favorites. Brewed with five late-addition hop varieties, predominantly Citra and Simcoe, it’s juicy, floral and fruity, with a fresh feel.

The popular Party Line Porter (5.2, 27) uses a recipe borrowed from an Ohio brewery that incorporates both dry and liquid peanut butter extracts, coffee and cacao nibs for layered flavors that don’t overpower the base beer.

Rounding out the regular lineup is Switchboard Stout (5.5, 31) – “Guinness with flavor,” Beckman proclaims – a dry, slightly roasty stout made with oatmeal for a creamier mouthfeel.

By summer, when the bluff hits full swing, Beckman hopes to move the taproom to a new space adjoining a larger building, and line up live music outside along with food trucks.

He’s also in search of a three-barrel system, with the eventual goal of five to seven barrels to allow for some distribution.

“I have to prove to myself and Lisa that I can actually make a go of this before I can prove it to a bank,” says Beckman, who’s two years away from retirement with the county at age 51.

“I really think it will go, or I wouldn’t be doing this. But I need to see it on paper.”

The 238 Brewing Company is open Friday through Sunday from 2 to 7 p.m.