Charlie Yin had a vision to create a Nebraska-focused craft beer bar and restaurant with the most taps of beer brewed from around the state. His passion and support for Nebraska breweries has come alive in the Local Beer, Patio and Kitchen brand that he established in 2015. Currently, there are three locations including Millard, Gretna, and Omaha at Village Pointe.

Charlie has spent time traveling across the state getting to know the brewers and their beer. It is important to know the product you will be selling and the people behind its creation.

Kinkaider Brewing was one of those breweries, and he participated in the collaboration and creation of Snozzberry, a fruit, sour beer. You need to hear this intruiging story directly from Charlie or Dan Hodges, head brewer at Kinkaider.

Over the years, Charlie has had events such as “Meet the Brewer.” These events give patrons a chance to learn more about breweries such as Bootleg Brewers, Lazy Horse Brewery, and many others.

I remember attending many of them. Yes, I was the crazy guy with my notebook taking notes. Such fun events not only meeting the brewers but getting to meet more of the staff members from the Local Beer, Patio and Kitchen.

It is easy to see that staff is valued tremendously and a primary component to the Local Beer, Patio and Kitchen’s success. Charlie planned a day so that some of his key people could get to see a couple of breweries, meet the owners, and get to know more about their beer.

On this day, it would be a flight from Millard to the sandhills to visit Kinkaider Brewing in Broken Bow and Bootleg Brewers in Taylor, Nebraska. A fun day where I got the opportunity to capture the events and see what impressions the team members of Sarah, Amanda, Courtney, and Dustin would have of the breweries.

After a nice flight over the sandhills, the first stop would be in Broken Bow. The team headed to find lunch at a local cafe. City Cafe would be the destination. Located in the original downtown area of Broken Bow, the cafe was packed with people having a late breakfast or early lunch.

Everyone enjoyed their meals and loved the atmosphere of the townspeople gathering for a meal. It was fun to see others who are in the restaurant industry enjoy receiving great service as much as giving it. The team thanked our waitress, and we were off to Kinkaider Brewery!

There is something special about getting to know people who create the beer that you serve people. The crew got to meet with Dan Hodges, the head brewer. He was kind enough to give a brewery tour. Dan described each step of the process and what it takes to create all those wonderful Kinkaider beers.

The group had lots of questions during the tour that covered not only the brewing aspect of the business but also packaging and distribution. The team remarked how awesome it was to see what goes into each of the beers. That experience will help them each day to describe Kinkaider’s beer better to customers and to tell patrons about the wonderful people from Kinkaider Brewing!

From Broken Bow onward with a quick flight to Burwell. In Burwell, Dodie Worm would provide us with a ride to the ranch outside of Taylor, Nebraska where she and her husband built Bootleg Brewers. One of the most scenic drives of all Nebraska is leaving the highway and driving to the brewery!

Ron and Dodie are all about hospitality as the group would soon find out. Ron had spent a long day working on the ranch but quickly jumped behind the bar and began to pour samples as he told everyone about how he got into brewing.

Ron explained how he uses the orange zest to make the Naked Orange Stinger ale and the rest of the orange then goes into a summertime shandy. The team was amazed at all the different styles and looked forward to serving all of them at the Local Beer, Patio and Kitchen.

For the last adventure of the day, the team went out on four-wheelers to get an awesome tour of the whole ranch!

A great time had by all! It shows you just how much fun you can have meeting and working with people in Nebraska. One thing you will always find at the Local Beer, Patio and Kitchen is an incredible staff. It would be a pleasure to get the opportunity to work with Courtney, Amanda, Sarah, Dustin, and Charlie!

Looking for a fun job? You must check out Local Beer, Patio and Kitchen. Joe will be waiting for you to tell him all about the exeptional beers on the menu!

Cheers!