Bleeding Heart Brewery latest to enter local craft-beer scene

Steven Merritt

PALMER — The guys at Bleeding Heart Brewery are passionate about beer, and they want other beer drinkers to feel the same.

Because, what’s the point if what comes out of the tap is “weak, yellow stuff,” according to co-founder Stefan Marty, who along with Zack Lanphier has finally reached the end of a year-plus licensing process to open the Mat-Su Valley’s newest craft brewery.

Bleeding Heart will have a “soft opening” from noon to 8 p.m. April 16 at the brewery, located at 16013 E. Outer Springer Loop in Palmer, just south of the Palmer Golf Course. Regular hours begin April 28, with the taproom open Thursdays through Saturdays from 4-8 p.m. and weekdays from noon to 8 p.m. on weekends.

Their path to brewing beer is a familiar story. Lanphier said he had been homebrewing for a few years and got Marty hooked on the process as well.

From there, things took off.

“(Marty) started surpassing me almost immediately on my knowledge — because he was reading,” Lanphier quipped. “He really got into the science of it. And after a handful of batches people started saying, ‘You guys really need to do something with this.’”

Marty said friends regularly approached he and Lanphier offering to buy ingredients for a particular brew.

“So that was an indication that we were at least doing something right — creating drinkable beer at the very least,” Marty said.

From there came a Kickstarter fund in the fall of 2014, which both Palmer natives said surpassed their expectations.

“We also gained a lot of followers and a huge amount of support from the community,” Marty said. “It just blew up.”

Then came the road to licensing and permitting, which both said was an education.

“It was bureaucracy, chasing paper trails,” Lanphier said. “The federal paperwork itself took 205 days. And we couldn’t do any of the state paperwork until that was done.”

Marty said despite the delays, the process did have a positive side.

“We complain about having to wait so long for the paperwork, but in a way, it has been a blessing,” Marty said. “We have had the time to hammer down on our recipes to make them more solid and consistent. It also has given us time to get a brand established.”

To that end, Marty said the social media component has been important.

“We have been documenting all this via Facebook, so all of our fans feel like they have been struggling with us,” Marty said. “It has built up an ownership.”

Current plans for the brewery call for a small-capacity, small-batch operation. The 800-square-foot building’s tasting area will hold 20 people, with summer plans for an outdoor beer garden.

“We do one barrel at a time, which is a double-edged sword,” Marty said. “One, we can’t output as much as other breweries, so we are limited in our distribution range, but it gives us flexibility in our batch variety.”

A barrel is 31 gallons.

Bleeding Heart’s signature beers include the Grounds for Divorce Coffee Porter, Valley Trash Dirty Blonde, Kold Shoulder kristallweizen and the namesake Bleeding Heart India Pale Ale. Along with the core lineup, Marty and Lanphier plan to produce homebrew style batches of experimental beers for the remaining taps.

The porter features a special Bleeding Heart Breakfast Blend roast from Alaska Artisan Coffee. Marty said the beer is cooled and fermented and allowed to cold steep with the coffee for a day.

Kold Shoulder is a lighter, crisper Hefeweizen, while the Valley Trash Dirty Blonde pays homage to the now-defunct Great Bear Brewing’s stronger ale, featuring a lighter, fruity profile with Kölsch yeast fermentation.

Both men said the flagship IPA sums up the brewery’s mission statement.

“It’s a normal Northwest coast IPA,” Marty said. “We use a lot of American-grown hops like Amarillo, Centennial and Columbus. We also add an ounce of beet juice per gallon of beer, which gives it that ruby-red color. The earthiness of the beets in my opinion compliments the profile of the hops.”

Lanphier said one goal of the brewery was to keep things fresh.

“We are tying to do beers that are a little more out of the box — a little more creative,” Lanphier said. “Passion, that’s the idea for Bleeding Heart. Craft beers are a passionate style of brewing.”

With its opening, Bleeding Heart joins Arkose Brewing in Palmer, Last Frontier and Bearpaw River breweries in Wasilla and Denali Brewing in Talkeetna in the Valley’s craft beer scene. Marty said there’s a reason for that popularity.

“I think beer has started to develop its own culture much like wine has,” he said. “People have realized that beer doesn’t have to be 3 1/2 percent, straw yellow swill.”

Lanphier also pointed to a factor of exclusivity.

“Craft brewing has its exclusivity and people want to be a part of that,” Lanphier said. “I won’t wait for ‘Star Wars,’ but I would stand in line (for craft beer.)”

Contact reporter Steven Merritt at 352-2269 or steven.merritt@frontiersman.com