In my experience, smart, successful, driven people exude a certain vibe. Whenever I meet someone who is clearly in those categories and is even more clearly exhibiting that energy, I usually find myself quietly asking, “How the hell do these people have so many talents?” Sickening, isn’t it?
When, at 38 years old, the Indiana native, trained electrical engineer, MBA, stockbroker, software developer, business founder and owner, College Dean, vineyard owner and CEO Scott Fergusson sold his software company to Broadridge Financial Solutions, he hadn’t even conceived of Chapman’s Brewing. Fast forward to 2024, and Chapman’s is on the brink of opening a huge, flagship facility at the center of what the City of Fort Wayne and its residents hope will become a shining light of commercial success at the much vaunted Electric Works (EW). A few days ago I had the pleasure of talking with Scott to learn all about the imminent opening of the new brewhouse and restaurant, and to catch up with the story of Chapman’s beginnings in Angola, IN.
Scott’s resume is as diverse as it is impressive, but Chapman’s origins can be traced back to one of his less flashy endeavors. Back in 2012 as the Dean of the Business School at Trine College, he wanted to dig deeper into the economics of the brewing business. Working with several of his students, Scott develped a plan to open a cidery in Steuben County. The first product that the new company (named for the birth name of Johnny Appleseed) made and marketed was a Graf (a beer-cider hybrid) in October of 2013. After some production issues with that particular beverage, Chapman’s quickly switched to a pure beer portfolio, and the brewery journey had truly begun. “Pivot” and “grit” are two of Scott’s favorite words when applied to Chapman’s, and his original vision of operating a completely wholesale (not retail) business reflects the first of them. He explains that once he realized that the hospitality part of the business was what he was really drawn to, things changed rapidly.
Along the twelve year journey there have been plenty of hiccups. Scott is happy to declare that, “If there was a mistake to be made, I’ve made it”, but like most mature businesses those missteps have ultimately stood him (and Chapmans) in good stead. Various satellite locations and outlets have come and gone. At one time or another Chapman’s had a presence in Huntington, Wabash, downtown Fort Wayne (at Fortezza Coffee), and in the southwest of Fort Wayne at their Coventry taproom. Each one of those enterprises are now closed for various reasons, and from the lessons learned the brand has emerged leaner and stronger, with the EW location set to be the Jewel in the crown that will complement the original Angola brewery and taproom, the incredibly popular Columbia City taproom, and the Fort Wayne International Airport bar. The one thing that Scott says that he has learned most acutely from each venture is that being able to control the brand is central to success. That should not be confused with being a control freak, rather it’s an understanding that if any aspect of the presentation of your own product to the consumer is compromised by an external factor, no matter if that factor is out of your control, it reflects poorly on your brand. Being able to tighten up every part of the process that sits between the beer leaving the tank and meeting the lips, will likely lead to the brand being protected.
So what of the brand spanking new Chapman’s space at EW? Put succinctly, ‘It’s impressive’. The 3.8 million dollar facility is based on a typical industrial chic brewing vibe that you’ll likely be familiar with. You’ll see some of the usual accoutrements and surroundings that one would normally associate with such a space, but Chapmans at EW seems lighter and more airy than some similar installations. There are clean, modern lines that keep the rough and ready at bay, and I found there to be a warmer feel that I’ve experienced in analogous spaces in the past.
The 10 bbl brewhouse is ‘right there’, adjacent to the incredibly spacious dining room and bar area that has a maximum occupancy of 300. Scott’s plans involve seating a significantly smaller number of patrons at the beginning to ensure that the level of service and customer experience that he demands can be met as the new location beds in. I’ve been in a million brewhouses before, and if I’m brutally honest they are usually much of a muchness, but there’s no denying that the brand new equipment in this one stands out for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, Scott has engineered a remote system of monitoring various aspects of the brewing process that will allow the tweaking of each aspect via Bluetooth. Don’t misunderstand me here, it’s absolutely not the Bluetooth capacity or the wonder of the electronics here that’s the most impressive or the most important. As Scott explains, the idea here is to get each beer dialed-in, so the product can be (a) refined to the greatest possible degree, (b) to allow for consistency at scale. The latter has always been the thing that independent brewers most admire about the true big brewers, with the consistency of national brands being a highly desirable trait.
Secondly, a Perlick Draft Guard system has been installed to help with keep the lines clean. An elaborate, underground highway of lines will feed the taps, and as anyone who knows anything about beer knows, build up of biofilm in the lines is the death knell for great tasting, fresh beer. The task of cleaning lines is a laborious but necessary evil, but the new state-of-the-art electronic system will ease that burden considerably, once agian with a view to better, fresher, more consistent beer.
The 10 bbl brewhouse is fitted with seven fermentors and seven brite tanks which will allow the production of an impressive variety of beers. That’s going to be a necessary function of the brewery if Chapmen’s is going to fulfill the promise of 24 taps with unique beers on each. In addition to their core brands (Englishman an English Brown Ale, Valiant an American Stout, Enlighten a kölsch style, and Undaunted their flagship IPA) you can expect to see beers that continue to pay homage to their Roulette series, a whole range of new beers never before seen at Chapman’s called the Brewer’s Series, along with NA and gluten-free options. To complete the beverage portfolio there will be both draft and bottle options for wines, and a ‘to-go’ license to allow patrons to take their purchases off the premises. At the helm in the brewhouse will be brewers Casey Dazey (Chapmans) and John Kuker (Junk Ditch, Summit City Brewers and Tapistry). In addition to the bar, dining room and the brewery that are immediately visible, there’s a copious four-man kitchen and a private dining room that less visible. The whole place has a footprint of around 15,000 sq ft.
In all of our discussions about various aspects of the business, Scott remained at great pains to focus on the beer. This is true in every aspect of our conversation wether it be about the menu of burgers and similar that is designed specifically to complement the beer, or his absolute insistence upon the need to have traditional styles dialed-in and humming along before there can be anything significantly experimental on the tap list. When he speaks about the need to produce beers that are in line with style guidelines before they can be taken seriously and/or critiqued, then it’s as if I am listening to myself! In that regard Scott and I are one and the same. He has an absolute commitment to keeping Chapman’s beer on the straight and narrow, and I wish him nothing but the best in that regard. Scott’s ideas about tradition and the broad adherence to stylistically correct beers is born from him drinking a lot of imports back in the 1990s. For the most part, the broad category of ‘imports’ often equated to old world styles, and certainly not toward much experimentation. This of course doesn’t stifle creativity as many in the US falsely think, rather it offers intelligent, reasoned consideration of beer in terms of what the palate can expect, which elevates the conversation about it.
There is no doubt that the new Chapman’s at EW is very much a ‘big boy’ facility. Physically it has very little in common with their Angola or Columbia City taprooms, and it will offer a whole new beer and food experience that one wouldn’t necessary associate with either of those locations, but even in these new, swanky surroundings, Scott Fergusson remains committed to the same traditional, stylistically correct beer that one can drink in those more humble venues.
With the birth of the Electric Works brewery and restaurant, Chapman’s is brand that is certainly ‘all grown up’, but Fergusson will not allow the company to forget its roots.
As of January 12th, 2024, the new Chapman’s brewery and restaurant at Electric Works is slated to open in February of 2024.
