Working at a job you love and are passionate about doesn’t feel like work. Just ask Ehren Stuff, co-owner of Harry Stuff Brewing Company.
Stuff says it’s been that way since his father, Edward, opened the business in May 2019 on their family farm.
“My wife, Luisa, and I own the brewery,” Stuff says. “The history of the business is similar to many people during the Great Recession. My dad and I started to home brew in my mom’s kitchen, and over time we became increasingly passionate about brewing. Later we attended classes on brewing and how to open a brewery, and after years of dreaming and planning, we opened on my parent’s farm on U.S. Highway 6 in Wawaka.”
All the beer at Harry Stuff Brewing is made with natural ingredients.
“I have decided to keep our beers with natural ingredients because, as a consumer, when I buy products at the grocery store I want to know what is in my food,” Stuff says. “I also want to eat what is real and healthy. Besides, I still think the best-tasting food or drinks in the world are those developed through evolution or God, whatever you believe – not in a laboratory.”
Ehren believes in the best ingredients.
“How can one compete with the slow development of time or the perfection of God’s touch?” he asks. “Maybe someday. However, pulling a fresh raspberry off the plant on a warm summer day under the sun will always taste better than an artificial raspberry. I figured a long time ago, if what I love to eat and what I look for in a grocery store is fresh and real, why shouldn’t our beers be the same?”
Harry Stuff Brewing has several specialty beers.
“My three great passions in terms of beer are, yes, one, IPAs,” Stuff says. “I know they are overdone, but I never tire at looking at alpine mountains either. Two, I love lagers, the beer of modernity. They are the gravitational pull of the industry, a boring pilsner or dunkel to some, but the foundation on which all great beers, regardless of style, are constructed, and unite/invite the masses. Finally, third, mixed fermented ales – the original brew, the combination of wild yeast and souring bacteria.”
Harry Stuff Brewing has several popular beers. “Our most popular beers are definitely Hazy IPAs and Wawaka Pils, our German Pilsner,” Stuff says.
Stuff has his pwn personal favorite beers. “My favorite beer in the world is Cantillon’s Gueuze, a beer I only could dream of making,” he says. “It’s a beer that spontaneously ferments by wild microorganisms from the delicious air of Belgium in oak barrels, to become blended with various years of one-, two- and three-year-old brews. It’s not for everyone, but when done right it’s the most complex and beautiful drink in the world.”
Harry Stuff Brewing also has popular food items.
“We are definitely known for pizza and empanadas,” Stuff says. “As time has gone on, we have started to become known for our weekly specials. They change from week to week and are inspired by South American and European dishes. People follow us on social media just to see what dish Chef Luisa will create next.”
Stuff has some go-to menu items he chooses often.
“It’s hard to pick favorites,” he says. “I know it’s a politician’s answer, but we really try to showcase what we enjoy, and try not to do what is necessarily popular, but what we enjoy from our trips and passions. When we make European goulash or our Peruvian soup, it’s because we are attempting to share a moment in time of enjoyment when we found an out-of-the-way cafe in a European capital and shared a candlelit night among new friends, or were trekking through the Andes and sat down in a crowded street market and were introduced to happiness in a bowl.” Stuff believes you have to be continuously passionate about what you do
“Too many breweries open to make money, or other breweries make styles they don’t enjoy because it sells,” he says. “Don’t chase the hype. Follow your own weird path and become the hype.”
Check out Harry Stuff Brewing at 4319 U.S. Highway 6 in Wawaka. Call them at 260-350-9137 and visit harrystuffbrewing.com.
