A Beer in the Attic: Jim and Dad’s Craft Beer
“Would you like to buy a lightbulb?”
The 23 year old Jim Sung 宋慶文 looks down at the lightbulb in his hand, ready for his break. There’s not a huge crowd in Costco on this day, and Jim doesn’t want to be here. Gigantic aisles, lightbulbs, cartoonishly large packages of beef. There’s something utterly American about this store, and yet he knows that he’s back home in Taipei. There are signs all around, smells infiltrating his nose, sounds that are familiar, even in Costco. The chatter of Taiwanese around him. The footwear people wear all year round, even in Winter. The way the bags rustle a bit differently than they do in the States. The smell of humidity. The way the beer tastes after work.
The beer.
The beer….
Jim Sung found his first love for craft beer when he was living in the US while studying at Santa Clara University as a marketing major. Prior to this time, Jim had “drunk unofficially in high school” where he went to boarding school and he “excelled at being Asian. I was the nice kid. I never smoked pot, etc.” What kind of beer he drank during his unofficial high school drinking days he can’t quite remember, but he certainly didn’t do it for the love of the flavour. It wasn’t until he tried Boont’s Amber Ale when he first started to feel an affinity towards craft beer.
“It was sweet, caramel, dark, very different from what I had drunk before” Jim tells me, his eyes shining with the memory of that first taste that would lead him down the road towards entrepreneurship and a lifelong passion for craft beer. I know that glint in the eye. I call it the “shine” and it happens when someone gets lost in talking about a memory of one of their passions. Clearly, Jim, the owner of Jim and Dad’s Brewery, is rightly passionate about beer.
After quitting his job selling lightbulbs, Jim took a more stable position working at Deloitte in Taipei. It was during this time, however, that he began to reminisce back to his days at Santa Clara, after Boont’s opened the door to the world of craft as his “gateway” beer where he would then taste his way through Sierra Nevada, Stone, and various IPA’s. While craft beer had many years of history and cultivation in the US, when he found himself back in Taipei he discovered there really wasn’t much of a mainstream craft beer presence. Beer, and especially craft beer had a certain “stigma surrounding it. It wasn’t as refined as wine or whiskey,” Jim remarked. He decided that he would try his hand at homebrewing, and start replacing the stigma with some tasty suds.
“I needed a hobby, and I missed quality craft beers, so I thought, why not? It was hard to come by the equipment and ingredients then, so I would get friends back in the States to ship me some of the supplies, etc.”
Like most hobbies, homebrewing craft beer would need an audience and some feedback from others if he was to get any better at it. “The first beer you’re ever brew is not gonna be the best tasting, but you won’t even mind. You’re gonna be sharing it with friends, and bragging about it endlessly.” Not only would Jim be bragging about his homebrews to his friends, but soon throngs of beer-lovers would be enjoying his crafted beverages. In 2013 he decided to take a chance and entered one of his homebrews in the 2nd annual Taiwan Homebrewing Competition. Not only was his entrant in the contest well-received, it won first prize.
“After winning the homebrew prize, I thought, maybe I can do this.” Although Jim had a stable job at the time, he began to pour his energy into the glass of dreams and toast it with gulp of passion, all with the support and partnership of his father who would help fund the search, operation, and set-up. While Jim envisioned opening up a small brew-pub, his dad was an experienced entrepreneur and knew that if they were going to do this thing, they should do it big. As they were searching for a place to establish the brewery, they stumbled upon an abandoned gravel warehouse in Yilan. Jim’s first instinct was that it was too big of a project.
“My dad said ‘if you want to do something, it’s going to be here.’” Just down the road from the award-winning Kavalan whiskey distillery, they built the brewery up within two years and is now one of the landmark tourist attractions in Yilan. While not as world-famous as Kavalan, both the distillery and the brewery enjoy spillover tourist traffic from each other. Although Jim has called himself “fortunate” to have such a good partner, the journey to Craftdom has not been easy. In the beginning he actually lived in the top floor of the brewery and would have trouble sleeping as he never truly got away from his work. Like a mad scientist with his experiments downstairs, he would get up in the middle of the night to check on how all the machinery and equipment was.
The brewery itself has 12 beers on tap with other bottled beers available based on the season. As the brewery in Yilan has become quite a trademark for tourism and beer-lovers, there’s many options for people to partake in when visiting where the story all began:
- Enjoy the beer
- Only one window away from the brewery
- Guided tours of craft beer in two different lengths (please call for appointment: 03–922–7199, tours are currently only in mandarin chinese)
- Outdoor game area (a variety of toys are available for rent)
- The only five-story observation tower in Yilan, with panoramic views of the Lanyang Plain
- Onsite craft beer tasting of course! (No tasting on weekends)
I met Jim at his recently open shop located nearby 迪化街 Dihua Street, one of the most historic areas of old Taipei once renowned for its tea, fabric, and medical industries. Only a stone’s throw away from Ningxia Night Market，the pub was only opened half a year ago and is in an excellent location where there are some other drinking establishments nearby as well. Small, clean, and cosy, the staff there are quite friendly and give ample tastings of all their beers. My 3 favorite were the above two pictured, as well as the 百香果Passionfruit Ale. These are three flavors of beer you most certainly won’t find in the States, and they have a very distinct local Taiwanese taste. In addition, one thing that sets Jim apart from other Taiwanese beers is that they tend towards the heavier side with percentage being 5.5% and the highest on the menu at the smaller shop being 12.5%. Although the space is small on the first floor, there is a 2nd floor lounge area that can seat from 15–20 people.
As I finished up my conversation with Jim and noticed how the time had flown by (it always does with a beer), I asked if he could remember the first beer that he had crafted and named. He didn’t hesitate. Like a father remembering his firstborn, he thought back, the shine coming back to his expression.
“The ‘Summer Mosaic.’ I gave it this name because the hops are called Mosaic, and it’s a summer time beer. Also, Summer Mosaic sounds like a wonderful daydream session after a couple of beers, which is pretty nice.” For those with an interest in homebrewing, craft beer, and picking up Mandarin Chinese, Jim has started up a podcast focusing on talking about the wonders of drinking, crafting, and enjoying beer.
Thinking back to Jim’s “firstborn” it seems that this is a time where we all need a daydream session after a couple of beers. Perhaps we can find them at Jim and Dad’s. If you find yourself in the Dihua Street area, stop by here to enjoy a glass. The beer is smooth, and the lights are on.
