We’re excited to have you brewing for this year’s Bootstrapped Brews! Did you participate last year?
Yes
Please introduce yourself…
Ping Identity creates an Identity Defined Security platform that enables enterprises around the world to give the right people access to the right things, seamlessly and securely, on any device and from anywhere.
How long has your startup been in Colorado?
Since 2002. I googled “famous people born in 2002” to try to give you some historical equivalent context. You’re going to have to be a big Disney channel fan or excited about your future Danish monarch (Prince Felix, for those of you who don’t know) to feel the gravity of the comparisons.
How many people from your team are helping to brew your competition beer?
3: Cassie Holsan, Beau Christensen and myself. Dan Wobbekind was supposed to as well, but he “had walking pneumonia and his wife said no.”
What beer(s) are you brewing?
We just peeled the labels off of a bunch of Pliny the Elder bottles. But turns out that it doesn’t taste nearly as good without the identifying label on it, so at the last second we decided to make some of our own.
Our first entry is a Berliner Weisse, which is a low alcohol German wheat beer that is fermented with lactobacillus and brettanomyces in additional to your typical brewer’s yeast (how smart does that sound?). The lacto gives it a refreshing tart/sour flavor, while the brett adds a light funk, reminiscent of the underside of a horse’s saddle. Well, that’s the goal at least. The ABV is coming in around 4.9%, which is a little higher than planned, because mid-way through we had to add some additional fermentables and crank the temperature up toward 90 to give the lacto enough tools to get its job done on a short time frame.
Our second entry is a Lemon Ginger Radler, inspired by Boulevard Brewing and our love of sessionable, refreshing summer beers again. The kind that deserve to have an umbrella sticking out of them. It’s a light American Wheat Beer base, coming in around 4.5%, to which we’ll add lemon juice and freshly juiced ginger into the keg with it, bringing it down to about 4.2%. You could almost back in to the ratios. Watch out crossfitters and your paleo protein shakes. This is the perfect recovery drink after a summer 5k race.
Have you brewed your own beer before?
Yes
How long have you been brewing?
4 years
How did the brewing process go?
We had planned on doing a power hour during it, but it turns out that it takes a lot longer than an hour to brew beer, so it got a little rough by the end. One of the nice parts about a Berliner Weisse is you don’t even do a boil, just heat to near boiling before crash cooling, definitely cuts down on the brew day time. If we were to do it again, may think about doing a sour mash instead of the normal one, just to drop the pH a little lower yet. And maybe switch to a light beer for the power hour.
Where did you brew your competition beer?
If I said that Vinnie Cilurzo tried it and loved it so much that he invited us to brew it at Russian River, would that make you like it more? I would definitely like it more if that were true. Louisville, Colorado. I’m not giving you my address.
Why were you interested in participating in this year’s event?
Something about the winner getting an all expenses-paid trip to Bora Bora and a signed photograph of Donkey Lips from Salute Your Shorts. I’m searching the website as I type this and can’t find it, it must be in the fine print somewhere. Just kidding, we drew straws one day and I lost. But in any event, we participated last year and had a blast. It’s incredibly well run and a great way to meet others at startup companies that share similar passions. And after years of attending GABF, one of the coolest things is to be on the other side of that table pouring samples of your own beers and seeing the reactions. Well, most of the reactions. Wait til you’re a couple tables down if you’re going to dump out our beer. I’ve yet to have someone spit the beer right back in my face in disgust after tasting it, but maybe this is the year.
Where is your favorite place to grab a beer with your coworkers?
Big fan of 40’s in paper bags in the park across the street from our office, especially in the mornings. But after losing a few good men to some overzealous 5-0 on segways (you’re forever in our hearts, Donnie), we decided to invest in a six tap kegerator at our office, so that’s where you’ll usually find us now. Also love Crooked Stave and Falling Rock. But one time Falling Rock wouldn’t let me in because I was “too drunk” when I hadn’t had one drink yet. True story. Not sure which party comes out looking worse there.
Any additional comments?
Vote for us. Seriously. I’m not kidding on this part.