G34.3 Brewing Company
G34.3 Brewing Company was first conceived on a boring Saturday. As we sat and pondered which beer to drink next, a flicker of an idea crossed our minds. Between enjoying long sips of refreshing alcoholic bliss on a hot summer’s day in 2011, we thought, “Why aren’t we brewing our own beer?”
That day started our voyage. We found a simple home brew kit and the following week it arrived, to much excitement. After unpacking the kit, boiling water on the stove, and adding a can of pre-mixed syrup, we let it ferment. The foul beverage that resulted was terrible. Thinking we did something incorrectly, we prepared a second batch, with the same result: disappointment.
Knowing we did nothing wrong, realizing that boiling a can of syrup was altogether unfulfilling, and hating the pre-determined beverage that ensued, we understood the next step was to find REAL brewing equipment to make beer the right way. After purchasing several hundred dollars worth of equipment and ingredients, we were ready to try again. In those days, before you could just buy an all-grain system from a manufacturer, we ended up engineering and assembling our brewing system ourselves. With different sized fittings and hoses, leaking clamps and questionable pumps, we spurted boiling water and wort everywhere. Several hours, countless burns, and a huge mess later, we finished our first real batch of beer. As it fermented, the anticipation mounted. Would the result be any better than before? When we poured our first pint, the first taste spoke volumes. Clean, clear, no off odors, and the taste? Well, it tasted like a beer, one produced professionally! We streamlined the equipment with standard fittings and tubing, purchased more ingredients, reproduced our stellar results, and found it was not just a fluke. We could actually brew, and brew well.
The talks started, could we do this full time? Well, after throwing around several names, we settled on Floyd Brewing Company. We created labels and artwork reminiscent of Pink Floyd album covers and imagery. After continuing to brew with that name for a few years, along with a Facebook page and website, it was clear things were starting to become more serious. We were looking at larger equipment, pricing out what we would need, figuring out how to upscale batches, and looking at professional licenses. At that point, we figured we had to contact David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and ask if we could use the Floyd name on a professional level. Although we thought we sold what we were doing well to his lawyers, we got the word to cease and desist use of the name.
Struggling to figure out what to rename the company, it struck in a flash, like the meteor that annihilated the dinosaurs: “G34.3 Brewing Company.” G34.3 is the largest deep space cosmic cloud of ethanol yet discovered, and it contains enough ethanol to supply 300,000 pints of beer to every person, every single day, for the next billion years!
It was settled then. Our love of physics, space, and science fit in perfectly. After years of planning and and honing our products, we are finally bringing our creations and our love of beer to you. Join us on our journey. With your help, we plan to continue to supply our extended brewery family with a product they will love, while keeping open to your input on the exciting tastes YOU would like to see…
Author: Dirk Jahn
