Charlene Honcik
Founder, Owner, & Brewer
Founder, Owner, & Brewer
I was 23 years old when I started to brew beer with a friend while attending college in 2008. I became intrigued when I discovered my friend’s craft beer tasted better than the beer I was serving at the bar. My friend began to teach me, letting me write my own recipes and trying them out on his system.
In 2013 I was working a stressful job and decided it was time to take my hobby to the next step. That's when I built my own 10-gallon brewing system in my garage. I was giving away the beer to friends just so I could brew more. My friends kept telling me how good it was and that I should open up my own brewery. It took hearing that quite a bit before I realized what seemed like a crazy idea could lead to my dreams of owning my own business coming true. I started applying for licenses to sell beer out of my backyard and I never looked back.
Fourth of July in 2015, I started serving beer in my backyard on the weekends. For a year, I continued to work my day job but instinctively started looking for bigger buildings. Soon, I realized selling my beer was getting bigger than I had ever imagined. I found the new location, and I discovered that this original, crazy idea had become a legitimate business. That moment, I decided to commit to brewing full time and quit my stressful job October of 2016. Now here I am, almost five years later, wishing I had done it sooner.
In 2018 I was able to purchase a 3.5bbl Blichmann electric brew house. That has made keeping up possible and the half-barrel system is definitely still used on a weekly basis for the research and development program. It took some getting used to the new equipment with lots of element failures and electrical problems due to the failures, but Blichmann was an amazing company to work with and overnighted all the parts to fix the system every time there was a problem. The system has been working like a well-oiled machine ever since they got new elements, and I'm able to brew 3 barrels or 1.5 barrels at a time depending on which fermenter I'm filling.
Fast forward to 2019 where I was finally able to fulfill my dream of buying a glycol chiller!!! I'm jumping up and down! Seriously has been my dream for many years, well before I decided to open the brewery. Anyway, I also purchased one 7-barrel uni-tank, which for those of you who don't know, uni-tank means it can be a fermenter when I need it to, and then it can also withstand pressure and become a brite tank, meaning I can cold crash and carbonate right in one vessel. This has immensely helped the quality and consistency of my beer.
In 2020/21 we all know about and were affected by the pandemic. It was a trying and scary time, but Badass Backyard Brewing has not only made it through, but thanks to amazing customers and regulars along with friends, family, and mug club members it is prevailing and beginning to mend the wounds that the pandemic caused. Although we are in no way back to "normal" the love and support received throughout the recent years has been amazing.
The next exciting step for Badass Backyard Brewing was to bring in some type of food into the taproom. Customers have been asking me to do this for a very long time and I was extremely apprehensive because of my lack of knowledge of kitchens, shelf life of food, etc. I took the plunge in 2021 and we now serve some pretty delicious hot dogs! There's a lot of topping choices and we have been enjoying the look on the customers faces when they enjoy with delight.
Let's see what's in store for 2023! The current project is a little taproom refresh, painting some walls, adding a couple dart boards for your enjoyment, and some decoration updates. I'm also very excited to finally finish the back room and make it a welcoming cozy space to spend some time with friends. The "storage" room will now be known as the chill room, complete with a plant wall and hopefully some comfy couches and chairs to lounge around in while catching up with friends or emails, whichever is calling to you that day.
Thanks to all the amazing customers for continually bringing in more and more of your friends, always showing me your support and excitement for the beers I'm brewing, and of course for being thirsty for the craft. Badass Backyard Brewing and I solute you. Cheers!
-Char
In 2013 I was working a stressful job and decided it was time to take my hobby to the next step. That's when I built my own 10-gallon brewing system in my garage. I was giving away the beer to friends just so I could brew more. My friends kept telling me how good it was and that I should open up my own brewery. It took hearing that quite a bit before I realized what seemed like a crazy idea could lead to my dreams of owning my own business coming true. I started applying for licenses to sell beer out of my backyard and I never looked back.
Fourth of July in 2015, I started serving beer in my backyard on the weekends. For a year, I continued to work my day job but instinctively started looking for bigger buildings. Soon, I realized selling my beer was getting bigger than I had ever imagined. I found the new location, and I discovered that this original, crazy idea had become a legitimate business. That moment, I decided to commit to brewing full time and quit my stressful job October of 2016. Now here I am, almost five years later, wishing I had done it sooner.
In 2018 I was able to purchase a 3.5bbl Blichmann electric brew house. That has made keeping up possible and the half-barrel system is definitely still used on a weekly basis for the research and development program. It took some getting used to the new equipment with lots of element failures and electrical problems due to the failures, but Blichmann was an amazing company to work with and overnighted all the parts to fix the system every time there was a problem. The system has been working like a well-oiled machine ever since they got new elements, and I'm able to brew 3 barrels or 1.5 barrels at a time depending on which fermenter I'm filling.
Fast forward to 2019 where I was finally able to fulfill my dream of buying a glycol chiller!!! I'm jumping up and down! Seriously has been my dream for many years, well before I decided to open the brewery. Anyway, I also purchased one 7-barrel uni-tank, which for those of you who don't know, uni-tank means it can be a fermenter when I need it to, and then it can also withstand pressure and become a brite tank, meaning I can cold crash and carbonate right in one vessel. This has immensely helped the quality and consistency of my beer.
In 2020/21 we all know about and were affected by the pandemic. It was a trying and scary time, but Badass Backyard Brewing has not only made it through, but thanks to amazing customers and regulars along with friends, family, and mug club members it is prevailing and beginning to mend the wounds that the pandemic caused. Although we are in no way back to "normal" the love and support received throughout the recent years has been amazing.
The next exciting step for Badass Backyard Brewing was to bring in some type of food into the taproom. Customers have been asking me to do this for a very long time and I was extremely apprehensive because of my lack of knowledge of kitchens, shelf life of food, etc. I took the plunge in 2021 and we now serve some pretty delicious hot dogs! There's a lot of topping choices and we have been enjoying the look on the customers faces when they enjoy with delight.
Let's see what's in store for 2023! The current project is a little taproom refresh, painting some walls, adding a couple dart boards for your enjoyment, and some decoration updates. I'm also very excited to finally finish the back room and make it a welcoming cozy space to spend some time with friends. The "storage" room will now be known as the chill room, complete with a plant wall and hopefully some comfy couches and chairs to lounge around in while catching up with friends or emails, whichever is calling to you that day.
Thanks to all the amazing customers for continually bringing in more and more of your friends, always showing me your support and excitement for the beers I'm brewing, and of course for being thirsty for the craft. Badass Backyard Brewing and I solute you. Cheers!
-Char