Craft beer is not top of mind when it comes to a tour in the Philippines but the country is catching up and building their very own delectable brewing scene. In the past, the only local brew available was San Miguel and if you weren't a fan, it was tough to get your hands on a nice cold one.
But brewers like Michael Nikkel, founder of Turning Wheels brewery based in Cebu, are making waves with their craft offerings.
We caught up with him in an e-mail interview to talk about his brews, beer travels and of course his inspiration for opening shop.
Uncharted Earth: How did you come up with your business name Turning Wheels?
Michael: Turning Wheels came about through my passion for mountain biking and how beer and bikes brought many of my friends and I together to form lasting and meaningful relationships.
UE: What inspired you to start the Turning Wheels craft brewery in Cebu?
Michael: Cebu was an untapped market at the time of my wife and I moving here in February 2014 from LA. I brought all of my home brewing equipment with me during our move and brewed a few batches as samples to take to a nearby potential account. The first account of ours was IRIE Gastropubliko. They loved the samples so much that we decided to begin brewing enough to (or at least attempting to) supply their bar. Needless to say our homebrew setup couldn't cut it and we had to expand due to the growing demand.
UE: On your website, there's a "Beer Travels Around the World" section. What inspired you to start this?
Michael: We thought it would be a great way for us to remember all the great beers we've had throughout our travels and a topic of conversation and interest for our customers. We don't have a quota to meet, but we do make it a point find and drink as much local craft beer as possible when we travel to a new country. It is wonderful to see the craft beer culture booming all around the world.
UE: What is special about Turning Wheels versus other craft breweries in the Philippines?
Michael: Turning Wheels is a true garage-built operation that started from the ground up through the simple passion of loving good beer. We have taken that and done our best to tie it into the cycling industry through the use of specific beer names and stories behind why each beer is given its name. We don't do anything too crazy at Turning Wheels. We aim to keep our beers quite simple, but complex, flavorful, and strong (for the most part) at the same time. We want our beers to be easy to understand and very true-to-style for the fresh market here in the Philippines, which is why you'll notice our typical lineup is quite small. Our entire business model is quite simple actually. We don't have a sales team or anybody to do our marketing. I brew the beer, bottle, keg, do marketing, sales, and many other things along with the help of our wonderful 3 members of staff. Not to say that other breweries aren't doing this exact same thing, but it is just what we do and what might set us apart from a some of the others.
UE: How would you like to see the Filipino beer scene grow?
Michael: We would love to see it grow into what the craft beer industry in the States has become. Every town you go to has its own, or multiple breweries. You go to San Diego, CA and you don't even need to drive! You can brewery hop while walking and hit 5-6 breweries in a day. The beers in the Philippines are always improving and we hope to see it continue in that manner.
UE: What are your best-sellers and how many seasonal brews do you introduce in a year? Can you please provide some examples?
Michael: Mountain King (India Pale Ale) IPA is our best selling beer. Second and third to that beer would be Singlespeed Imperial Stout or Backbone Double IPA. We don’t really produce any "seasonal" brews, but we have produced a few special release beers. Our favorite of which was "32x18 imperial Coffee Stout" at 11.7% ABV. We hope to bring that one onto the market as a somewhat more available beer, but it will likely be hard to find as it takes around 6 months until it reaches the level of flavor that we prefer.
If you would like to try one of Michael's creations at Turning Wheels, be sure to make a tasting room reservation after one of your Uncharted Philippines adventures in Cebu and the Visayas.