Back in the day at Michigan Tech a bunch of us had the dream of someday owning a brewery.   Well years later Jim’s friends decided that his homebrewing skills needed to go big time.  They acctually decided to put their money in not just letting the beer talk.  armed with the confidence of many beers and the finacial faith of his friends, Jim started searching where and how to get into comercial brewing. 

The Robert Thomas Brewing Company had just closed their doors.  After taking possesion of the business and equipment in late summer 2004, Schmohz was born.  Final approval and licensing was cleared and Schmohz sold the first pint at happy hour on Friday December 17, 2004. 

The Beers
At opening Schmohz had four beers ready. Valley City Cream Ale, the first was named in honor of Grand Rapids long standing nickname.  It seemed appropriate to denote the heritage with a classic turn of the century style.   Cream Ales were very popular in the early 1900′s as brewers of european decent belived that adjunct beers were a sign of a cleaner style, than the all barley ales.   Second was Mad Tom’s Robust Porter.   Saluting the gentle smoke and dark body of the classic working mans beer, Porter, Mad Tom’s was carefully crafted to match perfectly with our wonderful West Michigan Water.   The name was derived from the English poem “Tom O’ Bedlam” character “Mad Tom as portrayed in King Lear.  Next up was Gypsy’s Kiss Bock.  A classic german bock, named after the Deep Purple song.   Amber Tease was the final opening beer, a california common ale.  California Common was coined in the brewing worldafter Anchor Steam laid claim to the term “Steam Beer” as exclusive to their products.   Tounge in cheek, we named Amber Tease as a anagram of “A Steam Beer”.