Second Wind Rudi

Origin Story

I'm sure most of you don't remember the 1993 movie Rudy, an inspiring true story of a little guy defeating all the odds, but if you do remember, then you know that Rudy's response was, "I've been ready for this my whole life Brewed from the final runnings of of Peaches n' Cream, Second Wind Rudi has been given the chance to prove that it's "got what it takes" to truly be called a Short's brew. As you may recall, when we brew our biggest beers for bottle production in Elk Rapids they typically require twice as much grain as a regular batch, in order for us to get some of the richest malt flavors possible. However, when we do this, we are ultimately left with some fermentable wort that won’t fit into the brew kettle. Therefore, we began the practice of utilizing the remaining wort, called final runnings, by placing them into an auxiliary kettle, to make a completely different batch of beer. Typically, these beers are much lighter in body and malt flavor than their larger "parent" beer, so we end up using a lot of hops or fruit to enhance the flavor of them (Snozzleberry Griffen, Lil Wheezy, Mmmkay). Considering that the Peaches n' Cream is a high gravity Golden Ale that doesn't exude a ton of malty sweetness to begin with, Second Wind Rudi was destined to be a light bodied beer with really low maltiness. The advantage of brewing a beer with this type of malt profile is that it allows us to experiment with new hop varieties, providing us with the opportunity to see exactly what contributions a particular hop could have for aroma, flavor, and bitterness. Brewed entirely with a brand new hop variety from New Zealand, called Dr. Rudi, this latest final-running creation is the perfect exhibition beer for seeing what these hops can do. Hence the name, Second Wind Rudi, a beer brewed from final runnings that almost didn't get its shot at Short's brew stardom and some funky new hops we have been itching to play with.