Craft Beer Travel & Adventure · Living a Stout Life

Wanderment Brewing: Unapologetically Authentic

·1 hr 13 min·5 clips

A Cigar City beer in Orlando pushed John from software programming into homebrewing.

1. Craft Beer Travel & Adventure visits Wondermint Brewing, a Denver-area brewery built around John Flaherty’s rustic-ale focus. 2. John Flaherty appears as brewer and owner, Melanie Flaherty is his wife and operations lead, and Sam Odom is the business partner helping run the brewery. 3. The episode asks how a new brewery defines itself, opens cheaply, and still makes beer that feels personal. 4. John says Wondermint opened on June 22, 2024, and he calls the brewery “unapologetically dark and moody.” 5. He says the taproom is in unincorporated Adams County, about ten minutes north of Denver, where regulations are lighter than in Denver proper. 6. John and the hosts describe the opening team as himself, Melanie Flaherty, and Sam Odom. 7. The beer list includes an Irish stout, a Scottish export ale, and two hazy double IPAs built from the same base batch. 8. John says he split one seven-barrel batch into two fermenters and hopped one with strata and the other with citra. 9. He says the brewery’s long-term goal is mixed-culture saison, with around 20 barrels and a few punch-ins currently aging. 10. John defines rustic ales as saisons, farmhouse ales, and beers that use bacteria and brettanomyces over three to 18 months. 11. He says he adds ingredients like lavender, lemongrass, honey, lemon peel, and dandelion when the beer calls for it. 12. He says the dandelion beer was kept small because he wanted a reputable source instead of picking from a yard with dogs and pesticide. 13. John says he learned to brew by working at several breweries, including Black Project, Black Sky, Cohesion Lager House, and Black Shirt Brewery. 14. He says the Cohesion Lager House setup was one of the most complex systems he had seen, while other systems taught him how to adapt. 15. John says a friend bought him Cigar City Jai Alai in Orlando around 2010 or 2011, and that beer changed what he wanted to drink and make. 16. He says he was working as a software programmer at EA Games when he started homebrewing and reading Charlie Papazian’s and John Palmer’s books. 17. The interview moves from beer history into business logistics, with the hosts asking about crowdfunding, equipment, and the realities of opening a brewery. 18. John’s tone is practical and self-aware, while the hosts keep the pace conversational and beer-geek heavy. 19. Beer travelers, homebrewers, and startup-curious drinkers will get the most from this one. 20. People wanting a polished brand story with less brewing detail may skip it.

As heard by us

A brewery origin story about identity, collaboration, and learning the hard way.

This episode tells a brewery origin story with a clear point of view. The branding is dark and moody on purpose, built to pull in the right people rather than everyone.

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Why you'd press play

You want a brewery origin story with RV miles and real apprenticeship grit.

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