Stumblin' Monkey Brewing plots expansion and welcomes new brewer

8-year-old Victor brewery is growing up and glowing up with a production expansion and a move into distribution

When you walk into Stumblin’ Monkey Brewery in Victor, the comfortable atmosphere immediately strikes you. It feels like you’re hanging out in your neighbor’s garage (in the best possible way). The brewing system isn’t all that much different from that buddy’s jerry-rigged homebrew system.

After eight years, brewery founder/owner Rob Shafer said the brewery, located at 61 School St., is growing up. OK, kinda. Shafer has run himself ragged during that time. Between parenting, his full-time job, and brewing, it’s a wonder he found any time to catch his breath.

To ease things a touch, Shafer recently hired former Nine Spot brewer Mike Beebe as head brewer. And some of Beebe’s first beers have already hit the draft lines, including a tasty little Nelson Sauvin-hopped Pilsner and Sam Adams-inspired cherry wheat ale.

“It got to be a lot (balancing everything,” Shafer said. “Between coaching baseball teams for both of my sons and trying to find time to brew and manage everything, I was like, ‘I’ve gotta make the next step.’ When I heard Mike was ready to move on, I said, ‘I’ll take the jump right now.’”

Photo: Stumblin’ Monkey head brewer Mike Beebe, left, and brewery owner Rob Shafer inside the Victor space. (Don’t worry, Mike approved this photo after reviewing it.)

The next step will involve annexing 1,100 square feet in the same building. That will allow Stumblin’ Monkey to increase its cold storage capabilities and eventually expand its brewing capacity with a 7-barrel system. It currently produces beer on a 3.5-BBL system, which they intend to keep. And they will potentially purchase the new system from the secondary market. (With the tenuous nature of the craft brewing industry right now, there is an abundance of equipment available right now.)

Why Monkey around now?

Beebe, a Bishop Kearney graduate and Rochester native, is a veteran brewer, holding positions in places across the country. He started his career in San Diego, worked in the Denver area, and most recently brewed at Untied Brewing in New Jersey. A head brewing position at Nine Spot Brewing in the city of Rochester led him home.

Beebe spent about 18 months at the Monroe Avenue brewery before jumping to Stumblin’ Monkey. Shafer and Beebe are collaborating on many of the beers, but Beebe has the freedom to do what he wants. They’ve even tweaked some of the brewery’s long-standing flagship beers like its Crazy For Hazy New England-style IPA. There’s a willingness to listen, experiment, and grow. With the knowledge and experience they each bring to the table, the patron is sure to benefit.

(Aside: They both root for the New York Yankees, woof. So you can expect more Yankees-themed beers. If you can look past the offensive names, the beers will be tasty. And as a long-suffering Pirates fan, I reserve the right to talk shit about the Yankees. If you really wanna piss off a Yankees fan, just tell them Alex Rodriguez was a better shortstop than Derek Jeter. Jeter was the one who shoulda moved to third baseman when A-Rod joined the team.)

And to hear him describe the move, it just made sense. Beebe and Shafer share a lot of the same interests, especially when it comes to music and baseball.

Beebe said the brewing profession “is fairly nomadic.” He added, “I am also at the age where I don’t want to keep moving around anymore. I’m gonna be 50 in a few weeks. And that’s old. Rob and I have gotten to know each other really well over the last few years. It clicked. We talked about beers we liked, beers we wanted to brew together. We collabed a bunch of times.”

Photo: One of Beebe’s first beers, a New Zealand dry-hopped Pilsner, is on draft right now.

Realizing they share an interest in the same music, they even went to some concerts together. They’ve already made plans to go to the Pittsburgh’s home opener next year where the Pirates will host the Yankees. (The prospects of Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes facing off with Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, also a former No. 1 pick of the Pirates, is pretty tantalizing.)

Beebe continued, “And what I really want to do more than anything as a brewer is brew. I wasn’t nearly as often I would like (at Nine Spot). So this was an opportunity for both of us. It’s a good fit. I get to brew more. It’s an established brand, someone that’s been around for a long time and clearly isn’t going anywhere.”

Between the pair, there is clearly a level of comfort and camaraderie. Beebe pointed to the shelves behind the bar crowded with mugs for mug club members (they even sold out of the original number and had to add more) and said there is a great level of local supporters.

Plus, there is excitement buzzing about in the village of Victor right now. DeWolf Brewing is under construction a few hundred feet from Stumblin’ Monkey. (More on DeWolf in the newsletter linked below.) No B.S. Beer Co. has a secondary taproom also within a few hundred feet on Main Street. Both Beebe and Shafer see the arrival of DeWolf as a symbiotic relationship, one that will serve as a boon for the whole area.

Both spots will have entirely different focuses, too. There is the potential for this to become a destination, especially as it will serve as the gateway to Ontario County beer (at least coming from Monroe County) and the Finger Lakes beyond.

Along with the expansion of the brewhouse, Shafer said they’re also exploring adding a kitchen in an adjoining section of the building. There is an additional 500 square feet available, if the brewery wants it. Until now, Stumblin’ Monkey hasn’t offered anything substantive when it comes to food.

And with the expansion of the brewery, Stumblin’ Monkey will try its hand at distribution for the first time. The brewery is going to partner with Rob Richenberg and BrewBuddies to get beer out to select retail and draft accounts. All of that means Stumblin’ Monkey will be canning for the first time, too.

I remember meeting with Shafer and brewery co-founder Eric Miller in late 2015 at the Victor Village Inn to discuss the Stumblin’ Monkey vision. (Miller left after the brewery opened.) In that first D&C article, I wrote:

That prevailing attitude of fun is mirrored in both the beers they plan to produce and the space in which people will enjoy the beers. The space will be akin to a comfortable neighborhood clubhouse (complete with a couch in the corner that will be situated in front of an old-school Nintendo 64 where patrons can play Mario Kart) and the beers will be solid, simple, and true-to-style.

"We're promoting that when you come here, it's going to be a nice, relaxed, friendly environment," Miller said.

"We don't want this to feel like you're in a library," Shafer added.

As the brewery approaches its eighth anniversary in the coming weeks, it’s pretty cool to see that vision come to life and to see how they’ve continued to foster it. The taproom got a refresh a few years ago, but it never lost that comfortable, neighborhood feel it has maintained since the beginning. And there is little doubt that the expansion also won’t eliminate that feeling. If nothing else, it will enhance the experience and allow Beebe and Shafer to increase the quality of the beer.

“It’s baby steps right now,” Shafer said. “But with Mike on board, we’re ready to move forward. We’re easing into it.”

A final note: It’s pretty wild to think I’ve been working on this independent publication for over two years now. In that time, I’ve published 200 newsletters, highlighted some of my favorite people in the industry, curated two beers festivals (that featured 150 participants and 4,600 attendees), and continued to break all the biggest news in the region (closures, consolidations, openings, etc.).

The Cleveland Prost remains the preeminent source for regional beer news. If you own a brewery, bar, or beer-adjacent business, this is the best place to reach the nerds you wanna be in front of. So I remain open to sponsorships, advertisements, and sponsored content. Feel free to reach out to me at clevelandprost@gmail.com for more. And more than anything, thanks for all the support. None of this would be possible without the devoted (and thirsty) audience.