Enjoy Local Food and Drink at Wolf & Warrior Brewing Company, White Plains
White Plains resident Mike Chiltern has been brewing beer out of his home garage and kitchen for more than eight years, earning awards in competitions nationally.
Chiltern has taken what was a hobby and turned it into his profession.
Chiltern, the sole owner, opened Wolf & Warrior Brewing Company in January in White Plains. A “soft opening” was held on Jan. 24 and he is seeking to hold a grand opening later this month.
Chiltern noted he took home medals in 13 of the 15 brewing competitions he took part in. Last year, his Wolf of White Plains beer was awarded a gold medal from the National Home Brew Competition that was put on by the American Home Brewers Association.
Chiltern recalled last week how he developed his passion for brewing. “I enjoyed preparing food and cooking and creating things that people can eat and beer is kind of a logical next step to that because it is a lot like cooking,” he said. “You make a recipe. You source your ingredients. You have a process that you follow to achieve an end result that’s consumed by a human being.”
“I’ve always had a passion for beer, good beer, and different kinds of beer,” Chiltern said. “I wanted to try my hand at actually making it and the first beer I made turned out pretty well so I was hooked.”
Chiltern noted that his new restaurant has 16 beer taps and currently six are filled. “My goal is to have all 16 filled with our beers right around the start of summer,” he said.
Chiltern said the brew day for one of his beers is about five to seven hours long to start the process. “After that it stays in the fermenter for anywhere between two weeks in the case of an ale, and as long as two months in the case of a lager or pilsner,” he said.
The new establishment also offers wine. Typically, the restaurant sells several varieties of red and white wines, Chiltern said. “We also are a New York State certified farm brewery so we’re going to start carrying more New York State wines,” he noted. “I just haven’t had the time to get linked up with vineyards in the state.”
Chiltern said his food menu will be expanding. “We’re going to try to stick to being 100 percent locally sourced for our food options and food ingredients,” he said, adding that the restaurant’s meat products are purchased from The Meat Hook in Brooklyn, which only sells meats from animals that were raised and slaughtered humanely in New York State.
Chiltern explained how he came up with the name for his restaurant. His wife, Jelena, is from Serbia and the couple was married in a fortress in Belgrade. They have two sons, Vuk and Branko.
“Vuk means wolf in Serbian and Branko means defender,” Chiltern said, adding he changed defender to warrior for this restaurant name. The boys get a kick out of the name of the restaurant, Chiltern said. “They love coming here.”
Wolf & Warrior Brewing Company is located at 195A East Post Rd. in White Plains. For more information call 914—368- – 8617, visit http://www.wolfandwarrior.com/wolfandwarrior.com/Home.html or send an e-mail to mike@wolfandwarrior.com.
