But he doesn’t like it when people make fun of his new brewery’s name.
Ass Clown Brewing Company, in its infancy at 17039 Kenton Drive, is Glidden’s pride and joy. He admits the name might sound a little odd and that it catches people off guard at first, but it doesn’t change the fact that he approaches beer-making very seriously.
“You know, the name might be strange, or weird or maybe just a little different from what you’d expect,’” the 40-year-old mortgage banker-turned-brewer says, “but it’s not stupid. I heard something like ‘great beer, stupid name’ and that made me mad. There was some thought put in it and, honestly, it’s really the only name I considered.”
The heritage of the unusual, but ear-catching, name dates back to Glidden’s years in the mortgage business, including his own Interesting Mortgage operation in the space now housing his mini-brewery. Friendly, teasing office banter between co-workers would often include a jovial “ass clown” reference, and when Glidden decided to turn passion into profession, he already knew the name was locked in.
His eight-year brewing hobby — when he would experiment constantly with combined flavors to develop varying tastes and textures of beer and wine — became his actual job just a few weeks ago when Ass Clown debuted at the North Carolina Brewers and Music Festival at Rural Hill. In fact, two beer festivals and a golf tournament – all on the same weekend – served as the brewery’s busy coming-out party.
“We might have jumped the gun a little in getting involved in the festivals,” Glidden, who endured the weekend with kidney stones, says, “but it was just the way the schedule and other things worked out.”
In fact, they worked out so well that in unofficial taste testing at the Rural Hill event, Ass Clown was the king.
Glidden’s current one-man operation, which survived the festival weekend with plenty of help from beer-loving friends, involves daily adventures in brewing at his office/beer lab. A small kitchen, two five-gallon vats, stacked containers of various ingredients, multiple mini kegs and a nine-tap dispenser to serve tasting room visitors are strategically placed around boxes of Ass Clown-logo hats, predictably popular T-shirts and a shelf full of to-go glass growlers for take-home enjoyment.
In the small space, Glidden has conjured up various beer varieties, including his most popular flavor, Dark Chocolate Blueberry Porter, and other appetizing brews such as Apricot Seed Pale Ale, Poplar Brown Ale, Orange IPA and newer experiments like Oaken Scotch, which includes aged scotch as a color and taste enhancer. All of these concoctions, and many others, are the result of Glidden’s passion to pursue palate pleasure.
“I enjoy playing around with the flavors and looking for something you don’t expect but really like,” Glidden says. “My goal is for the beer to hit you in the nose as one thing and then surprise you with the taste without being too sweet.”
He is working on establishing some dependable, desirable recipes that are easy to enlarge when Ass Clown Brewery sets up shop in new, much larger quarters on Bailey Road.
“We’ve signed the lease and everything is set to go,” Glidden says of the company’s warehouse-size future home,” but we don’t want to get in too big of a hurry.”
He says obtaining consistency in his creations is his primary focus to prepare Ass Clown for the transformation from small operation to a full-fledged brewery. Finding folks who share his commitment is also a priority.
“I’ve had a few people who said they want to help and want to be involved,” he says, “but I’m looking for the passion. I think that’s what it takes.”
The tentative schedule is for the brewery to slowly relocate and to begin large-scale production of a few select flavors by late summer. Glidden wants his product, complete with signature tap handles that may include actual clown horns, in area bars by October.
“I want people to look down the bar and recognize our product from the tap,” Glidden says, displaying some of the mock-ups he has created in his multi-purpose headquarters and the personalized attention he is giving to every aspect of his new venture.
At the Bailey Road facility, Glidden plans to trellis the walls with hop vines and grow as many of the beer ingredients as he can on site.
“North Carolina is a perfect environment for hops and I’m working on finding the variety that works best here,” Glidden says. “I want the best tasting, most organic ingredients I can find and we want to use as many locally grown items we can get our hands on. One of the slogans I like for Ass Clown is ‘evolved brewing’ and that applies to all aspects of the operation.”
If he can just get detractors of the company’s name to evolve with him, Glidden expects a robust, hearty future.
