In the realm of beer-geekdom, Sixpoint Craft Ales is kind of like the Spider-Man of beers -- both are "amazing" and both offer their own variation on the way they do things. Shane C. Welch, Sixpoint's talented brewmaster and the founder, doesn't shoot webs and climb walls but he definitely has his own unique way of brewing.

The brewery has started celebrating their fifth anniversary this week, with more events to come. After five years, they're still looking to push the boundaries of brewing. With beers like Bengali Tiger, Righteous Ale and Sweet Action, they've already caught our attention but we really can't wait to see what's next.

Read on as Shane answers a few of our burning questions.


What inspires you to make a particular beer?
I think it's pretty random actually. I mean, sometimes you get an idea in your head, but I don't think it's ever very calculated. I think it's just whimsical. I don't think that there's any specific formula.

What about New York brought you here to open the brewery?
There's a lot of culture and energy here. There's plenty of reasons to love New York ... There's an amazing pulse ... Also, when you have a community that puts you on the map or allows you to do what you love to do, you have an allegiance to them.

Do you find that you have an allegiance to Brooklyn in particular?
I think that we seem to have the biggest connection to the borough of Brooklyn, but I also feel that we're not necessarily tied just to Brooklyn. And I also feel that it's kind of dangerous to solely base your identity on where you are. In other words, I think it's really important to develop who you are [rather] than where you are ...

And this applies the same to businesses too. Just because someone makes something in a certain city or a certain region doesn't necessarily mean that it's superior or better. I think the manner in which it's done and the intention of the creator is what's ultimately more important.

Which beer would you say you're most proud of -- that you feel really encompasses what Sixpoint is?
I think it's wrong to say "most proud of" and I hardly ever answer this question, but I'd have to say that the Righteous Ale seems to taste the best it's ever tasted. And I feel like a lot of work has been going into that beer ... to get it just the way that we want it to be. And there's a lot of merit in that.

There's a certain amount of detective work that goes into it ... For instance, that beer has been tweaked so many times before we settled in on a production method ... And it has gone through so many different changes, it doesn't even resemble what it used to be.

It started out with just an intention ... and then over time it evolved into the beer that it is now. And the cool thing about that is just the ongoing dialogue that you have with you customer and your staff ... Over time, it begins to represent what everyone hopes it could be. The beer is literally a liquid manifestation of everyone's aspirations. I think that that's a really neat phenomenon.

Is there a specific bar in New York City that you really enjoy visiting for a beer?
Oh, there's so many. It actually depends ... I could be walking down the street in any neighborhood and I could think in my head which bar I'd want to go to. Being in this business and having the business model that we have, we're forced to recognize where the top bars in any particular neighborhood are -- because we had to get our beer on tap in there.

I'll be in the West Village and I'll go to Kettle of Fish, or I'll go to Blind Tiger ... Or I'll be in Williamsburg and I'll go to Fette Sau or Roberta's or I'll go to Brooklyn Ale House ...

Do you find that you drink mostly domestic craft beer or do you drink more imports?

Domestic. Import beers ... they're not fresh. You can't get fresh import beer because it gets hung up in customs, they ship them on containers because it's cheap ... By the time it ends up on a shelf in Brooklyn, you're drinking unrefrigerated, shaken product and you're paying a premium for it. Why would I do that? To me, the value is in affording your domestic bold brew.

Also, environmentally, how can you justify bringing a product out ... when you have great, fresh stuff at home.

What's next for Sixpoint?
We want to continue to kind of push the boundaries of the way that a business can approach how it operates. We have a very unique way of doing things [at Sixpoint]. Basically, if we have an issue, we'll sit down and talk about it. We'll talk about the future of the company. We'll all make dinner. It's like a big, evolving family ... You can manufacture a product that you think is really cool but the manner in which you do it, that's the most important part.

I want to push the boundaries in that realm and I also want to push the brewing boundaries because nowadays everyone's doing really wacky things. There's a lot of showmanship involved. But I think what would be more impressive is if we challenged each other to do really novel things with how you think of flavor and define it. Rather than how many peppers you can put inside a beer.