Brewin' Ain't Easy

George Bernard Shaw said, “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine
what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last you create what you will.” 

By Kelsey Rankin

Desire, imagination, and creativity are the heart of Dr. James Ward’s personal passion: homebrewing. 

By day, Dr. Ward can be found at his local veterinarian practice, The Vet. He has lived in Texarkana for sixteen years, but he is originally from Osceola, Arkansas. On Texarkana, he says, “I met my wife here, so I love Texarkana!” James is married to Tammy Ward, a CRNA and health and wellness coach. Together they have two children, Sara and Spencer. The family also has three dogs: two long-haired dachshunds, Oliver and Ginger, and Journey, a goldendoodle. 

Dr. Ward has an impressive collection of equipment he uses to make his award-winning beers.

When Dr. Ward isn’t treating pet patients or spending time with his family, he can be found creating, sampling, and sharing his home brews. James began homebrewing roughly eight years ago, when at a party he met local attorney Jim Cook, who “taught him how to brew.” Jim won several awards for his home brews in Mississippi, and wanted to bring the art of homebrewing to Texarkana by teaching others the craft. Along with his friend Clifton Matthews, James sat down with Cook and learned how to brew. James says, “we took the basic things Jim taught us, and then we went crazy with it!” James has what is truly a “small microbrewery” set up in his garage with ten beers on tap and ready to serve. When he began brewing, he attempted to recreate known beers, “My first original recipe was Big Tam, and it was an attempt to make a better Budweiser in the style of a Blonde Ale.” Big Tam is lovingly named after Dr. Ward’s wife, Tammy, and she named it - not him. The ‘big’ in Big Tam comes from this beer having a higher starting gravity, which leads to a higher level of alcohol or being “heavier” in the finished product than a typical Blonde Ale would be.

Per Tammy’s suggestion, James began competing with his beers at brewing competitions, winning ten medals. Not long after being successful in the competition sphere, he wanted to share his beer with a wider audience and began working with the owners of local Texarkana breweries. He first worked with restaurateur Bill Scurlock, and together, Dr. Ward’s recipe for Night Night brewed at Pecan Point and saw great success. James then brewed professionally with four taps at 30 Burger. Although he has won various medals, James is most proud that “The Octagon,” his take on the Oktoberfest style of beer, received 100% acceptance from the customers at 30 Burger. He says, “I was just interested in it. Brewing is a lot of work, but when you get finished, you’ve got beer.” The ability to learn the process with a mentor was key to his competitive and commercial success. 

Dr. Ward’s beers have won several medals, of which he is very proud.

Learning and perfecting the craft was essential, and Dr. Ward believes learning how to brew is easiest with a mentor, so he is grateful for the time he spent learning under Jim Cook. As a passion project, James believes, “you can learn to make really good beer really quick, but it’s not how long you do something. It’s about how much of your time you’re willing to devote to it.” He devotes six hours to his craft on a brew day, and countless hours reading and researching methods, ingredients, and new brews he would like to create. 

On the actual process of brewing, Cook emphasized that “keeping your stuff [pots, pans, equipment] clean” is the most important part of homebrewing. “If you keep your stuff clean, you’ll get good beer. That’s the number one rule,” James says. He uses a three-vessel system beginning with a hot liquor tank. Filtered water is heated in the hot liquor tank before the grain is ground and added to the mash tun. The hot water circulates through the grains. Then, “through an enzymatic process, you release the sugars” which creates wort, James explains. Next, it is collected in the brew kettle where it is boiled and hops and other ingredients are added. After sixty minutes, the brew is sterile, and maintaining the sterility throughout the rest of the process is of high importance. From the boil kettle, it is pump-circulated through a counter exchange to cool it down, and finally into the fermenter to hit pitching temperature. He says, “brewers make wort, and yeast makes beer. The yeast does all the rest of the work.” James says the yeast needs to be kept happy, and they will turn the wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide, creating bubbles. After the yeast finishes its work, cold crashing and force carbonating both impact the clarity of the beer in the finishing process. “And then you drink it,’’ he adds with a smile. 

Dr. Ward also has a glycol chiller, which allows him to set uniform temperatures. “With that,” he says, “I can turn beer from grain to glass in two weeks which is highly efficient.” A traditional Oktoberfest or Märzen beer was brewed in old Germany in March to be enjoyed in September. This beer would take so long to brew because it was being brewed with the ambient temperature. With the use of the glycol chiller, James can shorten the process from six to seven months down to a short two weeks. 

Dr. Ward  builds his own kegerators to keep his beers at the perfect temperature. He brings them to events so he can pour like a pro.

In addition to his own homebrewing craft, James leads the Four States Fermenters, a group of primarily, as he says, “men with beards who enjoy beer.” Although COVID-19 and the death of a beloved founding member, Roy Rocholl, slowed the Fermenters down, they now try to meet about once a month to talk all things beer, to sample one another’s new brews, and to plan for events at which they will showcase their beer. 

There’s nothing better than getting together with fellow beer enthusiasts to talk about ... what else? BEER!

The Four States Fermenters will showcase 20-40 of their beers at Oktoberfest ready for attendees to sample. Along with Dr. Ward, Jeffrey Judge of Flying Heart Brewing & Pub in Bossier City and Jeff Pieper of Red River Brewpub will be in attendance. James is as passionate about beer culture as he is about homebrewing. The comradery of the group and sharing his passion with others is a huge part of the homebrewing for James. Although learning and studying beer is important to him, creating beer is where his passion lies.

Sharing that passion with others through beer culture is highly important to Dr. Ward. When offered a sample by a home brewer, James says, “you should try it, and you should be very honest, but if you don’t like the beer, simply say that you can tell it is made well but isn’t to your taste.” Home brewers understand that their beers will not be liked by everyone, but they still want their craft to be appreciated.

Dr. Ward encourages anyone interested in the craft of homebrewing to find and learn under a mentor. His imagination, desire, and creativity are evident, and he is happy to share his wealth of knowledge with newcomers to the world of homebrewing in Texarkana. Cheers!