This month, I had the pleasure of meeting with the lovely Abby Malcolm, co-founder and owner of Zambaldi Beer– the Green Bay area’s newest brewery and tap room on Webster Avenue in Allouez. We chatted about lifelong dreams, favorite beers and creative brainstorming sessions.
Q. When did you first realize that beer was going to be a big part of your life?
I backpacked in Europe for a few weeks the summer of 2005, I had my first beer at the Hofbrau Haus and fell in love with beer. A few weeks after I came back from Europe, I met David who was a home brewer and beer enthusiast. When we started dating 15 years ago, we started dreaming about opening up our own restaurant or brewery.
Q. I know opening the brewery has been a long time coming- what’s been the hardest thing about getting Zambaldi off the ground?
I think we didn’t understand how complicated the process would be, and how much paperwork would be involved. We were lucky to find a great community in Allouez, who stuck with us and believed in us for the 3 years it took from first conversation to first beer in the tap room.
Q. What’s been the most rewarding?
Seeing the taproom full of happy people, especially families, makes me so happy. It was our dream to make place that was warm and inviting for people to enjoy our beer. I think we’ve really nailed it.
Q. Which of your beers is your favorite?
I’m an amber and brown ale girl, so currently our Meatball Man German Amber is my favorite. It’s named after a man selling meatballs at a brewery we went to in Dusseldorf Germany. The brewery served just one beer, an Alt Beer, so we knew we had to make an Alt Beer and name it after the Meatball Man.
Q. Do you get to help in the brewing process, or do you leave that to Dave?
I get input into styles I’d like to see brewed, but otherwise, it’s all Dave.
Q. What does your role at Zambaldi entail?
My roll at Zambaldi is to oversee our taproom. I order products, do our special events scheduling, hire staff, and create procedures for our staff. Our taproom Manager Adam Meir was our first hire, and has been amazing in helping get us up and running along with our awesome team of bartenders.
Q. Who has been your biggest supporter throughout this process?
I would say David has been my biggest supporter. When one of us would get discouraged and worried the brewery was not going to happen, the other was there to pick them up. We knew we could do it together. We also have a strong network of family and friends. There is a lot of love and support surrounding us.
Q. Do you have a mentor in the beer world that you look up to?
We picked many of our industry friends’ brains during this process, but Brad and Erin Stillmank from Stillmank Brewing have been especially helpful. We were at their first beer release party, and they were at ours years later. They are great people, who have a young family like we do, so they understand the challenges and sacrifices you make to see your dream come to life.
Q. What do you look forward to most now that Zambaldi is open for business?
Adjusting to our new normal. We want to be at the brewery as much as possible, but are working on finding a good balance. We’ve worked so hard to make the brewery happen, it’s a little surreal to see people here enjoying our beer in the taproom. It’s a dream come true.
Q. Does the word “Zambaldi” have a particular meaning? Where does the name come from?
My brother Wade is also part owner, and his last name is Zander. Our last name is Malcolm. The first letters of Zander And Malcolm gives you ZAM and Wade and David are both bald. A lot of beer went into the brainstorming. 🙂
Q. Anything else you’d like to add?
Yes! I wanted to make sure I mentioned our logo and how much we love that it includes a girl’s profile. We are excited about women getting involved in beer and our logo celebrates that! I helped Nikki form the Green Bay chapter of GPO, and I truly enjoy watching the club grow.
Submitted by: Whitney Froelich, Green Bay Girls Pint Out
