It took some tough situations, but Jake Lohse feels it has helped shape his brewery for the better. Founded in 2019, Presidential Brewing faced a rocky start. The brewery opened its doors at an inopportune time, just before the pandemic. But Lohse admits, external challenges were only part of the struggle.
“Honestly, I was just bad at my job,” he said. “I had never done anything like this before. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, and no one was there to show me the way.”
He described the first four years as “rough,” filled with moments of frustration and self-doubt. By the fifth year, Lohse was at a crossroads: either renew the brewery’s lease or call it quits.
Determined to turn things around, he committed to change.
“I still believed in the idea — Presidential Brewing was supposed to work — but what I had been doing wasn’t cutting it,” Lohse said.
He refocused on building processes and creating leaders within his team, key shifts that not only transformed the brewery’s culture but also produced results. In 2023, sales increased by 45%, with another 19% growth in 2024.
Recognizing his limitations was vital and Lohse knew that running the brewpub solo or with a limited staff was unrealistic.
“Working 70 hours a week is not sustainable,” he said. Instead, he told Brewer the need to trust staff to execute and take ownership of their areas.
“A lot of the time, the reason we don’t develop people and we don’t hand things over is because we say that we don’t trust somebody,” he said. “Every time you get in an Uber, you’re literally trusting a stranger with your entire life. Tell me again how you can’t trust people.
“Yes, I understand your brewery matters to you. You care about this. But to say that you can’t trust people is unreal. That’s not true at all. It’s just that you haven’t.”
Creating clear, documented processes was a vital step.
After a staffing crisis forced him into the kitchen, he learned the value of documented, replicable processes, helping him prevent similar situations. For Lohse, investing in people and structure ensures that his vision is sustainable, enabling growth without sacrificing quality or control.
“I had to decide how I wanted things done,” Lohse said, then built procedures his team could follow.
He said that inviting employees to contribute to processes like a closing checklist enhanced their commitment to quality, helping them “take a lot more ownership.”
Lohse also had to relinquish some hands-on roles, including brewing.
“I haven’t brewed a beer in three years,” he said, allowing him to focus on business strategies.
Presidential — located in Portage, Michigan — began with Lohse’s love for craft beer and a weekly tradition called “New Beer Friday,” where he and friends would gather to sample unique beers. Running out of options inspired Lohse, with help from a friend at Bell’s Brewing, to brew his own Oatmeal Stout around 2014. This first batch — which he called “Oatbama” for then-President Barack Obama — sparked a passion, leading Lohse to experiment with homebrewing.
He decided to take his hobby to the next level and in 2017 invested in an all-grain brewing setup, aiming to develop recipes with an eye toward commercial brewing. Inspired by presidential themes, Lohse created beer names like “Eisenhower Rye IPA” and “Rutherford B. Hayes” which guided recipe development and the brewery’s namesake.
Since stepping away from brewing and working behind the bar or in the kitchen, Lohse has been looking to help others with his new book, “Shifting Gears: The Ultimate Roadmap to Crafting Your Legendary Brewery or Restaurant,” which is available for purchase as an eBook on Amazon.
“I want to help people avoid those years of struggling in neutral or grinding away in second gear like I did,” he explained. “When you’re starting out, no one tells you how to build a leadership team or figure out your product mix. You’re on your own to figure it all out, and that can feel overwhelming.
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“I had never worked in a brewery, never owned a business, and never taken out a loan like this. I thought, ‘Can I even do this?’ But that’s the space a lot of people are in — thinking they’re not qualified and that success is for someone else.”
Using the analogy of shifting gears to drive a car, Lohse breaks things down from the thought of opening to working on marketing and creating a growing and sustainable brewery.
“There are steps you can take, and this book shows what worked for us,” he said. “If even one person reads it and reaches that next gear faster than I did, that’s a win.”
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