Brewing Champ

Executive: Eric Koenig, shareholder, Trenam Kemker Attorneys, Tampa

Diversion: Homebrew beer and barbecue competitions.

Different from Rest: When a client comes in and says I don't like lawyers, Koenig responds, “I don't either.” Koenig, a former police officer for a SWAT team, decided to switch careers to work better hours for his family. But he says he still doesn't fit the mold: “Most lawyers go golfing. I've been golfing twice,” Koenig says. Instead, he prefers to spend his evenings perfecting a new beer recipe, and his weekends grilling out with friends.

Finding Brew: Koenig says he discovered the art of brewing when he was dating a vegan in college. He remembers spending a lot of time in a health foods store, looking for food to accommodate her diet. Koenig was so bored during one of the trips that he wandered to the beer brewing section. From then on, he was hooked. Now the 39-year-old spends around 10 hours a week brewing.

Research: “I'm one of those people that needs active rest. Laying around watching TV doesn't do it for me,” Koenig says. Brewing allows his mind to work at problem solving during his downtime, he adds. Creating the perfect beer requires a thorough understanding of the brewing process and how each step and ingredient impacts flavor. Koenig says he's read a number of books on yeast, water and fermentation. He also frequently scours homebrew Internet forums like Zymurgy and Brew Your Own, and subscribes to multiple brewing magazines. Koenig says he loves the research aspect of brewing just as much as he loves practicing law. “Rules are rules for a reason, and I want to know why,” Koenig says. He has an incredible attention to detail, logging temperatures and times for each step, and sending out his brew water for meticulous testing by Ward Labs.

Flavor Palette: Koenig brews a unique set of homebrews in more than 25 styles — in the last month his brews ranged from a pre-prohibition style beer, to an Oktoberfest, as well as an oatmeal raisin stout, and an alcoholic cider. His recipes are complex and feature many ingredients the average beer-drinker would never expect. For example, in order to brew a “true Belgian” beer, he harvested yeast out of sediment from a beer he bought from a monastery in Belgium.

Winning Brew: His attention to detail has helped him gain quite a following for his beers. Koenig has won 10 Best in Show awards and more than 300 brewing medals over the last 20 years in multiple homebrew competitions. He's been asked to brew special batches for an event at Donatello in Tampa and batches of his Jake's Fussy Ale for Brewers Tasting Room in St. Pete.

Habeas Porkus: Koenig's other hobby is barbecuing. Becoming addicted to the Food Network when he first moved to Florida, Koenig got an itch to try out a barbecue competition. He started to think, “I could do that,” and pulled together a team of 10 lawyers to test their barbecuing skills. “Brewing and barbecue are both perfect hobbies. Like practicing law, it's art and science, so it's creative and technical.” The team, named Habeas Porkus, started competing in six weekend-long competitions each year; now it typically does around three or four each year. Koenig says it's a great way to “blow off steam and have a few beers.”

Winning Meat: In the last seven years, the group has won 75 awards for each meat category: pork butt, brisket, ribs and chicken. It's also won four Grand Champion awards and three Reserve Grand Champion awards (or second place). It often competes against television stars from the TV show “Pitmasters,” such as Myron Mixon and Johnny Trigg. Even though Habeas Porkus is using small weber smokers, “we beat them more often than not,” Koenig says.