GetLinked – sausage links and meats by the Mroz family, is a new staple from a storied tradition proudly featured at Rusty Nickel Brewing Co. For the Mroz’s, making sausage is a family affair and tradition. As a child, Kevin Mroz remembers eating his Great Uncle Chester’s family-famous Lakawanna-style smoked polish sausage. Years later, armed with his uncle’s recipe and equipment, Kevin continued his family’s sausage making legacy, bringing new, savory creations to parties and church gatherings.
Today you can walk into RNBC’s tasting room and buy one of GetLinked’s three handcrafted sausages – Chicken, Spinach, Feta, Asian Pot-sticker and Classic Italian. This match made in culinary heaven has been a couple of years in the making.
When he entered into RNBC’s first Sausage Fest in 2016, Kevin had been making sausage for about 20 years. With this experience under his belt, it wasn’t a surprise that he won several awards that year – and best in show the next.
His recipes were delicious. So delicious, that RNBC owners Jay and Dave wanted to sell his sausage in RNBC’s tasting room. After all, is there anything that pairs better with beer than a sausage?
“My concern has always been with my day job, work travel and not being in town a lot,” Kevin explained, “I just didn’t want to leave them (RNBC) hanging if they needed stuff.”
But last summer, Jay mentioned something to Kevin’s wife, Renee Mroz and pushed the matter.
“She came home, and her wheels were spinning a little more,” Kevin said. “She decided that it’s not going to be me, but it’s all or none basically. It’s going to be a whole family affair.”
Enter the Mroz children –Nicole, 17, Abby, 15, and Peter, 13. Growing up watching their dad cooking and helping him out in the kitchen, they were just what Kevin needed.
Knowing that his wife and kids could carry on with business if he got caught up with his day job, Kevin agreed to create GetLinked.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Nicole said. “It kind of feels natural because it feels like what we’ve always done – making stuff together – but now we’re making 100 pounds rather than five.”
More than anything, Kevin and Renee want to teach their children that with their two (gloved) hands and some initiative, they can do anything, and the Mroz kids have taken that lesson and run with it. They aren’t just helping hands, but are an essential part of the family business.
You don’t have to look far to see it – or the love and camaraderie between the Mroz family members. Take the name of the Chicken, Spinach, Feta sausage for example:
“We tweaked the order of the words a little, but Abby’s won out,” Kevin explained.
“You used to say Chicken, Feta, Spinach,” Abby said.
At this, Kevin chuckled and admitted, “Yeah, but you taught me, so you made it work.”
Together, the family loves serving customers and crowd-testing new recipes at events like Sausage Fest. In fact, that’s Peter’s favorite part of the company.
When it comes down to it GetLinked sausages are simply delicious, but their recipes, much like RNBC’s beer, are ‘just a little different’, which the team at RNBC love and embrace.
The company doesn’t add extra fillers, instead they add fresh ingredients like the vegetables in their Asian Pot-sticker sausage and being a small start-up company, each link is handcrafted.
In addition to the three sausages on GetLinked’s menu, you can order a Bloody Mary Sausage, specially crafted to be the featured garnish topping off RNBC’s Award-winning Bloody Marys for an Instagram-worthy drink that tastes as good as it looks.
Though GetLinked started selling their sausages in January, they are constantly developing new recipes. Coming soon are new flavors like BBQ burnt end bacon sausage, a chipotle lime snack stick for RNBC’s new Bloody Mary Fest entry and St. Patrick’s Day Bangers and Mash.
And for patrons who love taking growlers home, and anyone who can’t get enough of GetLinked’s sausage, RNBC will soon be selling sausage by the package. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for updates and new releases!