MR. MALINOWSKI: OK, Two Beers Brewing Co. and Seattle Cider Company — let’s conjugate the verb “to drink,” or in French, “boire.” Present tense …
BREWERY AND CIDERY EXPLOYEES: (In unison) Je bois. Tu bois. Il boit. Nous buvons. Vous buvez. Ils boivent.
(An exasperated groan rises from the back of the class.)
MR. MALINOWSKI: Brett, do you have a problem?
BREWERY AND CIDERY SALES EXECUTIVE BRETT THOMPSON: Well, yeah. Why do we have to learn this crazy language? It’s not like anyone actually speaks it or anything.
MR. MALINOWSKI: Well, son, your Two Beers Brewing and Seattle Cider Company have joined my Agrial Group, a leading French agri-business cooperative that does business across the beverage, dairy and food industries.
THOMPSON: Yeah, duh, but the French word for “beer” is “biére” and “cider” is “cidre.” And those words are obvious. That’s all we need to know.
MR. MALINOWSKI: The deal with Agrial gives your Seattle-based company immediate access to international distribution opportunities in 30 countries. You will sit here in my classroom until you learn all 30 languages.
THOMPSON: Ugh, OK, but so what? Who cares that the French for “bird” is “birde” or “computer” is “computère”? Bonjour, monsieur est madam. Mon birde likes son computère.” When am I ever going to use that?
MR. MALINOWSKI: Please excuse yourself Brett and go set up your Peaks and Pints Pals night for Thursday, Nov. 10.
THOMPSON: Je vous remercie!
Indeed, Two Beers Brewing Co. and Seattle Cider Company will be the guest hosts for the Peaks and Pints Lodge Meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10. Drinking for Conservation will be in the house raising money for Cascades Pika Watch, an organization that studies Columbia Gorge pikas’ resilience in their ecosystems in the face of a warming planet.
THE BREWERY
In 2005, Joel VandenBrink found himself in a disagreement with a friend, so they headed to a local pub to talk it through. After the second pint disappeared, the two friends had an honest conversation. Engineering grad and outdoorsman VandenBrink had just moved to Seattle from Holland. After a homebrew starter kit and an inspirational tour of New Belgium Brewing, VandenBrink founded Two Beers Brewing Co. in a 170 square foot ActivSpace facility along Highway 99 in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood in August 2007. VandenBrink engineered his beer recipes on two burners and two 27-gallon fermenters. In June 2008, VandenBrink delivered his first keg, 20:20 Blonde.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Two Beers Brewing and VandenBrink’s Seattle Cider Company now sit in adjoining production facilities in South Seattle’s industrial district operating under separate manufacturing permits. The two entities have merged and will continue to operate independently as a single, wholly owned subsidiary of Agrial. VandenBrink will continue to oversee both brands as CEO, and all employees are being retained.
“There is a window of opportunity in cider that I need to step into really quickly,” VandenBrink said in a news release, pointing to declining sales for the category’s largest brand, Angry Orchard, which is owned by Boston Beer Company. “If I went about it alone, with my financial constraints, I wouldn’t have the chance to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Seattle Cider, meanwhile, has seen considerable growth since it launched three years ago. Currently ranked as Washington’s largest cidery, the brand is already sold in 12 states and production is expected to reach 21,000 barrels in 2016. Nevertheless, it’s a long way behind Angry Orchard, the largest cider brand in the U.S.
PEAKS AND PINTS LODGE MEETING
Eric Willard, director of Operation at Seattle Cider Company and Two Beers Brewing Company, joined the Two Beers brewers in brewing a special beer for the Peaks and Pints Two Beers Brewing Lodge Meeting Nov. 10. “We added a crazy amount of spruce tips to our EVO IPA recipe,” says Willard. “We were a bit worried that it might have been too much, but I think I turned out well.” Indeed, as it seems that they bought the local Christmas tree lot right out, chopped them all up, and let them steep throughout the whole bloody brew cycle. It smells of spruce, that much is very true, all green and acrid and compelling, with a bit of appropriate dirty earthiness, and maybe a suggestion of some grainy and mildly caramelized malt. The EVO IPA alone hits the nose with pinecones and tropical fruit, as it’s hopped with Yakima Valley Simcoe, Amarillo and Centennial, then aggressively dry-hopped with Simcoe and Columbus. The taste is replete with resinous spruce tree bitterness, tropical fruit and a slight toffee finish. It finishes dry, earthy, spruce needle-y, and faintly grainy.
The other Two Beers craft brews pouring from the Peaks and Pints’ Western red cedar tap log will be the Overhang Imperial Porter, Jive Espresso Stout and a Meyer lemon and lavender infused Day Hike Session Ale. In addition, a Seattle Cider red wine barrel aged Berry will be on tap, too.
DRINKING FOR CONSERVATION
Tacoma’s Drinking for Conservation is an organized committee of dedicated zoo staff and volunteers from the Point Defiance American Association of Zoo Keepers Chapter. Dedicated to professional animal care, the vision of the AAZK is to provide resources for zookeepers and animal care professionals. Every month, Drinking for Conservation partners with a Tacoma drinking establishment to raise money for a specific endangered species or environmental situation. For November, they will be hanging with Two Beers Brewing Co. at Peaks and Pints Thursday, Nov. 10, raising money for Cascade Pika Watch’s effort to study the cute, little pika. Pika are considered to be a sensitive indicator of climate change due to their inability to survive long periods of warm summer weather. Columbia River Gorge pika are of particular interest because they live at a lower elevation than any other pika population in the U.S. Through Cascades Pika Watch, people can help scientists better understand changes in pika populations.
PEAKS AND PINTS TWO BEERS BREWING CO. LODGE MEETING, 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 10, peaks and Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., Basecamp Proctor, Tacoma, no cover, $1 raffle
