Education is our mission and goal – Introduce Customers to the Tastes and Styles of Saisons and Sours
After getting into Whole Foods last week, we had a great meeting with staff from the new West Seattle store. I had a chance to reflect on our mission, story, what sets us apart and had a new clarity about things. One thing I realized is that I have never really articulated our story in it’s entirety before. I think because its clarified, evolved and grown organically over time. We have had a few constants over the years – the Belgian influence, our House Saison, our stubborn insistence on not brewing an IPA or the standard lineup of beers. But some things have become clear that were fuzzy at first. Part of this has been the constant place we have of education. Whether in the taproom, at events or at Farmer’s Market, we have educated the public and customers about farmhouse styles, Saisons and Sours, particularly the blended kind. Forging a path less travelled has required this. We love that part of our journey – introducing people to a whole new palate experience. We have brought non-beer drinkers, beer haters and beer doubters into the large expansive world of beer styles. This has been fun and frustrating all at once. So part of our mission has always been education.
We have Quietly been Early Adaptors and Trend-Setters
Another part has been early adoption. We have been quietly on the cutting edge of new trends. We found Skagit Valley Malting when there was no website and two mad scientist types and a duct taped roaster in a back room. They only had two barley varieties available. This was almost 5 years ago. We discovered the 32oz Crowler can when only 85 breweries had them in the country at the same time. It was a novelty then and customers took out their cellphones to document the process in video. All eyes in the brewery stared with wonder. We started doing Blended Barrel aged sours and used no fruit three years ago before others got on the bandwagon, and have won awards for them and got on a beer pairing menu with The Herbfarm Restaurant, something they had never done before. Recently, we introduced a Norwegian Farmhouse ale to a public hungry for something different. And now the 16oz 2 pack. With this being the trend of seeking out the new and different, we are in a perfect position to succeed!