Beer brewers helping to end the sting of pandemic
Never underestimate the power of a cold beer.
When the Pennsylvania liquor stores closed down as the coronavirus pandemic ramped up, local brewers found ways to fill the void.
“It’s really been a crazy time for everybody,” said Mike Contreras, the Director of Sales and Marketing at 2SP Brewing Company in Aston. “We lost about 70 percent of our business when restaurants and bars were shut down. We had to figure out a new way to sell beer.”
Many local brewers have a tight margin. A loss of that money coming in meant taking the product right to the people or, in many cases, having the people come right to them.
To make that easier, Robert Zarko, the president of Ship Bottom Brewery in Seaside Heights, N.J., set up a tent at the end of his driveway in Wallingford.
“Basically, I had to find a way to redo the business,” said Zarko, who started Ship Bottom in his garage in 2012. “I still had a license to sell from when I started, so I figured I would set up a tent and have a beer yard sale.”
In the new world of social-distancing, that makes things just a little bit harder.
“For us it was really important to keep our guests safe and keep our employees safe,” said Joe Kopke, Director of operations Iron Hill Brewery. “We are all weathering the storm.”
Suddenly, brewers who could count on customers coming in to enjoy a beer or two and some food, it meant going strictly takeout.
“It’s really a multi-step process,” said Bill Covaleski, the founder and brewmaster of Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown. “The state has a process you have to go through. You take an order by phone or online, the have to verify the age and take a payment. It’s a lot of different work than what we are used to doing.”
Which, of course, is brewing beer. Now, though, there is a lot of beer sitting in tanks and not a whole lot of places to sell it.
“In the end, we are still brewers,” said Kopke. “We have a lot of beer in the tanks.”
Added Covaleski: “Part of the problem is we have a lot of beer in the tanks that can’t be sold. We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. You want your customers to have the freshest beer.”
Another option for some is home brewing.
Eric Hartline, owner of Brew Your Own Beer in Haverford, said to make sure you have the right equipment.
“You definitely need to have the correct equipment,” Hartline said. “We have kits with everything somebody needs. A lot of times people might try to use things around the house, but it’s not the same.”
Hartline said he saw a surge of business right before the shutdown with customers stocking up on supplies.
“Now we aren’t letting anybody into the shop, but we are doing curbside pickup,” said Hartline.
For a brewery like 2SP, the business model is a little different, so their reaction is a little different. Spurred on by the Facebook group ‘Delco Happy Hour,’ 2SP is now delivering beer around Delaware County.
“We were sitting together as a team and, really, we are week-to-week with payroll,” Contreras said. “It’s really important to keep our employees on the payroll. We have employees that need medicine and need to pay bills. We are trying everything we can to make sure that happens.
“So, we decided to see if
maybe delivery was an option. We talked to our vendors, who have been absolutely great for us, and asked if it would be OK to add delivery. So far it’s working great. We deliver a couple of days a week and the feedback has been fantastic.”
Zarko, who runs his yard sale when he can (“The weather forecasters haven’t been too kind.”), and Ship Bottom also offer delivery around Delaware County.
“Everything we do is contact-less,” said Zarko. “Basically, you order online, we print out the order, call back to confirm everything, get their ID to make sure they are of age, then deliver. At the house, I have a card reader and make sure everybody stays apart.”
The 2SP tasting room is still open for beer take out. They also take orders over the phone and everything can be delivered without the customer leaving the car, if they prefer.
“There are a couple of options,” Contreras said. “Last weekend, we had a special and people could drive right into the brewery. We are doing whatever we can to be a little creative.”
Not only can beer and food be ordered at Iron Hill, but so can eggs, potatoes, milk and, maybe most important of all, toilet paper.
“We thought if we could get our customers to limit the time they are outside, the better,” said Kopke. “We knew our suppliers have all kinds of items and can be a one-stop shop. We have the ability to get a few things that might be in short supply.”
Meanwhile, Victory Brewing Company has hooked up with Southern Tier to feature craft spirits.
In an Instagram post, Victory said, “Southern Tier for their beer, but they also have an impressive distillery with a full line of craft spirits and canned cocktails. We’re happy to team up team up with @STDCspirits to bring these incredible products your way during this time of uncertainty.
Starting today, Southern Tier Spirits & Canned Cocktails will be available for online sale and curbside delivery in the parking lot of our Downingtown @VictoryTaprooms location.”
Ship Bottom’s Zarko has an event at Linvilla Orchards to promote a new cider still going on this weekend.
“We are keeping up as best as we can,” said Zarko. “The new cider seems to have given people a new enthusiasm.”
In the end, though, it’s all about the beer. All of the breweries are having specials, whether it’s on canned, growler fills or the new-fangled crowler fills (basically, a can filled from the tap and sealed).
“We have been featuring the crowlers since we can’t really fill glass bottles right now,” Covaleski said. “People seem to really like them. It might seem kind of odd to order one Hop Devil, one Prima Pils, one Sour Monkey or whatever. They get into it.”
As the pandemic stretches on, expect breweries to try more creative ideas.
“We are always thinking of ways to do things,” said Contreras. “It might be different specials or whatever we can.”
So what’s the go-to brew during a pandemic?
“You know, I don’t know what it says about anything, but I’ve been going to some of our more stronger beers,” said Covaleski.
“I’ve been drinking Java Latte, some of Java Cask.” our our